Triangles by Ellen Hopkins

Triangles by Ellen Hopkins
"THREE FEMALE FRIENDS FACE MIDLIFE CRISES IN A NO-HOLDS-BARRED EXPLORATION OF SEX, MARRIAGE, AND THE FRAGILITY OF LIFE.

Holly: Filled with regret for being a stay-athome mom, she sheds sixty pounds and loses herself in the world of extramarital sex. Will it bring the fulfillment she is searching for?

Andrea: A single mom and avowed celibate, she watches her friend Holly’s meltdown with a mixture of concern and contempt. Holly is throwing away what Andrea has spent her whole life searching for—a committed relationship with a decent guy. So what if Andrea picks up Holly’s castaway husband?

Marissa: She has more than her fair share of challenges—a gay, rebellious teenage son, a terminally ill daughter, and a husband who buries himself in his work rather than face the facts. As one woman’s marriage unravels, another’s rekindles. As one woman’s family comes apart at the seams, another’s reconfigures into something bigger and better. In this story of connections and disconnections, one woman’s up is another one’s down, and all of them will learn the meaning of friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness."- summary from Amazon

I've been really excited for Hopkins' adult debut since I first heard about it and was happy to get to read two of her books just a month apart (Perfect came out in Sept). She didn't let me down, except in the summary department because I had no idea how to describe the book in an interesting way when two supervisors asked me about it. But aside from that, this is a terrific book.

Hopkins always pulls me in with her flowing verse and interesting characters. This time, the reader is treated to three different women and their stories are compelling and page-turning. I will admit though that my favorite character to read was Marissa, mainly because of her gay son (and I'm hopeful that Hopkins will show us his story in the companion novel Tilt, out next year). But everyone's story was so realistic and I liked going back and forth between them all.

The book is not necessarily darker than her YA books, but it is more graphic, featuring quite a few sex scenes and some erotica writing from Holly, as well as the characters dealing with adult situations, like having a disabled child, having extramarital sex, divorce, etc. So Hopkins' older teen readers can read if they're comfortable with this stuff but I think teens in the middle (14-16) may not want to read this book until they're older.

Overall though, Hopkins' adult debut is amazing and I cannot wait to read her next adult book (and pretty much anything else she writes).

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.