rachel @ typed truths

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

On the Same Page by Penelope Janu

By day Miles Franklin, named after the famous author, is a successful lawyer. By night, in secret, she writes historical romance novels under the pen name Emma Browning. When ‘Emma’s’ novels win one of Australia’s biggest literary awards, Miles’s perfectly ordered life begins to unthread at the bindings. Especially when Lars Kristensen, CEO of the publishing company contracted to publish the prize-winning books, insists on meeting the author. Besides mutual antipathy and sexual attraction, socially anxious Miles and supremely confident Lars have nothing in common. Nothing. But the more time they spend together, the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Anxiety
Bullying recounted

Nightfall by Penelope Douglas

What happens when it’s five against one and nowhere to run? They call it Blackchurch. A secluded mansion in a remote, undisclosed location where the wealthy and powerful send their misbehaving sons to cool off away from prying eyes. Will Grayson has always been an animal, though. Reckless, wild, and someone who was never bound by a single rule other than to do exactly what he wanted. There was no way his grandfather was going risk him humiliating the family again. Not that the last time was entirely his fault. He might’ve enjoyed backing me into corners in high school when no one was looking, so they wouldn’t catch on… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Physical & verbal sibling abuse
Murder
Bullying

Misconduct by Penelope Douglas

Former tennis player Easton Bradbury is trying to be the best teacher she can be, trying to reach her bored students, trying to forget her past. What brought her to this stage in her life isn’t important. She can’t let it be. But now one parent-teacher meeting may be her undoing. Meeting Tyler Marek for the first time makes it easy for Easton to see why his son is having trouble in school. The man knows how to manage businesses and wealth but not a living, breathing teenage boy. Or a young teacher, for that matter, though he tries to. And yet there is something about him that… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Death of a parent
Death of a sibling
Stalking

Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

Clay: Marymount girls are good girls. We’re chaste, we’re untouched, and even if we weren’t, no one would know, because we keep our mouths shut. Not that I have anything to share anyway. I never let guys go too far. I’m behaved. Beautiful, smart, talented, popular, my skirt’s always pressed, and I never have a hair out of place. I own the hallways, walking tall on Monday and dropping to my knees like the good Catholic girl I am on Sunday. That’s me. Always in control. Or so they think. The truth is that it’s easy for me to resist them, because what I truly want, they can never be. Something soft and smooth. Someone dangerous and wild…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Homomisia & internalized homomisia
Fatmisia & body shaming
Intimate partner violence mentioned
Revenge porn*
Staff-student relationship*
Parental infidelity mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Smoking mentioned
Abortion mentioned
Emesis
Death of a mother from suicide recounted
Death of a father from a heart attack recounted
Death of a brother from leukaemia
Bullying

*Context : The protagonist filmed a secondary character during a sexual experience and uploaded the video to the internet. A school employee has a ‘consensual ‘ sexual relationship with an underage student.