It’s Iola here. Welcome to our Australasian Christian Writers Tuesday Book Chat, where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
Today’s question is:
What’s your favourite romance trope?
First, what’s a trope?
Reedsy says:
Tropes are plot devices, characters, images, or themes that are incorporated so frequently in a genre that they’re seen as conventional.
For example:
- Friends to Lovers
- Enemies to Lovers
- Fake Romance
- Love Triangle
- Forbidden Love
- Secret Royal/Billionaire
- Secret Baby
- Secret Romance
- Second Chance Romance
- Reunited Lovers
- Trapped in an Elevator/Snowstorm
- Mail Order Bride
- Belated Love Epiphany
- Opposites Attract
- Soul Mate
(Lover is used in the Victorian sense, not the literal sense. Because otherwise it wouldn’t be Christian romance, right?)
So what’s your favourite trope, and what’s a great example of that trope in Christian romance?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation in a comment on this post or in a comment on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group. Or, if you’re feeling wordy (like me), write a blog post and link to it in the comments.
A favourite? Seriously? I have a few I really enjoy reading (& writing), like friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, second chance romance. I’m not a fan of secret baby / billionaire type ones. As for good examples, Sweet on You by Becky Wade is a great example of friends to lovers, and I’d nominate The Elusive Miss Ellison as a version of enemies to lovers, and Winning Miss Winthrop as an example of reunited lovers (mostly bc it’s early and I’m struggling to think of too many books at this time of the day!)
Hey Carolyn I am similar to you. I really don’t like secret baby and billionaire ones.
I think social media makes the secret baby trope harder to pull off in a contemporary, and I agree with you on the billionaire romances. I’ve read a couple, but don’t get the appeal.
Miss Ellison was an excellent enemies to lovers 🙂
I’m the same Carolyn, and was thinking if your novels when I read this! love the friends to lovers, enemies to lovers and second chance romances. Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility are favourites (after yours of course Carolyn!)
I love romantic suspense. So I’d have to say my favourite trope is ‘realising how much you love someone while trying to save them from a crazed killer’. The most recent example for me is Terri Blackstock’s ‘If I Run’ series. I also loved the first two books in Dani Pettrey’s Alaskan Courage series. Other favourite authors in that genre are Colleen Coble, Brandilyn Collins and Dee Henderson.
I’ll have to add that one to the list!
The If I Run series was brilliant. Have you read the Criss Cross series by CC Warrens? That’s similar. I enjoyed Dee Henderson’s early books, but haven’t been such a fan of the later ones – I think they’ve overemphasised “escaping from the crazed killer” over the “realising how much you love someone” 🙂
I agree with you re See Henderson’s books. I loved the early present just don’t connect with her later works, I’d forgotten about Terri Blackstock. I read her early ones, so must give her another try. So many books, so little time!!
Hi Iola – No I haven’t read CC Warrens. Will have to check that out. And I agree about Dee Henderson. Loved the O’Malley series and the one after that (Honour? Valour?) but haven’t been crazy about the later ones.
Add me to the list for this one too. I enjoy the tension of not knowing if the protagonist is going to get his or her happy-ever-after ending
It’s so hard to pick a favourite. I hate the ones where the characters play games and hold the flaw or secret over the other . I love second chance romances , reunited loves. The other that is a favourite is the Cinderella/ Belle storyline of the plain geeky 👧 falling for a rich 👨. Love my HEAs . I also love the families stories which is what I love about most Christian fiction even with edgy stuff you get to know the siblings, their stories and watch them grow through the books eg Dani Pettreys Alaskan Courage , Karen Kingsbury The Baxter’s
Yes, I’m another fan of the Belle storyline! That’s why True to You by Becky Wade remains my favourite in that trilogy 🙂 I also enjoyed the Baxter novels (although Karen Kingsbury lost me when it moved into the serial love triangles that was the Bailey Flannigan series. #TeamCody).
I’ve read and enjoyed them all. Some are a little overdone-like the mail order bride trope. I’m currently working on a series using the fake romance trope.
I love a good fake romance. The reader knows what’s going to happen, so it’s fun reading and wondering when the hero and heroine will work it out!
I am conflicted with it but I kind of enjoy the “torn between two lovers” trope which is probably a subset of love triangle but different. Conflicted because at the root it seems selfish and insincere, but it’s also a good trope for character development – like a quest to find what’s best for me. A good medium for the idea of following God’s guidance and trusting in His provision. It often carries the tension that the best choice might not be as available, but the poor choice is a trap. I’ve just realised I’m using it in my WIP (!), but standout example is Lizzy Bennett’s choice between Wickham & Darcy.
I’d never thought of Lizzy Bennett as being a love triangle (her relationship with Darcy was more enemies to lovers), so I like the “torn between two lovers” idea. What’s interesting there is that as readers (or viewers), Wickham seemed like the better choice … at first. But that was because Lizzy (and the reader) didn’t know everything about him.
its hard to say. I do like Mail Order Bride stories. (My penpal meet her husband through writing and then meeting her husband I guess now it would be via email or text but she joined a Christian mail writing group and they meet and he ended up moving to where she lives and they were married).
I have read a few really good trapped in a snow storm or some other disaster stories.
as I mentioned before I am not a fan of secret babies, and not a big fan of billionaires as I can’t relate to them.
One Trope I would like to see more of is the older single finding love for the first time.
There are a lot of second chance love stories – older couples finding love again – but very few first time love. One I can think of is the new release from Melody Carlson – Courting Mr Emerson.
Kaye Darcus has a few where either the hero or heroine finds love in their 30’s I know at least one it was the heroine’s first real love.
Good point! I enjoyed her stories, especially her contemporaries. It’s a shame she hasn’t published anything in so long.
I am having trouble coming up with a favourite. I enjoy stories where the protagonist thinks finding that special someone is the only key to happiness and then discovers that they have their heart set on the wrong goal. Of course, once they have their motivation reset to the One who is leading them on the adventure, then He opens the door to true love )i(
Good point! I think it’s a common but false belief that life will be all puppies and unicorns if we find our One True Love. Jesus promises us unending love, but not a perfect life.
Just like Nola, I love romantic suspense. I’ve recently read Terri Blackstock’s “If I Run series”. I also enjoy ‘friends to lovers’ and really enjoy ‘enemies to lovers’ 😀
I can never go past a good Enemies to Lovers plot, because there is so much scope for great character development and changing of minds. The Lovers’ Triangle can also be quite intriguing when handled well.
I’m reading a love triangle at the moment – except I think it might turn into a love quadrangle … it’s a fun story.