Loved the writing style and setting of this book - the pace perfectly suited the story. I admired it’s ability to accurately describe intertwinedness!

This book is well written. There are a lot of characters. This starts as a slow burn but it is worth preserving with it. It is a captivating story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

The multiple perspectives in this book is so fun and it is also great to see them convene, I wish it would have been sooner, but what we see is so enjoyable! Also, the representation within this book is amazing!

Thank you NetGalley and Broom Bridge Books for the advance reading copy.

A stellar novel. The way the different characters lives intertwine is incredible- the book has been crafted like a careful puzzle and I loved every page. Great representation- and lovely cover!

I had mixed feelings about this book. It had many things that I enjoy and appreciate in a book - messy people, interlinking stories - but they were also often the things that didn't quite work for me overall.

I enjoy a lot main characters that are a bit of a mess, that make big errors courtesy of their main flaws. But either these characters need to have a basic, underlying likeability to make me root for them and/or grow as a character through the book so they confront these major flaws head-on, or they need to dig into their unlikeable nature and remain so. However here, most of the main characters were flawed and often unlikeable, but didn't grow or change, and yet at the end I felt I was supposed to be fond of them and wanting a happy ending for them. But as I didn't, it fell rather flat.

The interlinking stories and the way the stories would move from one to another was a good narrative structure, but it resulted in some interesting parts of the story being overlooked and leaving me frustrated. Like especially about Jo's departure from Dublin- it felt like there should be some much more to this but we didn't even get a glimpse.

Many of the side characters were very interesting, which was another plus point for me, but again I just wanted more and was increasingly frustrated by having them as the side characters and focusing on the others instead!

Overall I did enjoy many of the stories and much of the writing style, it just frustrated me generally with how it failed to completely fulfill the promise I felt at the start.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC*

Inverted Triangles follows multiple characters from the LGBTQIA+ community, all on their own journeys and eventually we see how all of their lives are interconnected.

It's a bit of a slow burner, but stick with it as it becomes a captivating and heart-warming book about people, their relationships, their emotions, the uncertainty of life.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Broom Bridge Books for giving me the chance to read this ARC.

I've been thinking about what I want to say in this review for a minute now, and this is a difficult book to review, to be honest. At some point, I came to the conclusion that some of the book's strengths are also its weaknesses.

Inverted Tringles follows four entirely different people, on completely different life paths. Jo is struggling to find her footing in the wake of her girlfriend leaving her for someone else. Rob started dating Michael, but Michael keeps putting his grief-stricken mother before their relationship to the point it's driving Rob insane. Rachel has found a new job and moved, started dating Stuart, but her past seems to be following her when Kim, a girl she dated threatens to tell everyone about what happened between them. And finally, we have Noel, who, due to worsening health, has to move in with his family. But this means his secret life is in danger of being found out. We follow these characters' lives during 2006 and 2007 as they get more intertwined in unexpected ways, through London and Dublin.

The book starts off quite slow, and it takes a while to figure out who's who and what's happening, but it was interesting and I wanted to know where life would take the characters we follow. Most characters are not necessarily likable, but they are very much human and their mistakes are real, in a way you could imagine someone you know going through something similar. There were interesting parallels, sometimes two characters would be going through similar stuff, but would be dealing with it much differently, and the book showed some interesting perspectives overall. It does well portraying messier parts of life, how sometimes you might be trying to do your best but everything just comes out wrong and the aftermath of that.

What I meant when I said that this book's strengths are also its weaknesses is that this is very much a book about people, their relationships, their emotions, the uncertainty of life, and so on. But as in life things often are left without proper closure, and so was the case in this book. We follow fx Jo, as she has troubles in one of her friendships, and after a fight, she has moved and besides one thought she has later on, that (ex-)friend was never mentioned again. Not even in a way that she's processing what happened, literally there's nothing. I do understand that in life, there's no satisfying closure for many situations, but as far as this novel goes, there were quite a few storylines I expected would be addressed sometime later on, that just weren't ever talked about again. (Same thing happened several times, with Rachel and Kim, with Rob and Michel - I really needed some serious explaining here, and it never happened)

My other problem with this was in the writing style. Specifically how slow it started and how long it took for the author to set up everything in motion. I felt as if a good 40% were build-up and set up for the actual plot. It did make me want to leave this book and not finish, but as I said the characters seemed real enough that I was intrigued. It definitely could've been somewhat shorter with the same effect, but maybe this just wasn't my preferred pacing. On the topic of writing, most chapters ended with an almost cliffhanger, some new, a bit shocking information - and then at the beginning of the next chapter, we would find out what shocking happened (off-page). I found that a bit strange as far as plot devices go, as this book went into heavy detail on some situations I found less significant, but did this for some important stuff.

I did enjoy the multiple perspectives overall, I especially liked it when the character stories became intertwined because it showed more insight and how different people perceive the same things differently. I enjoyed the themes of friendship here, how supportive some characters were, and I really loved seeing the growth in most of these people. How they took their messes and made the best of them, and tried again. If the first half of the book dragged, the second picked up the pace and I very much enjoyed reading it.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this, and it was interesting, but it had its flaws. I would recommend this if you're looking for something that covers messy topics of existing, dealing with your identity, how people will react if they know about it and how to grow from all of that. Fair warning, it is quite long and slow in the beginning, but I do think it was worth it in the end.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Inverted Triangles follows LGBTQIAP+ characters, whose stories are somehow intertwined later on. While some characters have embraced their sexuality, some are coming to terms with it. This combination was quite interesting to read too.

I absolutely love the relevance of the cover and title to the story, as I realized later on. I think the representation was well done and put together by the author, just that it felt a little slow paced at times. You might be overwhelmed by the large cast sometimes, but bear with it, coz it's lovely in the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Broom Bridge Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book to read by this author but won't be my last! The story and its characters will stick with you long after you finish the story. Highly recommend!

I enjoyed this Love Actually-esque novel that explores love, loss, relationships, and friendships. I think the different perspectives and representation helped to move the plot along well and I would recommend this to others!

I’m sorry, this had to be a DNF for me. It was too long and I wasn’t invested in the characters or the story. I hope to return to this book in the future though as the premise sounds so good and I’d love to get to the end.

I love a book where I feel like I genuinely met and got to know new people, and this is definitely giving that.

The story explores the intertwining lives of a handful of queer Dubliners. There are break ups, refusing to accept who they really are, new jobs, stressful jobs, cheating, new love and just life.

I appreciate the varied perspectives through each characters pov as it adds insight to what a person is really thinking/feeling and now just what one of them sees.

If you’d like to meet some new friends and poke around in their lives for a bit, this is for you.

This book sapped my will to live. It’s FAR too long (about 60% of this is unnecessary padding) and filled with one-dimensional, thoroughly unsympathetic, shallow characters (there was one tolerable one in the bunch and their whole purpose was to provide moral support for the rest of the arsehole brigade).

The writing style is fussy, overly descriptive (so many unnecessary minutiae!), and WAY too prescriptive about what’s supposed to be funny (constantly insisting that someone was incredibly witty for observing something fairly banal, or that a joke was just ~utterly hilarious~ when it was laboured wordplay at best and actively cringe at worst).

It also read bizarrely dated – the story is set in 2006/2007 but the attitudes exhibited by most of the characters, especially when it comes to the queer experience, are more along the lines of what you’d expect in an 80s or 90s sitcom. Every scene and every character is crammed to the brim with tired stereotypes, and I won’t even go into the gross way internalised homophobia is presented, because I’d be here all week. It’s just… soaked through the whole book, every character’s a walking cliché, everyone is incredibly shallow and judgy, and WAY too much of the plot hinges on hilarious hijinx like “I thought this girl was a barrister when she’s a barista, foreigners can’t speak proper English, har har.” Ick.

I also hated the narrative structure, which involved every single scene building towards some (usually incredibly obvious) big climax or revelation, then cutting short just before said climax is reached, and then the next time you encounter those characters, they’re just recounting how That Big Thing went down to some rapt audience, again, very old sitcom-style, all “I Can’t Believe That’s What You Did Next!” Every one of these supposedly meaningful, character-arc-affecting things happened off-screen, just so we could devote more page time to lengthy descriptions of someone’s outfit or boring work details instead.

I could go on but I’ve already wasted way too much time on this hot mess. Absolutely tedious, do not recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great book. I really enjoyed the characterizations and depth of emotion. I think this would be a great addition to any library collection--especially ones with a thriving queer population/collection.

Thanks to Netgalley and Broom Bridge Books for a copy of this book.

This is set in 2006 - 2007 and follows the lives of 4 different characters in Dublin and London.

Jo's life in Dublin has been turned upside down after her girlfriend Louise leaves her for another woman.

Rob has fallen for older boyfriend, Michael but his need to look after his grieving mother puts a strain on the relationship.

Rachel has recently moved to London and started dating Stuart but is struggling with her sexuality after meeting Kim, a woman from her past.

Noel moves in with relatives as he's having difficulty managing his diabetes.

This 1st half of this book is a slow build-up and it drags for a time, but in the 2nd half when all the storylines come together the pace really picks up and turns into a real page turning.

Fagan brings us unique characters (all part of the LGBTQIA+ community) with stories not found much in fiction. I loved Noel the best, and felt like he deserves his own book.

Looking forward to seeing what Karen Fagen will write next.

This is a tough one because there were things that I liked and enjoyed about this book such as the concept and writing style but I also found it hard to get into and felt the book dragged on, I just wasn’t reaching for it.

I was honestly quite surprised by how much I enjoyed Karen Fagan's debut novel. Initially, I was having some difficulties caring for some of the characters, but as soon as I reached Part 2, I couldn't put my Kindle down! I just absolutely needed to know what decisions each of the characters would make and how all of their stories came together.

Inverted Triangles follows multiple characters all of whom belong to the LGBTQIA+ community, and eventually we see how all of their lives are interconnected. Jo is a lesbian who's last partner left her for a closeted television star; Rob is gay and has a mature, loving boyfriend for the first time in his life; Rachel is struggling with her sexual identity and has recently uprooted her life for a new, stress-inducing career; and Noel (who's introduced very late in the novel) has a secret life he doesn't feel comfortable sharing with his family.

Fagan's writing style is accessible, yet elevated. There were a few times where the characters had some cringey dialogue, but on the whole, Fagan did a great job creating an immersive world. This character-driven novel takes place in Dublin and London during the mid 2000s, and Fagan is referential in a way that I found enjoyable, but others may not. She took a long time to fully develop each of the characters, which eventually made each of them believable and even likable by the novel's conclusion. However, this extended development lent itself to an incredibly long book where ultimately not much happens in the way of plot. Lastly, I found the reoccurring inverted triangles references to be a bit on the nose and unnecessary.

I loved the inclusivity of the novel, and if asked, I would recommend others to read this. It was a fun way to spend my evenings, and I miss reading about all of the drama already.

Thank you NetGalley and Broom Bridge Books for the advance reading copy. 3.5 stars!

I tried my best with this book however found the characters too unlikable to enjoy it.

There was an instance where one of the main characters (Rachel) was racist, imitating a Japanese accent, which affirmed earlier on in the book when she didn't have any issue with another character referring to someone as a slave driver in front of her. The other character I was initially drawn to (Jo) was not even slightly concerned about a part of a group she was with being fatphobic about someone she had been trying to make friends with.

The concept was intriguing, however the execution wasn't for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Broom Bridge Books for the eARC.

I liked Inverted Triangles, it made me feel like I was overhearing realistic gossip on a wide circle of friends. The characters aren’t always the most sympathetic and are portrayed as very human and flawed. For instance, I couldn’t stand Rachel despite understanding the reasoning behind her quirks. There were some blatantly obvious plot twists with one of the character’s relationships, but that made the character easier to root for…you just wanted them to see what we knew was happening already. I think the author did a lovely job intertwining everyone’s lives (it is definitely a small world), and I love that the primary characters are LGBTQ. Very nice debut. A bit long, but give it a go if you have the time.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Broom Bridge Books for giving me the chance to read this ARC.