I think love triangles are super unrealistic because unless you're like the most popular girl in school type, stuff like that never happens.  Normally, I just go along with it, though, because why not?  I am, however, jealous of the girls in a love triangle.:P

I think insta-love is a real thing, but I also believe that insta-love isn't serious.  You may feel struck by lightning, but it's not really very serious or important at that point.  I think that when the character meets someone and then they're instantly all kissy and stuff, that's not cool.  But, when someone meets someone, fawns over them for a brief second, then tries to get to know them, then I'm happy with it.

My favorite type of love cliche is the one where the two of them hate each other at first then they realize they actually love them.  Because that one's the most realistic to me.  I've seen it happen.

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As a rule, I dislike love triangles. Love intrests, I don't mind, but only when they don't take away from the plot. For instance, Harry Potter's infatuation with Cho Chang and then Ginny Weasley kind of ruined the end of the series for me (but only a little--still love the books.)

*minor spoiler of The Hero and the Crown ahead.*

However, in The Hero and the Crown, there is a sort of a love triangle--i.e., the main character Aerin has this good friend named Tor who kind of loves her but hides it very well, and who really cares for her, but she is blind to it because she is rather preoccupied hunting down dragons. After killing a particularly nasty dragon, she gets seriously injured and has to find healing with the mage, Luthe, who, though not explicitly stated, is the really "handsome-and-romantic" male, though he only comes in the last quarter of the story. Anyway, I didn't find this too annoying, since the male parts were so few and far between, you nearly forgot about them, and there was a kind of tragic ending to it.

*spoiler ended*

So, I swallow love triangles, bitter though they may be. If the girl gets obsessive, however, I am annoyed. One can't think of boys all the time, especially if one has to save the world/kill the villain/becomes the hero/etc.

OMG.. my mom could rant FOREVER about this! I'm a little more tolerant because I'm of this generation, but YES THEY ARE ANNOYING! I agree with everything in this thread! They take away from the plot too much, and way too often cross the limits, and usually the author has a different perfect way of setting two characters together than you'd like.

Howevvverrrrr.. there are those ones you just can't help liking.. XD

From Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and Molly was a nice one.. it was also bittersweet since Peter Pan can't grow up, but Molly can. 

Of course..  my book characters is a nice one. Best friends, loyal, what's not to love?

The Hunger Games, I don't really care for in the first place, and I just thought the love was too drawn out and... lame. 

In Little Women, Joe and Mr. Bhaer are probably one of my favorite couples EVER! Don't watch the movie to decide, please don't, it's a terrible example! But the books are really sweet, and totally awesome. You have to read through the Little Women trilogy to get it all. :)

A love sphere?

"Insta-love," I hate. I think it's totally unrealistic--well, I'm told that some people do just suddenly get attracted to someone, and so that's fine, but the thing is... Okay, so my feeling on this is that if the two characters have known each other for a while, and there's been foreshadowing and stuff, then it doesn't really count; it's not like they suddenly fell in love; it's that they suddenly realized they're in love... and if they actually are, then that's okay. If the characters have known each other for a while, and there's no evidence that they have any sort of romantic feelings towards each other, and suddenly they do, then that is silly and unrealistic. If the characters just met and it happens to them--love at first sight--I'm told that to an extent, that does happen to people, and so I can't object to it being in a story. However, I don't consider that love. I think TNO said this at some point on another thread--the thing about it is that for the most part the only thing that people have to fall in "love" with in these cases is appearance, and... there is a difference between just physical attraction and... what people usually seem to be talking about when they say love. As someone who's never experienced either, I'm not exactly qualified to talk, but it seems like most people agree that emotional attraction is a necessary component. Often, though, in stories, people fall in love at first sight and assume that that's just... all there is, that this is not just attraction; it's True Love, and there is nothing that could possibly be deeper--and the reader is expected to agree with them! It's hard for me to suspend disbelief like that, and if I do, then I still can't really care about their relationship because it's not based on anything. There's nothing that makes that particular relationship interesting to me as a reader; it's just sort of there.

I am not suggesting that crushes and purely physical attraction and so on can't lead to what most people would agree to be genuine love. What I'm describing is when the reader is expected to believe that two people will be happy spending the rest of their lives together and should care about each other more than anything else in the world solely because they find each other beautiful.

Love triangles, I think, can enhance a story or take away from it. It really depends.