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.
Let’s talk about rivals. We can have various settings with this trope like rivals in school, rivals in a competition, rivals inside work, etc. But today I will be all about the families and their rivalry towards each other and how this rivalry affects our main characters. This is one of my favorite tropes, but I say this with every single one and every single Tuesday! But truly rival families takes the romance to another level and makes it all more exciting for them to get together… also pretty dangerous…
You’ll see that in most of these books I’ll be choosing today there also comes a bit of dislike between the families, it’s not really a fun rivalry but actually they kind of… hate each other? So the main characters, who happen to be in love (at some point!), become worried to develop these troublesome feelings. They start to wonder what to do and how to fix this rivalry and sometimes it does have a good outcome but some other times the rivalry still is there.
Overall, these next books all feature rivalry between families and this means the main character and their love interest have a little… problem getting to their their happily ever after. Take Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet but not that deadly.
North to You by Tif Marcelo
Childhood friends and former high school crushes, Camille and Drew meet again. This time she’s the sole guardian to her eighteen-year-old sister and he’s there to repair his relationship with his father before he is shipped out for deployment. Both don’t have time for a romance, but it’s easy for them to fall back in love.
It Started in Paradise by Nicki Night
Known since childhood, Donovan and Chloe have never acted upon their attraction. But now they think they can after so long. Not understanding the feud between their mothers, they take this next level and start to fall for one another, but the feud between families is deeper. After a fling in Puerto Rico, they decide to continue things back in New York, but it will get more complicated by the minute and at one point they might have to choose between their families or their love.
One Summer Night by Caridad Piñeiro
Everyone knows the Pierces and the Sinclairs hate each other. There is bad blood between them and always has been. But Owen has always been watching Maggie and has loved her from afar. When he finds out she’s in trouble and faces to lose her family’s business, he doesn’t hesitate and will do anything and everything to help, even if their families don’t like each other.
The Wedding Pact by Katee Robert
A romance between two Mafia families. Our main characters, as you can imagine now, are one from each family. And those families hate each other, they are enemies for life. But Carrigan and James have feelings of lust and maybe love for each other, but it’s so dangerous to act upon them, so there are secret meetings and fun scenarios you will see in this novel.
Last First Kiss by Lia Riley
Annie Carson returns back home, to her little town of Brightwater, California, to fix and sell her family home and never to return. But she knew she will find her former love, Sawyer. These two families have never seen eye-to-eye, especially when it comes to the land where the farm is.
Annie and Sawyer have known each other since they were kids and always knew there was something between them. But then she left and after dealing with some hardships, she returns to town and finds Sawyer and his love again.
Secret Affair with the Millionaire by Coleen Kwan
Both doing something for their families: Holly winning a bid for the Halifax Hotel to show her family she can manage the business, and Dane needs to win the bid to repair his relationship with his father. Both cannot lose. Too bad they spent one beautiful and lustful night together and they can’t forget each other. Too bad both are from families who see each other as enemies.
