Top Ten Tuesday: All About Romance

Created by The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. They created it because they're "particularly fond of lists" and since I also enjoy lists, I've decided to participate in this fun feature. (Side note: I only did one TTT in 2016! And it was over a year ago! Crazy.)

Happy Valentine's Day, bookworms! Are you doing anything special today? Nothing planned for me. We're not into celebrating Valentine's Day so it's just another Tuesday in our house. Even though I'm not part of a typically romantic couple, I adore romances. I will read pretty much any book that has any hint of a romance - chick lit, women's fiction, literary fiction, historical fiction, and, of course, romances. Gimme 'em all. I'm interpreting today's TTT of All About Romance Tropes/Types as a list of my favourite tropes. I've included an example for each so you get a better idea of what I mean by the trope. Links lead to Goodreads. I only came up with eight because, to be honest, it was getting late on Monday night and I needed to get to bed! What are some of your favourite romance tropes?

Small Town
This is, hands down, one of my favourite tropes. I don't really know why because I wanted to get out of my own small hometown so badly but I guess there's just something about stories in teeny little towns to tug at my heart.

Example: I love Nora Roberts' Inn Boonsboro series and thought The Perfect Hope was the perfect way to wrap up the series. Bonus: you can actually visit the Inn and bookstore. Nora and her husband own them!

Second Chance
I think I love these stories so much because, like most people, I always wonder about what could have happened if life had gone one way instead of another. (To be clear, these days I wonder about more career related things than relationships gone wrong!)

Example: Jennifer Weiner puts her own (fantastic) spin on the second chance romances in Who Do You Love.

Classic Example: Persuasion by Jane Austen. And there have been so many books written that pay homage to this wonderful story, too!

Christmas
I absolutely adore Christmas and one of my favourite things about the holiday is reading all of the romances that have anything to do with Christmas. It does get annoying when "Christmas" gets slapped on a story that barely has a whiff of peppermint or evergreen. But...when there is the holiday spirit and a sweet romance? Oh, I'm a happy girl.

Example: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is, well, simply wonderful. It has the Christmas spirit and it's by one of my favourite author/blogger/people, Marie Landry. Bonus: It also takes place in a small town and is a second chance romance.

Summer Vacation
This trope is only really applicable to YA novels. I think I have a fondness for them because I had quite a few summer romances in high school. There's just something magical about those few months off school when the weather is beautiful and you don't have a care in the world.

Example: Sarah Dessen wins all of the summer vacation stories. Yes, there are other, amazing authors, like Morgan Matson, but I've been reading Dessen for so long that summer vacation = her novels. Along for the Ride is my favourite summer story because it also takes place in a beach town.

Friends to Lovers
This trope can be overdone but when it's done right? I love it. One friend realizes they have feelings for the other but they don't know if the feelings are reciprocated. Such tension!

Example: Anne of the Island. There are so many great examples but...it's Anne and Gilbert. Swoon.

Boy/Girl Next Door
This kind of carries on from the friends to lovers but I just really like when two friends grow up together and end up realizing they're in love with each other.

YA Example: My Life with the Walter Boys was so much fun to read. I need more!

Athletes
Either I haven't found enough or there just aren't enough sportsing romances out there. Good ones, of course. I particularly need more with baseball or hockey or basketball. There are enough football books out there already. Anyway. I've played sports and enjoy watching them so I also really enjoy reading about athletes falling in love. And yes, I'm being a bit sexist when I think of these types of stories. Tall, strong, men with all sorts of other redeeming qualities on top of their athletic prowess? Yum.

Example: This was a really hard one to choose because the few I've read (there should be more!) are all so good. But my virtual bestie, Laura Chapman, has an awesome series about football (yes, I know what I just said) that everyone should read. Start with First & Goal.

Road Trip/Vacation
This is sort of the adult version of the summer vacation trope. I like reading about couples who are in a different place than they're used to and either fall in love or fall in love more deeply while they're vacationing.

Example: Karina Halle has written so many books that would suit for a lot of these tropes (without being cliche...important!) but one of my favourites of hers is Where Sea Meets Sky which brings a guy from BC to New Zealand because he's chasing after a girl.