T10T: Romance Tropes I Love/Hate

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt was a Love Freebie, where bloggers could choose to focus on whatever romance-related topic they wanted, like OTPs, romance scenes, romance books, etc. I decided to focus on romance tropes, and pick a few that I love… and a few that I don’t! I also added a few book/series suggestions for the tropes I love, with the help of a friend’s suggestions for any I couldn’t think of/hadn’t read. <3

1. falling in love through letters/emails/etc. – LOVE

I’m such a sucker for romances that form through written correspondence! I just think they have so much potential to be really sweet and precious, but there’s always a nice touch of drama with the big reveal at the end!

2. oblivious best friend – HATE

We’ve all seen this one – it’s the best friend who is totally oblivious throughout the couple’s entire lives, until (usually) person A moves on and falls for someone else, only for person B to suddenly say, “Wow, I guess I never saw you before!” Inevitably, person A will break it off with the poor, unsuspecting third party and go rushing into person B’s arms, totally disregarding the years of unrequited love and emotional turmoil.

3. tending to the enemy’s wounds – LOVE

This really is a trope I enjoy with blossoming romances in general, but especially enemies-to-lovers tropes. The two are typically forced to work together for some reason, and one of them gets grievously injured, while the other has to nurse them back to health. It’s generally filled with lots of heavy tension and awkwardness. ?

4. abuse “because I loved you” – HATE

I feel like this is a fairly common trope in enemies-to-lovers romances especially, and I really do not care much for it. There will always be rare exceptions, of course, and if it’s just one or two infractions, I can usually forgive it, but when it’s like, “I murdered your whole family and beat the hell out of you for months because I had a crush on you”? Nah.

5. sharing a hotel room – LOVE

Okay, I’m so shameless, but I LOVE the room/bed-sharing trope. I think it’s so awkward and fun and precious, and at times, really, er… interesting… (*coughACOMAFcough*)

6. “you’re not like other girls” – HATE

Any character who uses the phrase “not like other girls” at all, in an un-ironic way, is immediately not my favorite character, but when the love interest cites it as their reason for falling for her? Ew.

7. captive/captor – LOVE

I know, this is a really controversial one, and I can fully respect that, but as long as everyone’s getting treated fairly well, and the romance is well-written, I’m a sucker for this one. I mostly prefer it in cases like The Bone Season, though, where the MC isn’t expected to work as a “pleasure slave” or do anything else degrading, and she isn’t abused by the captor.

8. skin-deep – HATE

I’ve never enjoyed shallow romances, and while I don’t think I see them in YA books very often, they still get on my nerves a lot.

9. “fated” lovers – LOVE

I know this is another one that a lot of people aren’t big fans of, but I really enjoy fated lovers – not the ones who are forced to love each other because of a curse or anything, but “soul mates”.

10. insta-love – HATE

The worst romance trope of all, if you ask me: insta-love. I cannot tell you how many otherwise incredible books have been ruined for me by insta-love. I’m not overly strict about what constitutes as insta-love (for example, I know a lot of people consider An Enchantment of Ravens to be insta-love, but I don’t, seeing as they spent several weeks together “off screen”). That said, when your MC and the love interest speak TWICE and are suddenly willing to die for one another? Ugh.

What are your most loved and hated romance tropes?

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