Bookending Autumn – Fall in Love

Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads holds today prompt in her hands! And it’s Fall in Love! Prompt Explanation: Autumn is for walks in the brisk air, drinking lattes, wearing matching scarves and hats, jumping in piles of leaves… wait! Is this sounding a little tropey to you? Let’s talk about some of our fave (and not so fave) love tropes.

So let’s talk about favourite and not favourite tropes. Fair warning, most of these come from fanfic/I discovered I really loved these tropes because of fanfic.

HIGH

Here’s a lil’ meme that shows how I feel about these tropes:

Enemies-to-lovers

Listen, if a book tells me the main characters hate being in each other’s company, always have banter between them, and do this little thing where something happens and THEN SUDDENLY they start to think the other one isn’t so bad after all AND THEN they fall in love – you can bet I’m there and ready to press my nose into the book while I’m alone because I will be squealing over these characters who do not understand that they are in love.

See: Red, White & Royal Blue, Carry On, The Foxhole Court, Peter Darling, Scorpio Hates Virgo

Fake dating/fake relationship

Now, I super super love this trope – because it’s about people who are in need of looking like they’re in a relationship but are not currently in one – and then they have to scramble to see which of their friends/coworkers (whatever) are up the challenge. But as I was trying to find some recs for this one, I realised that like 99% of my reading this trope? Is from fanfic 😂 so To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – I’ve only watched the movie, a few times, sure, but just the movie. But I promise I’m a true fan of this trope, however you want to phrase being a true fan. And also will soak up any recs of fake dating and have myself flown to another planet so I have no responsibilties 😭

See: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Fill-in Boyfriend (read this one a loong time ago but I think it’s good? I do like Kasie West’s books), Gemini Keeps Capricorn

Unrequited Love

If characters come to me and tell me “You know, I like x. But I don’t think they like me back.” I yell at them because it clearly says on page 57 that x looked at y with a foND smile and nATURALLY that means love. Also this trope sometimes comes with a healthy dosing of the one yelling “I LOVE YOU” to the other and my extremely dry eyes (when it comes to romance) starts tearing up. This is also known as the ‘will-they-wont-they trope’ and it’s great.

See: The Wicker King (legit me through the entire book), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (sort of),

Second-hand embarrassment 

I don’t CARE if this isn’t really a romance trope but I love it so much I have to add it

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 THis just give me alll the feels because honestly why wouldn’t you want to read about characters that make you slap a hand to your forehead, realise that you did it harder than intented, and maybe your forehead’s a little red and it’s awkward to explain.

See: How to be Remy Cameron, Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda, Running With Lions, Let’s Talk About Love, What If It’s Us,

LOW

Love at first sight

I just don’t know how people read a book where the characters meet in chapter 1 and are dating by chapter 3 – unless it’s a fake dating trope, that’s different. Like why wouldn’t you want mutual pining??

Sexism 

I don’t know if it’s just all the Internet or me just not really hanging out with boys as a teen or it’s my all-girls school experience; but like – how do you actually think to yourself: “I want to bring someone down because they’re ‘supposedly’ lesser than me because of their sex/gender.” I just can rant about this for days to come but basically – just don’t do this?? I’ll still read a book if it has a sexist character – mostly if it’s hyped (I believe ACO-something has one but I am still wanting to read it) – but I’ll complain about the character for a long while.

Do readers like reading about sexist characters (who are usually men), what? Because they want to feel like someone is taking control of/over them? You can still have that type of character without the sexism!! It’s possible!

The girl ‘changing the bad boy’

Okay, so like this can sort of be done well – like there are some instances when it’s written fairly good. But otherwise?? It’s a boring trope. There’s this bad boy, and everyone shuts him off and tells him he’s never gonna be good, and then the girl comes along and she changes him. She makes him want to be better and he magically comes better. Let’s be honest, you can have this trope in a book, but then it needs to be a stronger trope.

 

That’s some of my high and low romance tropes! Which of these do you share? Do you have any to add in the comments? Please tell me down below in the comments!!