Top Ten Tuesday: 10 of My Favorite Bookish Tropes
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Favorite Tropes. Now there are plenty of tropes that I wish would just disappear – instalove, love triangles, and damsels in distress would feature prominently on that list. That said, however, it was still pretty easy to come up with 10 bookish tropes that I love seeing in the books I read. I’ve shared them below, along with a couple of my favorite books from each.
10 of My Favorite Bookish Tropes
1. FRIENDS TO LOVERS – Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating (Christina Lauren), Starry Eyes (Jenn Bennett)
2. ENEMIES TO LOVERS – Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen), The Unhoneymooners (Christina Lauren)
3. STAR-CROSSED LOVERS – Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare), Beasts of the Frozen Sun (Jill Criswell)
4. SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE – Say You Still Love Me (K. A. Tucker), One Summer in Paris (Sarah Morgan)
5. MAN IN DISTRESS WHO IS SAVED BY THE DAMSEL – The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins), Beasts of the Frozen Sun (Jill Criswell)
6. MONSTERS WHO AREN’T MONSTERS AFTER ALL – This Savage Song (Victoria Schwab), Beasts of the Frozen Sun (Jill Criswell)
7. BOOKS SET IN SCHOOLS OR ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES – Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling), Nevernight (Jay Kristoff), Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell)
8. TOURNAMENTS OR OTHER FORMS OF COMPETITION – Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling), Throne of Glass (Sarah J. Maas)
9. ANTI HEROES – Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo), Vicious (Victoria Schwab)
10. GIRLS WHO ARE INTO STEM – When Dimple Met Rishi (Sandhya Menon), Zenn Diagram (Wendy Brant)
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Who are some of your favorite bookish tropes? Do we share any favorites?
I like the star-crossed lovers trope – I like the idea of the characters having to overcome some major obstacle to be together.
Yes, exactly. Same here!
It’s always interesting to read about girls who are into STEM. We seem to be getting more books on that topic lately, too!
My TTT
Yes we do and I’m so happy about it!
Love this list! “Girls who are into STEM.” That’s a trope I need to see more of😁
Right? I can’t get enough of it!
So much yes to your list! I LOVE monsters who aren’t monsters and man in distress (omg so good) 😍Star-crossed lovers is also another great one that I totally forgot lol I totally stuck to the boring oft repeated tropes (even though I DO love them) haha
My TTT post
Men in distress is the best, lol.
Great list! Yes, I love girls who are into STEM – especially in historical fiction or fantasy-of-manners like the Lady Trent books.
Agreed!
I love that you have some different ones. I really love friends to lovers and enemies to lovers. I also love books set in school/on campus/at boarding school, whatever! I think anti-heroes (or morally gray villains) are great too.
-Lauren
Thanks!
Ooh, yes, books set in schools! Boarding school books were totally my jam when I was young; I loved the idea of living away from home like that.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who loves this trope. 🙂
A big YES to all of these tropes!
They’re great, aren’t they? 🙂
I will never get enough of enemies to lovers, though I also need more friends to lovers in my life for sure! Also love books set in school, anti-heroes, monsters who aren’t monsters and tournaments. So basically I agree with your entire list 🙂
We both have great taste! 🙂
I am loving all these lists today – I have so many favorite tropes and it’s fun to see other people’s favorites.
I agree. This was a fun topic. 🙂
Josh & Hazel is such a wonderful friends-to-lovers story, but I couldn’t decide if Starry Eyes (which I wanted to include this week) was friends-to-more or hate-to-love. Lenon and Zorrie were friends, and then they were on the outs, and then they were lovers. I wasn’t sure where to put that, but I adore the book and the trope
Haha! I had the same confusion on Starry Eyes, but decide to go with it anyway. I guess it’s more of a friends to enemies back to friends, then to more, haha.
I think all of these tropes can work really well in the right hands. And you have certainly picked some of my favourite examples. Oh for sure – Harry Potter series – yay! And Jane Austen – I also LOVE her second chance romance Persuasion:). And I’ve recently loved Changeling – a fantasy school series:) Thank you for sharing these!
I really need to re-read Persuasion at some point. It has been way too long since I last read that.
I don’t know what it is about books set in schools but they are pretty awesome. 🙂 Especially if they’re magical academies or something. And men getting saved for a change- always ready for more of those.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who loves the school settings. I don’t know what it is about them but I will read just books set in schools from any genre.
Genuinely love ALL of these tropes but especially MAN IN DISTRESS WHO IS SAVED BY THE DAMSEL. It gets me everytime and I wish there were more that I could get my hands on with that trope featured heavily.
Right? There definitely needs to be more books like that.
I totally forgot star crossed lovers on my list! I also love books set in schools! Great list!
Thanks!
Ooh, monsters who aren’t monsters are the best! I need to find more books with that trope.
Right? I definitely need more of those in my life!
Definite yes for men in distress saved by girls AND girls into STEM — that one especially, I could absolutely need more of !!
Me too! There aren’t nearly enough books about girls who excel in STEM.
I agree love triangles should disappear 😂 😂 And Enemies to Lovers is my Favorite <3 (and P&P is my favorite haha) Great list!
Enemies to Lovers really is the best, isn’t it? Love it!