We have the entire paranormal genre.
We have the dark covers.
We have people on the covers.
And most annoyingly, we have love triangles.
Don't get me wrong; I like some love triangles well enough. One love triangle in every hundred books is nice, so long as they're well written and creative and whathaveyou.
But that's the problem - they should only be one in a hundred. Wherever you look, you have an LOL LOVE TRIANGLE, especially in paranormal romance!
I was talking to a friend yesterday; it always seems to go like this:
- Ordinary girl wanders around.
- One EXTRAORDINARY boy has shown an interest in her for a while.
- Another EXTRAORDINARY boy shows up and also is unusually interested in her.
- DILEMMA OMIGOD LOL.
It's not just a Twilight thing, though that may be what set off all of the (paranormal) love triangles. It happens in books I like and don't like, in all genres now.
For paranormal, Firelight by Sophie Jordan, which I love, has a love triangle. The love triangle in Nightshade by Andrea Cremer was the only part of the book I didn't like.
In dystopians, we have the love triangle set up in The Hunger Games, which added even more drama to an already dramatic series, but at the heart of the series was irrelevant. In Enclave by Ann Aguirre, the love triangle was so unnecessarily set up that it made me dislike the book as a whole. Even Lauren deStefano's Wither sets up the hint of a love triangle.
In fantasy, The Iron King - which I consider fantasy, not paranormal, though I'm not sure why - has a massive love triangle, of which I take the losing side. I'm invested in it, and I do enjoy it, but at the same time, logically, it doesn't make much sense - Ash, who she chooses to fall for, is the same man who starts the book trying to kill her. If somebody is trying to murder you, do you really decide, "Oh, hmm. I'm going to fall in love with them!"?*
*Note: If your name is Bella Swann, you are exempt from this rule.
I asked Twitter for suggestions for love triangles and got dozens with in minutes. The Summer I Turned Pretty. Looking for Alaska. The Sky Is Everywhere. Flawless. Forget You. Prom and Prejudice. Shade. Deadly Little Lies. Beautiful Disaster. The Truth About Forever. Wicked Lovely. Perfect Chemistry.
Part of my dislike of love triangles is that, more often than not, and especially in paranormal, they're unrealistic. You have ridiculously amazing people falling for ordinary people. Yes, sure, that's nice in ideal, but I've never been able to relate to that; you'd never feel equal with somebody who is so PERFECT! while you are so ORDINARY!
And more often than not, and especially in paranormal, one of the people you're interested in is "elusive" or "mysterious" which, in the context of the story, translates to "he tried to kill me, but I forgave him." What the hell!? I know very few people in real life who would get back together with somebody who tried to kill them, if any at all.
And that brings up another unrealistic point - look at your group of friends. (Your REAL friends, not your Facebook friends.) How many of them are involved with in a love triangle? Not crushing on a guy who has a girlfriend, but genuinely involved in a love triangle? If you can come up with one, I applaud you. It's rare.
I think the thing I hate most about love triangles is that they're not just two people falling in love.
Yes, I said it. The problem with love triangles is that they are, in fact, love triangles.
What happened to just two people falling in love? Why do you have to have the selection all of a sudden? The beauty, the amazingness, the sheer euphoria of two people falling in love is amazing. And more often than not, you can have enough problems in that relationship, or adjusting to that relationship, or within the plot that causes stress in the relationship, that you don't need to stick another guy in to cause the drama.
Look at Harry Potter. Is there the hint of a love triangle? No. Yes, Harry does date Cho before finding Ginny, but that's normal. Yes, Ron dates Lavendar; Hermione dates Krum; they're teenagers, it's okay to date outside of the one person you'll be with forever.
But you know who loves who. The characters aren't running around in love triangles or whathaveyou. Even in Pride and Prejudice, which is arguably the most romantic story of most time, there is no love triangle. Is Wickham interested in Lizzie for a bit? Yes! But there was never any real interest on Lizzie's part, not really; she defended him because she thought him friendly and already disliked Darcy. But there's never a triangle. The two guys don't spend the entire book fighting over her; she's not madly in love with both and has to choose.
Or take My Ridiculous Romantic Obsessions by Becca Wilhite, which I just finished recently. I loved it. And it's about two people falling in love. They have their problems and their stresses and she doesn't need to be in love with somebody else to do it.
Maybe that's the reason I love the historical romance genre; more often than not, it's not a love triangle. It's two people who try not to fall in love and then do. I love that.
Is it just me? Or do you guys feel the same way?
"you'd never feel equal with somebody who is so PERFECT! while you are so ORDINARY!"
ReplyDeleteSo true! Actually we think Stephenie Meyer did a pretty good job showing the pitfalls of that kind of a relationship; it really gutted Bella for a long time.
Anyhoot, we're with you: love triangles can be fun, but they're overdone and usually not very realistic. One of the better love triangles, we thought, was in The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. Everyone is normal, and the two guys represent two different lifestyles/mindsets -- a choice that the protagonist has to make about what kind of life she wants to lead, what kind of person she wants to be.
Ditto the love triangle in Hunger Games. We don't think it was completely irrelevant, because those guys represented the type of person Katniss was choosing to be. (However, yes, it was a lot LESS important than the other elements of the book. We think fans pushed up the romance, not Suzanne Collins.)
Anyhoot, GREAT discussion!
Whoa, you're making me think early on a Saturday morning! I applaud your post. The whole love triangle in YA has gotten under my skin, just like all the cover girls in prom dresses. They provide instant gratification and nothing more. Your points are so true. I will disagree on one: I don't see paranormal as a 'trend'. We've had it in the adult market for a long time and it was time for authors to look towards the younger crowd as a new audience. I personally don't want to see the genre diminish, all I want is some of the 'trending' storylines to die away (and the biggest part of the trend is the love triangle).
ReplyDeleteYes!! You managed to organize my thoughts! I don't get it, why so many love triangles? It's not even fun anymore.
ReplyDeleteBella / Edward / Jacob were ok the first time I read them...But now they are so many!! And as you said, unrealistic! Who falls in love with someone who tries to kill you? If that happens, you need a therapist.
But I understand why they appeal to so many people. Specially young girls, who want to feel special having several people interested in you.
Anyway, I understand crushes. It's easy to have a crush on somebody when that person has a crush on somebody else. But love? Love is a rare thing.
That's why I loved Harry Potter romance. It was realistic. I've heard people saying it wasn't enough, but I think it was great. It wasn't a romantic story, but that's how it happens usually in real life.
I only wish there were more stories where the girl wouldn't always fall in love!
I'm pretty indifferent to love triangles. I don't fawn all over them, but I don't absolutely hate them either.
ReplyDeleteIf the book is good enough I'll pick a side and see how it all turns out and if it's not, then I'll just see how it all turns out.
People have some serious hate for love triangles and I don't understand it.
Good post though. It was very well thought out.
Love triangles can actively discourage me from picking up a book. I want to read about a couple falling in love -- not an ordinary girl having to choose between two special guys. I agree with you that it can be unrealistic, and has the tendency to make me dislike the girl.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do have to disagree, re: falling in love with somebody who tried to kill you. It is unrealistic in a contemporary setting, to girls (or guys) whose primary worries are whether their crushes like them back and whether they passed that exam last Tuesday. However, I actually like those sorts of conflict in a more fantastical setting. For example, in fantasy where the two countries have been at war for forever and two soldiers, who tried to kill each other at first, end up falling in love -- yes, very much cliche, but that's believable for me. So yeah, generally, whether it works depends on the writer's execution and the circumstances surrounding their situation.
I am another who's fine with the dangerous paranormal love. PNR/fantasy basically takes things to another level. The conflicts become something seen in a contemporary and fantasy setting. So the dangerous boy from the contemporary with major angst problems becomes the same, but with a penchant for killing people or stealing their souls or becoming a werewolf. Ect.
ReplyDeleteSo, as much as I agree that sometimes the relationships are unhealthy, in a fantasy setting we have to look at it as a fantasy novel. I think it's also safe to say that the reason it's easy to fall in love with those characters is that they often don't WANT to hurt the heroine, and the love between them is expressed in how the hero battles his nature in order to be with the girl he loves.
Potato potahto, though. Not everyone sees it that way, and it's fine. I would like less love triangles, but I'd also like it if people would stop making love triangles where there are not in fact love triangles. Sometimes a guy friend is said to be a part of a triangle he would never realistically be in - even to the context of the story's relationships - because readers make it out that way.
I enjoy some love triangles like you said. But it does get overwhelming and a bit annoying with some books. I'm actually on Ash's side in The Iron Fey...some of us just can't help but fall for the bad guy. But please don't compare me to Bella :P
ReplyDeleteI actually kind of wish we could forget the insta-love in some YAs all together. Since when is it mandatory to have falling-in-love be part of a story? It’s like they almost forget about all the other kinds of relationships they could utilize. I know I'm not someone who's going to put a book down just because it's not about falling for someone.
http://blackfingernailedreviews.blogspot.com/
I am so fricken sick of love triangles, and I know we sort of talked about this WAY BACK WHEN at Oblong Books (FYI it was GREAT to see you!).
ReplyDeleteI feel like I am getting a rare treat when reading a book without a love triangle.
But I also feel totally let down when I find out a series which was triangle-free suddenly has one. Like, I read something about Undercurrent by Tricia Rayburn having a love triangle and I automatically thought, way to sell out. Part of the appeal of Siren to me was the lack of love triangle.
Although, when it's not the main focus of the story, it can be kind of hot, like in Hunger Games and as mentioned about Forest of Hands And Teeth. But for the most part, I am in the 'no just no' camp, and love what you have to say about the magic of love between TWO people.
I'm sick of love triangles to. Especially if you prefer the character that you know the main character won't end up with. The only love triangle I like is in Vampire Academy. Mostly because I loved both guys.
ReplyDeleteI actually do know someone in real life that was in a love triangle ( a close friend of mine) and it was not as nice as the books make them out to be. There's so much gossiping and hearts broken. It is just horrible. I hated every moment of it.
I wouldn't love to read a book with no love triangle for once.
I completely agree!
ReplyDeleteHowever, the only love triangles that I can really go for are ones with an already-established couple, and then another character is inserted into their romance, like in Anna and the French Kiss. [SPOILER] St. Claire is already in a relationship, but the more he gets to know Anna, the more he realizes that she is a better fit. [END]
Those, I think, are the most-suited love-triangles. I love those, because those DO mirror real life.
I agree, but I am so tired right now that I can't really explain or go too deep in through with it. Sometimes a love triangle is nice, as long as it's written well and seems real even if it is in fact a fantasy or a paranormal. I mean, you want something to be real in one of those, right?
ReplyDeleteBut something that is more lovable about a book with love is to have TWO people fall in love. Not two and then a third wheel. Thank you so much for this post! Loved it!
I agree. I'm tired of Love Triangles and I'm tired of all the TRILOGIES (I'm constantly ranting about that one). I think both are marketing gimmicks. You can't have all that Team Edward and Team Jacob stuff if there's only Edward.
ReplyDeleteLove triangles isn't a subject that I can really wax poetic on, but I have to say that I'm also sick of so many people falling in love with one ordinary person. I actually can think of one person in life who was in a sort of love triangle, but then again, I know a lot of people. It is unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, though, I don't mind the love triangle in Nightshade so much. I think it's because Calla is such a strong character that I can believe the fact that guys would be falling for her.
Excellent post!
My biggest problem is that all the guys are tripping over the girl for no apparent reason. And then the love triangles that don't make sense.
ReplyDeleteWhen the love triangle works, I have no problem with it. But there's one series (which I won't name to be polite) where both of the guys are manipulative. One freely admits his manipulation and the goal; the other doesn't. Yet the girl holds the forthright guy's manipulation against him, while defending the manipulation of the guy who won't admit that he's manipulative. Er, huh?
*sigh*