rachel @ typed truths

Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip

Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip

Falsely accused of murder, Xiang Xiang’s father is executed, and her mother forced into a Buddhist nunnery. Xiang Xiang, alone and friendless at thirteen years old, is tricked into entering the Peach Blossom Pavilion, where she is given the name Bao Lan – Precious Orchid.

There she is trained in the fine arts of womanhood, studying music, literature, painting, and more importantly, the art of seduction and pleasuring men; and becomes one of China’s most successful courtesans.

However, Precious Orchid is determined to avenge her parents and sets out on a journey to achieve the justice she has sought so long.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Graphic rape
Sex work
Graphic abuse
Suicide
Murder

Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon

Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon

When Sunny Dae—self-proclaimed total nerd—meets Cirrus Soh, he can’t believe how cool and confident she is. So when Cirrus mistakes Sunny’s older brother Gray’s bedroom—with its electric guitars and rock posters—for Sunny’s own, he sort of, kind of, accidentally winds up telling her he’s the front man of a rock band.

Before he knows it, Sunny is knee-deep in the lie: He ropes his best friends into his scheme, begging them to form a fake band with him, and starts wearing Gray’s rock-and-roll castoffs. But no way can he trick this amazing girl into thinking he’s cool, right? Just when Sunny is about to come clean, Cirrus asks to see them play sometime. Gulp… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Alcohol consumption
Car accident
Bullying

Banana Fish, Vol 2 by Akimi Yoshida

Banana Fish, Vol 2 by Akimi Yoshida

Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful; nurture made him a cold ruthless killer. A runaway brought up as the adopted heir and sex toy of “Papa” Dino Golzine, Ash, now at the rebellious age of seventeen, forsakes the kingdom held out by the devil who raised him. But the hideous secret that drove Ash’s older brother mad in Vietnam has suddenly fallen into Papa’s insatiably ambitious hands–and it’s exactly the wrong time for Eiji Okamura, a pure-hearted young photographer from Japan, to make Ash Lynx’s acquaintance…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Rape mentioned
Child pornography mentioned
Murder

His Holiday Crush by Cari Z.

His Holiday Crush by Cari Z.

Workaholic attorney Max Robertson is one meeting away from making partner at a big NYC firm when his best friend calls and guilts him into coming back home for Christmas. But there’s a reason he hasn’t been back to Edgewood for a decade—too many bad memories. The plan was to go for just one night, until a wild deer and a snow bank wrecked everything.

Former Army Sergeant Dominic “Nicky” Bell is the new guy on the Edgewood police force, so of course he drew the short straw and is stuck working the night shift. But his evening gets turned upside-down when he gets called out to a wreck in the snow—and it’s his one and only high school crush, looking even sexier than he did back then… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Parental abandonment
Alcohol consumption
Heart attack mentioned
Death of a classmate in a drunk-driving incident recounted
Car accident
Death of a military service dog mentioned

Camp by Lev AC Rosen

Camp by Lev A.C. Rosen

Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It’s where he met his best friends. It’s where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And it’s where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim – who’s only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists.

This year, though, it’s going to be different. Randy has reinvented himself as ‘Del’ – buff, masculine, and on the market. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail polish, and his unicorn bedsheets, he’s determined to get Hudson to fall for him… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia, internalised homomisia & homomisic slurs
Bimisia
Transmisia
Death of a grandparent, off-page
Bullying

The Wysman by Dorothy A Winsor

The Wysman by Dorothy A. Winsor

Former street kid Jarka was born with a crooked foot and uses a crutch, but that no longer matters now that he’s an apprentice Wysman, training to advise the king. When poor kids start to go missing from the city’s streets, though, Jarka suspects that whatever’s causing the disappearances comes from the castle.

Now he needs to watch his step or risk losing the position he fought so hard to win… but when someone close to him becomes the latest victim, Jarka knows he’s running out of time. His search takes him from diving into ancient history to standing up to those who want to beat or bleed the magic out of him… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & internalised ableism
Physical assault

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

Los Angeles, 1992

Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year and they’re spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. They can already feel the sunny days and endless possibilities of summer.

Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Lesbomisia
Homomisia
Racism & racist slurs
Colourism
Parental abse
Domestic abuse
Cheating
Sexual harassment
Attempted suicide mentioned
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Recreational drug use & abuse
Blood depiction & physical injuries
AIDS mentioned
Riots
Police brutality & racial profiling
Gun violence
Lynching
Physical assault
Wildfires

Foxen Bloom by Parker Foye

Foxen Bloom by Parker Foye

Season after season, hunters have attempted to capture the white-tailed stag. Local legend holds that its capture promises prosperity, and in a land that is dying—to hunger, to war; to a magical curse, some say—even a whisper of hope is a powerful lure. Yet every hunter who tries fails, never to leave the forest. Fenton, god of the forest, yet imprisoned within its borders, watches from his place in the trees as the hunters first despoil and then fall to his land, dispassionate as his deadwood heart.

Prior doesn’t hope to capture the stag or secure prosperity. He has a far bolder hunt in mind: to entreat the god of the forest to save his sister from the sickness sweeping the land… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Self harm
Blood depiction & physical injury
Body horror
Emesis
Pandemic (contagious magical illness)
Kidnapping
Animal death

Love’s Recipe by Mila Nicks

Love’s Recipe by Mila Nicks

Can two strangers down on their luck discover the flavor of love?

Rosalie Underwood is a broke, recently divorced single mother. After she’s forced to return to her hometown St. Aster, Louisiana, she lands a waitressing job at Ady’s Creole Café. Life’s not done giving her lemons just yet, though. Ady’s Creole Café is on the brink of going out of business. If Rosalie hopes to recover from her disastrous marriage and keep her job, she must figure out a way to save the restaurant. But the only question is how?… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Depression, mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother

Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron

Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron

Reena Manji doesn’t love her career, her single status, and most of all, her family inserting themselves into every detail of her life. But when caring for her precious sourdough starters, Reena can drown it all out. At least until her father moves his newest employee across the hall–with hopes that Reena will marry him.

But Nadim’s not like the other Muslim bachelors-du-jour that her parents have dug up. If the Captain America body and the British accent weren’t enough, the man appears to love eating her bread creations as much as she loves making them. She sure as hell would never marry a man who works for her father, but friendship with a neighbor is okay, right? … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Eating disorder recounted & disordered food thoughts
Cheating mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use mentioned
Pregnancy mentioned
Cancer mentioned
Death of a mother mentioned