Okay, so, if you’ve been following my blog then you’ll know that I’ve been quite angry at YA authors lately. I’ve been annoyed with the horrible way they portray relationships and love triangles and a whole bunch of other nasty stuff. Therefore, I figured it miiiight be time to do a post that is positive rather than not, because a great many authors DO write amazing relationships and–sometimes–even love triangles. Here’s my list:
Love Triangle Done Right – Will/Tessa/Jem from Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices trilogy
Seriously, guys. I have NO IDEA how Clare MAKES THIS WORK. Usually in love triangles, there is a clear guy who the author is pushing the torn female towards. Even if, somehow, they don’t, you seem to really start rooting for one and hating the other one. Or, at least, that’s what I think and, erm, do. A lot. 😛 However, I adore Will. I adore Jem. AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHICH ONE IS BETTER FOR TESSA. It’s inconceivable to me that I have just fallen in love with all three characters who have somehow made this love triangle possibly the best I’ve ever seen.
Love Triangle Done Right – Humberto/Elisa/Alejandro from Rae Carson’s The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Okay, I’m not entirely sure this counts as a love triangle because I never really thought Elisa was actually in love with Alejandro, but still. There was a definite love triangle set up here since she was married to Alejandro but fell in love with Humberto and well you can kinda figure out the plot line from there. OR CAN YOU? This isn’t on this list because of the relationships, or the fact that I totally couldn’t make up my mind which one I loved more, but rather HOW THE BOOK ENDED AND WHAT CARSON DID. GUYS. I want to build her an altar. She took everything cliché plotline I’d already thought up for how the book would end and THREW A BOMB ON IT. And therefore, this is here. See my review for more.
Relationship Done Right – Anna/Etienne from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
GUYS. GUYS. I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SPEAK WITHOUT CAPS LOCK. GO CHECK OUT MY REVIEW FOR MORE. Besides this book being AMAZING IN EVERY WAY, this relationship was so real I fell in love head over heels AND THEN SOME. Rarely have I ever seen teen romance done this amazingly. Actually, put this at the top of my list for top teen romance EVER. Sure, the setting is kinda out there, but screw it. Everything else about this book is the best thing ever.
Relationship/Love Triangle Done Right – Dimitri/Rose/Adrian from the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead
It’s very rare when a series of books goes like this one. You know why? IT’S A REAL RELATIONSHIP PROGRESSION. I don’t want to ruin this for people who haven’t read the series, but trust me this one is totally swoon-worthy. Rose and Dimitri are obviously the couple pushed from the beginning, since Adrian isn’t introduced until about halfway through, but then he’s in love with Rose and you’ve got this psuedo-triangle on your hands because Rose is totally head over heels from Dimitri. But then something bad happens to Dimitri and Rose decides to try to move on with Adrian. And then Dimitri comes back and then HELLO. That’s a really bad description because I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but this point is this is real. Nobody here is perfect. All three of them try to fight the way they feel, do the best in the situation and then they all screw up in their own way. There is a real show of love triangle fallout which KILLED *spoilerhiding* fans, but come on. He came back in Bloodlines and was freaking awesome, so the readers aren’t left completely bereft and hating Mead.
Relationship Done Right – Sam/Ana from Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
If you know me, then you know there is nothing that I hate more than insta-love. Well, Incarnate was my answer – THERE IS REAL RELATIONSHIP BUILD UP HERE. I wanted to jump up from reading and shout “Hallelujah!” But couldn’t, because I was, you know, reading. They have a REAL relationship with REAL issues and it doesn’t happen instantly. Other people, take note. For more, see my review.
For sure, there are plenty of other examples out there, but those are my top 5 of the moment! How about you?
My Life is a Notebook 
I liked Anna and the French Kiss, but Etienne actually royally pissed me off in it. It definitely wouldn’t be making my personal list of relationships done right in YA. Though no one else seems to have my issues with it.
That said, the love triangle in Infernal Devices is just about the only love triangle out there right now that doesn’t make me mad.
Also, potentially, the one in L.A. Weatherly’s Angel Fire (sequel to Angel Burn). I would’ve liked that one more, I think, if I weren’t already so over love triangles. It was pretty well done.
I just finished reading Sarah Rees Brennan’s Unspoken–kind of cheating to mention here because it won’t be out until September, but oh well–and as I read I kept thinking, “Way to have tons and tons of romantic tension without a love triangle! Go SRB!” (There was actually a teeny little love triangle, but it hardly counts since it’s totally obvious that the main character isn’t going to choose one of the guys.)
Etienne DID piss me off in parts too, but that was part of why I loved it! It always seems like, in YA, either the main love interest has to be a wild child or a golden child and there is no in between. Etienne was cute and a screw up who finally got something through his skull, to me anyways.
Will/Tessa/Jem is like … perfection. I don’t understand how, either, because I HATE love triangles. And yet… XD
I haven’t read any of the other books – obviously on the last one, since it isn’t OUT yet 😛 – but I will certainly be looking into them!