Discussion Post (#2) - Love Triangles

Welcome to our 2nd monthly discussion. Last month we discussed the ever growing genre of New Adult (You can find that post here), we received some great responses with this, so thank you to all who commented on the post.

This month we've decided to discuss something that can go either way, depending on the book or the reader themselves.......Love Triangles! 
Yup, the love/hate relationships that we as readers have for books with love triangles. We'll be discussing what we like, what we don't, why we think they work and why they don't always work. We'll take a look at some of the books that succeeded in using a love triangle and books that didn't succeed based on how the author may have handled it. 

Like last month, please respect all opinions, and if you're using spoilers in your comments, please use a ***SPOILER*** sign so we don't ruin it for others :)

Right! On with the discussion :D

What we love and hate about love triangles!

1) Love triangle stories;

Donna:  I love a good love triangle in a book. It bring so much suspense to the story that it has me sitting on the edge of my seat most of the time. However, the love triangle for me has to feature from the very start of the series for me to truly enjoy it. 

Jess: Ugh. I'm always on the fence when it comes to love triangles. I don't mind them, providing they're from book 1. The thing with love triangles is that as the reader I'll either settle on one team straight away (e.g Edward and Jacob) (I'm Team Edward btw) or I'll be going back and forth trying to make up my mind. Love triangles do bring a good dynamic to the story, because each boy will have their own personality different to that of the other but when it comes to them being included, I'd prefer it from the start instead of mid series, so I can settle on one team. Like Donna said, they sometimes fill like fillers in the book.

2) Love triangles being introduced in the sequel;

Donna:  I HATE this! Honestly, some authors really work their magic with love triangles but introducing love triangles in the sequel is so WRONG! It makes me feel as though it was just added as a filler. So many of my favourite authors have done this and it's really let the book down. 

Jess: Ah, this goes back to my first bit. It's quite annoying when it happens. It's not something that bothers me as much as Donna, but as I said, much preferred from the beginning so I can choose. Having them start mid series, although making the book exciting, can also feel forced and too much of a filler and I just get silly confused about who I prefer, especially if both boys are so different, but so hot. 

3) When our heroine can't choose:
Donna: This can go either way - it can be enjoyable or it can become frustrating. I like it when the heroine struggles with her feelings for the two guys but deep down she knows who she really wants to be with. Some love triangles are written very well but sometimes it's pretty clear who the heroine is suppose to be with - even though she might not see it at the time. 
Jess: Blahhh! This gets friggin annoying. I get that most love triangles are written to give the story some excitement and to make the reader understand that their heroine needs to make a choice and to try and make the heroine understand the consequences of making that choice, but when the heroine herself can't make up her mind. It just bugs me, especially if one boy turns out to be more of a best friend than a lover. It would seem an obvious choice, but no, it's not. Apparently.

4) Unrequited love triangles:
Donna: I've read a number of books where the best friend is in the running for lover but deep down, you know that's all he or she will be. This is the perfect example of an unrequited love triangle and mostly the bad boys always come out on top! 
Jess: Ah this is a different one. This will stem from our heroine having a guy best friend and bad boy new guy on the scene. The best friend loves her, but can't say anything. It's a hard one that most authors do well (***Spoiler***Clary and Simon for example in TMI). In the end though, the best friend is there for a reason, and it's not be a lover. So when it comes to our heroine making the choice, the bad boy will always win out over the best friend who couldn't admit his feelings. 

5) When one of our love triangle guys die:
Donna: Yes, this is one of the worst possible situations EVER! It's emotional and so highly frustrating when you become invested in a character - that your rooting for - and then the author KILLS him off! FOR NO REASON! I've rated books one star for this, not because I didn't like the book but how do you continue enjoying a book when this happens? It hard to move on from. I'm not saying all authors fail in this but almost every time it feels out of place, like the character was given the easy way out. Happy ever afters aren't hard to come by! 
Jess: ARRRRRRGGGGHHH!!! It's happened to a couple of books I've read. I hate it. To me when I get so emotionally invested in both lads, and then the author kills one...arrrrgggh! NO! It just feels like the author took an easy way out so that the heroine didn't have to choose between the two, or just making the choice for her. It's not the right way to do it, and I don't think there is any justification for doing it. Just...NO! The last thing I want (and the heroine) is to have a good guy die. It's just not fair or just. Some authors do it because they feel that's how the story needed to be written. Whatever! I don't think anyone in that story (except the bad guys) wanted to die. Silly moos.  

So here are the books that we believed succeeded in creating the perfect love triangle;
  
and here are the ones that didn't.
  

So love triangles...do you LOVE or HATE them? 
Leave your comments below.

Discussion Post (#1) - New Adult

Welcome to our FIRST discussion of the month. We decided we wanted to spice things up on the blog so starting with this month we're going to come up with a monthly discussion and post it right here for you all to view and comment your opinions. We know discussions can get heated, and we kindly ask you all to keep any nastiness to yourselves and respect the opinion of others. If for whatever reason we decide to discuss a book in general, please do try to keep  spoilers to a minimum, and if you find you need to post a spoiler, please make everyone aware at the start with ****SPOILER**** this is just  so we don't ruin it for others.

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This month we have decided to discuss the new genre that seems to be growing and becoming a great genre amongst readers everywhere.......

New Adult.

For those of you who aren't familiar with New Adult. It’s in between a YA book and an Adult book. The stories will generally feature mature adults, usually in college or having just left college. They will deal with more emotional situations and they can often have more complicated relationships than a YA book. New Adult consists of mature nature when dealing with sex, it won't be as steamy as an adult or as graphic as an erotica but it most definitely is a lot sexier compared to ANY YA book you may have read.

Recently more publishers like Simon and Schuster and Penguin have started taking on more authors who write New Adult. Abbi Glines,  Nicole Williams, Steph Campbell Tammara Webber, and Jamie McGuire - to name a few, are all authors who started out self-publishing their work and now, their some of the biggest New Adult authors out there.  These gals are seriously setting a new trend and these hot publishers are jumping on board! 

   

And this is Why we HEART New Adult.

1. The sex isn't so clean

Jess: Oh yeah. That's a favourite of mine. Lol. I get why YA needs to be clean, I do, but with New Adult you actually sit there and say...wow...they did it. With YA you sometimes... just never know. 

Donna: I double that oh yeah! Lol. One of my pet peeves is that YA’s sex scenes are always so frustrating and confusing and yeah I get that it’s because it’s for a younger audience but that’s why I love NA. It’s very realistic and so much more emotional! 

2. We like that it's on the cusp of YA but is still gritty enough to be passed as adult too

Jess: This is a big thing. Most YA's have to tone down the gritty things, but with a new adult...it's all out there. Airing the characters dirty laundry I prefer this as it gives a better idea of the characters you're reading about.

Donna: I love that that NA authors don’t shy away from being adventurous. Even though they still have to tone down parts of the story, it’s so much more open than a YA book. 

3. We like that it deals with real life issues, like disabilities, family issues etc...

Jess: This is great. It's another reason to love New adult. Being that it's riskier than a YA it can get away with going deeper and deeper into real life issues, without scaring people off

Donna: I love a good story where the main character has real life issues whether that being themselves or a family member. The issues are usually difficult and it’s interesting to see what each other will come up with. 

4. We like the twists. There always seem to be great twists that leave you shocked as a reader

Jess: Ahhh the twists. Gotta love a good twist. Always come to the end, but it's the twists that make a new adult book...as well as the sex.

Donna: The twists. I gotta say I love and hate the twists. I love them because they spice the story up and the make-up sex is usually amazing but then I hate the twist because, through the whole of the story, you just know its coming. Lol 

5. We love that both characters (the love interests) have some sort of dark secret, or dark issues rolling in them, like some sort of bad past that catches up

Jess: This is another great thing. It helps if the characters have a darkness hidden somewhere. It helps the reader understand why they are the way they are. It will always tend to help with character development too should there be sequels

Donna: Dark secrets are usually a bad thing because they cause so many problems in a relationship but in a story, they create so many intense scenes – usually. Characters always hold back because of their pasts and I love trying to work out what’s happened and how they can try and overcome their problems.

6. We LOVE that we get HOT covers!!! 

Jess: OMG the covers. The covers are fantastic!!! I LOVE that we get half naked men on some of them...or a scruffy man trying to undo a girl’s shirt...yup. Covers are are hot! 

Donna: Ha! So with Jess on that one! Usually half naked men are the best covers but recently there’s been a few hot covering with the characters kissing. I like this because it gives me a picture in my head of what each character should look like.

Some of our favourite covers are;

   

7. They're usually written in TWO pov's! We love double POV's especially getting in the guy’s head

Jess: I love double POV's, especially when we get to be in the guy’s head. It's so rare that books are written from a dudes POV, that it just makes New Adult all the better when there are two. Real feelings come out on both sides!

Donna: I’m a huge fan of alternative POV’s! They just work so well within a story and I think all authors should do this because you do get to understand both characters better rather than just one character and usually it’s the girl. 

And just before we leave you, here a few books that self-published books that we'd love to see hit the shelves! 

  

So there's our top Why We Heart New Adult.  What do you think? Do you agree with us or  is there something we've forgotten? Leave your thoughts below.