My Favorite Romance Book Tropes

You guys… I’ve become obsessed with books. Like, to the point where I had an anxiety attack thinking about all of the books there are in the world, and how I will never read them all. Especially, my genre of choice, romance. Not all of them are good, but those that are 5 stars?! Ugh… it’s not fair.

It had me thinking about which books I really want to spend my time reading, which is why I’m sharing My Favorite Romance Book Tropes with you guys!

_{Disclaimer: The following post has Bookshop & Amazon affiliates links. If clicked and purchased, a small percentage will go toward On the Trip Side. Thank you for your continual support!}

Table of Contents

My Favorite Romance Book Tropes

My friend, Shanna, is an avid reader and book blogger. We’re always talking about tropes we don’t like and I thought this would be fun because I’m new-er and still googling things like:

What’s DNF? – did not finish.
What does TBR mean? – to be read.
How many Book Tropes are there? – a lot… like, over 150 per this blogger.
What’s everyone’s favorite trope? – popular romance tropes.

Anyway, here are my favorite romance book tropes and a few books I enjoyed.

Friends to Lovers

I’m going to be totally cliché and put this one first because everyone knows it. Listen, there is something so sweet, genuine, and realistic about this love trope for me. Have you ever had a crush on one of your friends? Maybe one day you get a spark from them, and the next thing you know. BAM. Love.

I love this trope.

Hook, Line & Sinker by Tessa Bailey
Sweet Love by Lauren Accardo (books & bottle review here!)

Sunshine vs Grumpy

It always cracks me up when there’s a little miss sunshine and a grumpy-mcgrumperson. Not that there can’t be a little mister sunshine! All are welcome in these tropes. I love seeing the sunshine win over the grump and the grump ease into the sunshine. ☀️

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (books & bottle review here!)
It Happened One Summer by Tess Bailey

Fake Dating

Guys, I know… but I fall for it. Every.Single.Time. I can’t be helped! It’s always so cute when they end up noticing little sparks when their hands brush each other or the way they smell, when they see them for the first time that day. Double points if there’s a single bed trope for a weekend away AND it’s a secret to help the other get back at an ex!

The Kiss Quotient by Helena Hoang (last year’s audiobooks, post here)
The Dating Plan by Sara Desai (Q1 22′ audiobooks, post here!)

Close Proximity

Sometimes all you really need is two people trapped together on a boat or at school or at work… and then SPARKS. One of my favorite books from this trope is about a woman whose boyfriend passed away and she’s on the adventure of a lifetime driving his sailboat from island to island with a, you guessed it, hired hot af Irish sea captain. Stuck together for hours, weeks, days, and months!

Extra points for the agonizing slow burn trope.

Float Plan by Trisha Doller (Q2 22′ audiobooks, post here!)
The Bride Test by Helena Hoang

The Best Friend’s Sibling or Sibling’s Best Friend

Extra credit if there’s the beloved “Wow, they grew up” cliché trope or they hate each other because of something they *think* the other did to hurt their family. Gosh, I love this trope. Maybe because I always wish I could have fallin’ in love like this. Alas, none of my friends had hot older brothers and none of my friend’s brothers were mature enough. 😅

Enemies to Lovers

Cliché, I know. I know! But I loveeeee a good enemies to lovers. Especially when they don’t even know why they hate each other or it’s an all-around misunderstanding. Oh and double points if it’s a Sunshine-Grumpy combo! One of my favorite books in this genre made me cry… multiple times. SO GOOD.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (10/10 – Q2 22′ audiobooks, post here)
Book Lovers by Emily Henry

I’m really trying to branch out in my book genres but it’s awfully hard to. Again, there are so many great books out there and I want to read them all but we keep publishing more and more every day! It’s hard to keep up.

Check out my Books & Bottles Series if you’re into books. I started this last year to help keep me on track and, now I’m obsessed. It’s one post a month where I review a book and a bottle of wine.

Thanks for reading, friends!