Trope it Up with Lily Everett & Giveaway!

Posted March 8th, 2014 by in Blog, Features, Trope it Up / 43 comments

Tiup

lily everett

Lily Everett grew up in a small town in Virginia reading Misty of Chincoteague and Black Beauty, taking riding lessons, and longing for a horse of her own. Sadly, her parents gave her a college education instead—but she never forgot what the world looked like from the back of a horse. She currently lives in Austin, Texas, where she writes full-time.

Romance tropes—love them or hate them, but writers keep writing them and readers keep reading them because these are story ideas that strike a chord in a lot ofromance fans. For my latest release, Shoreline Drive,  I wanted to write a modern marriage of convenience story—a trope more often found in historical romance—but with a contemporary romance twist.

I had so much fun with it, I started thinking…what are the most popular romance tropes out there right now? Here’s the list I came up with…

Tropes

  • Marriage of Convenience
  • Reunited Lovers
  • Fake Fiancé/Fake Marriage
  • Secret Baby
  • Amnesia
  • Mistaken Identity
  • Friends to Lovers
  • Childhood Sweethearts
  • Dating the Boss
  • Guardian/Ward
  • May/December
  • Star-Crossed Lovers
  • Revenge Plot
  • Love Triangle
  • Beauty & the Beast
  • Cinderella
  • Reformed Rake
  • Marriage in Trouble
  • Brother’s Best Friend/Best Friend’s Sister
  • Virgin hero/heroine
  • Plain Jane
  • Ugly Duckling
  • Unrequited Love
  • Spinster/Wallflower
  • Accidental Pregnancy
  • Rescue
  • Fated Mate
  • Friends with Benefits
  • Enemies to Lovers

I know this can’t possibly be the first list of tropes on the internet, and I’m sure it’s not complete. That’s where you come in!

Come on, y’all, let’s trope it up!

Giveaway

SDSComment back with your favorite trope and any that we might have missed, and I’ll randomly choose one commenter to receive a signed copy of Shoreline Drive along with a custom Sanctuary Island beach tote bag.

Please note: This contest will close on Friday March 14, 2014 at 8:59 PM (PT) and the winners will be notified via email and on this Post. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to my e-mail before a new winner is selected. All entrants must adhere to HJ’s official giveaway policy.

 

 

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43 Responses to “Trope it Up with Lily Everett & Giveaway!”

  1. Rhonda

    Can’t think of any that you missed because protector/victim could fall under rescue, I suppose. I like the wallflower/spinster, ugly duckling, Cinderella, reformed rake, and marriage of convenience tropes. I actually like them all…

  2. bettysunflower

    I love the •Spinster/Wallflower story lines, but even more I love the injured hero.

  5. Karen j

    Friends to lovers is my absolute favorite! I love it when their feelings slowly begin to change from what they’ve always been to something more. And of course, they always try to fight it which is fun! lol

  6. Janice Hougland

    I like the fake marriage trope because it’s fun seeing how the fake love turns into true love. I also like the friends to lovers trope so I can see the dawning in their eyes that they have something more than friendship. And I like the wallflower trope which is similar to the ugly duckling turned swan. The reformed rake is a good trope too ’cause it’s sorta like the revenge or rescue tropes. Another recent favorite of mine is the romantic suspense trope (or is that a genre now?) where the hero and heroine fall in love while solving a crime or mystery–and sometimes there’s adventuresome action involved…excitement! Thanks for the unusual post. Made me think. And I like your stories, Lily. 🙂

  7. conniefischer

    Wow, Lily, I think you got them all listed here. I will say that my favorites are a marriage of convenience and spinster/wallflower.

    I’m from the Yorktown area of Virginia and the picture you posted reminds me of the Chincoteague area of Virginina/Maryland. With all of the water areas around Virginia, it’s certainly a very appealing area in which to live.

    Thanks for your great giveaway. Would so love to be your winner.

  8. Debra A

    At the moment I a leaning toward the secret baby stories. I can go toward others at different times. It just depends on what feeds my reading needs at the time.

  9. Lori Meehan

    Secret baby is my all time favorite. I’m a sucker for it every time.

  10. cahmmerritt

    I love the bad Boy/good girl – which would be the reformed rake? Although for me the best part of it is when she realizes you can be “good” and still enjoy a wild side too…

  11. cheryl c.

    I like a lot of different tropes. Some of my favorites are fairy tale themes: Beauty and the Beast, Ugly Duckling, Cinderella, etc.

  12. Margaret

    Best Friend’s brother/sister and second chance are two of my favorite tropes.

    That was quite a comprehensive list – not sure it isn’t already captured, but what about the big age difference trope?

  13. Diane Sallans

    I’ve always liked Arranged Marriage which is often a variation of Marriage of Convenience – then they fall in love of course!

  14. Eva

    Maybe I missed it but I didn’t see the Celebrity/Rock Star/Famous Person//Non-Famous Person trope — one of my favorites!

    I personally love romantic thrillers and so the rescue trope is awesome!

  17. Krysten M

    I love anything that mimics fairy tales, friends/lovers, and the wallflowers!! 🙂 Well I love those the most, I love them all in general 😀

  19. denise

    rivals to lovers–I guess it’s more of a subgenre of enemies to lovers….lawyer v. lawyer, or business v. business, ranch v. ranch, or even rival families

  20. Bonnie K.

    Hmmm–what about guilt love–one causes the downfall of someone and feels bad about it and slowly falls in love with that person or one causes the accident that caused bodily harm and feels obligated to take care of that person?

  23. Leanna

    I love them all! I would say marriage of convenience and second chance love or boss/secretary syories are my favorite. I think that you forgot the current trendy trope of billionaire bosses.

  24. Tammy Y

    Friends to lovers is my favorite, I like brother’s best friend too

  29. Anita H.

    Can’t think of any more to add but some of my favorites are Friends to Lovers, Beauty and the Beast and Ugly Duckling! Those always make the best reads for me!

  30. Ada

    A lot of my favorites are already on the list. I’d have to say Brother’s Best Friend/Best Friend’s Sister have always been on the top of my list though. There’s just something fun about those. I also love Cinderella, Plain Jane, Ugly Ducklings and Spinster/Wallflowers – there’s something about an underdog!

  32. Christine Kochanowski

    Secret Baby, Beauty and the Beast and Siblings best friend are my top three favorites. They can be sweet, sexy, anything. But they are always fun.

  34. veRONIca

    I love secret baby stories. I also really like enemies to friends because there always seems to be so much tension that translates to passion

  35. chey

    Rescue trope. There are so many circumstances people need rescue from.

  36. mrsmac19

    Enemies to lovers & brother’s best friend, etc. are my favorites!! Thanks for the giveaway 🙂

  38. Amy Rickman

    I really like It Happened In Vegas and numerous ones already on your list.

  41. Christine L.

    Your list is pretty exhaustive! My favorite trope would have to be friends to lovers. That one gets me every time!

  43. Patoct

    So many to like – bad boy/good girl, bad boy back in town, marriage of conv, wounded hero comes back to town.