rachel @ typed truths

I Know Your Secret by Daphne Benedis-Grab

I Know Your Secret by Daphne Benedis-Grab

The email arrives Sunday night: Do exactly what I say, when I say it, or I will reveal your secret. On Monday morning, seventh graders Owen, Gemma, Ally, and Todd, who have nothing in common and barely know each other, must work together and follow the instructions of an anonymous blackmailer. None of them want to go along with the blackmailer’s instructions, but each of them have a secret they must protect at all costs. Set during a single day of school, the students race against the clock to complete a disquieting set of tasks, with fast-paced… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism mentioned
Misogyny mentioned
Adoption
Anxiety
Depression
COVID-19, discussed
Blackmail (theme)

A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel

A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Four walls. One window. No way to escape. Hannah knows there’s been a mistake. She didn’t need to be institutionalized. What happened to her roommate at her summer program was an accident. As soon as the doctors and judge figure out that she isn’t a danger to herself or others, she can go home to start her senior year. In the meantime, she is going to use her persuasive skills to get the staff on her side. Then Lucy arrives. Lucy has her own baggage. And she may be the only person who can get Hannah to confront the dangerous games and secrets that landed her in confinement in the first place.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Psychosis
Eating disorder
Suicide mentioned
Serious physical injury

Smash It by Francina Simone

Smash It! by Francina Simone

Olivia “Liv” James is done with letting her insecurities get the best of her. So she does what any self-respecting hot mess of a girl who wants to SMASH junior year does After Liv shows up to a Halloween party in khaki shorts–why, God, why?–she decides to set aside her wack AF ways. She makes a list–a F*ck-It list. 1. Be bold–do the thing that scares me. 2. Learn to take a compliment. 3. Stand out instead of back. She kicks it off by trying out for the school musical, saying yes to a date and making new friends. Life is great when you stop punking yourself! However, with change comes a lot of missteps, and being bold means… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Colourism
Physical child abuse
Alcohol consumption mentioned

Orpheus Girl by Brynne Rebele-Henry

Orpheus Girl by Brynne Rebele-Henry

Abandoned by a single mother she never knew, 16-year-old Raya—obsessed with ancient myths—lives with her grandmother in a small conservative Texas town. For years Raya has been forced to hide her feelings for her best friend and true love, Sarah. When the two are outed, they are sent to Friendly Saviors: a re-education camp meant to “fix” them and make them heterosexual. Upon arrival, Raya vows to assume the mythic role of Orpheus to escape Friendly Saviors, and to return to the world of the living with her love—only becoming more determined after she, Sarah, and Friendly Saviors’ other teen residents are subjected to abusive… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Transmisia
Deadnaming & misgendering
Lesbomisia & lesbomisic slurs
Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Outing
Conversion therapy (theme)
Nonconsensual electroshock therapy of a minor
Nightmares
Attempted suicide
Self harm
Starvation
Torture
Car accident
Animal death

Sir by NR Walker

Sir by N.R. Walker

Founded over four hundred years ago, Sanctus Infinitus Redemptio is a private and very elite society where dominance and submission are revered. Steeped in tradition and excellence, every Dominant and every submissive, and their pairing, are selected with great care. When Hunter Vargo is brought into the Sanctus, his need for strict dominance sees him paired with the wrong Master. But only a short time later, mistreated and his trust broken, he’s recalled, his collar removed. The Grand Master knows it will take a special kind of Dominant to restore the sub’s faith and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Animal attack mentioned
Bullying mentioned

Our Little World by Karen Winn

Our Little World by Karen Winn

July 1985. It’s a normal, sweltering New Jersey summer for soon-to-be seventh grader Bee Kocsis. Her thoughts centre only on sunny days spent at Deer Chase Lake, evenings chasing fireflies around her cul-de-sac with the neighbourhood kids, and Max, the boy who just moved in across the street. That and the burgeoning worry that she’ll never be as special as her younger sister, Audrina, who seems to effortlessly dazzle wherever she goes. But when Max’s little sister, Sally, goes missing at the lake, Bee’s long-held illusion of stability is shattered in an instant… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Cheating
Diabetes
Kidnapping

The Kinder Poison by Natalie Mae

The Kinder Poison by Natalie Mae

Zahru has long dreamed of leaving the kingdom of Orkena and having the kinds of adventures she’s only ever heard about in stories. But as a lowly Whisperer, her power to commune with animals means that her place is serving in the royal stables until the day her magic runs dry. All that changes when the ailing ruler invokes the Crossing: a death-defying race across the desert, in which the first of his heirs to finish—and take the life of a human sacrifice at the journey’s end—will ascend to the throne and be granted unparalleled abilities. With all the kingdoms… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Alcoholism
Murder

Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things by Jacqueline Firkins

Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things by Jacqueline Firkins

Mansfield, Massachusetts is the last place seventeen-year-old Edie Price wants to spend her final summer before college. It’s the home of wealthy suburbanites and prima donnas like Edie’s cousins, who are determined to distract her from her mother’s death with cute boys and Cinderella-style makeovers. Edie has her own plans, and they don’t include a prince charming. But as Edie dives into schoolwork and applying for college scholarships, she finds herself drawn to two Mansfield boys who start vying for her attention. First there’s Sebastian, Edie’s childhood friend… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Fatmisia
Parental abandonment
Foster care system
Alcohol consumption
Death of a parent

After Sundown edited by Mark Morris

After Sundown edited by Mark Morris

This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in the genre, and 4 of which have been selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window. It is the first of what will hopefully become an annual, non-themed horror anthology of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Rape & gang rape
Child abuse
Domestic abuse
Alcohol & drug abuse
Torture