FractureAuthor: Megan Miranda
Series: ---
Publisher: Walker Books
How Received: BookExpo America
Release Date: 17 January 2012
Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine - despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?Got to page: 157
Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?
Here's the thing: I love the plot of Fracture. I think it's an interesting concept, especially as Delaney isn't all gung-ho about it. She has a hard time dealing with it, she tries to figure out how it happened; she's a very realistic character, and I love that.
And Miranda has a fabulous writing style; she really managed to capture Delaney's voice in a very distinct way. She's sassy and smart and confused and conflicted.
But damn it all if the downfall of this book was a love triangle.
I've ranted before about how much I hate love triangles. And this was a prime example as to why I hate them so much.
Delaney is set up in a love triangle with Decker, her next door neighbor, and Troy, the older guy with the same mysterious power. Now, I don't know how it ends - I stopped reading as the love triangle started - but damn it all if it was unnecessary. There was plenty of set up for Decker and Delaney, but Troy had met Miranda all of one time. It would have been a lot more interesting to see Troy take on the role of mentor or friend rather than the unnecessary and cliche love triangle.
It seems like all of the publishing companies haven't just been jumping on the paranormal bandwagon; they're jumping on the love triangle bandwagon. I wish they would stop.
Final Comments: If you can stand poorly set up love triangles, you could try it. But I'd pass.
Has anybody else read Fracture? Got a different opinion than me?
Ah! The dreaded love triangle. I've seen a few of them done really well, where they felt natural and organic, but mostly, they feel forced and gimmicky, which is sad. I can't help but wonder if editors/publishers are pushing for that or looking for that or if that's just what authors think they're looking for. It seems way to common to be a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteMegan @ Read It, See It
Uhg, I have such a problem with love triangles when they seem to serve no real purpose in the plot but to manufacture conflict or when they're poorly done. I just reviewed a book with a blah love triangle, and it soured me on the whole story, unfortunately. *sigh* Isn't it time for a new plot device?
ReplyDeleteI read Fracture and reallly liked it! I do understand your love triangle point, but I felt like Troy was more obsessed with Miranda based on the simple fact that they both had near death experiences and suffered a crazy condition after that. So, not love exactly. Miranda quickly finds out that Troy is...off.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to spoil it too much, but wanted to say something. Maybe you'll try it again one day. I have a few DNF books and they are NYT best sellers...happens to everyone!
Jen
NOOOOO! Not ANOTHER love triangle?!?!? And I was SO wanting to like this one. I'm still going to read it because I've been looking forward to it for ages, but my expectations are a bit lower now. :(
ReplyDeleteI can see why you were worried, I was too... at first! But like Jen said, it does become less love-triangle as the book progresses and the ending really ties everything together.
ReplyDeleteI didn't enjoy this one as much as I had hoped I would, but I definitely recommend picking it up again some day so you can see what happens (:
I read it, and I wouldn't consider Troy to be a love interest. You find out why later in the book :)
ReplyDeleteI'm with you 100% on the unnecessary love triangle, which is about 90% of them. It's gotten to the point where I'll purposefully avoid a book for a while if I know there's a love triangle because not only are they mostly cliche and derivative, but they tend to make me like the characters even less.
ReplyDeleteSmiles!
Lori
Love triangles bug me too, but it wasn't really a love triangle in this book, Decker is the only actual love interest (if you keep reading, you'll see what I mean. The Troy/Delaney thing is explained - like, why they're drawn to each other).
ReplyDeleteNow THAT sucks. I absolutely detest love triangles, and only in a few instances can I recall actually seeing it work. And when I say 'work', I mean that it just manages not to annoy the heck out of me.
ReplyDeleteAlmost always you can depend on the heroine to go with the "hot, mysterious bad boy", leaving the typical boy-next-door or overall good guy left in the dust like a weenie. Bleh! WHY!
I'll still be reading it, but man. I hate love triangles. >:(
I can't say I hate love triangles if they seem real but when it's insta-love and the triangle is totally forced, my eye starts twitching.
ReplyDeleteI just read Night Road by A. M. Jenkins and loved it, partially because it's the rarest form of supernatural YA book, one with no love interest at all!
Yeah, I'm in COMPLETE agreement with the other commentors.
ReplyDeleteThis is NOT a love triangle. You premptively jumped to that conclusion. You know what they say about "assume".
This is a fabolous book and I think you need to reconsider your DNF rating.
Finish it and then come back and discuss this so called "love triangle" you're upset about.
I'm participating in the blog tour next week! So stop by and check out my review.
I'm going to go with Jen on this one. I did feel that Troy's thing with Delaney was an obsession and rather creepy. To me, Decker was the real love interest. I'm sorry you didn't get into it!
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