Hello friends! Tropes are shitted on quite a bit, which is something I just don’t get. I mean, I’m pretty sure we all have tropes we’d rather avoid, but there are so many books and authors who can work their magic, and make even the worst tropes great.
Admittedly, some of the tropes we included today are not the most original – some may even be cheesy as hell – but we adore them. To give you some recommendations that utilize the tropes mentioned, we have brought 30 books for you, three for each trope mentioned. Without further ado, let’s jump into them!
This post was made for Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
I’m not even sure some of these count as tropes but I wanted to avoid romance as much as possible since I feel like I always harp on about romantic tropes and forget the others that make a book so wonderful.
the chosen one or a prophecy
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
- Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
- The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Hate to Love
- Katy and Daemon in Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
- Juliette and Warner in Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
- Alosa and Riden in Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
Soulmates
- Elena and Clay in Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
- Just all couples in Psy-Changeling by Nalini Singh
- Dunleavy and Karish in Resenting the Hero by Moira J. Moore
Friendships close as Sisters (or just Sisters who are friends)
- Lissa and Rose in Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
- Clary and Isabelle in City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
- Scarlett and Tella in Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Badass Team
- Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
- Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria
- Invictus by Ryan Graudin
In retrospect, I should have gone out of my way to pick some non-romance tropes, because (1) not everyone likes romance, and (2) only one of the novels I mentioned are YA (I helpfully marked it with *)… and that’s out of the 15 titles. But I can’t even feel sorry, because these are just SO GOOD, and recommendation-worthy.
fake relationship 😉
- Stella and Michael (The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang)
- Nya and Johan (A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole)
- Lainie and Richard (Act Like It by Lucy Parker)
second chance romance 😊
- Trix and Leo (Making Up by Lucy Parker)
- Georgina and Lucas (Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane)
- Likotsi and Fabiola (Once Ghosted Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole)
the grumpy, prickly character loves the soft character 🥰
- Ruth and Evan (A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert)
- Freddie and Griff (The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker)
- Beatrice and Huxley (New Orleans Rush by Kelly Siskind)
there’s only one bed 🤭
- Rae and Zach (That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert)
- Minerva and Colin (A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare)
- Callie and Thomas (Desire and the Deep Blue Sea by Olivia Dade)
unrequited love… or so they think 😍
- Violet and Sebastian (The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan)
- Esme and Khai (The Bride Test by Helen Hoang)
- Katie and Sarah (Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley)*
Let’s chat!
Do you enjoy these tropes? Why/why not? Maybe you have some recommendations with these tropes? What are your favorite tropes?
Wordy and Whimsical 
Ok, I love all of these ones! One bed is so much fun – gotta love that tension. Love to hate is awesome too.
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Both of those are always so tension filled and just to fun to read about. 😀
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*adds 30 more books to my TBR!!* Also, don’t be sorry, it can be really hard to get great romance recommendations!!
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Haha, glad you loved the list, Meeghan. 😀
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I don’t get why people put down tropes either. When they’re used correctly, they really enhance a story. Good list, by the way.
My TTT
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Exactly – it’s also practically impossible to find completely trope-free books, most things have been used over and over again by authors. Thanks!
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Yes to the fake relationship trope! I love it, but honestly I don’t read enough of it, so thanks for the recs, Veronika! I also really love badass teams, but the only book I have read with one is Six of Crows, so those other books will cone in handy for me, Clare!
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Fake relationship is one of the best tropes EVER, and I’ll get 1000x more excited for anything that has it haha.
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Omg yaaas. I realize most of the tropes that I love most are romance related 😂And I love so many of these ones! I didn’t even think about the “there’s only one bed” trope but LOL it’s sooo good! Aaah. I’m going to look up some of your book recs for each of these as well. Great list!
My TTT post
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That’s something I came to realize while working on this post. 😂 “There’s only one bed” is THE BEST – one of the most entertaining and tension-filled romance tropes, imo. Thank you!
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Yess to Chosen Ones, Love to Hate, and Soulmates(which I forgot to put on my list)
My TTT
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Great list! Soulmates are great, and there’s only one bed is fun too. Here is our Top Ten Tuesday
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Your emoji for there’s only one bed LOLOL I love it. i need some more bad ass teams in my life, and friends as close as sisters. More girl friendships!
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I tried my best with the emojis, so I’m glad you mentioned/liked the there’s only one bed one haha.
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So many of these made my list, too! I had no idea only one bed was a trope until today, though!
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Haha, I definitely consider it one at least? It happens A LOT in romance especially.
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So many times! 😉
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Romance tropes are so much easier to name but good to see some different tropes from books in general, I definitely adore a book that has some strong close friendships. I am with Veronika, though, give me a fake relationship always and I will be happy. Thank you both for some recs for each trope, always appreciate that.
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I was so mad I forgot to include books with close female friendship – like you said, my mind immediately went to romance tropes. I guess they’re easier to recall because they appear in romance and in other genres, like fantasy, whilst the chosen one and others like it are related to a certain type of books. Glad you liked the recs. 🙂
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Fun lists! “There’s Only One Bed” totally made me laugh. I’d be drawn to that book, too. ;D
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Veronika – we are trope soulmates. I highlighted fake relationships, but second chance romance is one of my most favorite when it comes to romance, and obviously, grumpy heroes are the best.
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So many good ones! My tbr miiiight have just grown by a lot!
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Ahh I love all of these, such great picks! I always find it fun when the “there’s only one bed” happens, it always makes me swoon a little bit haha 🙂 and yes to the fake relationship turning into a real one, always love that one too! 😀
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You and I have the most in common Veronika, I adore fake dating, grumpy heros and the absolute angst of both characters thinking their love is one sided!
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Yessss! You both have some great picks and I agree with so many of them. I keep flip flopping on my favourite trope of all time but I think I lean more towards the enemies to lovers/hate to love types of tropes. I’m 100% on brand with them, I don’t know why.
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Yep! I love the tropes listed here. I don’t know why tropes get such a beating… When executed poorly they can suck but so can everything! I’ll die on the bridge defending my favourite tropes. 🙂
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Hate to love isn’t usually a favorite but it totally worked for me with Katy and Daemon in the Lux series. 🙂 I saw the “only one bed” trope A LOT this week and it surprised because I didn’t realize it was so commonly used!
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I love a good fake romance book! I always remember No Love Allowed by Kate Evangelista when it comes to that trope. I also love hate to love but it’s one I am a little wary of because some people make it bully to love and I think that’s majorly problematic! A good hate to love was The Way to Game the Walk of Shame and I… can’t remember who it is by DD: Hehehe the only one bed trope is gold and I live for close friendships! Found families are great 😀
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VERY TRUE about hate to love – I hate bullying, so that’s something that makes me wary of the trope too (like The Cruel Prince? Eh, I don’t and won’t support Jude and Cardan’s “relationship”, no matter the hype & me loving the series) but it’s still so fun if done right, because the banter tends to be A++. The Way to Game the Walk of Shame is on my tbr, and I also own it, so yay, I’m glad you mentioned it!!
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