rachel @ typed truths

A Duke Worth Fighting For by Christina Britton

To protect the dukedom from an incompetent and greedy cousin, Daniel Hayle, Duke of Carlisle, has promised to find a bride in London this season. But the idea of facing ballrooms and card parties is as intimidating as any battlefield in France, including the fight at Waterloo that left him terribly scarred. Perhaps a month on the Isle of Synne can provide him with the practice necessary to find a wife who can tolerate him enough to give him an heir. Margery Kitteridge has been mourning her husband for four years, and while she’s not ready to consider marriage again, she does miss intimacy with a partner. When Daniel… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Injury & scars sustained during military service at Waterloo
Death of a husband during battle

The Viscount’s Promise by Christina Britton

Lady Emily Masters has harbored a secret infatuation for the dashing Malcolm Arborn, Viscount Morley since a childhood accident claimed the life of her twin brother and left her own face scarred. But when fate brings them together again for her brother’s wedding, she is dismayed to find instead of the brave gentleman who sheltered her after the tragedy, a surly rogue quick to quip and slow to trust. To the cosmopolitan and haughty Malcolm, few engagements could possibly be more punishing than attending his friend’s country wedding―until the groom requests he watch over his timid sister during the weeks leading up… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Facial scarring
Death of a twin brother recounted

With Love in Sight by Christina Britton

An aging spinster at 26, all Imogen Duncan sees ahead of her is a life of servitude to her overbearing mother. Her London Season has passed and her desperate shyness and reserved demeanour has destroyed any chance for a match. As her younger sister Mariah begins her own Season and must choose between many suitors, Imogen believes her chances for excitement are well and truly past. But a case of mistaken identity and an unintended kiss brings an excitement into her life that she never dreamed of. Burying the guilt he suffers from his brother’s death a decade ago beneath a life of debauchery, Caleb Masters, Marquess of… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexual assault (unwanted kiss)
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a brother recounted

Equivalent Exchange by Christina C. Jones

Keris Bradford is a woman on the brink. Of what? She doesn’t quite know. Her life is shifting, rapidly, and the sudden, captivating intrusion of Laken Kimble isn’t exactly… reassuring. For Keris, Laken is comfort and risk wrapped in one very appealing package. For Laken, Keris is barrier and providence all at once. For both, there arises a need to navigate those contrasts to a conclusion neither was looking for… a need to answer a simple question. If you want this… what are you willing to offer in exchange?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableist language
Slut-shaming
Child abuse recounted
Rape by a partner recounted
Domestic violence
Divorce recounted
Infertility issues mentioned
Ectopic pregnancy recounted
Mentions of physical injury and facial scars sustained during a car accident
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a brother form an overdose mentioned
Death of a father from an undiagnosed brain tumor, heart failure & seizure recounted

The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente

The future is blue. Endless blue…except for a few small places that float across the hot, drowned world left behind by long-gone fossil fuel-guzzlers. One of those patches is a magical place called Garbagetown. Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but she’s the only one who knows it. She’s the only one who knows a lot of things: that Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world, that it’s full of hope, that you can love someone and 66% hate them all at the same time. But Earth is a terrible mess, hope is a fragile thing, and a lot of people are very angry with her. Then Tetley discovers a new friend, a terrible secret, and more to her world than she ever expected.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Child abuse & neglect
Torture

Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente

In the Cities of Coin and Spice and In the Night Garden introduced readers to the unique and intoxicating imagination of Catherynne M. Valente. Now she weaves a lyrically erotic spell of a place where the grotesque and the beautiful reside and the passport to our most secret fantasies begins with a stranger’s kiss. Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the end of the world is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse—a voyage permitted only to those who’ve always believed there’s another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fated to make the passage are… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Incest
Cheating
Suicide

Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente

Severin Unck’s father is a famous director of Gothic romances in an alternate 1946 in which talking movies are still a daring innovation due to the patent-hoarding Edison family. Rebelling against her father’s films of passion, intrigue, and spirits from beyond, Severin starts making documentaries, traveling through space and investigating the levitator cults of Neptune and the lawless saloons of Mars. For this is not our solar system, but one drawn from classic science fiction in which all the planets are inhabited and we travel through space on beautiful rockets. Severin is a realistic… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Rape mentioned
Suicide mentioned

Cry of Metal and Bone by L Penelope

Six weeks after the fall of the Mantle, centuries-old enemies Elsira and Lagrimar struggle to unite. The will of the goddess is that the two nations become one, but while the war may be over, peace is still elusive. As desperate Lagrimari flee their barren land for a chance at a better life in Elsira, a dangerous faction opposed to the unification rises. When a shadowy group with ties to the Elsiran government takes responsibility for the attack and promises more, an unlikely crew is assembled to investigate. Among them are Lizvette Nirall, a disgraced socialite seeking redemption for past mistakes, and Tai Summerhawk, a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Racism
Verbal & emotional child abuse
Self-injury for magic & bloodletting
Parent with gambling addiction
Alcohol consumption
Physical injury & illness
Emesis
Medical experimentation
Attempted assassination by poisoning
Torture
Terrorism (bombing of a religious institution)
Kidnapping
Loss of autonomy (possession)

Whispers of Shadow and Flame by L Penelope

The Mantle that separates the kingdoms of Elsira and Lagrimar is about to fall. And life will drastically change for both kingdoms. Born with a deadly magic she cannot control, Kyara is forced to become an assassin. Known as the Poison Flame in the kingdom of Lagrimar, she is notorious and lethal, but secretly seeks freedom from both her untamed power and the blood spell that commands her. She is tasked with capturing the legendary rebel called the Shadowfox, but everything changes when she learns her target’s true identity. Darvyn ol-Tahlyro may be the most powerful Earthsinger in generations, but guilt over… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Human trafficking
Slavery
Child abuse
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Depression
Suicidal ideation
Self injury for blood magic
Scars
Alcohol consumption
Murder, on-page
Gun violence
Torture
Kidnapping & captivity
Disappearance of a parent

Ithaca by Claire North

Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom. Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door. No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus’ empty throne—not yet. But everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, and Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny
Slavery
Rape