I enjoy reading almost any fiction book and always find something in it to love, regardless of whether I enjoyed the story. What's the guaranteed way for a book to win my heart? It must contain one of my favorite tropes. A trope can be a plot device, character type, or literary technique that is recognizable and familiar to readers. There are two types of tropes: Literary Tropes, these include devices like irony, metaphor, and hyperbole, and Genre tropes, which is what this blog post is going to focus on. They involve plot structures, character traits, motifs, and devices that are commonly used within specific genres.

Friends to Lovers

There is something about following two characters that already have a tight, solid, meaningful connection to each other as friends, and watch them turn that connection from friendly to romantic. Unlike the stories where our characters experience immediate attraction for one another, Friends to Lovers is a slow burn. I love Friends to Lovers tropes for a couple of reasons: The story, attraction of the characters, and even some of their shenanigans are realistic and relatable. Also, even though the trope thrives in romance, it also does very well in one of my other genres, Fantasy.

The books that revolve around the Friends to Lovers trope that I typically gravitate towards are rom-coms, with the exception of the trope when I find it in Fantasy. In the Fantasy genre I have noticed that this trope is secondary and is surrounded by a more serious or dramatic plot. Finally, I love Friends to Lovers because it commonly ends on a high note.

* Favorite Friends to Lovers trope on my shelf: Bridgerton: Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

**Penelope Featherington** has secretly adored her best friend’s brother for… well, it feels like forever. After half a lifetime of watching **Colin Bridgerton** from afar, she thinks she knows everything about him, until she stumbles across his deepest secret… and fears she doesn’t know him at all.
Colin Bridgerton is tired of being thought nothing but an empty-headed charmer, tired of the neverending sameness of his life, and, most of all, tired of everyone’s preoccupation with the notorious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, who can’t seem to publish an edition without mentioning him in the first paragraph. But when Colin returns to London from a trip abroad, he discovers nothing in his life is quite the same—especially Penelope Featherington! The girl who was always simply… there is suddenly the girl haunting his dreams. But when he discovers that Penelope has secrets of her own, this elusive bachelor must decide…is she his biggest threat—or his promise of a happy ending?

Enemies to Lovers

Opposite of Friends to Lovers, our characters initially start their relationship with disdain for one another. They are antagonists and are actively working against each other on the onset, and over the course of the story, their feelings evolve. What I love about Enemies to Lovers trope is that it actually contains sub tropes, with my favorite being rivals to lovers. This also another trope that I like as a rom-com, and again, like Friends to Lovers, tends to be surrounded by a more serious or dramatic plot in the Fantasy genre.

*Favorite Enemies to Lovers/Rivals to Lovers books on my shelf: Bridgerton: The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn and A Court of Thornes and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.
As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.
Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed series is impossible to put down!

Fake Dating

Another of my absolutely favorite book tropes is Fake Dating. Our character decide that it would be a great idea if they pretended to be in some sort of romantic relationship. Of course the reasoning behind the subterfuge can vary. Social Standing, nosy relatives, it was in a loved ones will that our hero/heroines must marry and produce an heir in order to inherit the family fortune…you name it, it can be turned into a fake dating trope. As the plot unfolds our characters fake dating turns into real dating.

*Favorite Fake Dating book on my shelf: Bridgerton: The Duke and I

By all accounts, **Simon Basset** is on the verge of proposing to his best friend’s sister, the lovely—and almost-on-the-shelf—**Daphne Bridgerton**. But the two of them know the truth—it’s all an elaborate plan to keep Simon free from marriage-minded society mothers. And as for Daphne, surely she will attract some worthy suitors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable.
But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, it’s hard to remember that their courtship is a complete sham. Maybe it’s his devilish smile, *certainly* it’s the way his eyes seem to burn every time he looks at her… but somehow Daphne is falling for the dashing duke… for real! And now she must do the impossible and convince the handsome rogue that their clever little scheme deserves a slight alteration, and that nothing makes quite as much sense as falling in love…

The Powerful Artifact

With The Powerful Artifact trope, the plot revolves around an object of massive power that our characters on a mission to obtain, protect, use, or destroy. The object could be anything, but it is usually very old, and it’s origins and even how to use it, is lost to time.

*Favorite Powerful Artifact books on my shelf: The ACOTAR Series by Sarah J. Maas and The Sword of Truth Series by the late Terry Goodkind

When a mysterious woman, hunted by assassins, appears in Richard Cypher’s forest sanctuary, it starts a cascade of events he could never have imagined. From the first moment, he knows he must help her despite the as monumental forces conspiring to come between them.

The Chosen One

The Chosen one trope is unquestionably my favorite of all my top book tropes. One character has been tapped to save the world. The reason why it’s my favorite? Because our character could be the chosen one due to a variety of factors. Destiny, extraordinary abilities, and special lineage to name a few.

*Favorite Chosen One books on my shelf: The Empyrean Series by Rebecca Yarros, The ACOTAR Series by Sarah J. Maas and The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling.

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

Faustian Bargains

The Faustian Deal, Faustian bargain, or deal with the Devil is a trope where our character makes a deal with the devil or a devil-like entity to gain power, knowledge, freedom, and/or survival. The cost? Their soul of course!

*Favorite Faustian Bargain books on my shelf: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

**A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.**

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

Found Family

The Found Family is also known as Family of Choice. In this trope, our group of characters, who are not related by blood have come together and formed a familial bond. In most of the books that I have read, the most central character either doesn’t have a family or the family that they are born into isn’t very loving towards them. I love this trope because of the idea that people can choose their family, and also build strong familial-like bonds with people who aren’t blood relatives.

*Favorite Found Family book on my shelf: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Book Tropes I Can’t Read Without