rachel @ typed truths

One for My Enemy by Olivie Blake

In New York City where we lay our scene, two rival witch families fight to maintain control of their respective criminal ventures. On one side of the conflict are the Antonova sisters, each one beautiful, cunning, and ruthless, and their mother, the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants known only as Baba Yaga. On the other side, the influential Fedorov brothers serve their father, the crime boss known as Koschei the Deathless, whose community extortion ventures dominate the shadows of magical Manhattan. After twelve years of tenuous coexistence, a change in one family’s interests causes a rift in the existing stalemate… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Suicide
Alcohol consumption
Drug use
Emesis
Blood depiction
Murder
Bullying mentioned

Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid

A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites. Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya’s last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Antisemitism
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Eating disorder (bulimia)
Suicidal ideation
Self-harm
Emesis, on-page
Body horror
Cannibalism
Animal death

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she’s had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny. But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism & internalised ableism
Sexual harassment & sexual assault mentioned
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Drug use (smoking)
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Anxiety, panic attacks & nightmares
Amputation (protagonist is missing her finger)
Death of a parent mentioned
Torture recounted
Car accident recounted
Drowning & attempted drowning
Flood recounted
Animal death mentioned

*Context : A secondary character is kissed without consent and has plans to kidnap and hold her captive.

A Touch of Gold and Madness by K.L. DeVore

Fairytales are for the naive. Princess Assassin Gray Monroe is ordered by her father to kill the villainous prince responsible for starting a war that threw the world into a post-apocalyptic society. In a decrepit landscape where two magical species war with one another, while a human militia hunts them all, Gray has only one thing on her mind: vengeance. With a single focus on killing the man who murdered her first love, she believes nothing will stop her. That is until she hesitates when she comes face-to-face with her nemesis at long last. With a single focus… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Child abuse

The Alibi Girl by C.J. Skuse

Joanne Haynes has a secret: that is not her real name. And there’s more. Her flat’s not hers. Her cats aren’t hers. Even her hair isn’t really hers. Nor is she any of the other women she pretends to be. Not the bestselling romance novelist who gets her morning snack from the doughnut van on the seafront. Nor the pregnant woman in the dental surgery. Nor the chemo patient in the supermarket for whom the cashier feels ever so sorry. They’re all just alibis. In fact, the only thing that’s real about Joanne is that nobody can know who she really is. But someone has got too close. It looks like her alibis have begun to run out….

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Murder
Death of a parent recounted
Death of a spouse recounted
Car accident mentioned
Animal cruelty mentioned

In Bloom by C.J. Skuse

If only they knew the real truth. It should be my face on those front pages. My headlines. I did those things, not him. I just want to stand on that doorstep and scream it: IT WAS ME. ME. ME. ME. ME! Rhiannon Lewis has successfully fooled the world and framed her cheating fiancé Craig for the depraved and bloody killing spree she committed. She should be ecstatic that she’s free. Except for one small problem. She’s pregnant with her ex lover’s child. The ex-lover she only recently chopped up and buried in her in-laws garden. And as much as Rhiannon wants to continue making her way through her kill lists, a small voice inside is trying… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Domestic abuse
Blood & gore depiction
Murder

Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse

Rhiannon is your average girl next door, settled with her boyfriend and little dog but she’s got a killer secret. Although her childhood was haunted by a famous crime, Rhiannon’s life is normal now that her celebrity has dwindled. By day, her job as an editorial assistant is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening, she dutifully listens to her friends’ plans for marriage and babies while secretly making a list. A kill list. From the man at the grocery checkout who always mishandles her apples, to the driver who cuts her off on her way to work, to the people who have it coming, Rhiannon is ready to get her revenge. Because the girl… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Rape
Suicide mentioned
Abortion mentioned
Miscarriage mentioned
Murder
Torture
Bullying

Man vs. Durian by Jackie Lau

Durian is my nemesis. We have a long, painful history. In my opinion, the spiky fruit smells like natural gas and rotten onions with eau de vomit. Bleh. So when Valerie Chow spills her durian ice cream all over me, I shouldn’t fall in love. But despite her fondness for durian, Valerie is beautiful and delightfully prickly and stares at me when I take off my soiled shirt. And somehow, this chance encounter leads to me agreeing to be her fake boyfriend to get her mom off her back about her dating life. Her supposed boyfriend is a paediatric resident, but no big deal, right? My job’s in landscaping… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexual harassment, off-page

Red Butterfly by A.L. Sonnichsen

Kara never met her birth mother. Abandoned as an infant, she was taken in by an American woman living in China. Now eleven, Kara spends most of her time in their apartment, wondering why she and Mama cannot leave the city of Tianjin and go live with Daddy in Montana. Mama tells Kara to be content with what she has…but what if Kara secretly wants more?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Parental abandonment
Death of a newborn
Death of a pet bird

A Love Unexpected by Leah Brunner

Also known as A Love Unexpected.

Apparently, the conservative mid-western voters want more than my brains, connections, and good looks to vote me in as a congressman. I thought I had it all, but missed one glaring requirement: a wife to make me look like the all-American family man Kansas wants. The lovely Odette Hastings seems to fit the bill. She’s a wholesome small-town girl, and conveniently in need of cash. I’ll give her the money to take care of her elderly parents, and she’ll be the political arm candy I need. We both win, right? The only problem is Odette is a little too beautiful, a little too intelligent, and much too distracting. I have to keep my eye on the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Cheating mentioned
Blackmail