That was just...silly. ( )

Triangles had an interesting premise — Autumn goes on a cruise to Bermuda, the Bermuda Triangle ends up doing some wacky stuff and she wakes up in a new life every day. For someone who’s currently ungrateful for her life and complains constantly, it’s a nice lesson that things can be worse. I think the idea is great, but the execution lacked for me.

The first problem is that Autumn is incredibly unlikeable. She has absolutely no redeeming characteristics through the first half of the book, and I get she’s coming from a difficult place, but I needed something to make me root for her. A kind moment, some hesitation or regret after she did or said something awful, anything, to make me want to root for her. I think having a character dealing with such a difficult situation is a good idea, but maybe not make her point of view be the main one if she’s going to be this irritating? I don’t know what could have solved this problem for me, but I just couldn’t connect with her, which made it difficult to connect with the book in general.

My second problem is that the plot was kind of random. The twists that occur don’t make very much sense overall, especially with how the characters react. That’s another problem. The characters are very much lacking in complexity. They don’t feel natural or organic, but are forced into strict roles to serve the interest of the author’s idea of the plot rather than reacting based on their traits and personalities, if that makes any sense.

If you make it to the end, it does start getting better during the second half. Autumn starts turning into a decent human, so you don’t have to deal with her being so awful. I do wish that the Bermuda stuff was explored more, especially with the mysterious woman also trapped in the spell, but it at least had a nice resolution to wrap everything up.

This wasn’t really my kind of book, unfortunately. If you can look past a whiny main character, this might hold more interest for you, but I had a difficult time connecting.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. ( )

This story is told mostly from the point-of-view of a seventeen-year-old girl, Autumn, who is an unhappy complainer. She gives her sister a hard time, their dad died, their mother is very ill, and we find out she is not happy about a nice guy who is constantly bestowing her with little gifts at work – which she rewards by attempting to get rid of his attention through her rude behaviour toward him.

When Autumn agrees to go on a cruise with her sister she does so with reluctance. It was what she thought would be a good temporary escape, a chance to get away from the pain they are going through in their family life. What she gets on this cruise is a trip through the Bermuda Triangle that is confusing and very strange.

Each time Autumn has an alternate reality experience she is as shocked as before, even though she is aware it is happening. Her life gets more messed up each time a change occurs, but it doesn’t change her rude and hateful attitude.

The author did a convincing job of making Autumn an unlikeable person and – if I remember correctly – she is the only one in the book to use bad language. She comes across as crude, rude, and a hateful brat a lot of the time.

On this cruise she is pursued by two guys, and in each alternate reality shift they also change in personality and circumstance. Terrible things happen, confusing things happen, surprising things happen, and Autumn’s fear is that she will be trapped in the Bermuda Triangle forever and not be able to live the life she is learning she really wants.

Triangles – by Kimberly Ann Miller – is a fairly quick read. The mystery of the Bermuda Triangle is a fascinating topic to write a fictional young adult novel around. Although a few places did not make sense to me and tripped me up a bit, the idea of someone getting caught in the Triangle and living through it is an interesting one. It certainly makes the reader think. ( )

I had never heard of Triangles before seeing an ARC Tour of it over at Literary Lushes, but the description sounded pretty interesting, so I signed up. I happened to be between books when it arrived in the mail, so I started it that day. The description says it’s 216 pages, but the ARC I read was 175. The print was pretty small, though.

The beginning of the book was kind of boring. Autumn goes to work and then has lunch with her co-worker/friend. While there, she sees a hot guy who works at the bank and her “shadow”, one of the mechanics at the auto parts store she works at who has a crush on her. She chats to her friends about the boys, blah, blah, blah. Then she goes home, fights with her sister, and then they leave for the cruise. While on the cruise, she bumps into both boys from the aforementioned lunch, both of which are interested in her.

Honestly, I didn’t like Autumn. She seemed like a stuck-up snob, who, of course, treated the good guy like crap and was all about the bad boy. She seriously had me rolling me eyes at her quite a bit. Joey is the good guy, but he is a bit annoying and clueless. She’s openly rude to him, and he just keeps coming back for more. Seriously? Take a hint! Marcus is the “bad boy”. He’s an obvious womanizer, and yet Autumn’s all about it. Like I said, eyeroll-inducing.

The story picks up when the ship crosses over into the Bermuda Triangle. At this point, Autumn wakes up to a different reality where she’s been dating Marcus for a year. She has no memories of this, since this isn’t her true reality, so she has to learn about her life in this alternate reality as the day progresses. This happens for two more days. Each day, she wakes up to a new reality. On the final day in the Triangle, she meets a doctor who tells her that the Triangle affects different people in different ways and that any of the alternate realities could become her real one when they leave the Triangle.

Here’s where a mostly enjoyable book fell flat for me. The alternate scenarios were really cool and had the potential to be up there with Parallel or Pivot Point. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t anything to back it up. Just being in the Bermuda Triangle, which does crazy things, didn’t seem like enough of a reason for her to have alternate realities, especially since these alternates change huge life events dating back a decade. It just didn’t make sense to me. Also, the doctor says that any reality could become her true one, but there is no explanation why or how her reality turns out the way it does. I just felt it was missing some major explanation as to why the events happened.

Overall, I mostly enjoyed the story of Triangles, but unfortunately, I just felt it was missing a lot to make sense. While I was hoping for another Parallel or Pivot Point, it just didn’t measure up for me. It wasn’t terrible, though, so it may be worth a read if it interests you. Since I was the only person to sign up for the ARC Tour, Brittany has given me permission to pass it on, so if you’re interested in reading it, let me know!

This review is also posted on my blog, Mommy's Reading Break ( )

Autumn's life sucks, or at least she thinks it does. She is 17 years old and stuck in a small town, working at a job making minimum wage, with a guy who she refers to as her "shadow," who she just can't stand. There are two things she is looking forward to. First, being able to save enough money to move out of this town, and secondly, going on the cruise to Bermuda with her sister that her mother had planned two years ago. Actually, when I first started reading this book, I didn't like Autumn at all. In fact, she was really bitchy. As you get to know her, you begin to see why she is the way she is. Her father died in a car accident when she was small, and her mom is in the hospital in a coma after a car accident, both of which Autumn blame herself for. Ridden with guilt and feelings of worthlessness, whether she wants to admit it or not, have caused her to be a bitter and pessimistic person. Her one saving grace has been the fact that she is going to be able to get away from everything for 5 glorious days on this cruise. Well that all goes to pot when she sees this hot guy Marcus who works at the bank boarding the cruise also. There goes getting away from everyone, but then again, Marcus is really hot, and she just might enjoy getting to know him. Then, when Shadow Boy a.k.a. Joey is also on the same cruise, she thinks it just can't get any worse. Actually, Joey is super hot to, and he is really nice, he likes Autumn, and would do anything for her. She of course doesn't see it and is really mean to him, and that is one of the reasons I didn't like her. What she doesn't know is that there is a connection between Joey and Marcus she isn't aware of. She finds herself in the middle of a love triangle of sorts, but it isn't anything like your typical love triangle would be, so if you are not a fan of love triangles, don't worry, because this really isn't that type of triangle.
As the cruise progresses and they enter the Bermuda Triangle, something really strange begins to happen. Autumn gets more than she bargained for when she experiences three different alternate realities, sort of glimpses into the future of what could be, and are they ever interesting and diverse, causing Autumn to see the truth about the past and the potential for the future. Autumn's whole disposition and outlook changes, and by the end of the story not only did I like her, I was cheering for her. When she is able to see that things with her parents really weren't fault, she begins to like herself better, and she begins to see just how great her sister is, and what a great guy Joey is to. Now if she can just get out of the Bermuda Triangle and back to reality, maybe she can start over, but she also knows that a lot of people who get lost in the Bermuda Triangle are never seen again......
Triangles is a fun, quick read that I enjoyed. The romance was sweet and the paranormal/magical aspect of the Bermuda Triangle was interesting and different. The story was fast paced and kept my attention, and I enjoyed getting to know the characters. Of course, I was team Joey all the way. Triangles is an entertaining YA romance with a paranormal element that gives it a fun twist. If you are a fan of this genre, you may enjoy checking this book out. It's a great beach/summer read. ( )