Author Archives: rachel @ typed truths

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

Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin

Bennett Sharp is on the run. Wanted for piracy, she fears neither God nor death nor man. Except Priest Farrell. The unfaithful, stormy-eyed libertine hunts her with terrifying possessiveness. Nothing will stop him from coming for her. Not his unforgivable betrayal. Not when she’s captured by the ice-cold pirate hunter, Lord Ashley Cutler. She must escape Ashley’s prison and Priest’s deceit. But can she walk away from their twisted desires? Two gorgeous captains stand on opposite sides of the law. When they collide in a battle to protect her, the lines blur between… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Graphic rape & sexual assault
  • Infertility
  • Murder & torture

When Rain Turns to Snow by Jane Godwin

Lissa is home on her own after school one afternoon when a stranger turns up on the doorstep carrying a baby. Reed is on the run – surely people are looking for him? He’s trying to find out who he really is and thinks Lissa’s mum might have some answers. But how could he be connected to Lissa’s family – and why has he been left in charge of a baby? A baby who is sick, and getting sicker… Reed’s appearance stirs up untold histories in Lissa’s family, and suddenly she is having to make sense of her past in a way she would never have imagined. Meanwhile, her brother is dealing with a devastating secret of his own.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Substance addiction mentioned
  • Bullying & cyberbullying

Booted by Pam Godwin

The night I’m released from prison, she’s in my bed. It’s been eight years since I touched a woman, and the Native American beauty is half-dressed, beaten, bruised, and devastatingly exquisite. We’re toxic together, but we want the same things. Blood. Vengeance. Violent relief in a warm body. Beneath her touch, I’m alive. Against her skin, I’m redeemed. Buried inside her, I forget the past. Until the past takes her from me. Prison made me cold, but losing Raina makes me cruel. Ruthless. Unforgiving. I killed before. For her, I’ll kill again. I’ll end this once and for all or die in my boots.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Murder recounted
  • Imprisonment recounted

Dark Notes by Pam Godwin

They call me a slut. Maybe I am. Sometimes I do things I despise. Sometimes men take without asking. But I have a musical gift, only a year left of high school, and a plan.
With one obstacle. Emeric Marceaux doesn’t just take.
He seizes my will power and bangs it like a dark note.
When he commands me to play, I want to give him everything. I kneel for his punishments, tremble for his touch, and risk it all for our stolen moments. He’s my obsession, my master, my music. And my teacher…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sibling abuse (protagonist)
  • Rape of a minor (multiple, protagonist)
  • Underrage sex work mentioned
  • Adult-minor teacher-student relationship (theme) between a 17-year-old high school student and her 27-year-old music teacher & mentor
  • Parent with substance addiction (protagonist)
  • Poverty (protagonist)

The Chemistry of Familiar Objects by Alexandra Vasti

57 Gresham Street is the most incendiary building in London. Upstairs, unconventional chemist Emmeline Starling uses combustion to solve scientific mysteries. Downstairs, buttoned-up children’s book printer Robert Vane tries very hard not to panic when the ceiling catches on fire. And when these two opposing forces are contained within one small building? Explosions are just the beginning. After two years of putting up with Robert Vane’s scowls, his precious rules, and the infuriating cleft in his chin, Emmeline has seized upon a solution to the problem of sharing 57 Gresham: she’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Gun violence
  • War themes

In Which Winnie Halifax Is Utterly Ruined by Alexandra Vasti

In 1811, Winifred Wallace told one tiny lie. To secure her future as an independent sheep farmer, she invented an estranged husband named Mr. Spencer Halifax and forged their marriage record. Ten years later, her deception catches up with her: in the form of the disturbingly real, distressingly attractive earl on her doorstep. Spencer Halifax wants to set a good example for his beloved hellion sisters. Ever since their father’s death, he’s tried to play the role of steady, sensible earl—and involving himself with a moderately felonious sheep farmer is decidedly not sensible. But Winnie’s unfettered passion and fierce self-reliance… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Incarceration

In Which Matilda Halifax Learns the Value of Restraint by Alexandra Vasti

For seven years, Matilda Halifax and her twin have been the most scandalous ladies in London. But when Matilda accidentally sells erotic drawings of the brooding, reclusive Marquess of Ashford, she has—perhaps—gone a bit too far. Christian de Bord, Lord Ashford, knows what it’s like to be notorious. Ever since he was accused of murdering his wife, prurient gossip has kept him isolated from society, alone and determined to protect his adolescent sister Bea. But when Matilda Halifax’s salacious pamphlet appears—featuring his own damned face!—he’s thrust back into the storm of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault recounted
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Death of a spouse recounted

In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation by Alexandra Vasti

The Halifax Hellions are the most scandalous, outrageous, ungovernable ladies in London. From the day of their debut—in which Matilda smoked a cheroot and Margo tied a cherry stem in a knot with her tongue—they’ve turned the ton upside down. But when Matilda elopes with a dangerous aristocrat, Margo must stop her twin before this new misadventure becomes a permanent marriage. For help, Margo turns to her brother’s best friend—because if anyone can get them to Scotland in time, it’s starchy solicitor Henry Mortimer. Henry Mortimer has precisely… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Carriage accident

Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti

Peter Kent―newly inherited Duke of Stanhope and recently of New Orleans, Louisiana―must become respectable. Between his radical politics and the time he interrupted a minor royal wedding with a flock of sheep―not his fault!―he’s developed a scandalous reputation at odds with his goal of becoming guardian to his half siblings. For help, he turns to the cleverest and most managing woman of his acquaintance, Lady Selina Ravenscroft. Selina is society’s most proper debutante, save one tiny secret: she runs an erotic circulating library for women. When Peter… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Child with near-fatal illness (on-page)
  • Death of a parent & sibling recounted

Earl Crush by Alexandra Vasti

For three years, wallflower heiress Lydia Hope-Wallace has anonymously penned seditious pamphlets. And for almost as long, she’s corresponded with the Earl of Strathrannoch, whose political ambition is matched only by his charm. When Arthur’s latest letter reveals his dire financial straits, Lydia sets out for Scotland to offer him the only salvation she can think of—a marriage of convenience. To, um, herself. Unfortunately, the Earl of Strathrannoch has no idea who she is. .When a bewitching redheaded stranger offers him her hand in marriage, Arthur Baird is stunned—but… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abuse recounted
  • Social Anxiety (protagonist)
  • Gun violence