Top 5 books with the most baffling love triangles

Could be love triangles that shocked me in a good way (both development and conclusion), love triangles that shocked me in a bad way, and love triangles that flat out just didn't make any sense to me. I made a post about love triangles here.


Warning: Possible spoilers.

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1. Hourglass by Myra McEntire. (you can read my review for Hourglass here)
This book definitely falls in the "love triangles that didn't make any sense" category. Emerson Cole meets Michael Weaver. There is an obvious attraction between these two, an almost insta-love, that although I didn't buy I was still somewhat fine with enough to finish the book. So, throughout the book, I thought, "Hey, this is fine. This is all right." And then, BOOM, I met Kaleb.
I liked Kaleb, actually. I liked him more than I liked Michael. But for some odd reason, after just a few hours, Kaleb decided that he really, really liked Emerson. It happened so fast. And it just didn't make any sense! Where in the world did he come from anyway? How could the author just let him barge into their relationship without much of an explanation? It was as if she was saying, "Dang, there isn't a love triangle in this book. WE NEED A LOVE TRIANGLE IN THIS BOOK." And you know what? Books without love triangles are perfectly fine. Great, even. Books without love triangles are better, in my opinion, than books that have them.

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2. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand.
I liked the love triangle in this one. I really did. The relationship Clara shared with Christian led me into thinking that she was going to choose him for sure they (SPOILER ALERT) supposedly had a destiny with each other after all. In fact, I hadn't even considered the other persona of the triangle, Tucker, as much as I should have. So when Tuck really did come into play, I was shocked, but in the good way. Although I didn't exactly see it coming, the love triangle intro was still believable because there was character development between the two. Cynthia Hand actually turned the love triangle into what a love triangle should be in the grand scheme of things: a plot twist.

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3. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.
I should be saying great things about this book. So many people loved The Hunger Games, after all, and I know at least twenty people who are going to see the movie when it hits the big screen. But then again, so many people were also immensely disappointed by the last book. And actually I was one of them.
The main reason I didn't like the outcome of the series was because of the conclusion of the last book. So:
Katniss chose Peeta over Gale. Why did she do it? That was never fully explained. Frankly, I'm a Team Gale person, and to me the fact she chose Peeta was more out of guilt than anything else. And originally, the whole love triangle between the three throughout the series had never even clicked in my head at all. I couldn't understand how Katniss and Peeta felt about each other. I didn't get the chemistry between them. But Katniss's relationship with Gale--now that I understood. Maybe the reason I'm ranting about this is because I'm a disappointed Team Gale fan, but that is not necessarily it. In my opinion, KatnissxPeeta had never been fully developed at all. And once again, this can be taken back to my tidbit with Hourglass. Where is the development? The obvious relationship? How could the love triangle have been genuine? Because to me, it wasn't.

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4. If I Die by Rachel Vincent.
 #4 on this list is another good example of baffling love triangles, and by good I mean I was genuinely happy with the outcome. If I Die is actually the fifth book of the Soul Screamers series and the love triangle that began to emerge in books four and five (My Soul to Keep and My Soul to Steal respectively) was both shocking and pleasing, because first of all: 1) The relationship between Kaylee and the persona that made the triangle a triangle was believable--unlike Mockingjay. 2) The love triangle had not seemed random at all, like it had in Hourglass.
Why did I choose If I Die then if the love triangle had started in books four and five? I was mainly impressed by the outcome of the triangle, and in If I Die, the outcome was delivered. With justice. And the outcome was the most baffling part of it all. Originally, I had been rooting for a Kaylee and Nash pair (Naylee, if you will) throughout the first four books. In fact, I hadn't even considered the other addition to the love triangle: Tod. Or Taylee. And when I figured it in the beginning of If I Die, I thought, "Oh, of course! So that's why. That explains everything now." And ironically enough, Rachel Vincent claimed that she hadn't even expected Tod to be that addition. (In fact, Rachel Vincent herself said that the love triangle isn't really a love triangle at all, which you can read more about here.)

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5. The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong.
Yet another "good" example of love triangles (in other words: Yes, I did enjoy this book very much and it was an excellent way to end the Darkest Powers trilogy.) The love triangle part of this book was filled with pleasant shock and I LOVED its conclusion. Once again, I didn't see it coming because the author had originally focused on the Chloe-Simon bit, but when it did come it was still fully believable. Still fully acceptable. Even though I had loved Chloe and Simon, I began to love the newest addition even more. And that, everyone, is what a love triangle should be like: a plot twist that increases character development, relationships, and interaction, making it more believable and fleshing out each persona of the triangle even further. In my opinion, at least.





Another important notice: The Maximum Ride Reading Challenge officially starts today! So if anyone's interested, the banner at the top of this blog should take you to the MRRC blog--and all of its glorious details ^-^

- E