Author Archives: rachel @ typed truths

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

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison

Rory Morris isn’t thrilled to be moving back to her hometown, even if it is temporary. There are bad memories there. But her twin sister, Scarlett, is pregnant, estranged from the baby’s father, and needs support, so Rory returns to the place she thought she’d put in her rearview. After a night out at a bar where she runs into an old almost-flame, she hits a large animal with her car. And when she gets out to investigate, she’s attacked. Rory survives, miraculously, but life begins to look and feel different. She’s unnaturally strong, with an aversion to silver–and suddenly the moon has her in its thrall. She’s changing into someone else… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Physical child abuse & neglect recounted
  • Infidelity recounted
  • Smoking
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pregnancy & childbirth mentioned (secondary character)
  • Emesis
  • Hospitalisation
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction
  • Animal death & attack

The Vines by Shelley Nolden

In the shadows of New York City lies forbidden North Brother Island, where the remains of a shuttered hospital hide the haunting memories of century-old quarantines and human experiments. The ruins conceal the scarred and beautiful Cora, imprisoned by contagions and the doctors who torment her. When Finn, a young urban explorer, arrives on the island and glimpses an enigmatic beauty through the foliage, intrigue turns to obsession as he seeks to uncover her past—and his own family’s dark secrets. By unraveling these mysteries, will he be able to save Cora? Will Cora meet the same tragic ending as the thousands who’ve already perished on the island?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexist and racist language
  • Nazism
  • Rape
  • Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Overdose
  • Cancer
  • Nonconsensual human & animal experimentation

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro

An ancient majestic oak stands beneath the stars on Division Street. And under the tree sits Ben Wilf, a retired doctor, and ten-year-old Waldo Shenkman, a brilliant, lonely boy who is pointing out his favourite constellations. Waldo doesn’t realize it but he and Ben have met before. And they will again, and again. Across time and space, and shared destiny. Division Street is full of secrets. An impulsive lie begets a secret—one which will forever haunt the Wilf family. And the Shenkmans, who move into the neighbourhood many years later, bring secrets of their own. Spanning fifty kaleidoscopic years, on a street, and in a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Death of a friend in a drunk driving accident

The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch by Jacqueline Firkins

Imogen Finch has just been through her seventeenth breakup. She saw it coming, so she’s not as crushed as she might be, but with all seventeen of her exes leaving her for other partners, she’s come to believe a prediction her well-intentioned and possibly clairvoyant mother made over twenty years ago: that Imogen would never come first at anything or to anyone. Is her love life failing due to a magical curse? Insufficient effort? Poor timing or personality mismatches? Everyone has opinions on the matter. Imogen’s ready to give up altogether. But when Eliot Swift, her secret high school crush, returns to their small coastal town… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Death of parents in a plane crash recounted

The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey

Julie Crews is a coked-up, burnt-out thirty-something who packs a lot of magic into her small body. She’s been trying to establish herself in the NYC magic scene, and she’ll work the most gruesome gigs to claw her way to the top. Julie is desperate for a quick career boost to break the dead-end grind, but her pleas draw the attention of an eldritch god who is hungry for revenge. Her power grab sets off a deadly chain of events that puts her closest friends – and the entire world – directly in the path of annihilation.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Intimate partner violence, off-page
  • Self-harm
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Torture, off-page
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)

The Sun Sets in Singapore by Kehinde Fadipe

Dara, a workaholic lawyer from the UK, is on the brink of partnership at her firm. Estranged from her mother, and perpetually uncomfortable around her hypercompetitive colleagues, her insecurities intensify exponentially when Lani, a new hire from Geneva (and a fellow British Nigerian), is assigned to work on what should have been her career-making case. Pitted against each other by their boss, Dara can’t help but see Lani as a threat: a privileged man poised to take her place. Amaka, a sharp-tongued banker from Nigeria, is in the midst of a painful family dispute. Thousands of miles away from home, she’s doing her… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Parental abandonment
  • Infertility

A Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden

Arwen Valondale never expected to be the brave one, offering her life to save her brother’s. Now she’s been taken prisoner by the most dangerous kingdom on the continent, and made to use her rare magical abilities to heal the soldiers of the vicious Onyx King. Arwen knows better than to face the ancient, wicked woods that surround the castle on her own, which means working with a fellow prisoner might be her only path to freedom. Unfortunately, he’s as infuriating as he is cunning—and seems to take twisted pleasure in playing on Arwen’s deepest fears. But here in… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Sexual harassment
  • Emotional and physical child abuse by a step-parent mentioned
  • Blood, gore and injury depiction
  • Parent with chronic health condition
  • Death of a mother
  • Kidnapping
  • War themes

After the Forest by Kell Woods

1650: The Black Forest, Wurttemberg. Fifteen years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people recovering in the aftermath of a brutal war. Greta has a secret, the witch’s grimoire, secreted away and whispering in her ear, and the recipe inside that makes the most sinfully delicious – and addictive – gingerbread. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat. But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her intoxicating… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Animal cruelty (baiting)

Lore Olympus, Volume 5 by Rachel Smythe

An ingenious take on the Greek Pantheon, Lore Olympus is a modern update on the story of Hades and Persephone. Follow the propulsive love story of two Greek gods, told with lavish artwork and contemporary sensibilities.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking
  • Anxiety & depression
  • Murder
  • Blackmail

10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall

Sam Becker loves―or, okay, likes―his job. Sure, managing a bed and bath retailer isn’t exactly glamorous, but it’s good work and he gets on well with the band of misfits who keep the store running. He could see himself being content here for the long haul. Too bad, then, that the owner is an infuriating git. Jonathan Forest should never have hired Sam. It was a sentimental decision, and Jonathan didn’t get where he is by following his heart. Determined to set things right, Jonathan orders Sam down to London for a difficult talk, only for a panicking Sam to trip, bump.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Hospitalisation for concussion, on-page
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parent in a car accident recounted