Blog Tour: HarlequinTEEN's Spring Reading Into Romance; Guest Post from Julie Kagawa

HarlequinTEEN's spring Reading into Romance

Spring is in the air and HarlequinTEEN wants you to fall in love! And they have just the books to make that happen! In this epic tour, we'll be featuring 9 authors and their amazing, toe-curlingly romantic books!

Today I'm thrilled to be hosting author Julie Kagawa and her Iron Fey Series! If you haven't yet, I highly recommend picking up this series. You can read both mine and Sophie's reviews for the Iron Fey series here.

The Love and Hate of Love Triangles (and why authors use them)

Everyone, it seems, hates a love triangle.

And yet, they seem to pop up everywhere in YA.  Edward, Bella, Jacob.  Clary, Jace, Simon.  Damon, Stefan, Elena.  Meghan, Ash, Puck (yes, I'm including myself).  Why are they even necessary?  Why put them in at all?     

I can't answer for every author.  But I can guess some of the main reasons love triangles are so prominent in YA now.  These are only my thoughts and opinions, as a YA author of several years, on why the dreaded Love Triangle is so popular.

It creates conflict.  I recently read a book review where the blogger stated that it would be a better book if the author didn't add all this drama.  I have to disagree.  Drama is why we read.  Conflict drives a story forward.  Having two people in love creates drama, but add a third to the mix, and suddenly you have all this tension and confusion and anguish for all three of the characters.   There's tension between the two boys as they vie for the girl's affections.  And if they are brothers or best friends, it's even more interesting.  There's tension between the girl and her two suitors as she struggles with who she wants.  (And, incidentally, it is possible not to know.  The author has to make it believable, but it's absolutely possible to love two people at once.)  So, yes.  Tension.  Drama.  Conflict.  It's what drives a story forward.  Are love triangles necessary to the plot?  Sometimes, but not always.  Do they add all this lovely anguish and tension?  Absolutely.  And, as authors, we strive to make our characters suffer.  For the sake of the story, of course.

It allows for character development.  When everything is going smoothly for the character, well, that's kind of boring.  It's when they're forced into an uncomfortable or intolerable situation that they shine.  Or fall apart.  You might never see the protective side of a character if he wasn't in love, or the insanely jealous side.  He might not realize he had a jealous side until he sees the girl with the "other" guy.  Being in love brings out the best and the worst in the characters, which in turn develops them further.
 
People want to read about love triangles.  I know I'm contradicting myself when I say this, but love triangles and popular because, well...they're popular.  Readers want to read about them, probably because of the reasons listed above.  That's not to say authors should put in Love Triangles just because they're popular, but they are a tried and true story trope, and I don't think they should be shunned or avoided.  I do believe it is the author's responsibility to use them wisely and, if they do decide to use The Love Triangle, to give it as much thought as the rest of the book, and not throw one in just to have it.  Make each character their own person, give them real reasons to fall in love with each other, reasons for us to care about them, and the Love Triangle will feel natural and inevitable, not forced.  That, I think, is the secret to creating a triangle that readers can love.

About The Iron Knight - Fourth Book in the Iron Fey Series  

Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.

Unless he can earn a soul.

To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.

Then Meghan Chase—a half human, half fey slip of a girl— smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.

With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end— a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side.

To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.

And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

For more information on the whole Iron Fey Series, including all Novella’s, the new Iron Prince Series and other special content - please visit the Iron Fey Website! 

*************

About Julie Kagawa 

Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish and the odd eel.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dog trainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all-time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian shepherd who is too smart for his own good and the latest addition, a hyperactive Papillon puppy.

Visit Julie via: website, blog,  Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads

*************

The Giveaways: Each tour host is offering the chance to enter TWO give-aways!  Today's first giveaway is your choice of a book from The Iron Fey Series!  The second is a Romantic Grand Prize Package

HarlequinTEEN dresses you for a romantic date with this beautiful, unique heart shaped locket! And in case it’s a chilly spring evening, don’t forget the matching beautiful Pashmina!

*Entries in the daily give-away also count toward the grand prize give-away seen above

To enter the Giveaways, please fill out the form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!