Exploring 134 Romantic Novel Tropes: A Writer's Guide

Welcome to the comprehensive guide to romance tropes! Whether you're a seasoned romance reader looking for your next favourite trope or a writer seeking inspiration for your next story, you've come to the right place. In this blog, I'll explore 134 different romance tropes, each accompanied by a brief description to help you understand its essence and appeal. From classic favourites like Enemies to Lovers and Second Chance Romance to lesser-known gems like Blackmail Date and Secret/Lost Heir, there's something here for every romantic at heart. So, grab your favourite beverage, cozy up in your reading nook, and let's embark on a journey through the diverse and delightful world of romance storytelling.

"Tropes serve as common narrative frameworks that shape stories. "Enemies to Lovers," a widely embraced trope, is evident in classics like "Pride and Prejudice," modern novels like "The Hating Game," and even in films such as "You've Got Mail." While some may view tropes as clichés, they remain fundamental to storytelling, recognized by audiences across various mediums. Furthermore, it's common for multiple tropes to coexist within a single narrative, enriching the storytelling experience." - Evie Alexendar

How to use tropes?

Using tropes in your novels can enrich your storytelling by providing a familiar foundation while allowing for creative interpretation. Begin by understanding common tropes in your genre through extensive reading and research. Subvert expectations by twisting clichés or combining multiple tropes in unique ways to surprise your readers. Utilize tropes to develop complex characters with unique personalities and motivations, transcending stereotypes. Leverage inherent conflicts and tensions within tropes to drive your plot forward and keep readers engaged. Strive for a balance between familiarity and originality, exploring different variations to find what resonates best with your narrative goals and target audience. Let tropes inspire your story ideas and character arcs, but ensure your writing remains true to your voice and style. Finally, continuously revise and refine your manuscript to ensure tropes enhance rather than detract from your story's impact, focusing on pacing, character development, and thematic consistency.

Tropes in Alphabetical Order:

Age Gap: A romantic relationship where one partner is significantly older or younger than the other.

Alpha-Hero: The heroine must contend with a strong-willed, domineering, hyper-masculine, successful and wealthy hero.

Amnesia: The hero or heroine suffers temporary or permanent memory loss and is forced to start over and reclaim their identity.

Anti-Hero:The types vary, but romance novel leads can tend towards bad boys (ready to be reformed) instead of a clean-cut, straitlaced fellow.

Arranged Marriage: A marriage is planned and agreed upon by families or external parties rather than the individuals involved.

Bachelor Auction: The heroine ‘buys’ a handsome, wealthy hero for a dinner or once-off date at a charity function.

Beauty And The Beast: The hero, often disfigured or injured in an accident, must overcome his physical and emotional scars to find love with the heroine. 

Best Friend’s Brother: The heroine sees her friend’s brother in a new romantic light and must hide her feelings from him and her friend. 

Best friend's Sister: Romance between someone and their best friend's sister, often complicated by loyalty to the friend and the fear of risking the friendship for love.

Best Man/Maid of Honor: Romance develops between the best man and maid of honor at a wedding.

Bet: Romance stems from a bet or dare between two individuals.

Betrayal: The heroine is betrayed by the hero – the betrayal may be genuine or the result of a misunderstanding. She often vows revenge.

Billionaire: A wealthy individual falls in love with someone from a different social or economic background.

Blackmail Date: One character agrees to go on a date under duress, leading to unexpected romantic feelings.

Blackmail: The heroine is blackmailed by the hero into marrying him, usually as a form of revenge or payback for a previous slight or insult, real or imagined.

Blind Date: The heroine agrees to a blind date. The date usually delivers a surprise or a twist – for example, her dinner companion turns out to her boss, best male friend, or an ex-boyfriend.

Bodyguard: A romantic relationship develops between a protector and the one they're guarding.

Boss & Secretary: Although a bit dated as a trope, the boss falling for his personal assistant or secretary is still popular.

Boss-Employee: Romantic involvement between a supervisor and their subordinate.

Break Up to Save Him/Her: A couple breaks up for noble reasons but realizes they're still in love.

Broken in Some Way: Romance between two individuals who are emotionally or physically damaged.

Brother's Best Friend: Romance blossoms between a character and their sibling's closest friend, often complicated by loyalty and the fear of risking the sibling's friendship.

Celebrity: Romance between a famous person and an ordinary individual.

Christmas Romances: Almost a genre in itself, Christmas provides a theme and background for the love story.

Circle Of Friends: This trope features three or more protagonists all searching for love, in parallel to pursuing their careers and passions. For example: a group of ballet dancers, actors on the same film set, or students at the same school.

College/School: Romance blossoming between classmates or batchmates in college or school, navigating the challenges of academics, social dynamics, and personal growth while falling in love.

Country Inn: A career-driven city girl inherits or buys a charming little inn, bed-and-breakfast, or guest house in the calm, bucolic splendour of the countryside.

Cowboys: Whether a rancher or a Texas Ranger, the hero embodies the characteristics and moral codes of the American frontier: courage, integrity, and usually a bit of chauvinism.

Cursed: In a fantasy or folklore-inspired romance, the heroine may have fallen under a curse, spell, or wicked charm that only the hero can break or reverse.

Damsel/Dude in Distress: A character in distress is rescued by their love interest. 

Damsell in Distress: The heroine often gets into some sort of trouble so the hero can rescue her. 

Distressed Dude: In an inverse to the above, the hero may have to be saved by the heroine; it sometimes overlaps with Rescue Reversal. This is a great opportunity for the hero to feel gratitude to the heroine, admiration for her pluckiness and general growing affection for her, for the heroine to treat any injuries he may have sustained, the heroine to realize how much she cares for him after she nearly lost him, and so forth.

Dare Or The Bet: A staple of teen romances, the heroine takes up a challenge from friends or a rival to date or bed a popular young man – or an unpopular wallflower. She eventually loses her heart to him until he learns of her deception.

Dark Secret: One partner hides a dark secret that threatens their relationship.

Dating Game: From online dating agencies to hook-up apps, speed dating sessions to blind dates, the newly single heroine enters the world of dating with hilarious, romantic and/or sexy results.

Divorce Never Went Through: The lead characters discover that their marriage was never annulled or a divorce decree was never issued because of a bureaucratic mistake or some other misunderstanding.

Double in-law Marriage: A common plot is for the heroine's sister and the hero's brother to have married, had a child, and then died; this forces the leads to interact on more or less hostile terms over custody, until the matter is resolved by their marriage.

Emotional Scars: A romance involving characters who have experienced significant emotional trauma.

Enemies To Lovers: The heroine hates the hero on sight. She may still be smarting from a past betrayal or is being blackmailed by him. How the characters move past the anger to attraction and love makes up most of the narrative.

Enemies with Benefits: Two adversaries engage in a physical relationship that eventually turns into something more.

Fairytale Retelling: A romantic story inspired by a classic fairytale.

Fake Dating: Two people pretend to be in a romantic relationship for various reasons, but end up falling for each other for real.

Fake Engagement: A couple pretends to be engaged for personal gain or to fulfill a specific goal, leading to genuine feelings developing between them.

Fake Marriage: Similar to fake engagement, but the couple pretends to be married.

First Love: A story of romance involving a character's initial experience with love.

Fish Out Of Water: The heroine comes from a small town to a big city and is unprepared for the sophistication of the hero. Similarly, a city girl finds herself working or stranded in a small town and falls for the charm of a local hero.

Fling/One Night Stand: Two people engage in a brief, casual relationship, which may evolve into something more meaningful.

Forbidden Love: Taboos lie at the heart of this romance theme. Race, religion, conflicting culture, or feuds are just some of the forces that could potentially keep the lovers apart.

Forced Proximity: Romance blooms between two people who are forced to spend time together in close quarters.

Frenemies: The hero and heroine enjoy a friendly rivalry – either socially or at work. 

Friends to Lovers: Close friends realize their feelings for each other have evolved into romantic love.

Friends with Benefits: Friends who engage in a casual sexual relationship, which may develop into love.

Girl Next Door: Falling for a new, cute, sexy, or mysterious neighbour is what sets the plot in motion in this storyline.

Grieving Lover: The heroine falls in love with a man who has lost a spouse or lover in the recent past.

Grumpy x Sunshine: A romance between a grumpy, cynical character and an optimistic, cheerful one.

Heiress: The heroine comes for a fabulously wealthy family with an impressive pedigree. She is often in line to inherit a large fortune or take control of a family estate of company.

Hidden Identity: The heroine hides her true identity or creates a false persona to hide her involvement in events that usually took place in the past.

High School Sweethearts: Romance between two individuals who fell in love during high school.

Holiday Romance: Two people fall in love during a holiday or vacation, often in a picturesque setting.

Home For The Holidays: The heroine returns to a hometown for a national, religious, or cultural holiday and finds romance in short space of time amid family chaos – often with someone she knew as a child or teenager.

Honorable Marriage Proposal: Common in historical romances. May lead to Marriage Before Romance.

Identical Twins: Identical twins trade places as part of a romantic ruse or to exact a revenge of some sort.

In Love with Best Man/Maid of Honor/Chief Bridesmaid/Groom/Bride: Romantic feelings develop between someone involved in a wedding and a member of the wedding party.

Injury: Romance develops between a caretaker and the one they're nursing back to health.

Innocent Cohabitation: Two people live together platonically, but romantic feelings develop over time.

Jilted Bride: This trope can be used as one of the things holding the Heroine back from falling in love with the Hero of the story. She was hurt in the past, he left her at the altar, and now she can’t trust men anymore.

Jock Falls for Nerdy Tutor: A popular athlete falls in love with an academically inclined peer.

Kidnapped: A character falls in love with their captor or rescuer.

Law Enforcement: This one also works well with romantic suspense. You can have the hero or the heroine as a police officer, FBI agent, etc. If you can come up with a reason why this would either repel or adhere the two characters, you get bonus points. (For example, maybe she’s a widow, her husband was killed in the line of duty, and she resolves never to date/marry a police officer again.)

Learning-to-Love: The heroine is determined to learn a new skill (dance or drive a car, etc.) and falls head over heels for the instructor. The heroine may also head back to school or college and falls in love on campus.

Love Interest Has Profession Protagonist Hates: Romance between two people with conflicting professions or beliefs.

Love Triangle: A romantic situation involving three people, often with one person torn between two potential partners.

Lovers in Denial: Two characters are clearly in love but refuse to acknowledge their feelings for each other.

Mail-Order Bride: This is almost always a historical romance, since this kind of thing did actually happen in history. Your adhesive is set in place with this trope, then all you have to do is come up with some reasons why they don’t think they can fall in love.

Makeover: The heroine is transformed from drab to fab to catch the hero’s attention. Alternatively, the hero has to transform his looks, body, and attitude to prove his worth to the heroine.

Marriage of Convenience: The couple have been thrown together into a marriage or partnership, bringing them together and immediately into a romantic environment.

Marriage Pact: Two people agree to marry each other if they're still single at a certain age, and eventually fall in love.

Matchmaker/Matchmaker Gone Wrong: Either a matchmaker successfully brings two people together, or their meddling leads to unexpected outcomes.

Medical Romance: While working in a medical field or profession, the heroine falls in love with a doctor hero. The hero can also be a paramedic, veterinarian, or specialist.

Meet-Cute: A classic of romantic comedies, ‘meet-cutes’ are scenes where our lovers first encounter each other — often in hilarious, adorable, or serendipitous ways.

Mistaken Declaration of Love Leads to Love: A misunderstanding leads one character to believe another has feelings for them, sparking a real romance.

Mistaken Identity: One character mistakes another for someone else, leading to comedic or dramatic situations.

Nanny: The heroine takes a position as a child minder for a single-parent hero, who is often divorced or a widower. 

New Girl In Town: The heroine finds herself in a new town, without many friends or adequate social skills to negotiate the new world she finds herself in. Often, she has moved to the town for a job. 

Not Like Other Girls: It's not uncommon for the hero to tell the heroine she's not like any other woman he's ever met, or to emphasize how 'different' she is.

Office: Romantic involvement between colleagues or coworkers, navigating the complexities of workplace dynamics, professional boundaries, and personal feelings.

On the Rocks – This trope is about a couple who are already together, but experiencing problems with their relationship. Maybe they are on the verge of divorce. This is kind of a tricky one to make work, since you don’t just want the book to be all about two people yelling at each other all the time. You’ll have to come up with an interesting way to create that attraction and zing while coming up with a good repelling issue, and something that sticks them together so they have to work things out.

One Bed: Two characters are forced to share a bed, leading to intimate moments and potential romantic tension.

Partners In Fighting Crime: The heroine is a cop or detective who falls in love with her handsome partner on the same beat or based at the same precinct or station.

Playboy: A charming, promiscuous individual finds love despite their reputation.

Prom Date: Finding the right boy or a girl to take to that important dance is a highly popular plot in many teen novels and movies.

Rags To Riches: A struggling or down-on-her-luck heroine comes into money and/or fame through a surprising windfall – like winning the lottery or a reality TV show. The hero helps her navigate this new world of wealth and popularity. ‘Rags to Royalty’ is a sub-trope.

Reality TV Show: Romance develops between contestants or involving the production team of a reality television program.

Redemption: A character seeks forgiveness and finds love in the process.

Return From The Dead: A man she believes is dead returns to upset the heroine’s life in a major way. The hero either faked his own death, or his demise was incorrectly reported through a chain of misunderstandings. 

Return to Hometown/Reunion: A character returns to their hometown or reunites with old friends, sparking romance with someone from their past.

Revenge: A character seeks revenge but ends up falling in love with their target.

Riches To Rags: A wealthy heroine or heiress loses her money and status overnight. With the hero’s help and love, she finds a way to re-establish her identity, and realise her own ambitions and self-worth.

Rivals to Lovers: Two people who start out as competitors or enemies end up falling in love.

Road Trip: Two people embark on a journey together, leading to unexpected romantic developments.

Rock Star: The hero is a rock, musical, or reality/social media idol and the heroine must see beyond the groupies and fast-paced lifestyle to find the talented and vulnerable individual behind fame’s mask.

Roommates: Romance develops between individuals who share living quarters.

Royalty Falls for Commoner: A member of royalty falls in love with someone from a lower social class.

Royalty: The main character rules or is in line for the throne of a fictional country, kingdom, or principality. 

Runaway Bride: A woman leaves her wedding, often meeting someone new and finding love in unexpected circumstances.

Second Chance Romance: A couple reunites after a breakup or significant time apart to give their relationship another chance.

Secret Baby: Keeping his child a secret and out of his life for several years, the heroine is now confronted with an angry and betrayed hero who wants to claim his parental rights.

Secret Billionaire: The hero hides his identity and/or his wealth from the heroine, usually to test if she loves him for his true nature or his enormous wealth. 

Secret Identity: One partner hides their true identity from the other, leading to complications in their relationship.

Secret Royalty: One partner is secretly a member of royalty, complicating their relationship with their love interest.

Secret/Lost Heir: One partner discovers they are the heir to a significant fortune or title, impacting their relationship.

Secrets & Lies: Someone close to the heroine tells a secret or insidious lie that causes her to betray or leave a lover without explanation. Or an antagonist feeds the hero misinformation that tears apart the budding relationship with the woman he loves.

Sibling's ex: Romance develops between one person and their sibling's former partner.

Single Parent: The story focuses on a single mom or dad who is facing life after a break-up, divorce, or bereavement. The widower father is a popular, sympathetic character. 

Sister's Best Friend: Similar to "Brother's Best Friend," this trope involves romantic tension between a character and their own best friend's sibling, navigating the complexities of friendship and newfound feelings.

Small Town: Romance set in a small, close-knit community where everyone knows each other's business.

Soul Mates: The two main characters feel they are destined to be together. However, other forces or characters in the story conspire to keep the lovers apart. From deadly hurricanes to horrible curses, the more obstacles in their path, the better.

Sports: Romantic involvement between athletes or involving sports-related settings.

Star-Crossed Lovers: The universe seems to be conspiring to keep the leads apart, though it's unusual for them to not end up together anyway.

Stranded: Romance blossoms between two people who are stranded together in a remote location.

Summer Romance: Frequently employed, sometimes as an entire plot or the trigger of one.

Teacher-Student: Romance between a teacher or mentor and their student.

The One That Got Away: A person reconnects with a former flame, realizing they never got over them.

Trauma: A main character who has been abused, sexually assaulted, or traumatised in the past, finds healing through a romantic relationship.

Two Person Love Triangle (Mistaken Identity): A love triangle where one person mistakenly believes they're involved with two different people.

Undercover Love: A character falls in love while undercover for a mission or investigation.

Unexpected Inheritance: Romance and complications arise from an unexpected inheritance.

Unexpected Parenthood: After a sibling dies or becomes ill, the heroine is now the sole guardian of one or more children.

Unexpected Pregnancy: A couple faces the challenges and joys of an unplanned pregnancy, often leading to deepening their relationship.

Vegas/Drunk Marriage: Two people get married impulsively while under the influence, leading to unexpected consequences.

Wedding Planners: Romance blossoms between a wedding planner and a client or colleague.

Weddings: Invited to a family or friend’s wedding, the heroine will either a) run into an ex-lover or enemy from her past b) meet a new love interest or c) be thrown together with another character from the wedding party, like the best man.

Widow/Widower: Romance blossoms between someone who has lost their spouse and a new love interest.

Working with the Ex: Two former partners find themselves working together again, reigniting old feelings.

Workplace: Romance develops between colleagues or employer-employee relationships.

Happily Ever After/HEA: The "Happily Ever After" (HEA) trope promises a satisfying conclusion where the main characters overcome obstacles and find lasting happiness together.

Want to read more about romance tropes?

If you're prepared to vanish into a labyrinth of romance tropes, only to resurface hours later, wide-eyed and entranced, then look no further than this captivating list from  TV Tropes.

Romance Author Evie Alexandar has a blog on tropes catergorised by main tropes, read about them here.

Indie romance author Victorine Lieske has meticulously crafted an extensive list of tropes, neatly organized in alphabetical order, available for exploration here. 

Reedsy stands out as a fantastic resource for writers, offering a plethora of articles to delve into. Here's one of their pieces specifically focusing on romance tropes.

Feel free to share! What are your favorite romance tropes? Did I overlook any? And can you identify others within my books? Share your insights and feedback via email or social media—I'd love to hear from you!