A Little Valentine's Day Love Triangle

I thought for Valentines day I would do a love themed post and what better to talk about than awesome love triangles! Mandi from Smexy Books started me thinking about favorite love triangles with her post here.. which included some good love triangles but not my absolute favorite which is the love triangle from Richelle Mead's Dark Swan series which is so very yummy! So please read on and let me know what you think of love triangles in books - love them or hate them?


A little blurb about the series from the author: Eugenie Markham never asked for any of this. Until now, she's been content with her job as a freelance shaman in Tuscon, battling and banishing Otherworldly creatures. When a prophecy suddenly makes her the Otherworld's most popular bachelorette, Eugenie finds herself fighting off unwanted supernatural suitors, as well as the evils that begin emerging from her past...

So I seriously love Richelle Mead's Dark Swan series..and I mean love! She has a tattooed ass-kicking heroine and two smoking hot man candy love interests..what's not too love! And there is a love triangle that is deliciously tormented. In the Dark Swan series, Eugenie (yup..really unfortunate heroine name but we all can't be blessed with good names and ass-kicking abilities) has two potential fates before her and two hot men that in a way represent those fates. One of the men, Kiyo, is a kitsune (japanese fox shapeshifter) who is both honorable and passionate when it comes to Eug and also is a vet who takes in strays (how can you not swoon). The other man in Eug's life is Dorian, a gentry king. Dorain is an interesting mix of arrogance and brutal honesty though deep down he cares about Eug. Both of these guys have ties to the Otherworld, or fae kingdom, whose denizens Eugenie regularly banishes or kills when they misbehave in our world. When the story starts out it is clear that Kiyo is the good guy that wants what is best for Eugeine whereas Dorian has his own agenda. But as the story goes on the good guy/ bad guy line gets muddled. And these two men are very different in other ways as well..hehe.. Since Kiyo is a kitsune he is a bit of an animal between the sheets (not literally). Dorian is immortal and has a very refined taste for bondage. When Eug gently chastises Kiyo for being eager to get down to business Kiyo's excuse (which I love) is "I think it's the fox in me." To which Eug replies "Never heard that excuse before." Though I have to say Dorian is my favorite, he doesn't apologize for who he is and has never hidden the truth from Eugenie. He also has a hobby of intricately tying silk cords that comes into play during a very intimate moment. I think the best part about these books, and about Richelle Mead's books in general, is that she writes such good characters. That's what makes the love triangle so delicious and so tormenting as well because eventually Eugenie will have to pick just one. All I can say is that I can't wait till her new book, Iron Crowned, comes out in 2011.