Sure, go on to PL! I hope you have more of an appreciation for the main characters since you know their background. I sympathize with your time constraints.

Prince Lestat CAN be considered a stand alone, AR said herself it can be treated like that. It’s just so stand alone that I consider it very Alternate Universe. You’ll see what I mean. 

*sigh* It’s so strange that ppl want to rush to PL, but I guess it’s bc it’s the currently newest VC and the upcoming book is a sequel to it. 

As far as triggering elements, there are some in PL. I won’t spoil you directly but I’ll just toss in some questionnable categories of things I remember being in PL (this is not all-inclusive, I may have forgotten a few bc I read it almost 2 years ago and I can’t read it again yet):

• An emotionally abusive relationship between a female college student and a male adult authority figure 
• Other abuse of that female college student that she suffered as a child (not sexual but physical and emotional)
• Body horror (sort of?)
• Gorey moments (one involving a few amputations, one involving brains, some murder bc VAMPIRES)
• Lestat in a non-consensual blood-related attack moment (but he doesn’t get away with it unpunished)
• Weird ghost-related happenings
• Arson (*cough* Louis *cough*)
• Drug-addicted parent (briefly)
• Vampires & Science
• A sexual situation involving Vampires & Science
• A choir of underaged boy vampires