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Reviewed by:
  • Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles ed. by Natalie C. Parker
  • Kate Quealy-Gainer
Parker, Natalie C., ed. Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles. HarperTeen/HarperCollins,
2017 [448p]
Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-242447-1 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-06-242449-5 $8.99
Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-12

Young adult literature has, according to Parker's introduction, become "ground zero for love triangles," so she gathers sixteen authors (including herself) to bring new spins on the tried and true romance trope. There are a few standouts: Rae Carson's [End Page 172] "Omega Ship" interrogates female agency and reproductive rights in a futuristic space story; a trio of girls brought together by their love of comics is torn apart by the death of one of the friends in Veronica Roth's "Vim and Vigor"; a girl, a boy, and a city tangle together in Brenna Yovanoff's brilliant take on toxic relationships, "Vega." Unfortunately, most of the stories lack originality, and several are not even stories of triangles but merely tales of forbidden love. The book does bring a strong element of representation to an often heteronormative and white genre: the fluidity of sexual orientation is presented in many of the pieces and there is a broad range of racial and ethnic identities. Romance readers looking for something beyond the love triangle might not be totally satisfied, but they'll appreciate the diversity offered here. KQG

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