Was the love triangle necessary?

Use this forum to discuss the August 2021 Book of the month, "Chameleons" by Onyx Gold
Miraphery
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Re: Was the love triangle necessary?

Post by Miraphery »

Love triangles usually make romance books intriguing. Bryce's character was, however, not fully developed making him seem out of place in the story, he was unrealistic as well.
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Tushar Swami
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Post by Tushar Swami »

I do agree that Bryce was a bit poorly developed character, but I disagree that the love triangle was unnecessary. Even if not too interesting, it made a nice impact and added to the beauty of the book.
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Sarah Nichols 7
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Post by Sarah Nichols 7 »

It would have been if it had been more believable. Bryce was WAY too quick to forgive Zia for her affair. If it was more fleshed out, like if we got more insight into Bryce, it would have been more interesting.
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Post by Ivy Mokote »

I think Zia's poor decision making skills made this love triangle paramount to the story. Would she have made a decision earlier on instead of encouraging both men, then this whole situation could have been avoided.
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Post by 6eyed »

Katie Canedy wrote: 10 Aug 2021, 13:08
6eyed wrote: 10 Aug 2021, 09:29
Katie Canedy wrote: 08 Aug 2021, 16:20 Some of Bryce's character traits are believable, but I have to agree that his quick forgiveness and failure to call Zia out on her mistakes were both stale choices. While Bryce did not know the specifics of Zia's sexual encounters with Bax, he knew that something was going on. He had plenty of time to confront her about her affair. Zia kept consistently having sexual encounters with Baxter but did not put an end to it until the very end when it was seemingly forced to end. I cannot think of a man in real life that would still marry a woman who consistently cheated on him like this.
The reasoning the author gives is because he believed his grandmother's reasoning that true love would come to him, and he wanted to see if Zia was the right one. He wanted her to confess and have his belief that Zia was "the one" to be proven. Though it sort of makes sense when he explains it to Zia, it does make him seem incredibly naive. It doesn't help that the author waits on revealing his backstory until the second half of the book.
I agree with that assessment. As a reader, I was wondering where Bryce was many times. He was seemingly thrown in at the end of the book, which made no sense because I didn't think their connection was that strong. I had hoped that this would have been explained more clearly to us readers.
I don't know if you agree, but it seems like the author made a place for this in the story, but strangely skipped it. Between when Bryce and Zia have a bad first date and the following chapter, Zia has suddenly gone through a major character arc. It seems like the author planned to have all of Bryce explained, then changed the kind of story they wanted to write and skipped a ton of vital character development.
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Katie Blackmore
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Post by Katie Blackmore »

I agree, I don't think the love triangle was necessary, well at least not if Bryce is there. I felt Bryce was a one-dimensional character that wasn't very well developed. I struggled to connect with him and got frustrated when he was so forgiving, even with the reason why was explained.
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Post by Shannon Ruane »

Sohana Hasan wrote: 08 Aug 2021, 12:58
valeriejane wrote: 07 Aug 2021, 13:58 I did not think Bryce was a believable character. How could he be so in love so quickly and then so ready to forgive. Then a billionaire on top of that. I think the book did not need the love triangle, I found it rather disturbing. what do you think?
In my opinion, a well-formed love triangle is always enjoyable. In this case, however, I would have to agree with you. The love triangle is not written very well, in my opinion, and didn't really give a personality to Bryce.
Hi! I agree that it was unusual for Bryce to forgive so easily. I would be highly unlikely to forgive my significant other for cheating on me. Bryce is clearly a saint because of the way he handles the matter. I actually think it shows his maturity and his realization that maybe to keep his true love he is going to have to forgive her once. Perhaps he took pity on her given the situation she found herself in. If it was a "normal" affair, VS dealing with a murderer his opinion might have been different.

What the book never made clear was how much Bryce knew about Jazz and Zia going into "investigating" Bax. My interpretation was he did not know they were going to look into the matter deeply enough for Zia to have that "adventure" on the island. I am almost certain he would not have approved of Zia putting herself in so much danger. I do not recall her giving Bryce enough information about anything regarding Bax crime/sex-related stuff. I hope the police were not able to find a copy of what Zia found on Bax's computer once they go through his stuff... an awkward and potentially legal issue. (It might also make Bryce actually angry at Zia to see what she did).
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Post by Neshboy Aburi »

It looks like the story would be complete without the involvement of Bryce, but I think there is a theme the author wanted to explore and that is why the character's story is told later in the book. I admit that his involvement makes Zia seem a bit shallow and this could be avoided by getting him in the story earlier
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Post by Valerie Garske »

6eyed wrote: 08 Aug 2021, 13:06 I also felt like Bryce felt out of place in the story, and wondered if the story could have been more impactful if it focused solely on Zia's unfortunate encounter with a charming killer. I think the story would have been more engaging if Bryce was just a minor character, or at least one that is second to Zia and Baxter. However, I felt Zia owning up to her sins and growing as a character was an important part of her character arc, and that could not have happened without Bryce. It felt like the author had a normal romance plot in mind at first, and rushed to get Zia and Bryce together before developing them as characters, only to become much more invested in the thriller part of the story in the latter half. As a result, Bryce feels kind of half-baked, almost like the author wasn't quite sure what to do with him.
Well I agree with you as far as Zia owning up to her sins and growing a character, but that could be addressed as having next day regrets for her uncontrollable urges toward Baxter. Being attracted to this dark side, and having doubts about it at the same time is more interesting.
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Post by Akshi Porwal »

I totally agree. Bryce was too good and too perfect to be true. A true gentleman and rich and also so forgiving. This is not at all believable. It could have been made more believable if Bryce atlesst was angry at Zia for cheating. The love triangle was necessary to the story but the perfection of Bryce was not.
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Muskan Upadhyaya
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Post by Muskan Upadhyaya »

In my opinion, love triangles always help the story to take some drastic turns or to keep the readers on their edge. However, I didn't find the love triangle much fascinating here. So yeah I agree with you love triangle wasn't necessary here as it doesn't impact the plot much.
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Post by Chetna_Kharbanda »

I felt a love triangle is not at all necessary to be a part of the novel. It was just a poorly developed character which may only be possible in a fantasy novel world. The character should portray behavior near to the real world for a novel to be relatable. The love triangle somewhere subsided the flow of the novel.
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Hilda Martinovic
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Post by Hilda Martinovic »

It is pretty disturbing that Zia flip-flops from one man to another. The love triangle adds more excitement to the story, but I wish she would have stopped one relationship before starting the other one and maybe rejoining the first one after ending the second without cheating. It would have made some of her guilt and awkwardness diminish.
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Post by Ntombifuthi Londi »

I think the novel is cliched, especially the live triangle, and it bored me because it was predictable. Yes, Zia's character was well-developed, but the same cannot be said for Bryce. The author made him appear desperate for love and overly forgiving, which was hard to believe given that he's got money who can get whomever he wants. I believe the author required a twist in that section, which regrettably did not materialize.
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Arthur Tobenna
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Post by Arthur Tobenna »

I think the love triangle was necessary in order to create adequate conflict and tension in the novel. However, Bryce's character is not well-developed and his love for Zia seems unrealistic. It is important to note that Bryce's character is very important to Zia's character arc.
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