If you love reading romance novels or watching romance movies, we're sure there are a couple of tropes that you've grown to love and hate over the years. Let's name 10 of each so you can decide which ones you actually like, and which ones you definitely don't.
1. Enemies to Lovers
One of the most popular romance tropes that women love is the enemies to lovers. There's something so entertaining about watching two characters who started off hating each other, grow to love one another. Through overcoming misunderstandings and realizing their differences, watching romantic feelings evolve and grow will always be fun.
2. Friends to Lovers
A beloved classic that can never go wrong, the friends to lovers trope is an easy way to get your heart racing. We love relationships built on deep, sincere connection! It's so exciting getting to watch a kind friendship turn into something more, especially learning about which moments started this change. This trope is definitely a sweet and heartwarming one.
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3. Second Chance Romance
Whether it's about two characters that find each other again after a vacation fling, or two characters that were separated by unlucky circumstances, the second chance at love trope is a riveting one. Sometimes, we need more than one chance to make the right moves, and this one is all about that.
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4. Fake Relationship
Being in a fake relationship for the benefit of avoiding family obligations, social status, or any other problems seems like a good idea at first, until you start actually falling for the other person. A common trope used in many romcoms, this one is often filled with hilarious moments and a genuine growing connection that is fun to watch.
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5. Secret Romance
There's something exciting about hidden love right? Having to hide their relationship from everyone else around them for whatever reason, the secret romance trope always feels intense. We're on our tippy toes as we follow along with the couple trying to make things work!
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6. Soulmates/Fated Lovers
Whether you believe in fate and soulmates or not, it is enjoyable reading about characters who are "destined" to be together. There's something awfully cheesy about it, especially when there's magical intervention involved, but hey, sometimes a little bit of cheesy is good. Sometimes we want to dream about something that we know we can't have.
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7. Forbidden Love
Taking it up a notch, forbidden love is one step up on secret romances. Not only are two characters having to hide their romance, there are some real consequences if they're ever found out! It's your classic Romeo and Juliet situation - one where rivals, different social standings, or outside forces are trying to pull the two apart. Will they make it? That's what everyone wants to find out!
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8. Love Triangle
To make things even spicier, lots of authors love throwing in a third person - someone to stir up the pot! Whether it's an old lover, a childhood friend, or a new coworker, adding another person to the equation spices things up and creates a complex story line. Besides, women love being able to choose between the two male protagonists. It's an Edward or Jacob kind of question!
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9. Amnesia
A more unique take on the romance trope, women love watching characters rediscover their love for their partner. When you throw in memory loss, the stakes are at an all time high! It's all about finding out whether they're truly made for one another and if their love is strong enough to overcome situations as extreme as this.
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10. Return to Hometown
Anyone remember the Hannah Montana Movie? It's that classic, head back home for the holidays only to fall in love with some handsome man or woman living in your hometown. These types of tropes are usually incredibly sweet and heartfelt, centered around finding love in the places we least expect.
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1. Love at First Sight
Women love context and for relationships to mean something! The love at first sight trope is simply overused at this point and feels gimmicky at best. It's just so unrealistic and lacks any character development! We much rather prefer if the initial meeting builds up to some romantic interest rather than having it thrown at the reader right away for no reason.
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2. Miscommunication
If you've ever been in a relationship before, you'll know that communication is the most important thing. It's needed for love to flourish! So when women have to read about this trope where the couple starts falling off because they're miscommunicating, it becomes frustrating rather than interesting or enjoyable.
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3. Overly Possessive Partner
One thing many women hate more than anything is jealousy, possessiveness, and being controlled. So why would we want to read about it in the characters we fantasize or daydream about? All it leads to is unhealthy relationship dynamics that don't feel or sound romantic is any way shape or form.
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4. The Big Misunderstanding
Following our point on miscommunication, it never makes sense when things are going smoothly for a couple, and then BAM. A giant misunderstanding comes out of nowhere and into play to ruin it all. The conflict just feels so forced and unnecessary, creating an unenjoyable reading experience for the audience.
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5. The Makeover
Turning love into something superficial, the makeover trope is one that's often too overused. It just emphasizes beauty and attractiveness as being the key factor in making someone fall in love with you. Which in reality, is incredibly unhealthy and is a terrible way of thinking.
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6. Cheating to Find True Love
Cheating is never okay, and romanticizing it makes it feel even worse. That's why we're confused this trope even exists! Women hate love stories that use this trope; no one wants to read about a character's infidelity being the reason why they found true love.
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7. Damaged Characters Redeemed by Love
Treating love as something that can "fix anything," this trope of being healed from sickness by love is certainly not a favoured one. Not only does it underplay the severity and seriousness of mental health issues or trauma, it implies that you need to be in a relationship or fall in love to get through it.
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8. All-Powerful Hero
Setting more unrealistic expectations, the all-powerful hero trope is one where a potential love interest swoops right in to save the day and solve all the problems. It places all the emphasis on how great the love interest is without giving the protagonist any room to shine or fend for him/herself.
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9. The Eternal Bachelor
Women don't want to read about a rude, playboy bachelor who suddenly has a change of heart when he meets the exact right person. Not only is it unrealistic, the character simply isn't likable! Women love rooting for male characters they can fall in love with, not ones they feel a need to change.
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10. One True Love
There's no such thing as one true love! The thought that each and every person only has one perfect match in life is pretty ridiculous. And when you read about, it just creates a sense of unbelievability that is hard to get over. This is certainly one trope that needs a lot of work.
