Romance is often complicated in fiction. What are the best books with love triangles? (Please no young adult books. Check out these other lists filled with great YA recommendations.)
1

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4.30 avg rating — 4,831,290 ratings
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3

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3.90 avg rating — 2,101,975 ratings
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3.93 avg rating — 5,945,546 ratings
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5

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6

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4.10 avg rating — 936,120 ratings
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7

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4.16 avg rating — 2,334,480 ratings
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8

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4.17 avg rating — 2,472,026 ratings
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9

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4.05 avg rating — 988,220 ratings
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10

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4.11 avg rating — 1,704,612 ratings
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11

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3.94 avg rating — 580,314 ratings
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12

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3.88 avg rating — 1,015,357 ratings
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13

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4.25 avg rating — 725,922 ratings
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14

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4.21 avg rating — 846,028 ratings
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15

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3.96 avg rating — 278,951 ratings
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16

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4.16 avg rating — 1,846,615 ratings
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17

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4.15 avg rating — 781,184 ratings
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18

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3.94 avg rating — 548,745 ratings
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19

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4.01 avg rating — 103,345 ratings
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20

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3.85 avg rating — 861,072 ratings
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21

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3.97 avg rating — 196,778 ratings
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22

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3.44 avg rating — 922,814 ratings
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23

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3.71 avg rating — 376,718 ratings
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24

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3.95 avg rating — 565,215 ratings
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25

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4.13 avg rating — 213,178 ratings
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26

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3.84 avg rating — 303,423 ratings
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27

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3.86 avg rating — 381,049 ratings
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28

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4.46 avg rating — 1,745,340 ratings
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29

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3.97 avg rating — 561,287 ratings
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30

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3.50 avg rating — 138,405 ratings
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31

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3.96 avg rating — 195,187 ratings
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32

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4.47 avg rating — 3,031,141 ratings
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33

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3.89 avg rating — 202,365 ratings
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34

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4.09 avg rating — 514,275 ratings
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35

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4.17 avg rating — 196,268 ratings
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36

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4.26 avg rating — 1,157,462 ratings
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37

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3.93 avg rating — 782,697 ratings
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38

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4.05 avg rating — 579,659 ratings
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39

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4.20 avg rating — 846,161 ratings
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40

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3.79 avg rating — 495,882 ratings
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41

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4.16 avg rating — 2,114,710 ratings
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42

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3.72 avg rating — 107,065 ratings
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43

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4.05 avg rating — 59,179 ratings
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44

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4.15 avg rating — 183,977 ratings
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45

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3.88 avg rating — 55,655 ratings
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46

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4.11 avg rating — 547,046 ratings
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47

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4.54 avg rating — 733,062 ratings
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48

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4.33 avg rating — 1,029,638 ratings
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49

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4.03 avg rating — 1,056,476 ratings
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50

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4.04 avg rating — 259,648 ratings
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51

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4.28 avg rating — 754,944 ratings
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52

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4.11 avg rating — 132,101 ratings
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53

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4.17 avg rating — 367,292 ratings
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54

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4.18 avg rating — 3,458,467 ratings
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55

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3.97 avg rating — 166,829 ratings
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56

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3.46 avg rating — 138,725 ratings
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57

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4.31 avg rating — 724,059 ratings
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58

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4.14 avg rating — 1,894,447 ratings
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59

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4.39 avg rating — 389,587 ratings
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60

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3.89 avg rating — 612,444 ratings
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61

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3.96 avg rating — 149,060 ratings
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62

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 127,116 ratings
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63

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4.35 avg rating — 834,147 ratings
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64

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4.04 avg rating — 179,896 ratings
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65

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3.95 avg rating — 140,975 ratings
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66

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3.96 avg rating — 163,908 ratings
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67

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3.89 avg rating — 438,172 ratings
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68

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3.81 avg rating — 89,329 ratings
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69

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4.13 avg rating — 50,823 ratings
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70

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3.84 avg rating — 76,204 ratings
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71

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3.81 avg rating — 1,025,199 ratings
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72

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4.02 avg rating — 114,495 ratings
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73

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3.87 avg rating — 949,956 ratings
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74

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3.74 avg rating — 2,831,063 ratings
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75

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3.91 avg rating — 99,074 ratings
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76

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4.10 avg rating — 283,464 ratings
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77

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3.74 avg rating — 193,272 ratings
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78

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3.86 avg rating — 84,024 ratings
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79

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3.80 avg rating — 175,535 ratings
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80

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3.96 avg rating — 22,233 ratings
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81

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3.78 avg rating — 17,557 ratings
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82

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4.13 avg rating — 85 ratings
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83

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4.02 avg rating — 208,399 ratings
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84

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 288,396 ratings
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85

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4.33 avg rating — 277,049 ratings
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86

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3.69 avg rating — 23,893 ratings
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87

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3.95 avg rating — 3,405,912 ratings
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88

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4.09 avg rating — 31,486 ratings
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89

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4.03 avg rating — 131,735 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 267,325 ratings
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91

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4.20 avg rating — 121,160 ratings
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92

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3.90 avg rating — 71,060 ratings
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93

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4.04 avg rating — 215,101 ratings
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94

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4.30 avg rating — 30 ratings
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95

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4.08 avg rating — 35,947 ratings
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96

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 49,961 ratings
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97

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3.73 avg rating — 38,789 ratings
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98

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 19,666 ratings
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99

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3.87 avg rating — 61,568 ratings
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100

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4.10 avg rating — 347,737 ratings
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531 books · 1,887 voters · list created October 8th, 2012 by Jessica (votes) .
204 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Jessica 1358 books
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Comments Showing 1-24 of 24 (24 new)

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message 1: by Jane (new)

Jane Jordan Ravens Deep Ravens Deep is the first book in a dark romantic trilogy. The love triangle unfolds in the second book - Blood & Ashes.


message 2: by Sarrah (new)

Sarrah Just goes to show--love triangles were around for a long time before Twilight. @Jessica: there are a YA title and a biography on here; do you want me to remove them?


message 3: by Jessica (new)

Jessica Yes, feel free to remove YA titles. Thanks, Sarrah!


message 4: by Kathy (new)

Kathy Lautenschlager There's also a book featuring a tattoo artist's work. Should it be on this list?


message 5: by Muhamed (new)

Muhamed T. salh good reading needs clear and good mind


message 6: by James (new)

James Godwin good reading enlightens the mind and keeps the brain functioning at its best.


message 7: by Wanda (new)

Wanda Please check #161. I do not believe it belongs on this list.


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Wanda wrote: "Please check #161. I do not believe it belongs on this list."

Plenty of books have recently been added to this list that don't belong here, alas. Nonfiction (essays, philosophy, religion), fiction that doesn't even contain a love story, LET ALONE a love triangle ... Jessica, would you like a librarian to do a bit of clean-up work?

Also, what about biographies of real persons involved in love triangles? (E.g., I see Massie's bio of Catherine the Great has been added and is steadily gaining votes. Stay or go?)


message 9: by Jessica (new)

Jessica Yes, thank you. Librarians, feel free to remove books that legitimately don't have a love triangle.

But nonfiction involving love triangles feels relevant. It's interesting to see the real-life antecedents.


message 11: by Rebecca (new)

Rebecca Ann Ella enchanted is YA, also the outsiders is YA and doesn't really have a love triangle of note


message 12: by Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) (last edited Nov 11, 2012 07:36AM) (new)

Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Well, there are 10 people who have voted for Ella, Enchanted and 9 who have voted for The Outsiders. Before a librarian decides whether or not to step in, maybe some of these folks want to speak up and explain why they think these two books fit the criteria for this list?

As for the two Brontë books, I at any rate won't remove those unless Jessica specifically says she doesn't want them here. They may not be the epitome of what we consider a love triangle today, but they very much expressed that situation in Victorian terms. For a woman to leave her husband (abusive or not) was unheard of in Victorian society in the first place, and to even contemplate turning to another man (as happens in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall) was as unthinkable as for a woman to reject a "respectable" offer of marriage (like that from St. John Rivers in Jane Eyre: note that "respectability" required only financial security and social standing, NOT love), "just" because the woman in question is in love with another man ... especially if, ostensibly, the "competitor" was unattainable to her anyway. Also, there is another triangle in Jane Eyre -- the one between herself, Rochester and his first wife -- which likewise touches on a taboo, namely, bigamy. And, finally, the marriage being abandoned in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to Helen herself actually WAS a love match initially (or at least, infatuation) ... it only turned sour later on, albeit fairly quickly.

In other words: in Victorian society, the mere notion of a "love" triangle as such was a nonentity, because love simply wasn't a consideration at all when it came to choosing a partner in marriage; and once married, a woman just had to stand by her husband ("for ill or for good, until death do us part") -- for her to do anything else was not just to break social convention but even to break the law. It was precisely this disregard of love as a material factor in marriage -- as well as the notion that it was only "she" who needed to prove that she was worthy of "him", rather than also vice versa -- that the Brontë sisters sought to highlight and criticize in their books (Charlotte incidentally did so again, in as forceful terms, in Emma).


message 13: by Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) (last edited Dec 01, 2012 07:30AM) (new)

Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Alright, upon review, the following strike me as Young Adult:

The Outsiders
Ella Enchanted
After Forever Ends
Thoughtless
Effortless
I Capture the Castle
Son of the Shadows
A Witch in Love
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
A Spy in the House
The Hunger Games
The Last Letter
Girl in Translation
Genesis
Nick of Time
Taking Chances
Bitter Blood
Island Beneath the Sea
Impossible

Before I delete them, is there somebody (maybe some of the folks who voted for these books) who can give a reason why they are within the parameters of a list entitled "Literary Love Triangles (Non-YA)" -- and which contains the added expres caveat "Please no young adult books" -- and why they should NOT be deleted?


message 14: by Jennifer (new)

Jennifer I can understand wanting to vote for a book you have fallen in love with, but... If this is really just about love triangles, in my opinion, there are many books that should be removed.. Books, that I too love, but don't fit the criteria of the vote.. Just my opinion.. :-)


message 15: by Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) (last edited Dec 14, 2012 12:31PM) (new)

Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Themis-Athena wrote: "Alright, upon review, the following strike me as Young Adult:

The Outsiders
Ella Enchanted
After Forever Ends
Thoughtless
Effortless
I Capture the Castle
Son of the Shadows
A Witch in Love
Miss Pe..."


Since in almost 2 weeks nobody has come forward to explain why the books in my above post should not be characterized as "Young Adult," I have now deleted them, as well as the following more recent additions:
The Magicians
Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Wonderstruck
The Maude Reed Tale
Forget Me Not,
which are also Young Adult.

Moreover, on investigation, I fail to see love triangles figuring in the following books (not all of which are even fiction or (auto)biographies), and which I have therefore also deleted:
Automaton
How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf
Love in a time of outsourcing
Maligned
The Merchant of Venice
Clotho's Loom: A Novel of Literary Romance and Realism
Much Ado About Nothing
Catch-22
Merminia
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Oz: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz
Chicken on the Hudson
A Life Worth Living
Fool
الثورة 2.0
The Chronicles of a Crazy Chick
The Winemaker's Dinner: Appetizers
Blue Straggler
Tempted
V for Vendetta
The Mutter Museum: Of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia
The Nightlife: New York
Wicked Ties
Imbroglio
Gideon's Sword
Elephant House: Photographs of Edward Gorey's House
A Deconstructed Heart
Hinduism
The Grand Design
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Hark! a Vagrant
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Into the Wilderness
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey"


message 16: by Kereesa (new)

Kereesa Can someone please take Lord of the Flies off the list? (And maybe even Fellowship?) I really doubt there's any kind of love triangle going on in those books....or at least not canon ones....


message 17: by Gigi (new)

Gigi Harry Potter is young adult and I don't recall a prominent love triangle in the first


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Triv wrote: "Harry Potter is young adult and I don't recall a prominent love triangle in the first"

Removed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (clearly YA).

As for Lord of the Flies and The Fellowship of the Ring; again, maybe those who voted for these books can explain where they see them containing a love triangle?


message 19: by Angelica (new)

Angelica I think Dracula is definitely missing from this list!


message 20: by Dave (new)

Dave Mcdonald I enjoyed this process, some great books involved.
Dave McDonald


message 21: by Dave (new)

Dave Mcdonald "The Bridges Of Madison County" is a great love triangle story and some of the best writing ever. Robert Waller can pack an immense amount of feeling in but a few words. I thought the rating was too low on this story. I gave it 5-stars: great story and great writing. A short book, but 45 minutes of pleasure.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Where's the love triangle in One for the Money (#35)? I can't remember there being one.


message 23: by Erika Veloz (new)

Erika Veloz Why Jane Eyre? Saint John wasn't in love with her, she wasn't in love with him. Some marriage talk doesn't mean there's love involved.


message 24: by Vidushi (new)

Vidushi There is no love triangle in a thousand splendid suns. Yes Laila was married but forget love she was abused by her husband and would have choose death rather than bieng with him. pedophile Rashid . I want to know who thinks it is love?


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