rachel @ typed truths

Identical by Ellen Hopkins

Identical by Ellen Hopkins

Kaeleigh and Raeanne are identical down to the dimple. As daughters of a district-court judge father and a politician mother, they are an all-American family—on the surface. Behind the facade each sister has her own dark secret, and that’s where their differences begin.

For Kaeleigh, she’s the misplaced focus of Daddy’s love, intended for a mother whose presence on the campaign trail means absence at home. All that Raeanne sees is Daddy playing a game of favorites—and she is losing. If she has to lose, she will do it on her own terms, so she chooses drugs, alcohol, and sex.

Secrets like the ones the twins are harboring are not meant to be kept—from each other or anyone else. Pretty soon it’s obvious that neither sister can handle it alone, and one sister must step up to save the other, but the question is—who?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Graphic paedophilia & child sexual abuse (on-page)
Incest
Rape & sexual assault (on-page)
Forced modelling for child pornorgraphy recounted
Cheating
Physical child abuse
Self-harm
Depression
Alcoholism
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Recreational drug use & abuse
Blood depiction
Emesis
Car accident

Burned by Ellen Hopkins

Burned by Ellen Hopkins

It all started with a dream. Nothing exceptional, just a typical fantasy about a boy, the kind of dream that most teen girls experience. But Pattyn Von Stratten is not like most teen girls. Raised in a religious—yet abusive—family, a simple dream may not be exactly a sin, but it could be the first step toward hell and eternal damnation.

This dream is a first step for Pattyn. But is it to hell or to a better life? For the first time Pattyn starts asking questions. Questions seemingly without answers—about God, a woman’s role, sex, love—mostly love. What is it? Where is it? Will she ever experience it? Is she deserving of it? … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Disownment*
Physical child abuse
Domestic abuse & violence
Suicide
Alcoholism & alcohol abuse
Alcohol consumption
Miscarriage
Car accident
Animal death & hunting

*Note: The protagonist’s half-brother is disowned by their father after he comes out as gay.

Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Crank. Glass. Ice. Crystal. Whatever you call it, it’s all the same: a monster. And once it’s got hold of you, this monster will never let you go.

Kristina thinks she can control it. Now with a baby to care for, she’s determined to be the one deciding when and how much, the one calling the shots. But the monster is too strong, and before she knows it, Kristina is back in its grips. She needs the monster to keep going, to face the pressures of day-to-day life. She needs it to feel alive.

Once again the monster takes over Kristina’s life and she will do anything for it, including giving up the one person who gives her the unconditional love she craves — her baby.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Substance addiction (theme)
Teen pregnancy

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted the ultimate act—suicide.

Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade. Tony, after suffering a painful childhood, can only find peace through pills. And Conner, outwardly, has the perfect life. But dig a little deeper and find a boy who is in constant battle with his parents, his life, himself.

In one instant each of these young people decided enough was enough. Now they have a second chance, and just maybe, with each other’s help, they can find their way to a better life—but only if they’re strong and can fight the demons that brought them here in the first place.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Queermisia
Sexual, emotional & physical abuse
Teacher-student relationship mentioned
Depression
Bipolar Disorder
Substance addiction
Suicide & attempted suicide (theme)
Self-harm
Abortion mentioned
Psychiatric hospitalisation
Murder

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Crank chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, and the “monster,” the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or “crank.” Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne’er-do-well father. While under the influence of the monster, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree, Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won’t, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Parental abandonment & neglect
Rape & rape by coercion
Self-harm
Substance addiction (theme)
Recreational drug abuse
Blood depiction & blood-drinking
Teen pregnancy
Incarceration

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

There are six things very wrong with my life:
1. I have one of those under-the-skin spots that will never come to a head but lurk in a red way for the next two years. 2. It is on my nose. 3. I have a three-year-old sister who may have peed somewhere in my room.
4. In fourteen days the summer hols will be over and then it will be back to Stalag 14 and Oberfuhrer Frau Simpson and her bunch of sadistic teachers. 5. I am very ugly and need to go into an ugly home. 6. I went to a party dressed as a stuffed olive.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Slut-shaming
Homomisia
Adult-minor relationships*
Anxiety

*Context : Romanticised relationship between a 14-year-old girl and a thirty-year-old man.

The Searcher by Tana French

The Searcher by Tana French

Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a remote Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force, and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But then a local kid comes looking for his help. His brother has gone missing, and no one, least of all the police, seems to care. Cal wants nothing to do with any kind of investigation, but somehow he can’t make himself walk away. Soon Cal will discover that even in the most idyllic small town, secrets lie hidden, people… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Domestic violence
Child abuse
Suicide mentioned
Recreational drug use
Gun violence
Animal death

The Witch Elm by Tana French

The Witch Elm by Tana French

Also known as The Wych Elm.

Mick “Scorcherˮ Kennedy is the star of the Dublin Murder Squad. He plays by the books and plays hard, and thatʼs how the biggest case of the year ends up in his hands.On one of the half-abandoned “luxuryˮ developments that litter Ireland, Patrick Spain and his two young children have been murdered. His wife, Jenny, is in intensive care. At first, Scorcher thinks itʼs going to be an easy solve, but too many small things canʼt be explained: the half-dozen baby monitors pointed at holes smashed in the Spainsʼ walls, the files erased from the familyʼs computer, the story Jenny told her sister about a shadowy intruder… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Sexual assault
Sexual harassment
Memory loss
Blood depiction
Cancer
Death of a friend recounted
Murder
Home invasion
Bullying

Broken Harbor by Tana French

Broken Harbor by Tana French

Mick “Scorcherˮ Kennedy is the star of the Dublin Murder Squad. He plays by the books and plays hard, and thatʼs how the biggest case of the year ends up in his hands.

On one of the half-abandoned “luxuryˮ developments that litter Ireland, Patrick Spain and his two young children have been murdered. His wife, Jenny, is in intensive care. At first, Scorcher thinks itʼs going to be an easy solve, but too many small things canʼt be explained: the half-dozen baby monitors pointed at holes smashed in the Spainsʼ walls, the files erased from the familyʼs computer, the story Jenny told her sister about a shadowy intruder slipping past the houseʼs locks. And this neighborhood—once called Broken Harbor—holds memories for Scorcher and his troubled sister, Dina: childhood memories that Scorcher thought he had tightly under control.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Suicide
Blood & gore depiction
Hospitalisation
Death of a child
Death of a parent
Murder

Faithful Place by Tana French

Faithful Place by Tana French

Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was a nineteen-year-old kid with a dream of escaping his familyʼs cramped flat on Faithful Place and running away to London with his girl, Rosie Daly. But on the night they were supposed to leave, Rosie didnʼt show. Frank took it for granted that sheʼd dumped him—probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again. Neither did Rosie. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosieʼs suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank, now a detective in the Dublin Undercover Squad, is going home whether he likes it or not.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Alcohol abuse
Murder