Thursday, February 09, 2012

Tired of Love Triangles? So over Insta-Love? Here are some books that break the YA relationship mold

I'm so happy today to have one of my favourite bloggers here on the blog! Leanna from Daisy Chain Books is a fantastic lady, and her blog is filled with spot-on reviews, great interviews and cover reveals. It is a treat to read, and of course you already follow her blog, I'm sure of it!

Leanna is here today talking about how relationships in YA do not have to be all about the love triangle and I could not agree more! She says everything I wanted to say about the subject, except better! To find out more about Leanna and Daisy Chain Books, please do visit the following websites:



YA Romance: I love it. I can't get enough of the intense relationships, the hot guys, the steamy kisses. On the flipside, nothing bugs me more than yet another YA book that follows that tried and tested 'Twilight'* formula, of Insta-Love and Love Triangles. Yawn!

Yes, I can fall for a good love triangle done well (Vampire Academy, Unearthly) and I can buy into Insta-Love to a certain degree. Personally I think Insta-Lust is more appropriate. I'm not really into the 'I can't live another day without you/ I'm seventeen but I want to get married and have your babies/I know I only met you a week ago, but I would totally die for you' Insta-Love side of things.

So, if you're here today because you're finding Love Triangles and Insta-Lust all a little blah, read on for some recommendations on books that break the YA relationship mold.

You're my Best Friend.

He's the guy your mom thinks you'll marry, but you roll your eyes and tell her that you guys are just friends. Ugh! Sure, he's fun to hang out with and he's the guy who knows you best, flaws and all, but now it seems that everyone wants a piece of him. And now you're starting to notice him too. You're having all these strange feelings, maybe you're even dreaming about him. You think that maybe he's hot. In fact, there's no maybe about it. You want him. That girl who left her phone number in his locker - you want to tear her hair out!!

He used to be your best friend, but you want him to be your boyfriend.

You should read:

The Body Finder & Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

Girl, Missing by Sophie McKenzie.


This is my favourite type of YA relationship. I want more! If you have any further recommendations, I'd love to hear them!


I wish he was my Boyfriend

You've been crushing on him for a lifetime, but he doesn't even know you exist. Or rather he knows you exist, but he sees you as nothing more than his best friends little sister. That's right, you're crushing on your older brother's best friend, which means that your crush is an older guy, who dates confident and assured older women….he's never ever even going to look your way.

But, what if he did….

You should read: Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson.


Here's a little bit I wrote on the romance in Hunting Lila.

“Alex is totally hot, caring and considerate, dreamy and delicious; I could go on…I promise you are all going to love the romance in this book. It's slow-burning, it's smouldering and downright as sexy as YA can possibly be. You will swoon, I guarantee.”


I Love to Hate You.

This is always fun!

So this guy may be hot, but boy does he know it and he's got the hot girlfriend to prove it. That doesn't mean he's not going to flirt with you too…Snark ensues.

You should read: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins.

Maybe he's out to kill you…you're his forbidden fruit…he finds you hard to resist, even though he's meant to hate you.


You should read: Angel by L.A Weatherly.


….or maybe you want to kill him. Maybe his mere presence makes you fly into a wild rage and attack him. Remember though, there's a fine line between love and hate.

Oh, the possibilities…


You should read: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini.


  • For the record, I am a fan of the Twilight saga romance, but now that I've read so many YA books that follow that formula, I'm looking for something different. I had to let you know that I wasn't dissing on Edward here!


Disclaimer: In no way am I promising that love triangles don't feature in future books in any of the series I've mentioned. Had to get that in there! There may be smatterings of Insta-Love here and there too, but nobody is getting married and having half-vampire babies just yet!

Thanks so much to Clover for asking me to contribute a guest post for Love Month. It's been fun, and I hope you enjoy the post!

If you have any YA favourites that break the mold of Love Triangles and Insta-Love, I'd love to hear them!

11 comments:

  1. Great post! I think I probably like the I Love to Hate You best to read, I'm a big fan of snark if it's done well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hate that too, I mean, even in Angel it's all Insta-Love-it's just ridiculous! Grrr! Great post :) My fave is the I Love To Hate You!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brilliant post! Books like the typical Twilight stuff really gets on my nerves after a while too, so thanks for the great list. I will definitely check these out! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is such a brilliant post! I'm bookmarking it for future reference, I think. I love reading books that fit into all these categories... and also Love Triangles and Insta-Love... :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much for having me Clover & for the comments. Glad you guys liked the post!

    I have another book to add to my best friend to boyfriend list - Everneath by Brodi Ashton. It's a little different from the other friend to boyfriend relationships, but just as romantic as the rest! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's enough right there to make my DYING to read it! *adds to wishlist*

      Delete
  6. Love the post! Just awesome! I'd say the Perfect Chemistry series - at least the first two - fit into the I Love To Hate You list. I love them!
    I have to say, I do love a good love triagle! Insta-love.. it depends on the book :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooh, yes, Perfect Chemistry is a great one for the I love to hate you list!

      I love a good love triangle too! Some of them just don't work for me though.:)

      Delete
  7. Thank you so much for this post Leanna, I really loved it! :) I'm a real sucker for the 'You're my best friend' love stories!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for having me! I had a lot of fun writing this up.

      I love the 'you're my best friend' stories too. Hope to find many more! :)

      Delete
  8. Great post and fab recommendations! It's always refreshing to see YA books that don't have love triangles or insta-love!

    ReplyDelete

HI! Thank you for leaving a comment, you've just become my new best friend :)