Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2023 Challenge - Regular
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17 - A Book With a Love Triangle
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Nadine in NY wrote: ""This title has been removed from sale by Penguin Group, USA." Um, WHAT? First of all , what kind of crappy blurb is that, what is wrong w/ GR librarians for letting THAT fly?..."
I think some of the data for US published books was populated by a metadata feed, so it might not be a librarian's fault. I seem to remember they did a massive data migration in the distant past which messed up a lot of editions. I don't tend to bother fixing books that aren't on my shelves unless someone asks, since it takes time to go look up what they should be. So I would probably just ignore something like that.
As a non-American I'm happy that they let us have the UK descriptions on UK editions though.
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I did not know any of that! thanks for the explanation :-) I'm calm now haha
Well, there's always Histoire d'O Story of O. They are definitely a throuple - they know what they're doing. While they might not all be involved erotically with all of them, they are certainly power-dynamically involved with each other.
Is it love? it is on O's part.
Would also work for a book with only text on the cover.
I'm half tempted to read Little Women for this since I'm reading The Spring Girls for the modern retelling prompt and Little Women is the book The Spring Girls is retelling. It'd be interesting to read them back to back.
I read When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn. It's in the Bridgerton series, and it's Francesca's story.I really dislike love triangles. I've only ever read one book series where I thought it worked out well - The Infernal Devices. So I was glad to have found a light love triangle here. This one is understandable because of who John and Michael are to each other, and because of plot events, it's melodramatic for reasons other than the love triangle itself.
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I just finished "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats" by Jan-Philipp Sendker. Not a traditional love triangle, but I think it fits. it's also an intriguing exploration of love, family, and cultural expectations.
I just read Good Girl Fail and it fits this challenge. It's an erotic romance with a throuple-style love triangle (the happy kind of love triangle, not the angsty kind).
The Nature of Ice is a contemporary fiction set in Antarctica by Australian author Robyn Mundy. It shifts back and forth between the story of Freya, a photographer spending the summer in Antarctica and a recount of the 1912 exhibition by Douglas Mawson, including excerpts from his diaries and letters exchanged with his fiancé Paquita. The contemporary story has a love triangle or possibly a love quadrangle as there is also the controlling husband back at home. Here is my review
I just finished Twice Magic by Cressida Cowell, and it would fit this prompt quite nicely for anyone who'd rather read a middle grade fantasy adventure book and would rather not read something with any actual romance in it. :) There are two separate instances of A loves B, but B loves C that are are called out by the narrator - and they are more like "crush triangles" than "love triangles" I suppose, but I'd absolutely count it (and will, if it turns out I don't have anything else triangular in my reading list this year!)
Would fanfics or episode transcripts count, lol!
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I just picked up The End of the Affair for a different group's book read. A short classic that I mentioned a bit ago in another post, The Return of the Soldier is about a soldier in WWI suffering from shell shock and amnesia who has forgotten his wife and pines for his first love.
Also, in the nonfiction realm without being mostly about the romance, I can highly recommend Alexander Hamilton. It's giant, but it was really good (and you can sing Hamilton songs the whole way through!). Just a love triangle or two that changed American history...
This one is still tricky for me. I'm trying to find nonfiction-related books to this. As much as I like the Twilight books, those are such easy defaults when it comes to the topic of a love triangle.
I'm trying for something different.
Ron wrote: "This one is still tricky for me. I'm trying to find nonfiction-related books to this. As much as I like the Twilight books, those are such easy defaults when it comes to the topic of a love trian..."
Not sure how accurate the book is, but there's Nemesis: The True Story of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie O, and the Love Triangle That Brought Down the Kennedys
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I also found this true crime book: The Gilded Edge: Two Audacious Women and the Cyanide Love Triangle That Shook America
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You also could probably make a case for The Secret History of Wonder Woman too.
Diana wrote: You also could probably make a case for The Secret History of Wonder Woman tooWow, really? Oh that's excellent then. Thanks.
I found a few more NF on my list that would work:The Woman Who Named God: Abraham's Dilemma and the Birth of Three Faiths
American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the "It" Girl and the Crime of the Century
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
Thunderstruck
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Yes, this book would work perfectly.
Jennifer wrote: The Woman Who Named God: Abraham's Dilemma and the Birth of Three FaithsThis one sounds pretty interesting. I'll look into it.
I am reading Pride. The subtitle reads that it is a Pride & Prejudice remix, also another good book to read during Black History month.
I read Katharine Parr: The Sixth Wife by Alison Weir, a loan from a friend. It contains at least three love triangles.Although it is a historical fiction, it is well researched and interesting about Katharine Parr's life before she became queen. One of the author's best fiction books, I think.
I looked at the Listopia because I want to tackle this category in March, and I saw Oryx and Crake and Never Let Me Go both listed as having love triangles. Can anyone who's read either of them verify if they do or not/if it's important enough to the narrative to feel fulfilling for this prompt? (I have seen the movie version of "Never Let Me Go" several years ago, but...well, given the plot of that film, let's just say the romantic plotlines weren't the ones I still remember years later!)If neither of these is a really satisfying fit I can always go for The Hunger Games, or I found an interesting looking historical fiction called Nothing Sung and Nothing Spoken, which apparently has a love triangle in it (if anyone has read it please confirm!).
Sarah wrote: "I looked at the Listopia because I want to tackle this category in March, and I saw Oryx and Crake and Never Let Me Go both listed as having love triangles. Can anyone who'..."It has been awhile since I read it, but I would vote yes for Oryx and Crake.
The Flatshare is a fun rom-com by English author Beth O'Leary. Quirky Londoner Tiffy is desperate to find a new flat and lovable palliative care nurse Leon offers her an affordable solution when he rents out his flat and bed to her to use while he’s working nightshift. Their friendship grows gradually through a series of post-it notes since they are never actually in the flat at the same time. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ here is my review
LeahS wrote: "I read Katharine Parr: The Sixth Wife by Alison Weir, a loan from a friend. It contains at least three love triangles.Although it is a historical fiction, it is well..."
I got as far as--I can't even remember who it was--telling Katherine Parr to "go f*ck herself" before I put down the book. Lol I had to go and find my full review of it:
"It was a DNF. When a a teenager in 16th century England told Katharine to 'go fuck herself' that's when I put down the book. Is it 1535 or 2021? That phrase wasn't even used until the 19th century. It really seems that the only good book in this series was Catherine of Aragon, obviously Alison's favorite Tudor Queen. All the rest were marred by blatant hatred (Anne Boleyn), falsities (Anne Boleyn), sheer lack of personality (Jane Seymour), rumor and/or factual inconsistencies (Anne of Kleves, Katherine Howard). This series could have been so much more."
That weirdly passed me by and I think it would have leapt out at me. Not saying it didn't exist, perhaps we read different editions, because what did leap out at me was the much less dramatic 'don't go there', which was certainly not C16th speak. and oddly enough neither phrase is Alison Weir'sl normal style. They did have the F word in the sixteenth century, but I agree unlikely in that context and by a teenager to an adult.
I wanted to find the context but it appears in my annoyance and disgust I deleted the book from my kindle. But I must have read it somewhere; I used actual quotations in my review. Hmm.
I wasn't doubting you, just wondering if we'd read different editions as I thought I would have remembered it. But no, it was down to the old brain cells! It's on page 101 of the paperback edition I read, and occurs during an altercation between KP and her stepson.Not only had I forgotten it, I'd forgotten I actually looked up the etymology of the F word at the time I came across that particular sentence! It was around in the sixteenth century, so I think I decided it could possibly have been used in that context, as the stepson was a difficult boy at that particular time. However, I agree with you that it doesn't read right.
The trouble with using a more obviously sixteenth century swear word (and there were a lot) is that it would come across as a ruder version of 'Gadzooks' or similar. I think it would have been better to have had the stepson make a rude gesture which could be left to the reader's imagination.
I think because of all that, it didn't bother me as much as the use of 'don't go there', which seems such a modern expression in the context it was used in the book. It could easily have been replaced by something like 'don't speak of that', which would have been a possible C16 phrase and doesn't sound too dated.
LeahS wrote: "I wasn't doubting you, just wondering if we'd read different editions as I thought I would have remembered it. But no, it was down to the old brain cells! It's on page 101 of the paperback edition ..."This! Having a 16th century teen say GFY took me completely out of the story. It would have been incredibly disrespectful (and yeah teens are always disrespectful to their parents no matter the era!) but he wouldn’t have dared. I agree, a rude gesture would have been more accurate than GFY.
To everyone else I’m so sorry I hijacked this thread.
I just went with Eclipse . I couldn't think of any others. Even though some nonfiction ones were recommended, which I appreciate, they were just ones that I couldn't get around to. I know that it's barely the first quarter of the year but still.
I think I'm actually gonna go for The Hunger Games for this. The first book has the love triangle already, right? (I've never read the books and I think I've seen...2 of the 3 movies, so I can't remember when that starts to appear.)
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Yes it does. And my daughter and I disagree completely on who Katniss should have ended up with.
I'm planning on a reread of The Hunger Games series since all the books fulfill prompts on the challenge (including this one), but I wanted to share a book I recently read that fits for this category, as well as several others; I used it for the 2 languages prompt. But it's a love triangle that's done very well.The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim
River Woman, River Demon by Jennifer Givhan is currently on Libby for Together We Read. Unlimited copies of it are available as both ebooks and audiobooks for a few more days.Givhan is a BIPOC author, and I would describe this as a magical realism thriller, drawing on both Hispanic and Hoodoo traditions. It definitely fits as a love triangle.
I didn't see the whodunit coming on this one, I have to admit.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Dea wrote: "If you like historical fiction with romance, adventure, mystery, and strong female characters, several of the Pink Carnation books would fit! Napoleonic era, mainly France and England...."
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose definitely fits—(view spoiler).
Likewise The Deception of the Emerald Ring has (view spoiler).
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation itself qualifies in a way, (view spoiler).
Jane's book The Lure of the Moonflower qualifies, too, since she is torn between (view spoiler).
And the The Masque of the Black Tulip has a triangle, though I forget their names now. Edited to add: (view spoiler)
Nadine in NY wrote: "Sarah wrote: "I think I'm actually gonna go for The Hunger Games for this. The first book has the love triangle already, right? (I've never read the books and I think I've seen...2 o..."How is this even a question?! 😂
Several of Agatha Christie's books have love triangles: https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wik...Edited to add: I ended up reading Sad Cypress for this prompt. There's definitely a love triangle and it's a great book!
I went really old school for this prompt, and read Twelfth Night. Orsino, Olivia and Cesario/Viola. It was mentioned in Loveless, which I adored, so I just had to read it.I enjoyed it, but I think, in general, I enjoy the tragedies and histories considerably more.
Finished Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle ZevinMy (unpopular) opinion:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I picked up An Excess Male for an ATY prompt and it fits here as well. It's about women having multiple husbands in China due to the impact of the one child policy.
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
An American Marriage (other topics)An Excess Male (other topics)
It Ends with Us (other topics)
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (other topics)
New Moon (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Tayari Jones (other topics)Gabrielle Zevin (other topics)
Jennifer Givhan (other topics)
Alison Weir (other topics)
Beth O'Leary (other topics)
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[book:The S..."
I love that series but I don't remember love triangles. I went to the book page to try to refresh my memory and found THIS as the "blurb" for Pink Carnation: "This title has been removed from sale by Penguin Group, USA." Um, WHAT? First of all , what kind of crappy blurb is that, what is wrong w/ GR librarians for letting THAT fly? put the damned book description in, please - this book is still available in libraries & second hand stores, we aren't all using GR to shop for new books, despite what Amazon may wish.
And SECONDLY: What's going on there??????? I know someone else plagiarized her book, and that other book was pulled from sale, but why is this book pulled? Is Willig renegotiating her contracts or something? I hope it's something like that.
NOTE: switching to other editions, such as mass market from Berkley, did give me a proper blurb. I don't understand different editions have different blurbs and I wish GR would fix that. The only reason for it to be different is if you switch to another language.
Speaking of other languages, it is highly annoying when ALL the English editions default to blurbs in another language.