let’s talk bookish | romantic reads

Hello again, dear friends, and happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you are all well, and if not then I hope brighter days head your way soon! Today is the day to celebrate love of all varieties, and thus today’s topic for Let’s Talk Bookish is highly appropriate. Today I’ll be discussing my favorite romance tropes (with recommendations for books containing those tropes) and my least favorite romance tropes. I was surprised to find that I actually had quite a bit to say on this topic, so let’s not dilly dally, let’s dive right in…

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish discussion meme created by Rukky at Eternity Books and now hosted by Aria at Book Nook Bits and Dini at dinipandareads. This week’s prompt is…

romance tropes in literature

my favorite romance tropes & recommendations

academic rivals to lovers

I’ll admit it: this is absolutely my favorite romance trope. The reason behind this is that I’ve always been very academically focused and much more of a “scholar” archetype, so I think I can relate to finding someone who matches my intelligence and wits incredibly attractive—even if I also viewed them as an academic rival! I also love how this trope usually forces the plot to include a “battle of wits” between the two romantic interests, whether its a big one or a small one. I love when characters get to show off their intellectual chops and earn respect for it!

Two books I’ve read that include this trope are A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft and A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid, both of which I really enjoyed, especially for the aforementioned reasons! When it comes to books on my TBR that feature this trope, there are Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood and I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang. Another book on my TBR which is kinda a mix of the spirit of this trope and the “workplace rivals” trope is Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, which I’m really looking forward to getting to! I’m also currently in thee middle of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, which features a really funny version of this trope that also mixes in the “grumpy x sunshine” trope.

enemies to lovers

This is definitely one of the more popular and, dare I say it, basic tropes to enjoy, but enjoy it I do nonetheless! As y’all know, I mostly read fantasy novels nowadays, and I think the fantasy genre is the best setting where you can find a genuine variety of this trope. I don’t often feel like contemporary novels can have actual enemies who fall in love without it being ridiculously ethically questionable (but hey, I guess maybe in dark romance? then again, idk since I don’t read dark romance), but fantasy is a relatively “safe” genre to explore this trope in and show the true nuances of it.

I’ve enjoyed many books/book series featuring this trope, but two of my favorite are the The Wrath and the Dawn duology by Renee Ahdieh, and the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. Books that I’m interested in reading which feature this trope are the These Violent Delights duology by Chloe Gong (which actually features the rare “lovers to enemies to lovers to enemies to ???” variety of this trope), Heartless Hunter by Kristin Ciccarelli, and The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

knife to the throat

This trope is kind of a micro-trope featured in some books which have enemies to lovers romances, but I still really enjoy it where I’ve found it! I think the thing I enjoy about this micro-trope is how much it ups the tension in a scene. It raises the stakes by forcing readers to think, “No! You’re not supposed to kill them, you idiot, you’re supposed to kiss them!!!” At least, that’s my typical reaction when I come across this one, lol! So, I think it always adds a juicy layer of dramatic irony to a relationship dynamic.

The only book series that I can currently remember reading which features this trope is the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi. Actually! I read the first few chapters of The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon before temporarily setting it down, and I’m pretty sure there was also a knife to the throat scene in there too! The only book series on my TBR that I am aware of featuring this trope is the Sands of Arawiya duology by Hasah Faizal, though, so if you know any other fantasy books/series featuring it, definitely let me know!

hurt/comfort

I love the hurt/comfort trope, especially when one of the characters is grumbly about it but you can still tell that they really care and are really worried. Kinda on the personal side, but I think my love for this trope comes down to the fact that, as a disabled person myself, I like the idea that there are people out there who don’t see taking care of their loved one as a major burden. It really just warms my heart and gives me something to hope for, I guess.

I don’t know any books on my TBR that feature this trope (again, feel free to recommend any fantasies featuring this trope) but books/book series I’ve read that include this one are the Lore Olympus series by Rachel Smythe, the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros, and This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede.

my least favorite romance tropes

bully romance

As someone who was mildly bullied in elementary school, I just don’t enjoy this trope. I also think another part of the reason why I dislike this trope is because I’m demisexual and require a certain level of emotional attraction to feel sexual attraction, so I just don’t get this trope because it’s so vastly different to how I experience sexual and romantic attraction. In addition, I also just feel like often bully “romances” involve elements of abuse and intimate partner violence, and that makes me really uncomfortable. So, yeah, this trope is just a “no” for me personally…

“i can fix him!”

I hate this trope because I feel like it normalizes abuse as well as the idea that men’s personal problems are the responsibility of the women in their life. I also feel like this trope is really reductive in how it portrays the nuances of human experience, psychology, and personal agency. At the end of the day, it’s important to recognize that change only comes from within, meaning that as much as you can advise someone, it’s ultimately up to them to do the changing. When I was a teen, this trope was quite popular in YA books, which I think is honestly a little concerning due to what I think teen girls may take away from it. I’m really glad to see that YA has kinda moved away from this trope, but I still dislike it when I come across it, even in New Adult and Adult literature, just cause I feel like given the reasons I mentioned previously it’s still quite a problematic trope in general.

“love cured my mental health disorder”

I haven’t seen this one in quite a while as I think people have become more aware of how problematic it is—and thank God for that!—but this trope actually used to appear relatively frequently. I always steered clear of books featuring this trope, because as someone who has clinical depression and generalized anxiety, it always rubbed me the wrong way. The reason it does is that while community and a solid support system can go miles when it comes to helping people with mental health disorders cope, at the end of the day, many mental health disorders for many people are chronic and suggesting that “love can cure the disorder” a) makes it feel like the person with a mental health disorder (or multiple) is something that needs to be “fixed” and b) puts undue pressure on the partner of the person with the mental health disorder to make everything better, when sometimes there’s no way to do that, and, even if there is, it’s often ultimately up to the person with the disorder to take tangible steps to manage their disorder on a regular basis.

spill the beans, friends!

What are your favorite romance tropes in literature and what are your favorite books featuring them? What are your least favorite romance tropes to find in books?

Learn more the author of this post:

Lila @ Hardcover Haven

Lila is a 30 year old anthropology student and lover of literature who's been book blogging for an eternity. Her hobbies include reading, singing, writing, arts and crafts, and snuggling her two cats, Snoopy and Clementine.