It’s Feral Friday! And we here at Book Nerd Reviews thought we would discuss a topic that really sends us feral.

This week, we’re talking about how much we hate spoilers:

Kristy’s say:

Spoilers send me really feral. Once you see (or read) something, you cannot unsee it. And I hate having a reading experience ruined for me. But sadly, spoilers are sometimes unavoidable. Social media is riddled with spoilers, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Goodreads, blogs - and it is hard to avoid all of them. I am not saying that people are intentionally spoiling books for other readers, as most of the time it is accidental - a comment on Twitter made in the heat of the moment, a picture posted on Tumblr, a review on Goodreads that was not marked as hidden. Although these may be accidental, there is a need to be more careful when posting any comment, picture, GIF or review. So, everyone, please, PLEASE, be careful when talking about books online.

Goodreads is the one that I have the had a lot of spoilers from - from either the reviewer not posting “hidden due to spoilers” and I read the review, or by skimming over my newsfeed and the major twist really stood out as it was in capitals at the very top (this was the reason I have not read Vampire Academy, and took so long to read The Infernal Devices). But it’s not only Goodreads, I also saw a spoiler for Mockingjay posted on Facebook the day after it came out - which upset a lot of people. So, proving a point, someone who hadn’t read it yet responded (they had no way of knowing what had happened, so the following is not a spoiler) “I know! And I wasn’t expecting <insert major character> to get killed either”. The person who posted the original spoiler then replied with “Spoiler alert! I haven’t finished it yet. You just ruined it”. Yep, point proven! (yes, I condone public shaming of people who post spoilers lol)

The other spoiler filled source is your friends. I have had a few friends accidently spoil a book for me. For example, the reason it took me so long to read The Mortal Instruments was because I was told the “twist” for Jace and Clary in City of Bones. Or more recently, I got a text about Finding Cinderella saying “OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, <insert spoiler for major twist of storyline>”. This message was quickly followed up by “Oh no, please tell me you have read it”. I can laugh about this example, as I had actually read it, but if I hadn’t the whole story would have been ruined for me. Another example is I was talking to a friend half way through a book about a particular character who it seemed had just been killed - later in that conversation my friend said “he comes into his own later in the series”, so clearly while he was supposed to be dead, I knew that he wasn’t. So, these types of spoilers can come from friends either at the time they are reading it, or afterwards when they are chatting in general about the book (and they forget that you haven’t read/finished it).

So while we cannot completely avoid spoilers, here are some ways that I avoid some of them:

Goodreads: I do not read Goodreads email updates. Even if a friend has marked a view as hidden, the full review shows in the email (and the major spoiler always seems to jump out at you). I also only try to read reviews from people that I know don’t include spoilers, and I rarely read reviews of people that I don’t know.

Twitter: I tend to only follow bloggers, authors and publishers on Twitter - and that really helps. Authors and publishers will never post a spoiler about their books, and they are also very careful about other books as well. Bloggers generally tweet links to reviews so there is no spoiler there either - or if they do tweet comments, they are very conscious of not posting spoilers.

Facebook: This one you really can’t help too much. The same applies to Facebook as it does for Twitter for authors, publishers and bloggers, but your friends you cannot control.

Tumblr: I don’t use Tumblr at all (I have actually forgotten my login). It is filled with spoilers and there seems to be no way to avoid them, so I just avoid Tumblr instead.

Blogs: Most bloggers will not post reviews with spoilers, so you should be pretty safe there. And if they do, they tend to give you a warning first. However, if you see a review for a sequel, then be wary about reading it if you have not read the one (or others) before it. While reviews themselves generally do not contain spoilers, they often contain spoilers for the previous books.

Friends: You cannot control if your friends accidentally drop a spoiler. However, if you have a friend you know cannot control themselves, I suggest not telling that friend when you are reading a particular book - that will reduce the possibility of a spoiler about that book while you are reading it. I know that doesn’t sound nice, but I will admit that I have done it. Also, in a group chat environment, be quick to jump in right at the beginning and remind everyone you haven’t read that book yet! Being quick can save an out of control, spoiler filled conversation.

So, how do you avoid being that person who spoils a book for someone else? Well, it is just a matter of being careful. Don’t tweet or post an update that contains a spoiler. Try not to call or text a friend about the amazing “oh my god” moment unless you know that they have read the book. And in general conversation, try not to say too much about a book, unless you know for certain the other person has read it. And mark any spoiler filled reviews on Goodreads. These things should keep you safe from getting daggers from other booklovers :)

Melissa’s say:

Spoilers grind my gears. I understand that when people read a book that has a huge ending they get excited, and people naturally want to talk about these things with other people as well. But some people go about this in the completely wrong way which spoils these things for other people.

Look and I understand that a lot of the time this is accidental as well, but the benefit of typing things on the internet is that you have the chance to look at what you say before you say it for the most part. So you have the opportunity to filter yourself if you have to. :)

I have to admit, I have been fairly fortunate in that I haven’t had too many books spoiled for me - and I have my own laziness to thank for that evidentally. lol It’s because I don’t spend a whole heap of time on Goodreads (I update my books but I don’t post in groups or forums much) and I am inherently lazy with my twitter account, so I actually miss a lot of spoilers that I know people have posted.

With Veronica Roth’s Allegiant only having been released on the 22nd, I’ve heard that people have posted spoilers as soon as the next day to this book. People.. this isn’t fair to everyone else! I pre-ordered Allegient from The Book Depository. And so I am currently waiting for my copy in the mail at the moment - I haven’t even been able to get my hands on a copy yet and I am hearing about people ruining this experience for others. That is so thoughtless and mean!

Due to the nature of being a blogger, we’re exposed to a lot of different comments and forums where people could potentially ruin experiences for us. I think we all just need to be really careful when we talk about books online. Remember how amazing your experience reading a book is when you’re finding out the twists for the first time? Let others enjoy that experience.

Everyone I follow and visit tend to be really good - if they weren’t I probably wouldn’t follow or visit them. lol So thanks to all you good people out there who feel the same way!

Have you ever had a book ruined for you because of a spoiler? Let us know in your comments below!