I have to be honest — as soon as I hear “love triangle” when pertaining to YA literature I tend to get eyerolly and sometimes even run the other direction. Mostly because I’ve experienced a lot of love triangles that just didn’t work for me and some that were just outright annoying.
The sad thing is… love triangles that makes sense and just aren’t haphazardly thrown into a story for the sake of ” LOVE-TRIANGLES -SELL. I WANT-READERS -TO -TRIUMPHANTLY-BEAT-THEIR -CHESTS-AND-DECLARE-THEIR-TEAMS-WHILE-BATTLING-GLADIATOR-STYLE WHEN-MY-BOOK-COME- UP” actually can be a beautiful thing. All of that TENSION. All of that WONDERING. We naturally choose sides and root for the one we love or think is best for the MC.
But I am SO SO SO sick of these superfluous love triangles or the ones that get in the way of an amazing story.
The fact is, if I’m honest, love triangles have happened in my life. To me. So I know they are a REAL thing and are a valid area to explore. Sometimes I knew what sort of struggle I was in. Sometimes I was honestly wasn’t even aware of it. I mean, my situations were NEVER as dramatic as the things I read in books but they were certainly love triangles. Two of the most “important” ones in my life that I thought I’d share because…I don’t know it’d be fun:
1) In high school I was dating a guy I TOTALLY was into forever. He was a year older than me and ended up going into the Navy. So while he was away, I was spending a lot of time with my, at the time, best friend who was umm a boy. We started hanging out a lot and suddenly it was evident feelings were changing so I ended up going out to his Navy graduation, seeing if I still felt the same way for him, I didn’t and then I ended up breaking up with him the next week. Then the former bff and I slowly became a COUPLE. Ex boyfriend still pined and called all the time and wrote really sad letters. EXCRUCIATING time in my life. Even worse when the bff turned boyfriend ended up breaking up with me a few months later. All about the chase apparently!
2) THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT! So I had been friends with this guy at college for two years and we hung out a lot but then apparently he started to like me (unbeknownst to me). He introduced me to a friend on his basketball team (Will — you may know him now as my HUSBAND) and we all would hang out. It was honestly the three of us hanging out a lot and, stupid me, had NO idea that the boys liked me. But the problem was that Boy A was coming on strong when he realized that Will liked me, too. And at that point, I was kind of digging Will but didn’t really know him that well and still didn’t know my true feelings towards BOY A and so there was this couple month time period where I was literally hanging out with them on different nights to try and figure out what I wanted. Like one time I even pulled in to the parking lot of my dorm and Boy A gave Will the staredown because I was with him. I eventually knew, as I started to get to know them both, that Boy A was NOT for me (so many times I had to pay for our dates and he was full of himself), so I made it pretty obvious that I was into Will and the love triangle had to end. And then a half year of rumors started from the asshat that I rejected. GOOD TIMES. But clearly I made the right decision!
ANYWAY. This whole pointless post was prompted by the fact that I read a series where an author made me realize how amazing a good love triangle can be! You’ll see my reviews of Unearthly and Hallowed by Cynthia Hand up at some point but this series has SUCH a good love triangle where literally both guy makes sense. They were both charming and nice (and HOT apparently) but you could understand the things about them both made her have such a hard time figuring things out. There was depth to both of them. They had personalities. They challenged her. Sometimes I even found MYSELF waffling with who I thought was best for her and who I liked the best. I don’t even know who I think she is going to end up with in the final book Boundless. The thing with other books with love triangles is that most of the time I don’t give a crap because 1) one boy is a cardboard character who just seems like filler 2) one is a big asshole with pretty much no redeeming qualities except for being SUPER HOT) 3) it’s glaringly OBVIOUS who she is going to choose and who she is going to be with so why draw it out. Cynthia Hand’s series had none of that!
So tell me: What are your thoughts on love triangles? Do you like them? Not like them? Please give me some of your favorites that you think are really well done (not just limited to books — because UM right now I’m dying with the love triangle as I watch Felicity). What are some of your LEAST favorite love triangles? And because it’d be fun and I totally dished…tell me YOUR real life love triangle experiences!!
Christina (A Reader of Fictions) says
So much yes to this! Love triangles, when done honestly and realistically, are wonderful, but so many are just to try to heighten the drama or make the heroine more of a speshul snowflake, and just NO.
Love triangles happen in real life, and some women may think they love both at the same time, but, good lord, I hate reading those. I really, really do. Also, when they’re just thrown in for shits and giggles, they are always so obvious about which guy will win.
A good love triangle: Masque of the Red Death
Worst love triangle: The Iron Fey
Jamie says
“make the heroine more of a speshul snowflake” YES YES YES. I can’t believe I forgot to add this point. Like by having a love triangle it will convince us of how amazing this actually dull heroine is.
I haven’t read either of those series yet but have book 1 of both! EEP to bad love triangle in Iron Fey because I know so many people love that book!
Christina (A Reader of Fictions) says
Iron Fey has one of those where you know who the heroine’s going to choose from the beginning of book one, but it gets dragged out through the whole series. Plus, the one she’s going to choose is BORING and PERFECT, like you explained above. Oy.
Kristen says
Usually whenever I come across a love triangle, I have a favorite. It may take a while for me to determine it, but I always end up having favorite. There are two series I can think of though where I know the girl could do no wrong in who she ends up with for the reasons you stated above. And that includes Cynthia Hand’s series – can not wait to read the last book! The other one is the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare.
Jamie says
Ditto! I always have a favorite that I root for. I rarely switch sides though sometimes I’m tempting if it’s a GREAT love triangle like Unearthly! I’m soooo excited about Boundless too! I still haven’t read the Infernal Devices but I’m glad to hear that it’s a good love triangle!
Jen @ Almost Grown-up says
LOVE this. Love triangles usually drive me NUTS, so I love when there are strong exceptions to the rule.
In recent memory, I enjoyed the love triangle in Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and was shocked. In ToG was pretty much the reasons that you mentioned though. Neither guy is a douchenozzle or boring and she didn’t make it overly obvious who her MC is going to wind up with!
Ahhh okay and since you dished, I will too: College. I liked Boy A from freshman year and then junior year he started paying attention to me after I lost 25 pounds (which should have tipped me off about HIM, but I digress), but Boy B met me and had a crush on me and I blew him off until senior year. At which point there was a Girl B for him and then it was this awkward love parallelogram ^_^; Boy B and I wound up “together” for a brief period of time, but it just didn’t work out
Jamie says
Yes! Those good love triangles are just SO GOOD and give me hope. Hate that I’ve become so jaded! I think that’s honestly why I put off Unearthly for so long because I had heard it was a love triangle with all the Team Christians and Team Tuckers! But then I started hearing it was a GOOD love triangle so I went for it!
Will definitely be picking up Throne of Glass because I’ve heard good things about that anyways!
HHAHAH a love parallellogram. WORST THING EVER when a girl is involved in that. I had a situation that kind of became a parallelogram too. I didn’t really LOVE the boy but I didn’t want the girl to get him! lol I was a mess in college!
Ashling says
I am ashamed to admit it but love triangles (in books) are my guilty pleasure. Not all obviously, because like you said, some are just so badly written. But I do enjoy reading books with good love triangles.
Which is weird because I’ve been in a “love triangle” situation myself and it sucked. In college, I really liked this guy, but I thought there was no way he was into me. So when his best friend asked me out, I said yes. That same day, the guy I really liked told me he’d been into me for a long time. I was so torn, and I felt so guilty because they were best friends. Needless to say, I picked the guy I’d been into, we dated for over a year, and then he dumped me out of nowhere.
I guess one of the reasons I like love triangles in books is because that’s where I want them to stay, in fiction.
Jamie says
Never be ashamed about liking things like that! We ALL have those THINGS that we like and dislike. I’m totally with you on a good love triangle because OH GOSH ALL THE TENSION AND THE AHHHH WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BE WITH?? And also the fantasies where she has the one that I don’t want and then I ride off triumphantly into the sunset with the one I love. haha.
Love triangles TOTALLY SUCK in real life! All the hard decisions and the feelings of making someone feel bad and making the WRONG decision! So much goes into that decision of trying to figure out who would be best for you versus who you just can’t stop thinking of.
“I guess one of the reasons I like love triangles in books is because that’s where I want them to stay, in fiction.” LOVE THIS. YES. Maybe that’s why they ARE so popular? Nobody wants to live them but there is something appealing about them in books and tv shows. I mean, HOW MANY SEASONS ARE WE GOING TO WATCH ELENA GO BETWEEN DAMON AND STEFAN IN VAMPIRE DIARIES?? That would be EXCRUCIATING in real life haha.
But yeah, I’m ALL for a good love triangle but I think I’ve just gotten jaded from a lot of really bad love triangles that suck the good out of what the love triangle can BE.
Ashling says
“And also the fantasies where she has the one that I don’t want and then I ride off triumphantly into the sunset with the one I love. haha.” I do this too! When I was reading the Hunger Games, I was like “You can have Gale, Katniss. Peeta is mine!”
Alexa Y. says
Love triangles are always an interesting concept to me. Yes, they can definitely exist in real life (and can even be squares and pentagons – I have friends who have had that happen to them!), and yes, they are usually a very interesting concept to explore. I mean, who WOULDN’T want two guys (both hot, of course, and both appealing in terms of personality) fighting over them?
That being said, I agree that sometimes, they can be done the right way and sometimes, it’s obvious that they’re just thrown into the story for entertainment value/extra value. I find that, I personally prefer it when the focus of the story is NOT on the love triangle. Basically, I’m saying that I like stories where a love triangle exists BUT the main character is too preoccupied with other things or problems and this love triangle is just another to add to the pile. More often than not, that kind of story will have fully fleshed out characters – giving me more incentive to appreciate why the MC could feel that way about the people involved in the love triangle.
Okay, enough babbling. Love triangles – I try not to generalize, but for the most part, I just greet their presence with a “meh”. Unless I’m truly invested (like with Chaol in Throne of Glass, and Adam in Shatter Me)…
Judith says
HA, I was writing a post about this too XD But oh well, now I can spill my thoughts here on your blog (and yes, there’s gonna be LOTS OF THOUGHTS). I loved reading your real life experiences with love triangles btw! You’re lucky that it worked out for you!!! Now have fun reading this short novel I wrote…
The word ‘love triangle’ has had a negative connotation for me since Twilight. Yes, obviously Twilight ruined it all. It was also the first book in which I started noticing love triangles, and now I see them EVERYWHERE. Even if they are not, technically, there, I think of the possibilities, and I hate it.
But whenever I read about a love triangle, I realize that I’m very conservative. As in: the first guy is the one, the other one can suck it. (This is why I DON’T LIKE all the Warner love. Bc even if he wasn’t a mad, self-loving, creepy bastard, ADAM WAS THERE FIRST!)
And, since I’m writing down confessions now anyway: I hate the Hunger Games love triangle. Always have. When I first read that book, wayyyy back in 2008, it wasn’t that popular, and thank goodness, this made me able to form my own opinion of the book without any influence from other people or without even the thought of a possible love triangle. Because honestly, I’m team Katniss all the way. Sure, both guys are cute and both obviously have a thing for her, but THG is still about KATNISS’S journey. And for me, it always will be.
Kristin says
I think you are totally right about The Hunger Games – now in my recommendation of the series, I noted that I think it’s a love triangle done right, and I do – mostly because Katniss is not a cardboard character only made interesting by the fact that two guys are interested in a til death do us part kind of way with her (like Bella is in the Twilight series – zero personality had me going, and why are these guys falling all over her?). I am currently reading the Matched trilogy, which I like, but there is something off about the love triangle that is central to the story – I can’t put my finger on it yet – but in this case, even if I’m not totally in support of the love triangle, I do understand it’s role as an illustration of the ability to choose your own mate that the Society has negated with the Matching process.
Lolita says
What an awesome post about love traingles! I am usually quick to say that I hate love triangles, but as you point out sometimes they do make sense. And I have indeed read a few books like Unearthly were the love triangle is done really well and believeable. Sadly it does happen often enough that it is obvious with who the main character will end up with, because one the the love interests is more like a cardboard/ filler character. Thanks for sharing your own love triangle with us, I actually was wondering whether love triangles happened in real life :p.
Allison L says
When I hear the phrase love triangle in a book, I always roll my eyes too, and most of the time I don’t even know why. I mean, I know they happen in real life. It hasn’t happened to me before but I’ve definitely been on the advice giving side of my friends that have had to work through them. And you’re right, they are NEVER fun! Because you’re always afraid someone is going to get hurt, or in my case I was always concerned that it was going to be my friends that got hurt more than anything else.
As for reading about them, I usually don’t find them fun to read about either. From my experience there is usually alot of drama involved or major character propping (i.e., the good boy/bad boy scenario, or the “irresistible” heroine type of situations) and although that can be interesting, it can also be a downer as well. If I had to read about a love triangle, I would most definitely prefer that it was done realistically but honestly come to think of it I haven’t really read any love triangle stories where there wasn’t drama involved. Any suggestions?
Nikki @ Foil the Plot says
Ahh, you have no idea how much this subject touches my life right now, but I’ll get into that later. I think, like with anything, there has to be a balance when it comes to the dreaded love triangle. If used in a subtle, not-taking-over-the-entire-story kinda way, it works for me. However, I really don’t like it when it’s used as a device to replace the lack of plot or when that “love” is the only thing to define our main character. There has to be substance to carry the story on its own, otherwise, it’s hollow. I guess what I’m trying to say is, it can’t be a book that’s all about the love triangle. And I think, all too often nowadays, the love triangle is used because it’s seen as a part of the formula to writing a successful book (particularly in the YA genre).
As for my own experiences, like you, I’ve been in a love triangle — both as one of the two girls a guy was choosing between AND as someone who has had to choose between two guys. Most notably, there was an Aussie bloke that I met about 6 years ago who I really connected with, but he moved back to Australia shortly after our introduction. We had killer chemistry and so much in common. He was always kinda “the one who got away,” but we kept in touch on/off over the years and it was all good. I started dating someone else pretty seriously and fast forward to more recent years, he popped back into my life (on an online basis). We reconnected again and this time, sparks flew even more than the first time we met. The problem was, he was still there (with the intention to move back to the States) and I was here and already in a great relationship. Both guys were polar opposites and it really came down to doing some soul-searching to figure out what I really wanted in life. Once I figured all that out, my decision was made for me. As much as I dug my Aussie fellow, the future I wanted was more in line with the wants of the guy I was currently dating. Fast forward to today, I am married to that BF and we are total BFF’s. It was a hard choice, but not one that I regret.
Ashley says
Sometimes (see most of the time) you write posts I wish I wrote. Because these are very much my feelings on love triangles. I tend to loathe them. If done well, like in Hand’s series, I don’t mind them because they are done well. But when they are done, just to be done, I get over them very fast.
Cassie says
Ah! This was a great post! So funny how life works out sometimes! Glad you ended up with your hubby though! 😀
I like love triangles to an EXTENT. Like you said, sometimes its just filler. And there’s nothing worse than that! [I felt this way during Matched at times]. But I LOVE it in Delirium! So it really all depends!
alicejane011 says
I think I’m a little put off by love triangles right now, despite the fact that they do happen in real life. So much angst and soul-searching involved though, when it happens in real life. When it’s in literature though, there’s just so much drama involved, as Allison L said.
Btw, is Felicity a reference to Level 2? 🙂
Jamie says
Haha no..the show Felicity! The love triangle IS CRAZY. I’m Team Ben but then sometimes Noel steals my heart!
Magan says
So this is just a tiny comment that I hope doesn’t become book-length. I think we, as readers, turn some things into love triangles that aren’t even intended to BE love triangles. Case in point: I met Tahereh Mafi last year at a signing and she talked about how she wasn’t really making Warner an option. There should be no Team Warner. But I’ll be darned if I didn’t tweet the heck about this the other night because everyone wants me to be Team Warner. I honest to goodness don’t really feel like The Hunger Games should have been a whole Peeta v Gale fight either. It was always clear to me as a reader that Katniss didn’t seem to LOVE Gale more than a friend. She did need time to fall in love with Peeta, but that doesn’t mean she was torn between the two.
Anyway. That’s my random $0.02. xo
Lauren @ Love is not a triangle says
I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic, because I’m currently in mourning over a love triangle in a series that I *thought* I liked, but now I’m rethinking it all. I don’t like triangles to begin with, so with my current emotional state, this answer will be cynical.
I get what you’re saying about LT’s happening in real life – to a degree. Or at least that you can be attracted to two people at once. Tho, I don’t think you can be ‘in love’ with two people at the same time, and when you realize which one you don’t love, CUT THEM OFF. I can’t stand these books that DRAG IT OUT FOREVER with constant back and forth. STOP.IT.
Also with series, I’ve found that for me it is the final book that really makes or breaks a love triangle. At some point I want the character to PICK ONE, because it’s not fair to either of the choices to drag it out until the bitter end (it’s also very selfish). For me, it’s not necessarily WHO is picked – though I usually have a favorite – it’s HOW it is handled. I want to believe that whatever choice is made, it is the best for the heroine (or whoever is at the point of the triangle).
Stormy says
I don’t mind love triangles and theory, but I’m tired of a the love triangle with 1 girl stuck between the perfect, shining, nice guy and the “bad boy” type. I’d really like to see a story with a love triangle between a guy and two girls, just for a change of pace. Or any combination, really. Just a change of pace.
Quinn @ Quinn's Book Nook says
I’ll be totally honest here. I hate love triangles. I’ve never liked them. I don’t dislike them because because they are in so many YA books now. I dislike them because I just can’t identify with that. I know people can be torn between two guys, as you talked about above, but I just can’t relate to that. And so I get really frustrated with characters wavering back and forth.
The only series I am reading right now with an obvious love triangle is the Infernal Devices. And if I didn’t like Cassie Clare so much, I probably wouldn’t read the books. I liked Unearthly a lot, but didn’t care too much for Hallowed, because of the whole Tucker Christian thing. I just don’t like it. I may not even read Boundless.
Mary Gray says
A most excellent post. I love your experiences–you should write your own book. 🙂 I especially love that fact that you were into Navy guys. 🙂
Another idea for a love triangle is where a girl KNOWS one guy is horrible for her and another is great, but can’t get herself to like the right ones. Just sayin’…. that’s a big portion of what my book’s about. 🙂 Of course, that’s not so much of a love triangle, as a love ladder. Have to move on to the up and up… but what if the rungs are like miles apart, and the ladder’s dangling over hell and you’re about to fall off?
Cassandra says
Love triangles in books annoy me, even if they’re written well. The constant back and forth drives me mad, and I usually end up shouting JUST PICK SOMEBODY ALREADY! at the book.
Love triangles in RL are painful and hazardous. I know this from personal experience. Early in 2012 I found myself in the midst of a love triangle. I was in a relationship at the time, but I had met somebody at work who I could not get out of my head, no matter how hard I tried. I constantly thought about him, and I wanted to be with him all the time. In the end, I had to break up with the guy I was dating because I felt guilty. I wasn’t being fair to him, and I thought it’d be best if we weren’t together. As for the guy I met at work and developed feelings for…well, he and I have been together for almost seven months now and I love him to death. Still, even though things worked out for me, I’m not proud of what happened and how things ended between me and my ex.
Renae @ Respiring Thoughts says
It’s not that I’m opposed to love triangles so much as I think they’re too common. In paranormal YA, for instance, it almost feels like its a requirement to have a love triangle. You (and a bunch of other people I’m sure) have experienced real-life love triangles, so I don’t by any means think we should nix them altogether. It’s just that in a book that features a love triangle, a lot of the focus then gets put on the romance aspect, and the “main plot” (saving the world, anarchy, vampires vs. werewolves) gets pushed aside. And while love and sex can be a huge part of a teen’s life, it isn’t the only thing that matters. Sometimes it seems like YA fiction is focused only on finding “true love” at age 16 (which is possible but not the norm).
So yeah. Love triangles are fine by me in theory, but I feel like I’m getting overexposed.
The only love triangle I can think of that I absolute and unhesitatingly loved was the one in Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen. But that’s also one of my favorite books of all time ever, so you know…
Laura Ashlee says
Such a good series! Seriously though, I wish authors would stop doing love triangles for the sake of doing love triangles. It better fit well into the story or I’m not having it!
Shannon says
I am 100% with you on love triangles. I can get behind a love triangle, if it is done well and it makes sense. I usually root for one more than the other. But it isn’t really the love triangle that makes me want to run in another direction – its the back and forth and back and forth. Prime example: the Nightshade series by Andrea Cremer. Calla went back and forth between Shay and Ren so many times I got whiplash. And here is the thing. She basically wanted and choose Shay. She rejected Ren. But she let Ren get all up in her business so many times and never said no to him. After three books, it got old. I like romance in my books, but really prefer it to be secondary to the rest of the story.
Heidi says
Jamie! I started reading this post and your complaining and was thinking “this is totally because she just read Unearthly, isn’t it?”, and I was right! YES! Cynthia Hand’s may be the best working love triangle I have ever read because both options are so good–and I honestly don’t know which way it will go in Book 3. Heck, I’m not even 100% that I know where I want it to go. And I’m so nervous to read it!
Janita (Book, Interrupted) says
I’m really particular when it comes to love triangles. I love one guy and one guy only, and when a character starts falling for another character my heart just shrivels up and dies. I think the most suspenseful aspect of The Hunger Games for me was who Katniss was going to end up with. I knew plot-wise Suzanne Collins wasn’t going to screw over her readers, kill everyone off, or have some crazy unresolved ending, so my main anxiety was, Peeta or Gale?? It seemed at the end of Catching Fire she was going to kill Peeta off, but when he got back I was REALLY discouraged. He was like a different character. Of course, it ended the way I wanted to, with my favourite of the two getting the girl. I have this with every YA book I read, and sometimes it gets kind of tiring because I get so mad at the female lead for falling for the WRONG GUY! To know that there is a book out there that could potentially have equally awesome guys is AWESOME! Great discussion.
Tahleen says
Hmm, guess I need to read Hallowed.
I agree with pretty much all you said. There is a time and place for everything, and that includes not being sure which person you have feelings for or having feelings for more than one person at a time. Kudos on the interested discussion.
Asheley Tart (@BookwormAsheley) says
All I have to say is this: I FREAKING LOVE A WELL-THOUGHT-OUT, WELL-DONE LOVE TRIANGLE IN A BOOK. It can only add to the story. And they are very true-to-life. That is all.
However, when they are stupid, they make me roll my eyes. But I find that I like them as much as I dislike them. I also find that I am probably in the minority on liking them.
GREAT GREAT discussion post. Because I am so steadfast on my love for them, I don’t really feel the need to write a novel-length comment. But I love your thoughts here!
Asheley Tart (@BookwormAsheley) says
(Also, after just starting Unearthly, I can say that I’m really stressed out about it because NORMALLY I just pick a favorite guy and root for that one throughout the book/series. In this one, I actually *so far* like them both equally. And I know that the triangle persists throughout the series, which means someone will get hurt. I’m SO STRESSED. The only other book I’ve found that I like both candidates equally is The Selection by Kiera Cass. EEK EEK EEK.)
(Of course, things may change as I get further along in the series.)
Daisy says
I’m not really a fan of love triangles, but when they’re done well, they can be good. I like them more when it’s not really a love triangle so much as the heroine changing as a person and because of that also changing in who she wants by her side.
I did have a love triangle of my own way back when. I’d been together with a guy for about 2-3 months and went on vacation with friends and met another guy who I fell for pretty hard. So after coming back from the vacation I angsted for about a week then broke it off with the boyfriend and started dating the other guy. It didn’t last, but that period of angsting over which boy to choose was NOT FUN.
I’m dying to read Boundless and find out how it’ll all end and what guy Clara will end up with!
Lily says
My thoughts exactly.
It’s hard to find love traingles in YA that actually make sense. That actually make it seem like a love traingle and that there isn’t an obvouis choice from the start which one ends up with the girl. The amazing part about this post though was how your thoughts on love traingles and the Unearlthy series mirrored my own. It’s one of the reasons I love it so much! THE LOVE TRAINGLE MAKES SENSE AND IT’S ACTUALLY A LOVE TRAINGLE!
With boundless coming out next week I re-read the series and am back to where i was at the begining, I don’t konw who Clara is going to choose. I have picked my choice though *cough* Christian *cough* but honestly it could go either way. I understand why Clara likes both of them and I think this is the first time I’ve read a love traingle that left me flabbergasted!
Great Post 🙂
Lauren @ Hughes Reviews says
I completely agree with you that love triangles DO HAPPEN in real life, as cited in your own experiences. Especially when you’re young and are figuring out what you want in a relationship, you are often looking at the differences between people and it’s completely natural for teens to be thinking this way, so it’s a natural topic in YA.
I think the biggest problem with YA right now, is that some of these triangles are not being executed well by the authors. Whether it’s because of insta-love and not allowing these feelings to develop, or not giving all sides of the love triangle equal weight.
And I love, love, love Cynthia Hand’s Unearthly series and think she’s done an excellent job of creating a legitimate and beautiful love triangle. Can’t wait for Boundless!!!
Great post! Really enjoyed reading your thoughts and totally agree with you 🙂
Lauren @ Hughes Reviews
Jasmine Rose says
I’m actuall pretty indifferent when it comes to love triangles. I’m not like “WOOHHOOO1 Love triangle! Brig it ON” but I’m also not all “excuse me, did you say love triangle? I’m out.” The fact of the matter is sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. I think it’s fun to pick teams, but if there’s always one super obvious choice then what’s the point?
I’ve never been a part of a love triangle, but I have had two guys liking me at once at least twice (I promise I’m not trying to sound arrogant. You’d understand if you knew the people.) There was the guy I was CONVINCED I was supposed to be with in 8th grade. And I’m not talking passing crush. I mean, I’d liked him and only him since 1st grade. Let’s not go there, though. Then there was my best guy friend who was pretty damn vocal about his undying love for me. I did date both guys, but it was a year apart.
All I can say is that you probably shouldn’t date your best guy friend if he’s basically professed his love to you. He might just decide to tell you he loves you on the 4th day you’ve been “together.” No. Just no.
The other one I was completely unaware of until later. During the tail end of sophomore year I was good friends with two seniors during track season. We hung out and joked around and I even bought us BFF necklaces. (Don’t worry, it was a joke.) Anywhoo.
I started liking Boy A more and more but I wasn’t really telling anyone. Apparently I wasn’t good at hiding it, though. One night when I was hanging out with Boy B he guessed that I liked Boy A and dared me to text him saying so. So I did. Then Boy A and I dated. Then Boy B suspiciously stopped talking to me. Like, at all. I was sad, but it didn’t bother me too much considering I’d end up marrying Boy A.
Wow. Okay, Jasmine. Maybe you shouldn’t leave your life story in Jaimie’s comments…
(Great post, by the way :D)
Karen says
I love getting caught up in love triangles even though they’re completely irrelevant and pointless. In YA it is sometimes hard to find a book that doesn’t have a love triangle so I’d rather read the book and get into the love triangle than see that there will be one and run away from a potentially good book.
Kierra says
Yes, I actually DO like love triangles-but I only like them when it is realistic and I can be cheering on my team!(Like you said.) I hate when it is just filled with overbearing drama and it is SUCH a drag.