Love Triangles – Why, OMG, Why??

Hey book buddies! Today we are talking about the infamous love triangles…. Hold your pitchforks everyone, I know that this is a seriously hated trope in most media… (particularly in books) and it is very easy to see why that would be the case… In my opinion it’s Overuse, you can’t escape them… even when you think you have because the first book in the series you have recently read miraculously didn’t have the two guys, one girl from the get go… you then move on to the second and Bam!! the second guy shows up out of nowhere — (sometime it takes more than two books but that dreaded geometrical shape will eventually come up, trust me)

But this isn’t the only reason why we go “Ugghh not again” while encountering a love triangle in our books… they are oftentimes just there to add drama (and not a good drama) to the plot, but they end up cheapening the characters and the story… because if we have this kick ass female lead that’s ready to take on the world suddenly whimpering about which of the two hotties (because they obviously are hotties) she really loves… well, to me all that kickassery just went out the window and the story just became annoying..

But can a Love triangle be Good?? (cue gasps) I think it can … no, I’m not crazy (no more than usual anyway) When it is done right it can certainly add some depth to the story, and the amount of drama and conflict can keep us on the edge of our seat rooting for our chosen ship.. However this requires to have fully flesh out characters (even if they are in the morally grey spectrum of things) but they cannot be the stereotypical good and bad guy that we are used to.. they both need to full fill a need on our heroine giving them both an equal competing chance…making them good enough in their own right… (this is where the gripping angst will start)

As for our heroine, she cannot be the suddenly vapid girl (that is just a hormone fest) who can decide who she wants to be with because they both are just so hot, with perfect abs, and one is so mysterious and the other is my sweet childhood friend… (sounds familiar??). If this happens then, we might have a working love triangle plot that doesn’t make us cringe… I know that it is not a very common occurrence — particularly when talking about YA.. this target it’s the most affected by the “love triangle gone wrong trope” but don’t get discourage there are good ones out there, I have read a few and will let you know about them in my upcoming Recommendation posts (promo very much intended – sorry, not sorry..LOL)

How about you guys, do you love or hate Love triangles?? Do you think they can be redeemed from their infamy?? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below… and if you have any Good Love Triangle Recs I want to know…

As Always

Happy Reading