Torn between two lovers, yawn.

[pbray]

Being sick over the weekend paid off a dividend as I finished Wraith by Phaedra Weldon. Which I thoroughly enjoyed, right up until the ending.

Part of the book's appeal for me was that the heroine had a single love interest. It's now a cliche in urban fantasy that the heroine is torn between at least two competing love/sex interests, usually one tied to the paranormal world and the other part of her mundane existence. Sometimes it's a good boy/bad boy split, other times they are both equally worthy (or flawed).

I tried to think of a recent urban fantasy with a female protagonist that didn't fit this pattern and came up blank. Can anyone else come up with one?

ETA: libwitch for the win by being the first to come up with an example and reminding me of suricattus's Retrievers series.

Comments

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

well, I think Patricia Briggs character in her series (the shapechanger) is torn between two Supers, neither really better then the other....

And then of course there is Anita Blake, who apparently is no longer torn between anyone, because she simply sleeps with them all anyway.

Ummmm....Viki Petersons Zodiac series - no real love backstory there at all. And there is the Retreivers series, where she is quite solidly with one guy (Sergei)....And the Kitty series, who is very much with Billy, a werewolf/lawyer.

I think I need to stop reading from this genre.

[rhonawestbrook.livejournal.com]

I am writing one right now!

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

You neglected to tell us what "right up until the ending" means. It implies the ending sucked.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Mine! :) ABADDON (http://www.cerridwenpress.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419911224) features a female protagonist with a life partner and a male best friend, but there is no romance between her and her friend whatsoever. Love triangles are fun to an extent, but should not be the sole purpose for the story, particularly in urban fantasy.

(The first book in the series, NOCTURNAL URGES, did fit this pattern, but the second is more of a political thriller and star-crossed romance without the triangle aspect.)

[lagilman]

well, um, mine?

(Wren and Sergei have problems, but they're committed to each other and to working it out, book one to series end...)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I don't think Jo's got a real paranormal-side interest in the Walker Papers...

[kelly-swails.livejournal.com]

All I can think of off the top of my head is Kelley Armstrong's books. I haven't read them all, but I'm pretty sure Bitten and Industrial Magic didn't have any of that triangle nonsense. The angst is more internal conflict and less "Oh, gee, whomever will I choose?"

[mistri.livejournal.com]

eeep, I think I am somewhat guilty of doing this in my current wip. Perhaps it isn't too late to change it...

Though at the moment the paranormalish one is merely a good friend and that's all he's intended to be. But because of this cliche you mention, I think people will perceive it differently.

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

Jeaniene Frost's Halfway to the Grave? I think. Dog Days by John Levitt.