rachel @ typed truths

We Are Family by LeBron James and Andrea Williams

We Are Family by LeBron James and Andrea Williams

Jayden Carr has been training all summer to be ready for Hoop Group–the free afterschool basketball program where his hero, NBA superstar Kendrick King, got his start. But when his beloved coach tells him there’s not going to be a Hoop Group this year, Jayden is heartbroken. And he’s not the only one. Coach Beck’s daughter, Tamika, was planning to be the first girl ever to start for the squad. Chris King, Kendrick’s only nephew, spent the summer bragging that his uncle was coming home just to watch him play. For Anthony Pierson, Hoop Group was supposed to be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Domestic violence mentioned
Parkinson’s disease mentioned

A Thousand Doors edited by JT Ellison

A Thousand Doors edited by J.T. Ellison

with contributions from Kimberly Belle, Laura Benedict, A.F. Brady, Patti Callahan Henry, Paige Crutcher, Rebecca Drake, Heather Gudenkauf, Joy Jordan-Lake, Alisha Klapheke, Ariel Lawhon, Kerry Lonsdale, Catherine McKenzie, Kate Moretti, Lisa Patton and Kaira Rouda

We’ve all played the “what if” game. For forty-year-old Mia Jensen, “what if” is a fact of life. Dissatisfied with her choices, she often dreams about what could have been. Now she has the chance to know. But that knowledge will cost her dearly. Only through death can she fully realize the value of her life. After a terrible day, trying to figure out how she’s come to this point—alone, on the cusp of divorce––Mia hears a strange noise in her kitchen. When she investigates, she is attacked and left for dead. As Mia dies, she experiences some of the lives that could have been hers had she only… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Blood & injury depiction
Knife violence

The Lady of Galway Manor by Jennifer Deibel

The Lady of Galway Manor by Jennifer Deibel

In 1920, Annabeth De Lacy’s father is appointed landlord of Galway Parish in Ireland. Bored without all the trappings of the British Court, Annabeth convinces her father to arrange an apprenticeship for her with the Jennings family–descendants of the creator of the famed Claddagh Ring. Stephen Jennings longs to do anything other than run his family’s jewellery shop. Having had his heart broken, he no longer believes in love and is weary of peddling the ÒliesÓ the Claddagh Ring promises. Meanwhile, as the war for… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Gambling addiction
Death of a parent
Arson

The Blade Between by Sam J. Miller

The Blade Between by Sam J. Miller

Ronan Szepessy promised himself he’d never return to Hudson. The sleepy upstate town was no place for a restless gay photographer. But his father is ill and New York City’s distractions have become too much for him. He hopes that a quick visit will help him recharge. Ronan reconnects with two friends from high school: Dom, his first love, and Dom’s wife, Attalah. The three former misfits mourn what their town has become—overrun by gentrifiers and corporate interests. With friends and neighbours getting evicted en masse and a mayoral election coming up, Ronan and Attalah craft a plan to rattle the newcomers and expose… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Queermisia
Suicide
Drug abuse
Arson

Sweet Like a Psycho by Ivy Smoak

Sweet Like a Psycho by Ivy Smoak

To most people, suburbia is synonymous with good school districts, manicured lawns, and friendly neighbours. But you can never really tell what’s hiding behind those white picket fences and smiling faces. I mean, we all have secrets. The kid down the street steals lawn gnomes. The woman on the corner is having an affair. And me? I’m a murderer. At least…that’s what everyone thinks. Because that’s the other thing about the suburbs. Rumours spread like wildfire. Handsome detectives start poking around. Houses explode. You know…the usual. Yes, I have secrets. But… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Murder
Bullying

Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey

Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey

Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family’s winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to their small town. When Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she’ll finally get that smooch. But the grumpy professor isn’t the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly. One wine-fueled girls’ night later, Hallie can’t shake the sense that she did something reckless–and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment
Panic attacks recounted, off-page
Grief & loss depiction
Death of grandmother, off-page
Wildfire and the related property damage and financial difficulties for a sibling recounted

Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

In 2011, Marie Claire magazine published a profile of Janet Mock in which she stepped forward for the first time as a trans woman. Those 2300 words were life-altering for the People.com editor, turning her into an influential and outspoken public figure and a desperately needed voice for an often voiceless community. In these pages, she offers a bold and inspiring perspective on being young, multicultural, economically challenged, and transgender in America. Welcomed into the world as her parents’ firstborn son, Mock decided early on that she would be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Transmisia
Racism
Gender dysphoria
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Sex work
Cheating
Child abuse & neglect
Self-harm
Alcoholism
Substance addiction
Emesis
Gun violence

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Donte wishes he were invisible. As one of the few black boys at Middlefield Prep, he feels as if he is constantly swimming in whiteness. Most of the students don’t look like him. They don’t like him either. Dubbed the “Black Brother,” Donte’s teachers and classmates make it clear they wish he were more like his lighter skinned brother, Trey. Quiet, obedient. When an incident with “King” Alan leads to Donte’s arrest and suspension, he knows the only way to get even is to beat the king of the school at his own game: fencing. With the help of a former Olympic fencer, Donte embarks on a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Police brutality
Bullying

The Empire of Dreams by Rae Carson

The Empire of Dreams by Rae Carson

Even though Red Sparkle Stone is a foundling orphan with an odd name and a veiled past, she’s about to be adopted into the royal family—by Empress Elisa herself. Sixteen-year-old Red can hardly believe her luck. Then, in a stunning political masterstroke, the empress’s greatest rival blocks the adoption, and Red is left with no family and no future. Grieving and lost, but determined to find her place, Red hatches a daring plan: she will prove herself as a recruit for the world’s most elite fighting force, the legendary Royal Guard—something no woman has done before… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Child abuse
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret. She’s a Telepath—someone who hears the thoughts of everyone around her. It’s a talent she’s never known how to explain. Everything changes the day she meets Fitz, a mysterious boy who appears out of nowhere and also reads minds. She discovers there’s a place she does belong, and that staying with her family will place her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a place that is vastly different from anything she has ever known. Sophie has new rules to learn… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Drugging
Kidnapping
Fire