Love is in the Book // favorite tropes & book recs!

hi everyone! welcome to the valentine’s edition of top ten tuesday, where i’ll be talking all about my favorite tropes! pretty sure that my favorite tropes are also everyone’s favorite, so if you don’t have plan to celebrate valentine, you can always grab these books and celebrate with yourself. without further ado, here they are :

1. enemies-to-lovers/hate-to-love

who doesn’t love this trope? i’m 99% sure everyone and their grandmas love this trope. all those frustration and pent-up feelings that leads to attraction are very satisfying to read. enemies-to-lovers might have varying degree (from actual enemies to ‘enemies’ because of simple misunderstanding), but generally, i love them all as long as they’re not glorifying abusive behaviors. anyway, here’s some books with enemies-to-lovers trope that i love :

      

   

• the folk of the air series by holly black
• magnolia by kristi cook (review)
• starry eyes by jenn bennett (this one’s actually childhood-bestfriend-to-enemies-to-lovers!)
• p.s. i like you by kasie west (review)
• the only thing worse than me is you by lily anderson
• to kill a kingdom by alexandra christo
• the unhoneymooners by christina lauren

2. second-chance romance

after enemies-to-lovers, any book with second chance romance is my go-to whenever i’m in reading slump. to be fair, i don’t think i’d give second-chances in real life (or maybe i haven’t found someone worth giving second-chances), but in books, the angst and the pining and the ‘should i let you go or not’ wondering always got me to cry. and fyi, i always cry whenever i read books with this trope! some books with this trope that you definitely should check out :

      

• the boy is back by meg cabot
• second chance summer by morgan matson (review)
• the last best kiss by claire lazebnik
• the stars we steal by alexa donne
• the good luck charm by helena hunting
• someday maybe by ophelia london

3. forbidden romance

all the suspense whether they found a way to be together or not is part of the reason why forbidden romance is one of my favorite trope. of course, ‘forbidden’ here means they can’t be together because of things like curse, prophecy, or simply because their family hate each other, and not because of taboo things.

      

• the dark artifices series by cassandra clare (review)
• the winner’s curse series by marie rutkoski (review)
• the dark days club series by alison goodman (review)

4. fake dating

while fake-dating is sometimes a miss for me (when it feels forced and there’s no smooth transition from fake to real), i still love this trope and will pick up any book featuring them. bonus point if they’re doing fake-dating to make someone else jealous, and then end up catching feelings for each other. i always love the moment when they realize that they want each other!

      

• fake it till you break it by jenn p. nguyen (review)
• the fine art of pretending by rachel harris
• the fill-in boyfriend by kasie west (review)
• no love allowed by kate evangelista (review)

5. childhood-friends-to-romance

   

this might be my least favorite trope out of 5, since personally i’d rather stay as friends with my childhood friends (not that i have many), but if done well, this trope still give me all the feels. dating someone who knows you inside out is definitely has its perks. anyway, here’s some books with childhood-friends turn lovers that i adore :

• on the fence by kasie west
• words in deep blue by cath crowley (review)
• love, life, and the list by kasie west (review)

what’s your favorite tropes? who’s your OTP? have you read any of the books above? if you have some recs, feel free to drop it in the comment ❤