Malinda Lo

I’ve been thinking about love triangles lately. It’s no secret that love triangles are a popular element in many young adult novels, from Twilight (obviously) to Carrie Ryan’s Forest of Hands and Teeth and Cassandra Clare’s Clockwork Angel. I know that lots of folks have very pointed opinions on love triangles, so I’m going to ... More→

Over at Brooklyn Arden, editor Cheryl Klein has an interesting post about the elements of a great fictional romance. She pulls out 13 characteristics of a great romance, while acknowledging “the highly general, even stereotypical, gender roles” involved. One of the commenters (Nona) asked “How would the rules of romance change for LGBT characters or ... More→

Today at the Enchanted Inkpot, we’ve been having a lively discussion about romance in young adult fiction. It wasn’t long before Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games and its love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale came up, with several folks posting about how they disliked the romance/love triangle. I’m a HUGE fan of The Hunger ... More→

I‘ve never considered myself a romance reader, but lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes a romance work. This is because there is a romance in Huntress, and initially, it totally did not work. Over the course of several drafts I had to fix it. I started out by reading a some YA ... More→

This week I’ve been dithering over what I should blog about because, well, it’s Banned Books Week and I think it’s a very important subject, but what can I say about it that hasn’t already been said? Pretty much nothing. So instead, I’m going to share five of my favorite romantic reads with you because ... More→