Author Archives: rachel @ typed truths

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

The Chaos of Standing Still by Jessica Brody

The Chaos of Standing Still by Jessica Brody

Ryn Gilbert’s life changed irrevocably a year ago when her best friend, Lottie, was behind the wheel of a T-boned car. Ryn has held onto many things ever since, including one text message that allows her to keep Lottie near— it has gotten to the point that she questions her own sanity, and even keeps her therapist from knowing that she still sees and speaks to her friend. Ryn Gilbert’s life changed irrevocably a year ago when her best friend, Lottie, was behind the wheel of a T-boned car. Ryn has held onto many things ever since, including one text message that allows… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Panic attacks
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Car accident

For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

For the Wolf by Hannah F. Whitten

As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods. Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again. But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental emotional abuse & neglect
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Audio & visual hallucinations
  • Self-harm for magic (cutting)
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent

The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

Paris has survived the Great Houses War – just. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens continue to live, love, fight and survive in their war-torn city, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over the once grand capital. House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, lies in disarray. Its magic is alluring; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Mutilation
  • Torture
  • Colonialism

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire. But Akaran has its own secrets… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Sexual assault by coercion
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Arranged marriage
  • Forced attempted suicide
  • Stillbirth mentioned
  • Blood & genital mutilation mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a mother
  • Torture mentioned
  • Captivity
  • Bullying
  • War themes

The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove

The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove

Mal and the crew take receipt of a sealed crate which they are being paid to transport to Badger, no questions asked. Yet once their cargo is safely stowed aboard, River insists Mal should “space” it out of the airlock, for it contains, she insists, ghosts. With supplies running low, the crew desperately need another pay day, but soon find themselves paralysed by hallucinations of their deepest hopes and desires, so vivid they cannot be distinguished from reality. River is the only one unaffected, and desperately tries to awaken her crew mates, while the fantasies turn sour, and the ship begins to spin out of control.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Human trafficking
  • Torture

Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting

Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting

IHaving just broken up with her boyfriend, London Spark is not in the mood to be hit on. Especially not when she’s out celebrating her single status with her sisters. So when a very attractive man pays for their drinks and then slips her his number, she passes it right back to him with a ‘thanks, but no thanks’. As the business administrator for their family’s event hotel, the Spark House, London has more important things to worry about, like bringing in new clientele. As luck would have it, a multi-million-dollar company calls a few months later asking for a metting to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Cancer mentioned
  • Car accident mentioned

All My Mother’s Lovers by Ilana Masad

All My Mother’s Lovers by Ilana Masad

Intimacy has always eluded twenty-seven-year-old Maggie Krause—despite being brought up by married parents, models of domestic bliss—until, that is, Lucia came into her life. But when Maggie’s mom, Iris, dies in a car crash, Maggie returns home only to discover a withdrawn dad, an angry brother, and, along with Iris’s will, five sealed envelopes, each addressed to a mysterious man she’s never heard of. In an effort to run from her own grief and discover the truth about Iris—who made no secret of her discomfort with her daughter’s sexuality—Maggie embarks on… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Transmisia
  • Homomisia
  • Domestic violence discussed

Every Last Secret by AR Torre

Every Last Secret by A.R. Torre

Welcome to the neighborhood. Watch your husband, watch your friends, and watch your back. Cat Winthorpe has worked hard to get what she has: a gorgeous home; social standing; and William, her successful, handsome husband. Then a friendly new couple moves into the estate next door. While cautious, a good neighbor like Cat greets them with open arms and warm hospitality. Neena Ryder isn’t a fellow lady of leisure. A life coach with off-the-rack dresses, personal issues, and a husband who hasn’t delivered, she’s anxious to move up in the world… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Abortion

Kid Gloves by Lucy Knisley

Kid Gloves by Lucy Knisley

If you work hard enough, if you want it enough, if you’re smart and talented and “good enough,” you can do anything. Except get pregnant. Her whole life, Lucy Knisley wanted to be a mother. But when it was finally the perfect time, conceiving turned out to be harder than anything she’d ever attempted. Fertility problems were followed by miscarriages, and her eventual successful pregnancy plagued by health issues, up to a dramatic, near-death experience during labor and delivery.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Pregnancy & pregnancy complications (theme)
  • Miscarriage

The Next Together by Lauren James

The Next Together by Lauren James

Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again, century after century. Each time, their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated. Spanning the Crimean War, the Siege of Carlisle and the near-future of 2019 and 2039 they find themselves sacrificing their lives to save the world. But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace? Maybe the next together will be different…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Teen pregnancy
  • Explosion
  • Gun violence
  • Crimean War