Tropes I Love
Before jumping into this, I want to say that just because I adore these tropes doesn’t mean you have to. If you hate these tropes, it’s all good. Reading is subjective! My opinion really means nothing beyond my own preferences. If you love these tropes, please bring on all of the recommendations!
Enemies to Lovers
is my bread and butter. I could read this trope in any time period and love every second of it. There is something so satisfying about watching two people who despise one another fall in love. There is something equally satisfying when this trope is one sided and you have one person already head over heels in love while the other person repeatedly claims to “hate” them. I love this trope in dark romance, small town romance, contemporary romance, all romance. I watched one of my favorite BookTokers (Eden Victoria) the other day talk about how she doesn’t understand enemies to lovers unless it’s dark romance or fantasy and they are true enemies. She made the point that hating someone (in contemporary romance) because “in first grade he told me my hair looked bad” and now he’s my sworn enemy is ridiculous. Do I agree? Yes. Will I still read it? Absolutely. I honestly don’t care if the reason they hate one another is petty. I eat it up. I will say that enemies to lovers in dark romance is superior, because the stakes are much higher and sometimes it is life or death. However, if the bookstore owner hates the mechanic down the street because he once bought a book she hates, I’m still down.
My recommendation: Hollywood Dirt by Alessandra Torre
Arranged Marriage/Marriage of Convenience
is a trope I live for. I love, love, love reading books where the two main characters are forced to marry. I think it is so fun to watch two strangers get to know one another and ultimately fall for each other. One of them always has to move in with the other one and we get to see these sweet domestic moments. I love fake relationship/fake dating too, but fake marriage takes that to a whole new level. Again, the stakes are usually higher and just the idea of tying yourself to someone in a more permanent way before you really know them is something I really enjoy. It’s always wonderful seeing the relationship evolve both in public and in private and those lines blurring along the way.
My recommendations:
Real Regrets by C.W. Farnsworth
My Dark Romeo by Parker S. Huntington & L.J. Shen
Mafia Romance/MC Romance
are two separate but similar storylines. Mafia and Motorcycle Club romances share a lot of wonderful things including usually possessive male main characters. Technically, mafia/MC is a subgenre of Dark Romance, not a trope, the trope would be possessive/alpha male…but let’s not get hung up on technicalities, haha. I adore a possessive/alpha male in any genre, but in these books specifically it’s so much better! Sure, in a contemporary romance the man may say he’ll kill for her, but Declan and Cage will actually do it (Queens and Monsters series).
My recommendations:
Hell’s Handlers MC series by Lilly Atlas
The Fallen Men series by Giana Darling
Queens & Monsters series J.T. Gessinger
Opposites Attract
makes me scream with joy. When you have a rough around the edges male main character and then a fluffy female main character, I love it. When she's been sheltered her whole life and he helps her find herself…so good! I've seen this done in the reverse a few times, good boy/bad girl and I adore that too. The Mindfuck series is a great example. She's a serial killer and he's an FBI agent. When two people couldn't be worse for each other but against all odds they find their way.
My recommendations:
The Mindfuck series by S.T. Abby
Don’t Kiss the Bride by Carian Cole
I’m not sure if writing letters is considered a trope or not, but I love it. When two people communicate back and forth without seeing each other face to face…ugh, it’s always great in my opinion. Recently I read Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata and the two main characters are pen pals before they ever meet in person. I adored how their relationship evolved from their deep friendship. Dear Love, I Hate You by Eliah Greenwood was also a wonderful book with the pen pals trope.
I’d love to hear your recommendations for any and all of these tropes! Email me at shalanabattles@gmail.com
