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Do you love a good Romeo and Juliet retelling? Or do you prefer the tension of a classic Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet romance trope?

Knowing romance tropes helps you identify the books you will most likely enjoy. Most book reviewers will post covers alongside its tropes.

See this example from Rachel Luke Parker’s awesome Sweet Romance Authors Insta account:

Let me unravel the romance tropes’ mystery to help you understand your favorite reviewers’ recommendations. If you’re a book reviewer, feel free to use this guide to find the most accurate tropes to describe your favorite reads.

Table of Contents

This is a long article, so you can also jump to the trope you want to learn about.

What Are Romance Tropes?

The term Trope refers to story cliches. They’re predictable storylines and overused setups that you recognize across novels, even if the setting, plot, and characters are different.

A very familiar trope is the classic love at first sight. Most early Disney princess movies follow this trope. You know the princess and prince will have an instant connection. They usually have obstacles keeping them from being together, but they know from that first look that they’re meant to be together.

Here are 18 tropes you’ll find in romance novels:

1. Friends to Lovers

Ah, the age-old friends-to-lovers storyline. In this trope, the hero and heroine are usually childhood friends. They may also meet at the start of the story and develop a close friendship. Over the course of the story, they realize they feel more than just friendship for the other person.

This trope is fun because both characters are reluctant to express their feelings. They don’t want to lose their treasured friendship. From this trope is born that swoon-worthy scene where he looks when she isn’t looking, then he looks away right before she looks over at him.

Anne and Gilbert in Anne of Green Gables perfectly summarize the friends-to-lovers trope. Granted, in the first book, their relationship began a little rocky. But, over time, they grew into close friends, which eventually blossomed into love.

2. Enemies to Lovers

The exact opposite of friends to lovers is the fan favorite, enemies to lovers.

In this trope, the heroine and hero start out on the wrong foot. Due to different circumstances, opinions, or a misunderstanding, they hate each other at the start of the story.

This rivalry grows throughout the story, with tension bordering on spice building between them. Eventually, the bubble finally pops, and they realize the strong feelings they had weren’t hate at all but passionate love.

No book better exemplifies this than Pride and Prejudice, with the memorable Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy rivalry. A rivalry that leads to the infamous line:

I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed upon to marry.”

-Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

3. Forbidden Love

Heartbreak is often the best medicine. A forbidden love story combines two characters from opposite sides of an argument or from different stations of life. This difference keeps them from being together.

Wuthering Heights tells the tale of the forbidden love between Heathcliff and Catherine. The two children grew up together and deeply loved each other. But due to different stations and later because of other marriages, they could never be together.

4. Star-Crossed Lovers

Similar to forbidden love is the star-crossed lovers trope. The primary difference is that forbidden love leaves a small hope they can overcome their obstacle and be together.

Start-crossed lovers are hopeless romantics who love each other, knowing it can only end in disaster.

Romeo and Juliet are the poster children for star-crossed lovers.

5. Secret Identity

If you’re looking for a fun romance, go for a secret identity trope.

In a secret identity romance story, two characters fall in love, but one is not who he or she says they are.

The secret identity can turn into a positive twist, like when the FMC discovers she has been dating and flirting with a secret billionaire, prince, or pirate captain.

Other times it isn’t positive, like when the secret identity is the person who stole the girl’s job or the person driving the car in a hit-and-run.

Disney’s Aladdin is a secret identity double whammy. First, Jasmin is a princess pretending to be poor, then Aladdin adopts a prince identity to court Jasmin. Nicolas Sparks also loves throwing secret identities into his romance novels.

6. Forced Proximity

The forced proximity trope is usually part of a larger trope but a fun plot driver.

In forced proximity, the MMC and FMC end up in a confined space. Common scenes include:

• Riding the same horse
• Having to share the same hotel room/bed
• Captured in a small prison/tied together
• Stuck on a long car trip
• Forced to ride the elevator together

Forced proximity works well alongside any trope but has the most tension in enemy-to-lovers stories.

7. Best Friend’s Brother/Sister

The best friend’s brother or sister trope is similar to the friends to lovers trope but with the added twist of their friend being a sibling’s best friend. What makes this trope appealing is that there is more on the line than just their friendship. They are also involving a beloved sibling, making the couple more cautious.

Harry Potter and Ginny’s relationship falls into the best friend’s sister trope.

8. Second Chance

A second-chance romance novel usually has a time jump.

The MMC and FMC meet at the start and fall in love. But circumstances separate them. It could be a misunderstanding, a disagreement, or simply life. Then, after several years (and relationships), they meet again and have a second chance at love.

Jane Austen’s Persuasion is one of my favorite second-chance romances. Anne Elliot loses the love of her life when her family persuades her to reject him. Eight years later, he returns, cautious to see if she has changed.

9. Soul Mates

Soul mates are destined to be together.

Sometimes soul mates are implied, like two people who find each other despite multiple obstacles or two people who fit together like peanut butter and jelly.

Other times, like in fantasy novels, the couple might have a tangible connection.

For example, the author might call it a mating bond. Through the connection, they have special powers to read each other’s minds or emotions.

A classic example I believe exemplifies soul mates is Aragorn and Arwen from Lord of the Rings.

10. Fake Relationship

Enough books have used the fake relationship trope that it deserves its own point.

In the fake relationship trope, two characters pretend to be in a relationship. They usually insist it’s 100% fake, and they have no intention of falling in love (Ha!). However, by the end, the feelings become too real, ultimately transforming it into a real relationship.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta form a fake relationship to save their lives, which eventually turns real.

Similar to the fake relationship is the marriage of convenience. The couple chooses each other for an ulterior motive but eventually develops real feelings for each other.

11. Mistaken Identity

You probably have seen this trope played out dozens of times. The FMC, who starts working in a new job, mistakes the handsome MMC for a coworker but discovers later he’s actually the boss.

Another common scene is the MMC mistaking the FMC for hired help, and she plays along.

The mistaken identity is very similar to the secret identity trope. A key difference is in secret identity tropes, the character living the double life does so on purpose. However, in a mistaken identity story, the identity switch is accidental.

Mistaken identity tropes have been part of literature as far back (and even before) The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare.

12. Holiday Romance

Who doesn’t love a good holiday romance around the Thanksmas season?

Holiday romance tropes are books set around the holidays. The trope implies a feel-good theme. You can probably expect those overused (yet still loved) cliches, like falling on top of each other while ice skating, having a deep conversation about trauma over hot chocolate, and one character who starts the story hating the holidays and ends singing the loudest at a Christmas carol sing.

Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is a classic (and perhaps the most well-known) holiday romance book. Though I know some will disagree with me over the romance part.

13. Opposites Attract

Opposites attract is another of my favorite tropes!

I have also seen reviewers call this trope the grump-sunshine trope, referring to the most common form of opposites attract (one character is a pessimist, and the other is an optimist).

In the opposites attract trope, the MMC and FMC have a notable difference. Some opposites attract are subtle. They may be similar in all ways, except for one detail, like one character loves hiking and the other hates it.

Other opposites attract books that have polar opposite characters where everything they like and how they act is different. This setup makes way for some very adorable scenes. For example, the hardened, serious lumberjack dons a pink apron to join the happy, go-lucky FMC in a baking class.

While there are hundreds of books using this trope, one of the best-known classics with this trope is The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. If you’re not familiar with it, you might recognize the modern movie remake, 10 Things I Hate About You.

14. She Fell First/He Fell First

While some books have both characters fall in love at the same time, that’s not very realistic. This is why we all love a good he/she fell first novel.

This trope has one character falling in love before the other. It adds tension to the story as one character tries to gain the other’s attention or affection or tries to hide their own feelings. Then, we all celebrate together when the other character finally notices the first.

A version of this trope that I really like is “She fell first, but he fell harder.”

What this means is the FMC falls in love first, but it’s usually a slight crush she tries to hide. When he finally notices her, he reciprocates the feelings, but ten-fold, making up for the long wait until he finally notices her.

Cress from The Lunar Chronicles falls under the “She fell first, but he fell harder” trope.

15. Slow Burn

A slow-burn novel takes its time developing the character’s feelings for each other. This trope is most accurate to real life since most people take time to truly fall in love with each other, even if they’re immediately attracted.

My favorite slow-burn book is Jane Austen’s Emma. The slow burn is excruciating to read as Mr. Knightley goes from childhood friend to lover at the very last moment. Them slowly realizing then accepting their feelings for each other takes time but is oh-so-worth the wait!

16. Instalove

Instalove, or the more well-known phrase “love at first sight,” is universally recognized. It’s the mother of all romance tropes. Love at first site builds the foundation for all the classic fairy tales, including Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel.

In Instalove, the FMC and MMC have an instant connection. Often, a barrier stops them from being together. Then, they spend the entire novel fighting that barrier so they can reunite with their one true love.

17. Love Triangle

Ah, the classic love triangle!

Authors don’t like to make romance easy. That’s why they throw in another choice for the FMC, so she has options. A love triangle gives the FMC’s final choice more depth. She didn’t choose the MMC because he was the only option. She chose him because he was the BEST for her.

I could list hundreds of books with this trope, but here are a few classics and well-known examples:

• Twilight: Bella, Edward, and Jacob
• Hunger Games: Katniss, Gale, and Peeta
• Knights of the Round Table: Guinevere, Author, and Lancelot

18. Fish out of Water

Fish out of water tropes place one character out of their normal or comfortable situation. It’s often a central plot for rom-coms (think city girl goes to the country or country boy ends up in the city).

It’s also common in fantasy books where the main character ends up placed in a new situation, where they grow from a frightened newbie to a confident leader. Their love interest is often a native to the situation and helps them adapt.

Divergent includes the fish-out-of-water scenario.

What Is Your Favorite Trope?

Let’s start a thread with your favorite romance books. Drop a comment to help other readers find books in each romance trope.

Happy reading!