rachel @ typed truths

The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer

The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer

In the spring of 1942, young Elzbieta Rabinek is aware of the swiftly growing discord just beyond the courtyard of her comfortable Warsaw home. She has no fondness for the Germans who patrol her streets and impose their curfews, but has never given much thought to what goes on behind the walls that contain her Jewish neighbors. She knows all too well about German brutality–and that it’s the reason she must conceal her true identity. But in befriending Sara, a nurse who shares her apartment floor, Elzbieta makes a discovery that propels her into a dangerous world of deception and heroism.

Using Sara’s credentials to smuggle children out of the ghetto brings Elzbieta face-to-face with the reality of the war behind its walls, and to the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Antisemitism
Rape
Sexual assault mentioned
Pregnancy
Starvation

Watcher in the Woods by Kelley Armstrong

Watcher in the Woods by Kelley Armstrong

The secret town of Rockton has seen some rocky times lately; understandable considering its mix of criminals and victims fleeing society for refuge within its Yukon borders. Casey Duncan, the town’s only detective on a police force of three, has already faced murder, arson and falling in love in less than the year that she’s lived there. Yet even she didn’t think it would be possible for an outsider to find and cause trouble in the town she’s come to call home.

When a US Marshal shows up in town demanding the release of one of the residents, Casey and her boyfriend, Sheriff Dalton, are skeptical. And yet only hours later, the marshal is shot dead… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Blood & gore depiction
Murder
Knife violence & stabbing
Gun violence
Physical assault

The F Team by Rawah Arja

The F Team by Rawah Arja

Meet Tariq Nader, leader of ‘The Wolf Pack’ at Punchbowl High, who has been commanded by the new principal to join a football competition with his mates in order to rehabilitate the public image of their school. When the team is formed, Tariq learns there’s a major catch – half of the team is made up of white boys from Cronulla, aka enemy territory – and he must compete with their strongest player for captaincy of the team.

At school Tariq thinks he has life all figured out until he falls for a new girl called Jamila, who challenges everything he thought he knew. At home, his outspoken ways have brought him into conflict with his family. Now, with complications on all fronts, he has to dig deep to control his anger, and find what it takes to be a leader.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & racial slurs
Islamomisia
Drug addiction mentioned
Cancer mentioned
Death of a parent recounted
Incarceration of a parent mentioned

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Zoe Archer

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Zoe Archer

Nana is on a road trip, but he is not sure where he is going. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved owner Satoru in the front seat of his silver van. Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn’t know why and Satoru won’t say.

Set against the backdrop of Japan’s changing seasons and narrated with a rare gentleness and humour, Nana’s story explores the wonder and thrill of life’s unexpected detours. It is about the value of friendship and solitude, and knowing when to give and when to take.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny
Miscarriage
Death of a parent
Car accident
Animal injury

Warrior by Zoe Archer

Warrior by Zoe Archer

The vicious attack Capt. Gabriel Huntley witnesses in a dark alley sparks a chain of events that will take him to the ends of the Earth and beyond—where what is real and what is imagined become terribly confused. And frankly, Huntley couldn’t be more pleased. Intrigue, danger, and a beautiful woman in distress—just what he needs.

Raised thousands of miles from England, Thalia Burgess is no typical Victorian lady. A good thing, because a proper lady would have no hope of recovering the priceless magical artifact Thalia is after. Huntley’s assistance might come in handy, though she has to keep him in the dark. But this distractingly handsome soldier isn’t easy to deceive…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Attempted rape
Explosions

The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black

It all starts when Jared Grace finds their great uncle’s book, Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastic World Around You and the Grace kids realize that they are not alone in their new house. Now the kids want to tell their story but the faeries will do everything they can to stop them.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Parental abandonment
Death of a pet (tadpoles)

Rebel by Zoe Archer

Rebel by Zoe Archer

Nathan Lesperance is used to being different. He is the first Native attorney in Vancouver, and welcome neither with white society nor his sometime tribe. Not to mention the powerful wildness he’s always felt inside him, too dangerous to set free. Then he met Astrid Bramfield and saw his like within her piercing eyes.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism

Scoundrel by Zoe Archer

Scoundrel by Zoe Archer

London Harcourt jumps at the chance to join her father on a voyage to the Greek isles, where she meets Bennett Day. Day is a ladies’ man, when he’s not dodging lethal attacks to protect the powers of the ancients from men like London’s father, who wants to subjugate the world’s magic to British rule.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Torture

Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate

Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate

Jackson and his family have fallen on hard times. There’s no more money for rent. And not much for food, either. His parents, his little sister, and their dog may have to live in their minivan. Again.

Crenshaw is a cat. He’s large, he’s outspoken, and he’s imaginary. He has come back into Jackson’s life to help him. But is an imaginary friend enough to save this family from losing everything?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Starvation
Homelessness discussed

The Only by Katherine Applegate

The Only by Katherine Applegate

In the beginning, Byx’s original quest was to discover if there were more of her kind, or if she was destined to become an endling—the last dairne alive. She did indeed find more dairnes, and along the way she also created allies among other creatures in her world, including humans, felivets, raptidons, and wobbyks.

But Byx and her new friends soon learned that it wasn’t just dairnes in jeopardy of extinction, but that everyone was at risk. With the world in unprecedented danger, Byx must rally creatures of all kinds to lead a revolution.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slavery
Murder
Knife violence & stabbing
Hostage situation
Battle scenes
Animal attack
Animal death