Do Spoilers Really Spoil?

A great topic that peaked my interest today from the Reader's edition of Shelf Awareness today.

"Spoilers Don't Spoil Anything". Do you agree with this? Go read the article if you'd like more information. If you haven't read Harry Potter or seen the last two movies AVOID THAT SITE!

To an extent I guess I can agree. But am I happy that I've stumbled upon a spoiler? NO! I actually do not want to know what happens in anything really. Trailers and summaries make me nervous; especially when it comes to a book I want and or plan to read. This also goes for movies.

For example, I'm currently reading BLOOD BOUND by Rachel Vincent. I went to Goodreads to update my reading progress and just decided to go ahead and read the summary. I was on page 172. 172. I thought for sure I was safe from finding out anything too terribly spoilery but NO! The summary told me what was going to happen in the next 20 pages or so. There are 463 pages in this book so that's approximately half way through the book and the back summary of the book is disclosing information that happens beyond the half way mark! That to me is way too much information into the story to be putting it right out there.

The summary spoiled that plot point for me. Of course it wasn't a huge plot point but it was a pretty big one that I hadn't figured out yet and I was quite upset because this book has some serious tension! And I was just given some relief and then MORE tension because of the summary. Now, if I had read the summary before I started the book I would have been like, when the hell is that going to happen? I'm nearly half way done with this book. Needless to say I stopped reading the summary once I stumbled upon that bit of spoilery information. Yes, I didn't even finish reading a stinking summary to avoid spoilers!

I tweeted about that summary to Rachel and she responded back saying sorry, she didn't write the blurb. I say to her, it's okay, but really, whom ever did write it should be hung. There's no reason why that much information would have to be disclosed to get a reader to pick up the book. There are ways to say something to grab a reader's attention without giving out specific information. GAH! To say I'm a bit upset is putting it lightly. I may never read another summary again. I usually don't but like I said I thought I was safe! YOU ARE NEVER SAFE! Unless you've already read the book or seen the movie of course.

Two other times I have come across spoilers that affected me personally.

One was when I received my hardcopy of BREAKING DAWN, I started it in Kindle Version, and flipped to the back of the book because I'd heard there was a cool cheat sheet to the vampires and their respective abilities. I got to one name and was like, who the hell is Reneesme(highlight to see spoilery name)? DUN DUN DUN.... SPOILER ALERT! OMFG!

And lastly, I received several emails or Goodreads messages from readers who had seen that I had received an early copy of the last book in Rachel Vincent's Shifter series, ALPHA. They begged me to know if Marc and Faythe ended up together or if Jace win over Faythe. I did reply but I did not give them what they wanted to know. I just can't support spoilers!

I guess when it comes to the last book in a series you're almost dying of anticipation that you may be okay with finding out that must know piece of information. Me? Not so much. I want to harness that lust for the next word and the next piece of information while I'm reading. Finding out a spoiler takes that reaction away from me. I want to feel the suspense. I want to feel the anxiety that the character is feeling. I don't want to know whether or not they end up  together before I find out with the characters! A great example of this very thing is SHADOWFEVER by Karen Marie Moning. DREAMFEVER left off on a MASSIVE cliffhanger. I mean gigantic! I did not peruse the internets to find leaked spoilers. Instead I used my love for the books (characters) to fuel my need to read it for myself.

What about you? Do you avoid spoilers at all costs like me? Not even reading summaries?

I write my reviews with the point to not disclose even the smallest piece of spoilery information. I do post the summaries though, so it's your choice of whether you read them or not!