Romance tropes: we love them, we hate them and we couldn’t have all of the movies and books that we adore without them. From enemies to lovers to second-chance romances, there is a trope for everyone, and we all have our own individual favorites and least favorites.
As a retired middle school Wattpad reader, I am no stranger to these romance tropes. I’ve probably mentally imagined myself in most of them if I am to be embarrassingly honest.
Below, I have compiled a list of some of my favorite and least favorite tropes. What are your thoughts?
Top 5
- Friends to lovers
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I am the biggest sucker for a friends-to-lovers romance. The slow burn, the longing, the moment it boils over and they both can’t hide their feelings anymore? It doesn’t get any better than this.
- enemies to lovers
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I have never met someone who doesn’t love an enemies-to-lovers story. The tension lingering the whole time and them both pretending they don’t have feelings but they can’t hide it is peak romance writing.
- Grumpy and sunshine
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This may be a personal preference, but I absolutely adore a grumpy/sunshine romance. The ultimate opposites attract, and he/she hates everyone except for them. Obsessed.
- fake relationship
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I love fake relationship tropes for the simple reason that it is a secret that they are both in on. I don’t like it when one person hides something from the other, but this is them hiding something from the world. I also love how one of them always catches feelings before the other one, and they try to hide it.
- Rivals
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Again, it’s the tension. The build up and trying to pretend they hate each other? Perfection.
Bottom 5
- Age Gap
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I don’t care. Large age-gap romances are weird. I do not even think they are that bad in real life, but in books and movies, whenever they attempt to write an age gap, it becomes really weird and creepy. They always take it one step too far and in turn, they are ruined for me.
- Love triangle
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Unpopular opinion. I just hate the fact that they are not certain about one person. Call me old fashioned, but I just want them to know who they want to be with and not be trying to decide between a bunch of options. I would hate if the person I was talking to couldn’t decide between me and another person, and I hate it in fictional stories too.
- Aranged marriage
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I just think it’s boring and predictable. Like oh, they didn’t want to get married, and then they unexpectedly fell in love? Boring!
- Secret identity
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I hate when they are keeping secrets from each other. It’s just a major red flag for me. The relationship is doomed from the start, and they don’t even really know each other because of this huge secret that could be a massive deal breaker.
- unexpected pregnancy
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No. This one doesn’t even need an explanation. Just no.
What do you think? What are some of your favorite and least favorite romance tropes?