As you (probably don’t) know, one goal I had when starting this blog was to feature recommendation lists for people seeking new books to read within different topics. Top Ten Tuesday kind of took over for this area for me, which is perfect, but sometimes I like to create my own. The Contemporary Romance Challenge hosts a monthly topic to partake in. Sometimes I’ll be posting these in my Bookmark Lit Bulletin posts and sometimes they’ll get their own post, depending on my blog calendar. Here’s March’s topic:
Favorite Romance Tropes/Themes
Books featuring some of my favorite tropes
Warning! If you don’t want to be “spoiled” about what kind of romance takes place in each book, don’t read on. I only say this because there are a few below that may not be IN the synopsis, as far as the romance goes.
Nantucket Blue /// summer love with the best friend’s brother
The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy /// summer love with a childhood friend/beach house neighbor
On the Fence /// summer love with a neighbor (also brother’s friend)
Two-Way Street /// second chance while on a road trip
Princess of Thorns /// slow-burn and hate-to-love while on a journey
First & Then /// slow-burn and somewhat hate-to-love
The One that Got Away /// second chance with a slow-ish burn
Emmy & Oliver /// childhood best friend second chance when returning to hometown
Second Chance Summer /// second chance during the summertime with a neighbor
The Deal /// fake dating with a playing Cyrano/matchmaker situation
Faking It /// fake dating with hate-to-love-ish
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before /// fake dating with a childhood friend
Magnolia /// hate-to-love plus banter with a childhood family “friend”
Meant to Be /// hate-to-love while travelling abroad
The Distance Between Us /// hate-to-love with so much banter plus forbidden romance
Scoring Wilder /// forbidden romance with coach
Last Will and Testament /// forbidden romance with teaching assistant
Breathe, Annie, Breathe /// slow-burn
I love this post! Good classifications. I think hate-to-love and best-friend-to-more are my favorites. But really, I love them all except slow-burn. I can’t stand when romance is too drawn out if there is really no other plot to the book. 🙂
Thank you! Yeah, I know what you mean about slow-burn – I feel like it has to be done right, as long as the book has other things going on aside from the romance too!
This is a great post. I absolutely love the slow burn and the best friend turns into something more tropes. They are my favorite!
Thank you! 🙂
As I was scrolling through and reading all of these tropes, I kept saying, “YEP … YEP!” and now I can’t decide which ones are my favorites to read about. If I had to choose … it’d probably be hate-to-love and slow burn. I love banter. And if they’re mean to each other in the beginning, there’s so much more to love in the long run :p
Haha! Thank you so much. I love banter too – it’s so fun!
Ok so I am ALMOST done with The Distance Between Us and while probably not a 5 star read for me, I can get the appeal of Kasie West, as she certainly does the bantery romance well. Wonderful post, Lauren! (Also I love your graphics!)
YAY! Well I’m glad you’re liking it better than your first try with her.
And thank you! 🙂
Okay wow this list is amazing! I love everything on this list, I can’t even choose which one is my favorites. They bring different feels you know? Like some of them are sweet (second chance, summer love) and other makes you want to bang their head together and scream “JUST KISS ALREADY” (slow burn, hate-to-love). Or maybe yells “HE/SHE LOVES YOU YOU IDIOT CAN’T YOU SEE” (best friend, matchmaking). I love those feels.
Haha thank you!! I know exactly what you mean.
Love this post! You just gave me so many recommendations when I’m in the mood for some romance/contemporary! Thank you 🙂
Yay, glad to hear it!
[…] Favorite Romance Tropes […]
[…] they’re In Love with their Best Friend or the Makeover that opens the eyes of an admirer, classic tropes (story patterns) lead readers of romance writing to a satisfying HEA – Happily Ever […]