It wasn't until today that I realised that how useful a trigger warning can truly be. 

As a young girl I truly loved the House of Night series by P.C Cast, and so as a young adult and wanting to fill my lockdown-sparetime I picked up her other series "Goddess of Partholon" to read. Excusing a few mistakes here and there I was enjoying it until I got onto the second book, "Divine by Choice", pages 299 - 302. And here I tell everyone TW: Rape. 

Rhiannon, in this series, is the evil character. The heroine of the book is currently watching from a spiritual form, what made Rhiannon so evil - and you guessed it, it's rape. Rhiannon was raped at the age of 15, and lost her virginity to her rapist; P.C Cast excuses the rapist due to him being drug induced, or as it would be in Partholon - possessed. This in itself is a horribly written part of the book, and creates a horrific idea of sympathising rapist; because not only is it not the rapists fault, it is Rhiannon's fault because she chose to 'keep her wits' and not drink a potion that would disrupt the reality of the situation.

As a book lover, I have never been so mad at a book. Yes, it is a form of fiction, however one must understand that rape is a delicate subject and can so easily invoke horrific and wrongly understood ideas and perceptions. Rape is slowly coming out of its stigmatisation in society, and it is heart warming for survivors to be able to tell their story. But, how are survivors meant to be heard when fictional rape is creating these false ideas amongst us?

And so, not only do I ask for Trigger Warning amongst books that include rape and sexual assault - but also I ask the editors of publishing houses to step into the shoes of a survivor, and reading it from their eyes. The words that are in books such as "Divine by Choice" are not the words we wish people to understand rape, these words contradict everything that survivors have been fighting and campaigning for.

Thank you.