Author Archives: rachel @ typed truths

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

Only She Came Back by Margot Harrison

On July 28 at 6:30 p.m., Kiri Dunsmore walks out of the desert wearing her boyfriend’s sweatshirt, covered in his blood. Dazed and on the verge of unconsciousness, she tells a cashier that he’s still out there and most likely dead. The disappearance of Callum Massey, a “survival guru” with hundreds of thousands of YouTube followers, rocks the nation. And Kiri is a prime suspect. Back in Kiri’s hometown, true-crime fanatic Sam   is completely hooked on the case—especially now that she recognizes the suspect as shy Katie from high school. Although they didn’t know each other well… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fat-shaming mentioned
  • Emotional abuse
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Dieting and disordered eating
  • Animal death (chicken), off-page

An Echo in the City by K.X. Song

Sixteen-year-old Phoenix knows her parents have invested thousands of dollars to help her leave Hong Kong and get an elite Ivy League education. They think America means big status, big dreams, and big bank accounts. But Phoenix doesn’t want big; she just wants home. The trouble is, she doesn’t know where that is … until the Hong Kong protest movement unfolds, and she learns the city she’s come to love is in danger of disappearing. Seventeen-year-old Kai sees himself as an artist, not a filial son, and certainly not a cop. But when his mother dies, he’s forced to leave… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Sexual harassment
  • Police brutality

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

Sally cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died. Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say. But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally’s life will be thrown into chaos once again

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Child abuse

The Summer Girl by Elle Kennedy

College student Cassie Soul hasn’t spent an entire summer in Avalon Bay in years, not since her parents divorced and her mother spitefully whisked her away to Boston. Now that her grandmother is selling the boardwalk hotel that’s been in their family for five decades, Cassie returns to the quaint beach town to spend time with family, ring in her twenty-first birthday… and maybe find herself a summer fling. On her first night in town, she finds the perfect candidate: Tate Bartlett, Avalon Bay’s fun-loving golden boy. Tate, sailing instructor and lovable player, is no stranger to flings. In fact, he’s always down for a good… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Body shaming
  • Parental infidelity recounted
  • Miscarriage mentioned

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

They left Earth to save humanity. They’ll have to save themselves first. It is the eve of Earth’s environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity’s last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect. Asuka already felt like an impostor before the explosion. She was the last picked for the mission, she struggled during training back on Earth, and she was chosen to represent Japan…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Miscarriage & fertility issues
  • Death of a child
  • Terrorism

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. Josie’s life appears to… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Paedophilia & adult-minor relationships
  • Child abuse
  • Alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Emesis mentioned
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Stalking mentioned

Damned If You Do by Alex Brown

Seven years ago, Cordelia Scott’s abusive father left without a word, and life has been normal ever since. The seventeen-year-old spends her days stage managing the school play (which is going great, if anyone asks), pining over her best friend, Veronica, and failing one too many pop quizzes. She’s never been sad that her father left, but she knows something is…missing. When her school guidance counsellor, Fred, reveals during a session that he’s actually a demon, she learns that something is indeed a piece of her actual soul. Why? She unwittingly made a deal with him to… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Murder
  • Fire

Mister Magic by Kiersten White

Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. But just as generations of cultishly devoted fans still cling to the lessons they learned from the show, the cast, known as the Circle of Friends, have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. The friendship. The feeling of belonging. And the protection of Mister Magic. But with no surviving video of the show, no evidence of who directed or produced it, and no records of who—or what—the beloved host actually was, memories… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Homomisia
  • Child abuse
  • Conversion therapy mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Body horror
  • Death of a child
  • Kidnapping

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan

Sloan and Cherry. Cherry and Sloan. They met only a few days before masked men with machetes attacked the summer camp where they worked, a massacre that left the rest of their fellow counsellors dead. Now, months later, the two are inseparable, their traumatic experience bonding them in ways no one else can understand. But as new evidence comes to light and Sloan learns more about the motives behind the ritual killing that brought them together, she begins to suspect that her girlfriend may be more than just a survivor—she may actually have been a part of it. Cherry tries to reassure her, but Sloan only… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Blood depiction
  • Animal cruelty, off-page

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

Laure Mesny is a perfectionist with an axe to grind. Despite being constantly overlooked in the elite and cutthroat world of the Parisian ballet, she will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take center stage. To level the playing field, Laure ventures deep into the depths of the Catacombs and strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood. The primordial power Laure gains promises influence and adoration, everything she’s dreamed of and worked toward. With retribution on her mind, she surpasses her bitter and privileged peers, leaving broken bodies behind her on her climb to stardom. But even as undeniable as she is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Classism
  • Parental abandonment
  • Self-harm