Romance Tropes I Enjoy
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I’m always been a fan of a good romance. Anything that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside or makes me swoon is one of my favorite things about fiction. Because I did a post focused on tropes that weren’t romance related, I wanted do a separate post just focused on my favorite romance tropes.
Here are five of my favorite tropes in romance in fiction.
Friends to Lovers
This trope is one of my favorites wether it’s childhood friends to lovers or just people who start off as friends before falling in love. I think why this trope is so good when executed well is because the idea of being friends first with someone you end up with is super appealing.
I like stories where the future couple are already friends at the beginning of the novel. The fact that they already know each other well means we can skip all the getting-to-know-each-other stuff and go straight to the deep stuff without it feeling rushed. And then the story is more focused on them realizing they love each other in a non platonic way and that big scene is always super satisfying.
Enemies to Lovers
Let’s be honest, we all knew that Enemies to Lovers would be on this list. This is such a popular trope that has felt overdone at times. But it’s one that’s hard to not to like when done well.
This trope and be done in different ways too. Maybe only one of the characters hates the other or the level of hate/rivalry can be different. Or maybe one character falls in love faster than the other. But one thing stays the same, at first one or both characters dislike each other but over the course of the novel (as they get to know each other more) they realize they may not be as bad as they originally thought and eventually fall in love.
This trope is so popular for a reason! It’s super entertaining and some of the most famous romances in literature have this trope.
Examples include Pride & Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables
Slow burn Romance
I love a good slow burn romance! It kills me when two character are 100% into each other but won’t admit it.
When other characters can clearly tell that they are pining for one another and try to give them hints (or straight up tell them) that they are perfect for each other. When they are in super romantic scenarios yet don’t admit how they feel. When the sexual tension is high between them but nothing is happening.
I’m literally scream at them to admit their feelings to each other and finally get together but they can’t hear me cause they are fictional characters (*sobs*). But then the pay off of when they finally do end up together is so satisfying that it makes up for it all.
Examples include The Selection Series and Persuasion
Forbidden Love
The Forbidden Love trope is a classic but tragic one. Like the Enemies to Lovers trope, it can defiantly feel overdone at times. Sometimes it can even be problematic, like if forbidden part is because one or both are married (Which is something I personally hate and don’t think its romantic, that’s just cheating). But if it’s done well and not problematic, something about a forbidden love story can be quite beautiful.
The idea of two people who are meant to be together but can’t be because of outside forces is so tragic and it breaks my poor hopeless romantic heart. The stakes can be very low (like having the characters just being of different social classes) or high (like them getting together will be dangerous or cause a political civil war) but I will love it either way because so much fun to read/watch.
Examples include Five Feet Apart and Romeo and Juliet (obviously)
Power Couples
If a couple in a story is a power couple, I’m 100% more likely to ship them!
I hate couples where one is super couple and the other is super plain or boring. It’s just not entertaining and that means that the one cool character has to pull all the weight in the relationship. I don’t mean the one character can’t be quiet or shy. In fact I love more shy characters cause I personally relate to them more.
But I want BOTH characters to bring something to the relationship (and the plot if it’s an action/sci-fi/dystopian story). So that when they are together they are better people even though they both are perfectly capable when apart. If one of the characters can’t do anything themselves or keeps getting into trouble when separated from their partner, I’m going to question why the partner even cares about them.
When both have strengths (physically or personality wise)and then when together they are a legitimate team that work well together, they become instantly shippable.
Examples include Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, all couples in The Lunar Chronicles
So those are my favorite romantic tropes. Any tropes you think I forgot about? What are your favorite book tropes? Let me know in the comments below.
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You’re trying to convince me to read classics now, aren’t you? I like your choices for each selection! P.S. I absolutely adore The Selection. I even have the coloring book.
I love The Selection, too! Maxon is one of my top book boyfriends, I love him. Thanking for commenting!
Oh man enemies to lovers and power coupes are tropes I’m so weak for
I’m defiantly weak for those tropes, too! Thanks for commenting!
Love all these tropes! Enemies to lovers and forbidden romance (like in the style of Romeo and Juliet) are my absolute favourite romance tropes!
Serena / https://www.ramblingsofanotherunigraduate.com
Omg! Totally agree! Thanks for commenting!
We enjoy all of these trope too. Our favorite forbidden love series is Blood for Blood by Catherine Doyle.
ohh, I’m definitely going to check Blood for Blood then! Thanks for commenting!
Yes, yes, yes! I absolutely adore friends to lovers and enemies to lovers so very much! In fact, Fangirl is one of my favorite books! Another trope that I really enjoy is the fake dating trope! I just love how you get to watch the characters go from faking a relationship, to slowly falling in love for real. My most recent favorite example of this was Take a Hint, Dani Brown! I absolutely adored that book, and one of my favorite parts was the fact that it combined friends to lovers AND fake dating!
The one trope on your list I don’t love is forbidden love, but that’s just because I dislike drama. I totally understand the appeal if you do love angst and drama though!
Oh Take a hint sounds very interesting! I’m definitely going to go check it out! And yes, I do love some angst and drama as long as it doesn’t become over-dramatic or turns into romanticizing a toxic relationship. But I enjoy Forbidden romance when it’s outside forces keeping them from being together cause it’s fun for me to root for them to be together and happy. Thanks for commenting!
Slow burn romamce is must for me!!😁 Those sastisfying feelings when they finally end up together is something I always search in romance books though. Oh, enemy to lover is not bad either heehhe.
Yes, those feelings are what make me enjoy romances so much! It’s so satisfying! Thanks for commenting.
Great post! I also like all of those tropes. My personal favourite is the Stuck Together trope, mixed with a bit of Enemies to Lovers. Makes for a fun dynamic with the relationship with the tension between the two characters.
I too love tension between characters in a romance! It makes it so much fun to read. Thanks for commenting!