Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Hi everybody, and welcome to a new Top Ten Tuesday!
Today’s all about our favorite tropes, but I felt this was leaning a little close to this recent post, so I decided to mix it up just a bit and randomly select a few tropes, face them off against each other, and have me choose a winner. Sounds like fun, right! (Not really ’cause I’m terrible at making choices, but I think I did okay…)
Let’s start this off with a tough one and throw together two favorite tropes, shall we? (why do I do this to myself?). I’m a sucker for both villain redemption AND morally grey characters. I love them both. But if I have to choose just one, I’d go for the morally grey characters as the winner. Because some of my favorite books feature morally grey characters (Six of Crows, Vicious, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, to name a few).
This one is easy (I can’t make it difficult all the time, can I?). I HATE LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. I don’t think there is such a thing as love at first sight. Attraction, intrigue or lust at first sight possibly. But not love. Nope. Give it to me slooooow burn, thank you very much.
Ahh both tropes that can be quite predictable and overused, but are still both soooo good. But my fave has got to be the shocking character was actually secretly royal reveal. It may be predictable, but I love it every single time. The parents that are not actually their parents one has the potential to be really good, but can also easily annoy me if it feels thrown in for no reason. So secret royalty, it is!
Honestly, I don’t have the same issue as a lot of people do with “she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding”. It’s repetitive and overused, yes. But I don’t mind it all that much. The “not like other girls” comment however, that annoys the everlasting crap out of me. It’s a sexist, misogynistic comment that implies that girls and girly things are inferior and not liking those girly things makes a character somehow better. HARD NO.
I do like a brooding bad boy, on the condition that he’s not an abusive ass. Unfortunately, that often tends to be the case, because somehow this abusive behavior gets romanticized. Not good. But what can’t go wrong and is always a winner is the soft boy. Hufflepuff boys for the win!
Ahh two of my favorite tropes again. True fact: if a book is advertised to have one of these, I will jump on it faster than you can say ‘book blog’. But if I have to choose one, I’ll go for the pen pal romance. It’s just so romantic to fall in love with someone over written words and knowing their personality before ever meeting them in real life. Fake dating can be a lot of fun, but I’m a hopeless romantic and pen pal romances satisfy my need for romance just better. (check out my post on pen pal romance book recommendations)
Two of the most frustrating tropes out there, but part of me has already gotten kind of used to the conveniently missing parents, especially in YA fantasy. I do still get really annoyed when a book only focuses on the two characters in a romance and there are barely any secondary characters with any kind of development, let alone have anything to do other than be a sounding board for the main character’s love drama. Ugh. So if I have to pick one, missing parents it is! (sorrynotsorry)
You know, since I already admitted to being a hopeless romantic, you probably think I’d go for the “only one bed” trope. And you wouldn’t be too wrong, since I do adore this trope a lot. HOWEVER, it is pitched here against maybe the only other trope which owns my heart even more and that’s the “found family” trope. I want it. I need it. My precious.
Both equally amazing tropes, but I’m a sucker for enemies-to-lovers all the way (case in point). However, I do admit I haven’t read that many friends-to-lovers books yet, so hit me with your recommendations, please!
Dragons. It’s gotta be dragons. Oooh, maybe we can get some dragons with superpowers?
THIS THOUGH:
“…LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. I don’t think there is such a thing as love at first sight. Attraction, intrigue or lust at first sight possibly. But not love. Nope.”
SO TRUE!
I’m all about the fake dating and pen plan romance tropes. Two of my most favorites if done well. 🙂
Thanks, glad to hear I’m not the only one who doesn’t really believe in love at first sight 🙂
Aww, fake dating and pen pal romances are THE BEST!!
I agree – I prefer a sweet, cinnamon boy to a constant brooder. I mean the bad boy can be fun but if it’s in a constant state of whining then no.
I also love fake dating when done right. It’s just a lot of fun.
Yay for cinnamon soft boys and no to the brooding whiners for sure haha 🙂
Fake dating can indeed be so much fun!
I like how you twisted this topic this week. It was fun! I agree with you on most of your choices, although I think I prefer “there’s only one bed” as long as there isn’t a choice of sleeping on the floor.
Thanks! Oh yeah, I forgot that sometimes there’s the sleeping on the floor ‘cop-out’ – I always feel so disappointed when that happens, haha 🙂
This was so entertaining! There Is Only One Bed wins every showdown for me, but hurray for soft boys. I wish they were not SO VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND.
Haha ‘there is only one bed’ is definitely a very powerful contender! 😉 And yes, WE NEED MORE SOFT BOYS!
I love morally gray characters! They keep me guessing and sometimes challenge me as a reader, since I’m like WAIT! That’s not what I would do!! lol
I do like love at first sight in certain cases- I just think it’s if the story or the situation clicks with me- it’s so subjective. I agree though it’s pretty iffy most of the time.
And dragons-definitely! ?
Haha yeah, sometimes it’s fun not to be able to guess what a character will do!
It’s true love at first sight can work sometimes, but I just haven’t seen too many instances where I really loved it.
Dragons for sure 🙂
Always dragons. I love the found family trope as well. It gives me all the warm feelings.
Of course it’s gotta be dragons 🙂 Aww yeah, the found family trope really does give all the warm and fuzzy feelings!
Love this twist on the prompt!!
Fake dating has to be one of my favorite things ever, even though I’m not that big on romance haha.
And yes to morally grey characters, can’t believe I forgot that one on my list. They’re so interesting
Fake dating just has so much potential for hilarious situations, which I really love 🙂 Morally grey characters are the best for sure.
Yeah, I don’t like the “not like other girls” trope either. It’s incredibly misogynistic.
But I do like your spin to this week’s topic. Very creative.
It is so misogynistic, it’s a pity it’s still such a common trope.
Such a fun way to do this week’s topic! Yes, give me all the slow-burn all the time. I hate the ‘not like other girls’ trope, too, and it really bothers me when a mc’s friends only exist to talk about the mc’s drama rather than acting like real people. Also I feel like that always gives the mc an excuse to be a really shitty friend? Great list!
Thanks! Yay for slow burns! And yeah, the ‘not like other girls’ and secondary characters without anything to do really annoy me, and unfortunately they’re very common…
I love your list! Some of these would be pretty hard to choose between! I’m a sucker for bady boys, villain redemption, and morally grey characters but they have to be well done. There’s only one bed is a lot of fun too. Here is our Top Ten Tuesday
I know, why did I do this to myself, I hate making choices? 😉
The “let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding” is so overdone, but it’s just kind of funny most of the time. I like friends to lovers AND enemies to lovers. And I’m a big fan of found families and morally grey villains too. 🙂
-Lauren
Haha yeah, it doesn’t really annoy me but usually makes me smile when I read it 🙂 I love both friends to lovers and enemies to lovers too, it’s just that I read way more enemies to lovers for some reason. Found families and morally grey characters are the best!
I love how you did the post this week!
Thanks so much! 🙂
Always dragons!! haha I’m glad you ended with that one. I really like how you did this prompt! It made me think about what I would choose.
Of course, it’s gotta be dragons! 😀 Thanks so much!
I love what you did with today’s theme! This face-off is an amazing idea! Also, I agree in each case but especially ‘not like other girls’. A character can let out as many unexpected breaths as they want but one ‘not like other girls’ comment and I’m stabbing the book until there’s nothing left!
My all-time fav is, of course, enemies to lovers! The tension! The conflicting feelings! Amazing!
Hmm… I can’t think of any amazing friends to lovers to rec… Enemies to lovers though? Crier’s War
My TTT!
Same! The ‘Not like other girls’ comment always gets me so angry!
Ah yeah enemies-to-lovers is THE BEST! Totally added Crier’s War to my TBR, it sounds amazing! October 1st can’t come soon enough 🙂
Great list! I love soft boys, enemies to lovers, and a huge yes to dragons with super powers!
Dragons with super powers! I need this! But I do love the pen pal romance. Have you read Geekerella? It combines this with enemies to lovers. So much fun.
OMG, I hate the not like other girls trope – like this girl is so much better than everyone else because she has some quirks?
Such hard decisions! I love what you did with the topic this week!
Lauren @ Always Me
LOVE how you set this one up. So many great tropes and options and UGH. Love it. By the way, Dragons win EVERY TIME so I agree 100% on the last one.
I love your take on this topic 😀 And I agree “She’s Not like other girls” is the WORST!