I hate the misuse of love triangles

    Sometimes when I pick up a new book and realize it’s been mislabeled, I just want to throw it across the room. I know it's not that much of a big deal to some readers but it really ticks me off since it always ends with me wasting my time with a book that's mislabeled. And because of this, what really gets under my skin is when every romantic setup with more than two people is slapped with the love triangle. And even still, when it's actually three people it's not a love triangle because the dynamic is used poorly or incorrectly and it ends up having a completely new trope!

What are Love Triangles Really?

    Love triangles, as the name suggests, is three people in love, what everyone misses usually that all three of them are mutually in love. This means that no it's not a love triangle if two of the characters are competing for the third character or when two of the characters are sworn rivals and have ZERO chemistry with anyone else besides the main person. They don't necessarily have to love each other equally but the thing is, it's a love triangle, love should come from all three points, or it could flow from A liking B, to B liking C, and C liking A. It should always make a triangle, hence the name Love Triangle

Why are Love Triangles so misused then?

    It boils down to misuse of terminology, because netizens and writers have stretched the terminology to the point where it lost its meaning and became something else. Love triangles have been slapped onto tropes that don't follow its name at all, and it really misleads the reader.

So which tropes get called love triangles the most, even when they aren’t?

    If you're in a fandom or writing space, you'd notice these tropes being labeled as love triangles but you might not know their actual names: 

Love Corners

    I feel like love corners are the MOST to be mislabeled. It gets mislabeled because it sometimes only involves three people, two of the characters are both pining after the same person, effectively cornering them. This dynamic is when two or more love interests chase a single character for their love, not creating a triangle.

Poly Dynamics

    Technically poly dynamics can come from a love triangle but it's not exclusive to it, it can be four or even five people being entangled with each other!

Romantic False Leads

    A romantic false lead is a character who seems like a potential love interest for a character but ultimately isn’t the person the character ends up with. Their role is usually to create tension, misdirection, or emotional stakes for entertainment purposes, not to form a true triangle.

Unrequited Love Chains

    An unrequited love chain is a pattern of romantic feelings where one character likes another, who likes someone else, and so on which makes a chain. The tension comes from the unreciprocated feelings, not from a three-person love triangle.

    And these are just some examples, but they get frequently mislabeled nonetheless.

Why do I care so much?

    I care because mislabeling wastes everyones time. Since I started to get into my first fandoms I've always seen misleading labels and false dynamics, and it wasn't till later that I found out that they were used incorrectly. And as someone who spends hours reading and discussing fanfiction and books, mislabeling love triangles makes it hard to follow a story or even discuss it accurately. 

    I'm not doing this to police anyone's taste, not everyone is going to agree and if this doesn’t bug you as much as it bugs me, carry on and happy reading!

I hate tropification

 I saw a tiktok last night of someone being weirded out by the obsession over tropes in books over genres and I wanna say my piece.

I get that some people prefer some tropes and I find some tropes fun or interesting but I don't get it if you want all your books to consist of a single trope because what is the point?

And honestly, genres are supposed to be bigger than tropes, tropes are like tools for the plot or a sweet addition to a book!! "Fake dating", "Enemies to lovers", "Chosen one" are just tropes, they don't define the characters or plot entirely!

Like no one would read a popular book if it just said "enemies to lovers" and nothing else, like what's the setting, who are the characters, where is this plot going, why should I as the reader read this book? The trope does not create a story beyond its name, it is simply a label to interest readers!

And on top of that, if every book just strictly followed the trope and not the plot, every book would have the same starting point, the same climax, and the same solution and ending which is never satisfying!! It becomes predictable and repetitive!!

And plus! Genres do wayyy more for the book than the trope! They help not only the plot, but the author and reader as well! The genre help the tone but also help set the plot's direction and overall vibe, like what restricts the characters, what benefits the character, what world is the protagonist experiencing??

For authors, genres help connect their work to the right community of readers who will appreciate and accept their writing. And for readers, genres offer a kind of comfort zone of what type of writing they like. Someone who loves cyber-based stories might totally hate a classic literary novel, and that’s totally fine. Genres help everyone find the stories they want to dive into.

also the only time where I see tropes defining an entire piece of writing is in fanfiction

I hate haunting adeline

 Let’s be clear: this book isn’t fun. It’s not “taboo.” It’s just another story that turns a woman’s trauma into a kink for readers who don’t know the difference between danger and desire.

First of all, Zade is just a bullshit and hypocritical character. He saves adeline only to be the person ruining her??? And then people claim that "she loved it" which is complete bullshit! Their relationship is purely built on sexual abuse!!

This book treats Adeline’s trauma like foreplay, like something that makes the spicy scenes deeper and more emotional. But being forced into certain actions isn’t love. It’s conditioning into being a weaker victim. And this story has no interest in showing healing, or agency, or real consequence.

Zade is framed as her savior and as a vigilante, even though he’s the one who actively tears her apart. Her grief over her grandmother’s death is exploited as vulnerability. Her fear is used as foreplay. Her silence is interpreted as consent.

There is nothing daring about using sexual violence as a plot device. There is nothing raw about calling rape “consensual.” There is nothing beautiful about trauma being eroticized and brushed off as “edgy love.”

If this book actually wanted to explore pain, loss, or trauma? It would’ve shown Adeline healing. Choosing. Resisting. Instead, she’s dragged through hell and handed to the same man who put her there!!

If your definition of love includes rape, stalking, coercion, or silencing a woman’s fear, you should be shot in the foot.