Tag Archive | trigger warnings

Bookish Fast 5: Emotional Triggers

Jan20

I am currently in my hurt/comfort/grovel era of romance books.. Currently, the author I’ve been reading and re-reading is Maya Alden. Sometimes I have to walk sideways into her books. They can be very emotional. Sometimes I skip them entirely.

Ienn Bullard is another author who I read that hurts my feelings on purpose. She, as well as Alden, is very vocal about telling the reader that our mental health matters more than page reads for them. Here’s his w they protect us from walking into a reading situation that might affect that me tap health

  1. Social Media. Jenn is vocal on when her books might push a person over the edge. Her Unhinged-verse is extremely unhinged. Based on the trigger warnings, I skipped the last book. I just couldn’t.
  2. Most authors now have Trigger Warnings listed at the beginning of the book. Make sure you read them. You may need to check on their website, some authors tell readers at start of book to go to website for full list of triggers– I firmly believe this is a copout. If you’re
  3. Newsletters. Sometimes, like with Alden, in the newsletter they mention not only trigger warnings, but include an excerpt that will give you an idea of what goes on around the trigger. The feel of the book, if you will.
  4. In book warnings. I am reading Maya Alden’s newest Wildflower Canyon book, and just came to the end of a chapter. Instead of the next chapter, there is a page detailing the trigger warning. It tells the reader to either skip the chapter, or close the book, because our mental health matters.
  5. The last line of defense for readers is our brethren. Check out the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads or wherever you go to get info on books.

Authors– please keep your reader in mind. While it may be necessary for the story, some things should never be thrown on a reader without knowledge before hand.

Readers- take care of yourself. I’m still staring at that chapter break for the trigger warning, deciding if I should continue on. I probably will. It’s not on page, is being talked of in the past.

But it is my decision, as the reader, whether or not to read it thanks to an author taking care of her readers.

Authors who Challenge  you

Feb19

As readers, oftentimes we have triggers that we just can’t cross. That mess with our mental health. We adhere to those boundaries to protect ourselves.

Now, I don’t read books about cheaters– either male or female. It isn’t a trigger though– I just have little to no respect for the characters. There are exceptions, but it’s a generally held line.  I just don’t see the appeal .

Triggers are different. The reason for not reading those stories has more to do with your own mental health. About content that can cause you to spiral. For many of the women I know, that includes violence (in all forms) against women. In addition, I have triggers that have to do with drug and alcohol use. Those mentioned above are actually my personal biggest triggers.

However, I can no longer say I will not read a book with those triggers. I’m just very very careful about which authors I’ll trust with those issues.

Jillian West.

Jenn Bullard.

Jillian West pushes sometimes on my drug use trigger. Not often, but it does happen. It was handled so well, I started reading everything she wrote. Most of her work doesn’t phase me, but when it does she has trigger warnings outlined and it makes sense in the book. Honestly, like probably 90-95% of her work gives me the warm fuzzies. They are like stepping into a movie with your besties.

Jenn Bullard is a different beast entirely. And I do mean beast. If Jillian is like going out with your bestie– Jenn is the friend who is going to push you to your limits, hold you when you fall apart and then put you back together again.

Why am I telling you this? Welllll….. Jenn Bullard has a new book coming out in two days. In a previous book, “Forget”, oh it took me so long to pick it up and a little while longer to open it. In the forward, she tells readers it’s going to be a rough journey. Be careful of breakable objects. She ends the forward with “Okay, deep breaths, friends. Come yell at me later.”

I needed those deep breaths. Her work wrecks me in the best way possible. Bullard does what so few others can do– break a readers faith in a character and then bring them back into a reader’s good graces so we start rooting for them.

Jenn’s books mean many tears for me.

They are cathartic.

Oh, so cathartic.

Bad things happen to good people and still they survive. They find a way to thrive. To get to a Happily Ever After. And sometimes that HEA includes therapy, and that’s ok.

Her newest comes out on the 20th. I won’t be around for a bit– maybe I can be brave and meet it on Day 1 this time.

So, my Lovelies, do you have authors who break you & put you back together again?

Talk to you soon!

Reading Boundaries

Jun28

Trigger warnings are great– especially for those who have experienced trauma. It’s a way for helping readers safeguard their own mental health.

What I’m talking about doesn’t necessarily always pop up on trigger warnings. Such as… I don’t do cheaters. As in, stepping out on a significant other and/or a spouse. I also don’t do drug use and definitely not when the author has a Male Main Character drug the Female lead. I’m going to nope right out of those.

I just found another boundary within one of my favorite authors. Adult children who leave their parents behind for no discernable reason. My recent history probably has a lot to do with that but still. It broke my ability to read someone whose prose just sings to me. 

I read a lot of romance. I quit reading a favorite romance author way back in the day, many many moons ago, because of a rape scene of the Female Lead where the hero was basically her… Kidnapper/rapist.  This was way back before Trigger Warnings. I just did what we did back then– I threw the book across the room and quit reading that author. It offended me so badly that the book ended up in the trash, not passed along or donated or taken to a used book shop.

Oddly enough, if it’s done right, a stalker doesn’t bother me. I’ll talk more about the character that made me love a certain type of psychopath in our next meetup.

I know there’s a faction of people who look down on trigger warnings. I implore all my writing buddies– please use them if they are necessary. It’s a gift we give our readers. We want them to enjoy our stories, to know that we are a safe space for them to come enjoy our worlds. Will we push boundaries? Yes. That’s our job. To push both our boundaries and theirs. But at the same time, we need to keep them safe. Quite frankly, until recently it would have wrecked me to read something about a parent dying. Still might, but I’d like the option to know about what I’m getting into before starting the book.

TA my Lovelies! Hope all is well for you!