As human beings there’s nothing we love more than putting things in their own box with a nice big label on the side. From people, animals to inanimate objects it’s essential to our nature that everything has a category. That, of course, includes the books we all enjoy reading. We divide them by genre, sub-genre, trope, characters types…the list goes one!
I am the biggest culprit for this. Just take a look at my Goodreads shelves! I have many many shelves and I used every single one of them. From authors, genres, heroes, heroines, themes, tropes, best ofs, month of release…it’s crazy. But I love it. When I have finished reading a book I am compelled to add as many categories to it as I can. There’s few reasons I do this:
One, I am a book blogger who loves to recommend books to people either directly or through writing a post. Having things divided up means I can recommend books and authors to the right readers. If someone loves a plain jane romance, I know exactly where to go to find some.
Two, I like to look back at the books I have read and see the trends and patterns in what I read. Assigning labels to the books I read assists me massively, I can see what new genres I have been reading…which authors I have been binging on…what new tropes I have tried. I love seeing the stats!
Three: Because I like it…whenever I see a nice long list of tags I get a happy little glow. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But it’s definitely a thing!
As a combination of reason One and Two, I wanted to share with you some of my favourite tropes in romance, why I love them so much and give recommendations.
Goodreads Shelf: fated-to-be-mated
I love a fated mates story! I know it’s fallen a little out of favour as paranormal romance has declined in popularity – although it’s still one of my favourite genres – but I still think it has a lot to offer. You tend to get two kinds of fated mates stories. When there is mythos behind the pairing and an immediate recognition that the hero/heroine is their destined mate. Or, you get a romance where although there isn’t an instant realisation of MINE there is nonetheless a very strong, almost mystical, pull towards a particular person.
I am a big fan of the first type of story, the pure-bred fated mates story if you will. The author forces two characters together who may otherwise have never spoken and you just watch the sparks fly. Of course, there is the assumption when you read these books that fate is feeling benevolent rather than cruel; that despite the differences between the characters that they are perfect for one another. There are some authors who do this really well, some particular favourites of mine are: