rachel @ typed truths

The Erasure Initiative by Lili Wilkinson

The Erasure Initiative by Lili Wilkinson

A girl wakes up on a self-driving bus. She has no memory of how she got there or who she is. Her nametag reads CECILY. The six other people on the bus are just like her: no memories, only nametags. There’s a screen on each seatback that gives them instructions. A series of tests begin, with simulations projected onto the front window of the bus. The passengers must each choose an outcome; majority wins. But as the testing progresses, deadly secrets are revealed, and the stakes get higher and higher. Soon Cecily is no longer just fighting for her freedom – she’s fighting for her life.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Self harm
Blood depiction
Amputation
Murder
Gun violence
Car accident

When It Drops by Alex Dyson

When It Drops by Alex Dyson

Caleb Clifford has earbuds, not real buds. And he prefers it that way. They always give him what he wants to hear, he can adjust the volume, and if things get tangled, it’s relatively easy to straighten them out again …

Sixteen-year-old songwriter and aspiring social outcast Caleb Clifford fills his world with music, but – like most things – keeps his songs to himself. That is until his little brother leaks Caleb’s most personal track online; a track that’s quite obviously about his secret crush. Having his innermost feelings (accompanied by a funky bassline) go viral is not Caleb’s idea of a good time. But is this the end of everything, or the start?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Cancer
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent recounted
Bullying recounted

Fin and Rye and Fireflies by Harry Cook

Fin & Rye & Fireflies by Harry Cook

Then, only a few days later, Fin’s world is turned upside down – and not in a good head-over-heels-in-love way – when Jesse cruelly outs him. An event which ultimately leads to his family leaving town.

But a fresh start isn’t going to change the truth of who Fin is. And it’s not going to stop his sexuality causing everyone all sorts of problems. Everyone, that is, apart from his new best friend Poppy, her girlfriend-in-waiting June, and his new crush Rye… So, while Fin and Rye are enjoying some seriously intimate moonlit moments together, Fin’s parents decide to pack him off to the local ReSouled ‘therapy camp’.

It’s a nightmare – and there’s no easy way out.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia
Transmisia
Conversion therapy
Anxiety & anxiety attacks
Alcohol consumption

Boy Queen by George Lester

Boy Queen by George Lester

While his friends prepare to head off to university, Robin is looking at a pile of rejection letters from drama schools up and down the country, and facing a future without the people he loves the most. Everything seems like it’s ending, and Robin is scrabbling to find his feet.

Unsure about what to do next and whether he has the talent to follow his dreams, he and his best friends go and drown their sorrows at a local drag show, where Robin realises there might be a different, more sequinned path for him . . .

With a mother who won’t stop talking, a boyfriend who won’t acknowledge him and a best friend who is dying to cover him in glitter make up, there’s only one thing for Robin to do: bring it to the runway.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Hate crimes
Physical assault

Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

All Evie wants is to be normal. She’s almost off her meds and at a new college where no one knows her as the girl-who-went-crazy. She’s even going to parties and making friends. There’s only one thing left to tick off her list…

But relationships are messy – especially relationships with teenage guys. They can make any girl feel like they’re going mad. And if Evie can’t even tell her new friends Amber and Lottie the truth about herself, how will she cope when she falls in love?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Anxiety
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Intrusive thoughts
Self harm
Alcohol abuse
Drug abuse

The Places I’ve Cried in Public by Holly Bourne

The Places I’ve Cried in Public by Holly Bourne

Amelie loved Reese. And she thought he loved her. But she’s starting to realise love isn’t supposed to hurt like this. So now she’s retracing their story and untangling what happened by revisiting all the places he made her cry.

Because if she works out what went wrong, perhaps she can finally learn to get over him.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Emotional & verbal abuse
Rape
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A Wicked Magic Is by Sasha Laurens

A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens

Dan and Liss are witches. The Black Book granted them that power. Harnessing that power feels good, especially when everything in their lives makes them feel powerless.

During a spell gone wrong, Liss’s boyfriend is snatched away by an evil entity and presumed dead. Dan and Liss’s friendship dies that night, too. How can they practice magic after the darkness that they conjured?

Months later, Liss discovers that her boyfriend is alive, trapped underground in the grips of an ancient force. She must save him, and she needs Dan and the power of The Black Book to do so… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Parental abuse
Statutory rape
Suicidal ideation
Self-harm
Religious cults

What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson

What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson

Jack Morton has nothing left. Except his younger brother, Matty, who he’d do anything for. Even die for. Now with their mother gone, and their funds quickly dwindling, Jack needs to make a choice: lose his brother to foster care, or find the drug money that sent his father to prison. He chooses the money.

Ava Bardem lives in isolation, a life of silence. For seventeen years her father has controlled her fate. He has taught her to love no one. Trust no one. Now Victor Bardem is stalking the same money as Jack. When he picks up Jack’s trail, Ava must make her own wrenching choice: remain silent or help the brothers survive.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Parental abuse
Suicide
Addiction
Blood & gore depiction
Animal death

Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli

Contrary to popular belief, best friends Kate Garfield and Anderson Walker are not codependent. Carpooling to and from theater rehearsals? Environmentally sound and efficient. Consulting each other on every single life decision? Basic good judgment. Pining for the same guys from afar? Shared crushes are more fun anyway. But when Kate and Andy’s latest long-distance crush shows up at their school, everything goes off script. Matt Olsson is talented and sweet, and Kate likes him. She really likes him. The only problem? So does Anderson. Turns out, communal crushes aren’t so fun when real feelings are involved.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Parental divorce mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Social Anxiety & panic attacks
Bullying

Infinity Reaper by Adam Silvera

Infinity Reaper by Adam Silvera

Emil and Brighton Rey defied the odds. They beat the Blood Casters and escaped with their lives–or so they thought. When Brighton drank the Reaper’s Blood, he believed it would make him invincible, but instead the potion is killing him. In Emil’s race to find an antidote that will not only save his brother but also rid him of his own unwanted phoenix powers, he will have to dig deep into the very past lives he’s trying to outrun. Though he needs the help of the Spell Walkers now more than ever, their ranks are fracturing, with Maribelle’s thirst for revenge sending her down a dangerous… Read more

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Anxiety & anxiety attacks
Depression
Blood & gore depiction
Death of a parent mentioned
Physical assault
Murder
Torture mentioned
Hostage situation
Animal cruelty & abuse