Author Archives: rachel @ typed truths

a tired aussie reader with a love of cats, libraries & sunflowers • she/her

Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter

Lena Adams has spent her life struggling to forget her childhood in Reece, the small town which nearly destroyed her. She’s made a new life for herself as a police detective in Heartsdale, a hundred miles away – but nothing could prepare her for the violence which explodes when she is forced to return. A vicious murder leaves a young woman incinerated beyond recognition. And Lena is the only suspect. When Heartsdale police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, Lena’s boss, receives word that his detective has been arrested, he has no choice but to go to Lena’s aid – taking with him his wife, medical examiner Sara Linton. But soon after…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & white supremacy
  • Rape recounted
  • Drug abuse
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Explosion
  • Car accident
  • Fire & immolation

False Witness by Karin Slaughter

Leigh Coulton has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She has a good job as a defence attorney, a daughter doing well in school, and even her divorce is relatively civilised – her life is just as unremarkable as she’d always hoped it would be. But Leigh’s ordinary life masks a childhood which was far from average… a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and finally torn apart by a devastating act of violence. Then a case lands on her desk – defending a wealthy man accused of rape. It’s the highest profile case she’s ever been given – a case which could transform her career, if she wins. But when she meets the accuse…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Graphic child sexual abuse
  • Child pornography
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Graphic drug use
  • Substance addiction
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Chronic pain
  • Blood depiction
  • Murder
  • Death of a sibling

Play to Win by Jodie Slaughter

Miriam Butler’s life is going nowhere in the slowest, most excruciating way possible. Stuck in the same barely-paying job she’s had since she was sixteen and spending every night sleeping in the spare twin bed in her mother’s house, her existence might be hilarious if it wasn’t so bleak. One trip to her favourite Quickie Mart upends everything when she finds herself the winner of a Mega Millions Lottery Jackpot. Unfortunately, not even life-altering roses come without their painful thorns. Hers just so happen to be in the form of an estranged husband who has the right to claim his share of her money. It’s been eight years since… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Marital abandonment & estrangement
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of parents & a caregiver (aunt)
  • Poverty

What Was Meant to Be by Heather Guerre

There’s nothing Wes Sorenson cares about more than restoring his family’s lost legacy—a Northwoods cottage resort that’s been handed down from one generation to the next since the late-1800s until it was stolen from them by unscrupulous business partners, dismantled, and sold in pieces. Bit by bit, over the course of years, Wes has managed to restore the family business, except for one piece: the crucial lakefront acreage necessary to the resort’s success. But after years of dead ends, he’s finally figured out how to secure to the last piece of the puzzle: marrying the woman who owns the land. Rain has never really belonged anywhere… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Anxiety
  • Emotional child abuse recounted
  • Parental infidelity & divorce recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical illness (migraine)
  • Death of grandparents mentioned
  • Death of a father
  • Death of a mother from a heart defect recounted

King of Country by CW Farnsworth

Kyle Spencer is the king of country music. She’s the city girl, sent to talk him into returning to the stage. Piper Egan landed her dream job straight out of college—working at Empire Records. But instead of discovering new talent and changing lives, like she’d hoped, her time is spent taking meeting notes and catering to spoiled celebrities. When the chance to change that finally appears, she should be thrilled. Unfortunately, Piper’s promotion involves the charming cowboy she’s spent years attempting to avoid. And flying to middle of nowhere, Texas, in a desperate attempt to talk the king of country music into returning to the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity recounted
  • Parent in alcoholism recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Death of a mother in a self-inflicted drunk-driving accident recounted
  • Death of a stepfather recounted

*Context : The female protagonist’s ex-partner cheated on her in the past.

Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha

Ian has just been diagnosed with HIV. Victor, to his great relief, has tested negative. Henrique has been living with HIV for the past three years. When Victor finds himself getting tested for HIV for the first time, he can’t help but question his entire relationship with Henrique, the guy he has-had-been dating. See, Henrique didn’t disclose his positive HIV status to Victor until after they had sex, and even though Henrique insisted on using every possible precaution, Victor is livid. That’s when Victor meets Ian, a guy who’s also getting tested for HIV. But Ian’s test comes back positive, and his world is about to change forever Though Victor is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Public outing
  • Hate crime
  • HIV/AIDs
  • Cyberharassment

Beyond Doubt by Kit Rocha

O’Kane for Life… Winning a war might be enough for most people, but Bren and Six aren’t interested in kicking back to enjoy peace. Not when they finally have the time—and resources—to tackle the mess left behind in the sector they now rule. Especially the orphaned street kids. Six remembers how hard it is to trust. Bren remembers how hard it is to be patient. Together, they have the skills and the power to make a better world than the one they grew up in—but only if they can be honest with each other about the future they want. Not just for Sector Three, but for themselves.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Hostage situation at gunpoint
  • Child homelessness

Deacon by Kit Rocha

Ana has trained most of her life to achieve one goal: to prove that anything men can do, she can do better. Now she’s Sector One’s first female Rider, and being the best is the only way to ensure she won’t be its last. Distractions aren’t allowed–especially not her painful attraction to the reserved but demanding leader whose stern, grumpy demeanor has already gotten into her head. Deacon has spent the last twenty years trying to atone for his past, but the blood he spilled as a mercenary and assassin will never wash away entirely. If his riders knew the extent of his sins, he’d lose their trust and respect. It’s easier to keep them all at arm’s length, especially Ana. But his newest… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pregnancy mentioned (secondary character)
  • Death of a parent from a heart attack recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture (secondary character)
  • Knife & gun violence
  • Physical assault
  • Explosion (bomb)
  • Imprisonment

Dance with the Devil by Kit Rocha

Tobias Richter, the fearsome VP of Security of the TechCorps is dead. The puppetmaster is gone and the organization is scrambling to maintain control by ruthlessly limiting Atlanta’s access to resources, hoping to quell rebellion. Our band of mercenary librarians have decided that the time for revolution has come. Maya uses her wealth of secrets to weaken the TechCorps from within. Dani strikes from the shadows, picking off the chain of command one ambush at a time. And Nina is organizing their community―not just to survive, but to fight back. When Maya needs to make contact with a sympathetic insider, Dani… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical injury including amputation due to a gunshot wound (secondary character)
  • Medical experimentation recounted
  • Heart transplant surgery mentioned
  • Death of a sister recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assailt
  • Bombings
  • War themes & battle scenes

Beyond Shame by Kit Rocha

All Noelle Cunningham has ever wanted is a life beyond–beyond the walls of Eden, where only the righteous are allowed to remain, and beyond her stiflingly restrictive existence as a councilman’s daughter. But only ruins lie outside the City, remnants of a society destroyed by solar storms decades earlier. he sectors surrounding Eden house the corrupt, the criminal–men like Jasper McCray, bootlegger and cage fighter. Jas clawed his way up from nothing to stand at the right hand of Sector Four’s ruthless leader, and he’ll defend the O’Kane gang with his life. But no fight ever prepared him for the exiled City girl who… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Underage sex work mentioned*
  • Physical injury
  • Torture mentioned
  • Gun violence
  • Organised crime

*Context : The female protagonist was trained to be a sex worker as a child.