To explain a little about what this post will be about, I’m taking the intro I did for the last one: In every romance book you read there are tropes or archetypes. You can also see them in shows, movies, plays, etc. Romantic tropes are everywhere, and they are fabulous. I adore them. I adore some of them and I always tend to find my favorite ones in romance books so I can enjoy them more. I decided to do a sort of Trope Tuesday piece where I will be talking about many tropes and recommend you all some of my favorites that fit.
What is a trope? Urban Dictionary explains it best I think: “Despite the erroneous definitions already published here, trope on the interwebs really refers to an often overused plot device. It can also be described as another variation on the same theme. TV shows, movies, comics, games, anime’, & books are full of tropes & many rabid fan-sites now name & track said tropes with a self-explanatory title for each one.” We can name a few: accidental pregnancy, best friends to lovers, sibling’s best friend, marriage of convenience, and so many more for sure. Your favorite couples? They probably got a trope too! It’s always so nice to realize or find out your favorite romance trope and keep searching for books with the same theme.
Who doesn’t love romance books with pets? It’s just simple wonderful. My heart beats faster when I find a book that has it or I find out about a book I really wanted to read it and if it has pets? I put it on top of my TBR. Pets are my ultimate love and I love puppies especially. But if the main characters have multiple pets, as you might realize some of these characters in the books I’m going to rec have, I am game and literally will pick up your book immediately.
For me, it’s so cute, plus you get to see these characters interact with very cute animals. You know a lot about someone when you meet their pet! But in serious, I’m so pleased that I have found so many titles that do include them and don’t use them as a plot device like for a dramatic scene so our main couple can get closer that involves maybe a death of said pet. I’m not here to recommend those books and will let you know that all of these books, they have pets that do survive until the end! You will fall in love with the story and the romance but you will also fall in love with this furry beings and cute and fluffy animals. You won’t regret one bit picking these up.
Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating was already my favorite before I found out how many pets Hazel has in the novel. And when you do, you will want to read this immediately if haven’t done it already. It’s so perfect and Hazel loves them all and it’s so cute to see how they all get to know Josh and when he’s not there, all the pets miss him. Hazel has a labradoodle names Winnie, a parrot names Vodka, a rabbit names Janice Hoplin and she gets a new fish and calls it Daniel Craig.
Sanctuary by Rebekah Weatherspoon
Sanctuary is such a beautiful novel written by one of my all time favorites Rebekah Weatherspoon. I love that she always includes pets somehow in her novels and it’s literally my favorite thing ever. This time in Sanctuary there are five dogs. FIVE DOGS. All living with this reclusive hero who ends up fake dating the heroine. It’s 13/10 for me, y’all.
Stripped by Zoey Castile
Zoey Castile made me fall in love with her novel by simply saying that it was about a schoolteacher fallings for a stripper. It gets better than that I swear when you realize and find out that the hero owns a husky. And it’s a puppy still. They have the greatest relationship, you even get some scenes where he takes it out for a walk and sleeps with it every single night. I absolutely fell so hard when I found out and can’t stop loving it now more than ever.
Making Up by Lucy Parker
Making Up by Lucy Parker has all type of stuff you will definitely love and if not one you might love other stuff like it has hate to love and enemies to lovers, the heroine works at a circus-esque show and she has pink hair, the hero is a make-up artist and also works there. They end up being roommates so things gets really intense from there. He comes with a pygmy hedgehog whose name is Reginald. It’s adorable and you won’t stop swooning whenever the hedgehog is with the hero.
If the Dress Fits by Carla de Guzman
Both our main characters Martha and Max have dogs AND HE IS A VETERINARIAN. So lots of animals as well to get all those heart eyes. Martha’s dog’s name is Bibi and it’s a Shih tzu while Max’s dog is a Golden Retriever and the name is Wookie. Between the fake dating and awesome interactions between these two, the love story will catch you and never let you go until the end. Carla de Guzman writes my favorite romance titles and this one is no different.
Heart of the Steal by Avon Gale and Roan Parrish
When our main heroes, Will and Vaughn, find a kitten, this story gets sweeter. Their relationship already is very domestic (which I absolutely adore!) and getting this kitten makes it full circle for me. I absolutely adored Heart of Steal, I think it’s such a good feels romance and Avon and Roan are masters with story making and writing really great scenes together. A dynamic duo!!!
