Truly, Madly, Famously by Rebecca Serle
Genre: Romance
Published by: Macmillan Children’s Books
Pages: 294
Format: Paperback
Series: Famous in Love (#1)
Rating: ★★

After reading Famous in Love, I definitely wasn’t expecting a sequel. After reading the sequel, I can’t believe this is going to be a trilogy! Where can it go from here?? I’m literally confused at how another book is going to be written when the love triangle has been sorted, Paige has chosen who she prefers and there’s no more scandal. Truly, Madly, Famously was a cute end to the books, so to think there’s another to come makes me roll my eyes. Love triangles officially need to be put to rest. Not all of them are worthy of a trilogy! Argh, love triangle rant, here I come. 

R  O  M  A  N  C  E
That’s what these books are, aren’t they? Just romances. Paige, Rainer and Jordan create the love triangle. They’re starring in a fictional film called ‘Locked’, which also has a love triangle, but dun, dun, dun, it extends to real life. The characters in the film and the book are one. So, in Famous in Love, Paige liked Jordan, but got with Rainer. Now in Truly, Madly, Famously she’s with Rainer and happy. Where’s the problem? Why does this second book exist? Because there’s some scandal about winning the MTV award for best kiss that Paige wins with Jordan, rather than Rainer and everyone takes it a little too seriously. Now Jordan’s back in the running and I’m sat here thinking, this girl needs to make up her mind.

I think it’s because love triangles saturate young adult fiction so much, I’m literally up to my eyeballs in books that contain them. Some are done more subtly than others, and some are not. Wings by Aprilynne Pike holds one of the best. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer holds one of the worst, but both are popular series. It’s like writers have looked at what’s successful, and thought it HAS to be weaved into the plot to ensure popularity. But, some of my favourite books are devoid of love triangles. Like, Remix by Non Pratt, or Lorali by Laura Dockrill.

The series I mentioned are supernatural, so the love triangle element, to me, seems supernatural too. Has anyone really had two insanely attractive guys fall in love with them? In contemporaries, it’s hard to believe, especially when the girl is described as ‘average’ when really she’s got supermodel beauty levels. I think it sends a really strange message to the audience that if you’re a normal girl and don’t have at least two guys fawning over you, something’s wrong. I don’t know, I’m over exaggerating, of course, but love triangles seriously need to be reassessed.

Overall, I give Truly, Madly, Famously 2 stars. I appreciated the setting of fame, (it’s one of my favourite parts of How My Private, Personal Journal Became A Bestseller by Julia DeVillers.) I’ve got a soft spot for characters in the spotlight. However, the love triangle was nothing I hadn’t read before.