Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books and Dani @ Literary Lion. Discussions pertain to topics related to reading or books. Share your opinions, and spread the love by visiting other “Let’s Talk Bookish” posts.

Prompts: Everyone has different reactions to triggers; what is yours? Do you have measures in place to help you avoid books that could potentially trigger you? If you get triggered without previously knowing there would be a trigger, do you still care to finish the book? Does it affect your eventual rating/review? Have you ever read a book knowing that something within it would trigger you?

The bookish community’s openness about their triggers have helped me be comfortable with sharing my own. I don’t have to feel bad about choosing to not read a book because it contains content that may be triggering. I tend to stay away from books that contain cheating and abuse as much as I can, but I have read books that contain those triggers as well.

I don’t have any specific measures in place, nor do I actively seek out trigger warnings. If the book or the reviews include warnings, I do pay attention to them. Additionally, I appreciate the rise of content warnings from bloggers, and the Book Trigger Warnings wiki has been helpful.

If I know ahead of time, I will likely stay away from the book. On the other hand, if there were no warnings ahead of time and I’ve already started the book, there is a higher probability that I may choose to finish reading it. Finishing the book depends on how prevalent the trigger is. For instance, I’ve read a book by a favorite author without knowing ahead there was cheating. Because the author is one I like and the book had been good so far, I went ahead and finished it. The book ended up being great even if I had some discomfort due to the trigger. Additionally, I thought it was addressed well. Of course, this has not always been the case and I’ve either skimmed the book to find out the ending or DNF’ed and pretended it doesn’t exist.

If the book has triggers, I try to ensure it is disclosed in my review, because I am sure it has contributed to my rating, whether explicitly or implicitly, in some way.

Thoughts? Do you have measures in place when a book has triggers?