10.21.2009

Guest Blogger Michelle Rowen


BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE by Michelle Rowen

I love love triangles.

I never realized how much I loved them until I recently realized I included one in pretty much everything I write.

Not only do I love to write them, but I love to read them. The Edward/Bella/Jacob triangle is only one of the most recent that I’ve appreciated in books, but it’s the one I’ve noticed has gotten the most attention. I even own a Team Jacob tank top.

In the first two books of my Immortality Bites series my triangle allowed readers to be either Team Thierry or Team Quinn, and readers seemed to be very split on who my heroine, Sarah, should end up with. But, like Bella, Sarah had very specific thoughts on this and nothing I said seemed to sway her.

In my new paranormal series starting next May with The Demon in Me, my main character Eden is torn between her crush on an upstanding and good looking cop and the snarky, trouble-making demon who possesses her.

In my Nightshade urban fantasy duology out in 2011 that I’m writing as Rachel Connor, my heroine will be torn between a battle-torn dhampyr and a vampire king.

In the second book of my Demon Princess series out next June, lo and behold -- a love triangle forms between the demon princess Nikki, her servant/boyfriend Michael...and another otherworldly guy who comes into her life. Chaos ensues.

I find that the love triangles I like to read about and write about are specifically guy/girl/guy. Two guys battling to win the heart of one girl. I am less enchanted with two girls after the same guy. I suppose this is because I want the hero to be madly and passionately in love with the heroine and willing to fight for her -- both figuratively and literally. I want him to go to great lengths to prove this love, even being willing to change his true nature in order to do so, i.e.: the villainous vampire who seeks redemption as per Spike* in Buffy.

(* However, I don’t consider Spike/Buffy/Angel a true love triangle since Spuffy only happened after Angel had left Buffy...for her own good. Yeah yeah. Whatever Edward. Err, I mean Angel.)

And yeah, this devotion does lead to some questionable choices sometimes and heroes that can come off as a bit obsessive.

But that’s kinda hawt, right? Mostly because we know without a shadow of a doubt that the hero would never, ever, ever, ever hurt the heroine. This is why Edward works so well, I think. Edward detractors think he’s a creepy, dangerous stalker, but fans know he is devoted to Bella and would never let anything bad happen to her -- at his own hand or someone else’s.

I don’t have love triangles in my stand alone books. If the heroine has a boyfriend at the beginning, she isn’t truly in love with him. Her heart is open to the hero. Why don’t love triangles work in stand alones? Because they’re messy and they take more than one book to sort out.

Love triangles are vital (in my opinion) to a series. After all, if the hero successfully wins the heroine at the end of book one without anything threatening their relationship -- what the heck should happen in book two? There’s nothing more boring than a happy couple. But throw in another worthy man and the threat that the heroine will be stolen away by her own choice...and you’ve got yourself a romantic series that will have readers emotionally invested enough to see how it will all turn out.

Some other love triangles I’ve enjoyed:

From the movies...

Gone with the Wind -- Rhett, Scarlett, Ashley
Pirates of the Caribbean -- Will/Elizabeth/Jack (I was disappointed that they didn’t do more with this one)
X-Men -- Wolverine/Jean Grey/Cyclops (Team Logan!!)

From TV...
Felicity -- Ben/Felicity/Noel
Lost -- Jack/Kate/Sawyer

From books...
Early Anita Blake -- Jean Claude/Anita/Richard
The Hunger Games -- Peeta/Katniss/Gale
Vampire Academy -- Dimitri/Rose/Adrian
Harry Potter -- Harry/Hermione/Ron (okay, this one’s wishful thinking, but wouldn’t it have been awesome??)

One problem with love triangles is that when all is said and done, one guy is going to be the loser. There are a few solutions for this --

No, don’t have him pairbond with a newborn baby whose mother is the woman you were originally in love with. Sheesh.

1) Have him sacrifice his life to save the heroine and give her a chance at happiness.

2) Turn him evil and vengeful, thus making him the villain.

Or, my favorite, of course...

3) Give him his own book and a worthy heroine who can help him mend his broken heart!

See? Easy.

So... what is your favorite love triangle in books, movies or TV? Whose team were you on and why?

Leave a comment with your answer and I’ll randomly pick a winner on Sunday, October 25th at 9:00 pm EST. The prize is a signed copy of your choice of any one of my 2009 releases: Stakes & Stilettos, Tall, Dark & Fangsome, Demon Princess: Reign or Shine, or my November Harlequin Blaze, Hot Spell!

For more info on Michelle’s books please visit her website at http://www.michellerowen.com/

EDITED: This contest is now over. The winner will be announced soon.

37 comments:

  1. I guess the first love triangle that comes to mind for me was the Ross/Rachel/Joey one on friends. I always thought she was an idiot for getting together with Ross. Although Joey was a little dense at times. He was a lot more fun.

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  2. A love triangle that comes to mind is Tammy Jo/Zach/Bryn from Kimberley Frost's Southern Witch series. I am on Bryn's team. It's obvious he loves her and he doesn't try to be controlling the way Zach does.

    Raelena
    throuthehaze at gmail dot com

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  4. Hi, Michelle! I can't say that love triangles are my favorite because I'm a very indecisive person and when I'm reading a book that has a triangle, it jut drives me crazy!

    But I do have to say that the triangle between Sarah, Thierry and Quinn was so much fun! I kept hopping between to the other but I was glad with who she chose. :)

    Your new paranormal series coming up sounds awesome and I can't wait! And ooh, an urban fantasy duo?! Cool!

    Looking forward to reading Demon Princess: Reign or Shine. :)

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  5. Hi Michelle. Love triangles. There are two that come to mind. First, Merit, Morgan and Ethan from Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Series and the three from MMarr's Ink Exchange (the summer king, Summer queen and her boyfriend-haven't read it in a while). throughthehaze mentioned KFrost too, that is another good one.

    zenfoxflowerATyahooDOTcom
    Elie (Ellz Readz)

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  6. I didn't realize how many book,shows and movies I love had love triangles in them until now!

    Mine is fom my favorite show Lost. The bad boy vs the good guy & both make you drool. Oh the dilemma.

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  7. The first love triangle that I think of is from The Darkest Powers Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong. The Derek/Chloe/Simon thing. Since the first book I have been team Derek, and am hoping that Chloe and Derek will end up together in the third book. Simon's okay, I have nothing against him, It's just that he's not Derek. Plus, there seems to be more chemistry between C&D than there is between C&S. Simon seems more like her brother or friend than a boyfriend.

    Robyn
    robolobolyn03@gmail.com

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  8. I like the Bill/Sookie/Eric (go Eric!) triangle from True Blood. There are other triangles in that book series so I won't go there LOL.

    I am reading Friday Night Bites right now and enjoying the Ethan/Merit/Nathan triangle.

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  9. My favorite love triangle is Mercy/Adam/Samuel in Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson Series. The triangle isn't finish because the series is not complete but its a good one.

    usignolc(at)yahooDOTcom

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  10. Ok, so next to the Jacob/Bella/Edward triangle (totally a team Jacob member here too!), my favorite that comes to mind is the Adam Hauptman/Mercy Thompson/Samuel Cornick triangle from Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson novels. From the beginning I was completely team Adam, even though Mercy and Samuel have past history together, and it is explained why certain things happened, I was completely team Adam the first time I met him!

    Amy S.
    astewart305@rogers.com

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  11. Oooh, I forgot about the Darkest Powers triangle (Team Derek!!) and the True Blood one (Team Eric!!).

    Nice.

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  12. Great post, Michelle! I'm also a big fan of love triangles. I like them better when I have a clear favorite right from the beginning, so that I don't have to feel too much pain for the loser once the triangle is resolved; I'm selfish like that. In addition to all the great ones you and the other posters have mentioned, I also love some of the ones on Daytime TV (its a guilty pleasure!). One Life to Live has a bunch of them going on right now. For the record, I'm Team Shaun, Team Bo and Team Rex! :-)

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  13. from books? Patricia Briggs's Samuel/Mercy/Adam , Of course Charlaine Harris's Eric/Sookie/Bill, and from your books Thierry/Sarah/Quinn (for the record, I was on team Quinn) From movies? The Dark Knight's Bruce Wayne/Rachel Dawes/Harvey Dent. Now we have The Vampire Diaries with Stefan/Elena/Damon.
    Here is my wishful thinking for a very nice threeso..er, I mean love triangle: Sam/ME/Dean. (hey, a girl can dream,right?)

    Lisa (lasergirl70@hotmail.com)

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  14. Hi Michelle! Thank you so much for Guest Blogging here today. I enjoy love triangles too. This one isn't really a live triangle..it's more of a square maybe because it's so many people..but I enjoy the show Big Love on HBO. There hasn't been a new season in a while but in case anyone doesn't know..it involves a man who is married to three woman and they all live in houses next door to each other. He has kids with all of the women and they live as one big family. It's interesting! Of course it's poligamy and illegal but it's a good show! There's always fights over how the husband divides his time with the three wives and tons of drama.

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  15. I meant to say love not live. LOL And yes I sound completely incoherent since I haven't had coffee yet!

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  16. Michelle also has a contest on Good Reads for 5 copies of her new Blaze book Hot Spell!

    http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/1773-hot-spell

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  17. Michelle,

    Per usual, your blog has made my day. You make my day often.

    "Don't pairbond with a newborn child..." This is what I thought.

    And I must say that my all-time favorite love triangle is:

    Anita/Jean-Claude/Richard from beginning of the book series.

    Probably the first love triangle I truly fell in love with and constantly went back and forth on who Anita should be with. (I am now firmly Team Jean-Claude, though part of me will always be Team Edward [Ted Forrester] even if he is married.]

    & I am so excited for Nikki/Michael/and he shall remain nameless for those who haven't read Ch. 1 of Reign Check.

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  18. Just Finished Tall Dark And Fangsome and... Loved It Great Ending To A Great Series!
    On To Demon Princess Next :) Very Excited.
    Great Books
    Great Blog
    Great Author
    :)
    xoxo

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  19. Ooooh I adore Love Triangles.
    I mean. Edward-Bella-Jacob are THE love triangle ever.
    I know a lot more but this one is DEFINETELY my favourite :D
    But Dimitri-Rose-Adrian from Vampire Academy is also really great.
    I'm not absolutely sure if its a real love triangle since to everyone else Dimtri is dead... Ah its complicated ;D
    I also have a rough idea of a love triangle forming in my head for my own story :D hope I can make it work out well hahaha

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  20. Great post. I loved the Immortality Bites series and cant way to read Demon Princess and the new one coming up.

    I never realized how many love triangles were in the things I watched and read. And while many were metioned above a few of my favorites were Twilight (Team Edward), the Sookie series (Team Eric), The new Chicagoland series, the Mercy Thompson series, and the Mortal Instruments series.

    bacchus76 at myself dot com

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  21. Hi Michelle, your books look awesome. What about Gatsby, Daisy and Tom? Jake, Brett and Bill from The Sun Also Rises? Chrles, Lucie and Sydney from A Tale of Two Cities?

    Also, True Blood (hello, Team Eric!) and Anita Blake (totally Team Jean-Claude) are such classics I couldn't not mention them. Oh, and -- *ducking* -- Team Edward here :-)

    Fun topic!

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  22. The great thing about triangles is if you're not complete into the hero of a book, you can always root for the underdog. I root for Lewis in Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series between David/Joanne/Lewis.

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  23. The big YA triangle of coarse is Edward/Bella/Jacob

    On daytime tv I really liked the Billie/Bo/Hope

    Keri Arthur's Quinn/Riley/Kye

    blinky625(at)gmail(dot)com

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  24. Unfortunately I have to say I like the triangel Spike/Buffy/Angel - and I'm sooo happy that Angel got his own series *gg* Spike and Buffy are fantastic together ;)
    but I'm not yet sure if I like triangels in books...
    Hugs, Ina

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  25. Thanks for such a cool topic. This really helps me as a writer too. I'm forever loving the Angel/Buffy/Spike though I agree with you that it wasn't quite a triangle, but I LOVED on Angel when they argued over her. One other one that's good is in the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost--Cat, Bones and Tate. As far as sides- I'm team Spike and Team Bones:)How can I not be?

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  26. Sorry, stepping outside American media for a sec to answer this question!

    My favorite love triangle has to be Inuyasha/Kagome/Kouga from the manga/anime Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi. Kagome is a normal modern Japanese girl sent back in time to fuedal Japan, wherein she meets the title character, a bad-tempered half-human, half-dog demon who pretends (you know he is) to dislike her. Unfortunately for him, he's going to have to keep up the act for quite a while, as they're sent on missions (to save the world, of course) that keep them in close contact more often than not.

    Even more unfortunately, a wolf demon (Kouga) takes an interest in Kagome, going so far as to claiming her as his mate. Every time Inuyasha and Kouga clash, I clap in unmitigated glee. Especially because Inuyasha has no idea why Kouga being around Kagome riles him up so; poor baby is in denial.

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  27. I'm sure this has already been said, but the best love triangle I've across in books has to be the Sookie/Eric/Bill one. However, Charlaine Harris keeps throwing others into the mix as well with Qinn, Alcide, and Sam. Though Sam wishes more than is an actual love interest.
    But, by injecting all those other choices, Charlaine Harris keeps the triangle fresh, where it could go stale from the choice between the two lead.

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  28. Saved by the Bell....Zack/Kelley?dude who ran the burger joint(can't recall his name)

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  29. My favorite love triangle is on the TV show, BONES between Bones, Booth and Cam. Interesting dynamics between the three.

    Judi Bailey
    author48@cox.net

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  30. OOOH the love triangles... okay:
    Books:
    The Hunger Games: Gayle, Katniss, Peeta torn here because well, I know Gayle is the easy familiar answer but Peeta, oh gosh the things he will do for her..AHH team PAYLE I guess ;o)
    Twilight: Edward/Bella/Jacob - totally TeamEdward... I just love him. ;o)
    Wicked Lovely series: Seth/Aislinn/Keenan Total Seth fan because he makes a serious sacrifice for her
    Darkest Powers Trilogy: Derek/Chole/Simon total team Derek..can't really explain why
    Vampire Diaries: Stefan/Elena/Damon team Stefan (on the TV series too)
    Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Percy/Annabeth/Luke - total Percy fan
    Little Women: Jo/Laurie/Amy I was always team Jo & Laurie, but Professor Baer won my heart in Jo's Boys
    Dark Visions Trilogy: Gabriel/Kaitlyn/Rob TOTAL TEAM GABRIEL!! Love him!

    TV
    LOST: Sawyer/Juliet/Jack I know traditionally everyone loves Kate, but I am team Sawyer & Juliet!
    FRIENDS: I always loved the Richard/Monica/Chandler triangle...team Chandler because he is funny but oh Tom Selleck you age so well....

    Thanks for a great topic!
    clsbarr@yahoo.com
    http://princesscourtneysbarr.blogspot.com

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  31. Ah, the triangle. It is really the foundation that most really good books are based on. I'm glad that you mentioned the early Anita Blake with Jean Claude/Anita/Richard. The first 8-9 books were the best, because of that triangle. ;)
    Team Jacob huh? I pictured you as an Edward. I have a feeling that after this next movie there will be a lot of Team Jacob. I love the part of the trailer that he swings up from the tree and into her bedroom window. Good stuff..........Stacy

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  32. Love triangles... I have a love/hate relationship with love triangles. Only because you always want both guys to win. A few of the love triangles that I hate to love are Edward/Bella/Jacob from Twilight, Dimetri/Rose/Adrian from Vampire Academy and Stefan/Elena/Damon from Vampire Diaries. I love Edward but after New Moon I was totally Team Jacob. You gotta love him no matter what. It just sucks that he's second best. I'm a HUGE fan of Vampire Academy and totally Team Demetri but Adrian has grown on me over time and I think that if Demetri wasn't in the picture Rose and Adrian would have an awesome relationship. Not only would it not be perfect, it would be a story in itself just because of the people they are. Stepfan and Damon are HAWT but the tv series is so much different from the book series. I'm team Stefan but I can't help but feel something for Damon (in the book). So although I I hate love triangles I love them as well. It just works when reading a good book. It makes things exciting and I love excitement in my books.

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  33. I have to say the Bill/Sookie/Eric love triangle in Charlaine Harris' series is fun - I'm rooting for Eric - Bill is just sad.

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  34. I love the Vampire Academy love triangle. I love Dmitri, but I've been routing for Adrian, for Rose to give him a chance.

    Deidre

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  35. Macy, Wyatt, and Finn from Summer of Two Wishes by Julia London. Macy had been told that her husband Finn had been killed in the line of duty. After much grieving, she started life anew with marriage to Wyatt. When Finn return very much alive after three years, heartache ensues. I am so empathetic for our armed forces and their families. I think about them quite a bit, and I can only guess at the depth of their turmoil.

    gcwhiskas at aol dot com

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  36. Okay wanted to put another couple of love triangles..
    Hermione-Harry-Ron. after rereading the last Harry Potter I deffo think Hermione should've pulled something off with Harry ;D
    Oh. and another one. its from gossipgirl. Serena-Chuck-Blair .. wishful thinking i know ;D
    oh and from 90210:
    the awesome brown haired guy- the blonde bitch-the brown haired maincharacter. I fail at remembering names ;D

    Sophie

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