I agree with the “not everyone has to end with married and kids” thing. Marriage and kids is fine, but that’s not what “happily ever after” looks like to everyone. I would love more romance books where the couple are just together and they don’t need to “prove” their happiness with weddings and kids.
You hit the nail on the head with a lot of romance tropes I hate. One thing that I hate, that isn't exactly a trope, is when characters completely lose their personalities in sex scenes. Like yeah, of course it makes sense for them to behave a little bit differently in bed than compared with the other scenes. But sometimes it seems like characters just have complete brain transplants for the duration and their previous banter or chemistry shifts to some unrecognizable corny porn dialogue.
Eww ewww NO! UGH gross. The only time I ever refer to my Honey as "Father" or "Daddy" is when I'm talking directly to one of our cats. Like, "I'm about to get up so go cuddle with your Daddy." See? Not gross.
Heather-Lin Brannon Exactly. We are mommy and daddy to our cat and that’s it! I can’t. I just can’t. I’ve legit gagged when it was used in a book. That’s what I used to call my actual dad, so hell no lol
I really hate when there is a love-triangle and the author totally ruins a nice lovely character just to justify their final OTP (e.g. suddenly turning them abusive, cheating etc). Alternatively, when they get killed off so the OTP can thrive in peace or randomly paired up with some secondary character in the last 2 pages of the trilogy. 🙄
So much this! Ok, it didn't work out, they stayed friends or the one who didn't get the girl can't take staying close and went on the journey to find himself or something. It's like ALL the characters have to either be in the relationship or die in the end!
@@worldsofsugar I didn't finish the Shatter Me series because of that!!!! A world of thorn and ruins did the same thing with Tamlin. Made him controlling so she could be with Rhys. DNF'd that as well. My most HATED trope😒
Haha omg I agree with all of these, especially the accidental pregnancy one! One of my most hated romance tropes is miscommunication. Sometimes it can be well done but most of the time it's just used to stall and I've read books where that's the only source of the conflict and it's so annoying.
WHEN THE DUDE DOESN'T STICK UP FOR HIS PARTNER!!! I hate it in m/f relationships when they do the trope of the woman being mistreated by his family/friends (you know snide comments, favoring others) and he doesn't know or won't do anything about it. Sorry, but if it were me I wouldn't be with anyone who isn't going to stick up for me in those situations.
i read a book recently where the lovers ended up founding their own company together (it was a worlplace rivalry romance ofc), that was a cute end goal.
Ugh. I hate the trope of other women always being b#tches except for the main heroine's best friend. Especially if the love interest cheats on a "b#tch" with the main character, and the author implies that cheating in this situation is acceptable because it is true love / the main character was worth it because she was virtuous smart and sweet. I also hate some of those epilogues, especially when the two characters get together at the very end of the movie and like 1,5 years later they already have a half-a-year old baby... I mean, people who cannot get together for 300 pages (usually more than 2-3 months) I would not trust with a baby being born so quickly after they get together, which is a decision that should be taken after a lot of deliberation, and in a really stable relationship... sometimes when a dream wedding is mentioned, and you count after it, you realize the main character had to be very pregnant at the wedding... which in itself is fine but then there should be a mention of it.
Thea oh yes the high school teacher trope is a no for me too because of the power dynamics there. I’m ok with college ones though not that I’ve read any.
@@ThoughtsOnTomes tbh i don't like college ones either, there's still a lot of power dynamics too and an 18 or 19 yo is not that mature. even a 21yo. MAAAAAYBE grad school if i am sure this is a one off and not a pattern.
@@thea4676 I'm exactly the same, I can't stand teacher/student relationships of any kind, even in college. Even if it's just an AU fanfic, and the characters don't actually have that sort of relationship in the canon.....I just can't deal with it ever, it squicks me out too bad. Severe power imbalances in relationships in general is just something that I can't get on board with, but this permutation is the worst of the worst for me.
I get a little eeked out by "baby girl." It just seems one step away from "call me daddy." I know that's a kink, whatever people want to do but I personally get a little creeped out by it.
I can't not wonder how many of these tropes are just overblown (or embodiment of) heteronormative (cisnormative, sexist, allonormative etc) ideals. And then whether we see them as something 'romantic' stems from (some personal preferences, of course, too, but also) how much we buy into those ideals as something objectively 'good'.
I despise romances where the main character has an overachieving best friend who will do literally anything for them. They'll be in the middle of open heart surgery and the protagonist is like "I need earrings" so the best friend stops the surgery to get the earrings and I'm just like? Girl you will die of blood loss get back on that table
Yay bring on the salt! How about the normalization of anger? I recently read a romance book where at one point, the Ex boyfriend of the female lead showed up. And the first thought that the Male lead was " kill him" on repeat. Also, she gets almost assulted by a dude, so the romantic leads friends (who are all in like the marines/spec opps..idk its not really explained well) interven and escort him out. Later they tell the lead that they bashed him so bad, that they broke his fingers. And the lead is upset...because he wasn't there to do it himself. Um Wtf? Also, can the miss communication troupe just die in a hole?
I sincerely hate: 1. insta romances 2. love triangles 3. accidental pregnacies 4.fuck buddies to lovers 5. abusive dudes presented as love interest Eew! There are tons of more but these are my biggest pet peeves.
OMG you read my mind!!! I hate those things as well... when I find those in the books I... ugh!!! PS: Amazing videos, I am so happy that I found your channel :)
Imagine if there was a romance book with an epilogue that was like "oh yeah five years later we broke up nvm lol". It'd never happen and I'm not saying I'd like it but it would be something different 😂 I hate "little girl"/"baby doll" nicknames too. I also don't like when the female character says her name and the guy calls her the name she doesn't like. For example Levi calling Cath "Cather" in Fangirl or Augustus calling Hazel "Hazel Grace" in TFIOS. Call her by her correct name! Sometimes this can be ok if a love interest uses a name or nickname that other people don't use (like Juliet calling Sawyer "James" in Lost) but if a character says that they don't like being called a certain name and the love interest ignores that, it kind of irks me.
I just found your channel recently, and I'm in love! You're hilarious and you're one of the few booktubers who share my genre tastes: fantasy and romance both together and exclusively lol. You're definitely speaking my language here with all these horrible tropes 😂
I definitely agree with most of these, some bother me no matter what while some I think can be done well/in moderation. I really hate miscommunication in romance books because while it's a thing that can and does happen in real life, sometimes it just goes way too far. Another thing I hate that usually ties into that is public declarations of love (or even proposals) following the fallout of the miscommunication, I would absolutely despise anyone putting me on the spot like that in general, but I think it's especially off-putting when the relationship is broken to whatever degree. Also, wanting to climb Jason Mamoa like a tree is a whole mood. Hope you have a lovely day!
Next time, could you say what you really mean, Sam 😂 ? Oh, I do so 💖 your content! Cheered the whole way thru this video, these kinda tropes stop me reading romance....but I might try some of your Romantic Recs. Great fun. Hope the whole Back to the Midwest plan brings you joy and growth this year x
I hate it when a guy would tell a girl how she's his and his only. Like, she can't ever talk to a guy because he'll get jealous. Or even claim a body part of a woman (I've seen this a lot in wattpad. Don't know why they think its cute when guys would do this) Basically their conversation would be like this: *girl and guy having sex* *guy touches the girl's breast* Guy: "This is mine. No one can ever have this" Girl: "WhAt aBoUt ThE bAbY?" FUCKING RIDICULOUS
I loved this video!! ❤️ I definitely agreed with all your hated tropes (especially the one about the women nicknames!) my most hated romance trope (or one that keeps coming up in fantasy) is when a teenager and a super hot century old supernatural creature (that looks like they’re twenty-one) fall in love. For some reason that just creeps me out! (It’s not an end all be all for me for sure and I’ve read so many books that I’ve loved with that trope, but every time it happens I just feel it in my guts!) :)
Yoooo, bringing out the salt on Saint Valentine! Fake Dating / Fake relationship is the trope that I hate around this genre. They are like "Hey, let's fake dating and pretend to be together." at first, but then stuff happens and then "Oh no! Now we have feelings for each other. What we do?" And then drama, happens and roll my eyes.
Thanks for the video. I think when it comes to romance readers are very, very specific about their likes and dislikes. I think reading a romance book is almost like dating a person. What works for one person might be a total turnoff for another. I am glad that romance books come in all sorts of flavors, but I think as romance readers are so diverse we will get more and more romance offering things that will appeal to different audiences. It can be hard to weed through the books to find what works, but every once in a blue moon something sparks.
we are like literally the same person we both love and hate the same tropes lmao. The last one though? The cutesy nicknames??? Ugh as soon as I see it in a book being a thing I dnf it. I just can’t deal
I’ve only discovered your channel recently (and totally love your content), so this comment comes a bit late. I totally agree with you on the “large man” trope, especially if the focus is on a certain large part of the male anatomy that always makes me cringe 😂. And hell yes to Henry Cavill!
I hate the ending with the kids and the house. It's just lazy. There are so many people out there that would never want this life and it's sad that this is what romance books resort to. Also, I feel like it gives off the impression that your life is over when you're married and have kids. Even if I did want that life, which I don't, that wouldn't mean that I'm done with experiences, you know?
Hey Sam I think a graphic novel you would really enjoy (if you haven't read it already) is Heartstopper by Alice Oseman. It's about two high school boys falling in love -- with a little bit of rugby thrown in! -- and has a lot of really healthy messages about mental health and masculinity, it's absolutely adorable!
I am not a fan of sporty romances either, but you should check out The Right Swipe. It has some football in it, but the man in the romance actually is a caring, and shows his emotions and talks about it and has healthy relationships all around. It's really good!
Sam, please please don't hate me since I love your channel so much and your insight (You're the reason why I started the Witchlands series) but....i actually love the ending with them happily married and kids. Maybe because of fairytales. Maybe just because I see so many of my ships suffer and want that for them. Because I've seen so many great couples have that. However I do agree. Not every couple has to have kids. Not every couple needs to be married. And sometimes, depending on the story and couple, I don't really love it. But overall I just....i love it. I eat it up
Accidental pregnancy! UGH. It almost always knocks a star off for me. Even if I love the characters and love the family they make together. We don't need accidental pregnancies to add contrived drama OR to bring the characters together closer. We. Can. Do. Better! Also, I read that Henry Cavill's hot hot muscles kept wearing through his leather Witcher gear so they kept having to replace it. And, that, well, how do you beat THAT particular example of the big broad man trope?
Re: sports romance... I hear you. You might like The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai. I just read that one and the hero is an ex-football player who quit b/c of how concussions were not being treated. Also, heroine is the CEO of a dating app and never described as "small" compared to him (at least not that I recall).
I love your videos so much! Also. Girl. YOURE SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL! I absolutely love your lipstick 😍 hoping you find some wonderful romances to read in 2020 💕💕
If some guy in a relationship calls me "baby girl" i'm immediately like "wtf did you just call me?!" It's usually on a first date/meeting when they're trying to be 'sweet' (aka get in the pants) and i just don't understand why anyone thinks that is sweet. it kinda skeeves me out, ok a little more than kinda, and it's a deal breaker for me, in real life and fiction.
I recently read Enemies by Tijan and really liked it. It's a enemies to lovers, we used to be friends in the past but now cant stand each other, football romance. I normally cant stand sports romance books but I think you might like that one
I haven't found a ton of sports romances I like, but I'd suggest trying out L.S. Cosway's Rugby series. Skip the 1st book (too much possessiveness for me), but I really liked The Player and the Pixie and have positive memories of the other two books.
I lol-ed and seconded the traumatic pregnancy perspective. It's always traumatic when it's unplanned. It's the death of your independence. Now, I don't read romance because it's not my jam. I truly tried with the Hades and Persephone retelling you haphazardly recommended with a glaring caveat that the sex scenes were a little much. I love ancient Greek myth retellings. I don't think I understood what you meant until halfway through the first book. I flipped through the rest. It was a quantitative statement. The frequency of the coupling made it trite and dull. And my tastes are more varied than heteronormative pairings. So it just confirmed what I knew all along. The most romancy I get is Eli and Oskar from Let the Right One In, because it's so creepy and flawed and doesn't present itself as a healthy life choice. I didn't expect to be as creeped out as I was with Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester. Jeez Louise. Back to the subject, if you take away all the tropes you mentioned from romance wouldn't you be left with a literary work? I thought romance is a caricature of a relationship dialed to a thousand presented to women who want nothing more than escapism? You gravitate to the genre for the tropes. You know what to expect and when you have a novel deviate from it it will disinterest the intended audience. I don't know if I'm making sense. All I know is that I don't read YA or children's books like Harry Potter, or Romance because I know what tropes formulate what genre and I avoid them altogether to spare myself annoyance. Horror works for me, literary works for me, Historical, magical realism...books with an abundance of longing. And when I've made my way through that I go to AO3 and read fanfiction for the work. I end up never wasting time and energy that way.
I agree to everything you said! I think, one thing that stopped me from reading contemporary romance is that every character atleast in the books that I've read are portrayed as 'perfect'. I just don't find them relatable.
I haven't bumped into all of these and as for the small woman with the large man, I can only recall one book I recently read where it came up, but the dude was actually really tall, like 6'7" tall and she wasn't a tiny woman, just tiny by comparison. It also didn't feel like it was consistently being talked about, so that's probably why it didn't bug me. I wasn't consistently reminded about their size difference. And again, he was taller and bigger than everybody except his twin brother pretty much.
I read "Get a Life, Chloe Brown" like a week ago and this reminded me of The Break Up-Make-up that always happens like 2/3 of the way through most romance novels. They can be done well but this one just felt off to me. It felt like it came really late and was SO unnecessary. I especially hated that the main character was then showered with gifts in order to 'prove' how much she was loved and how much he'd screwed up. I don't know exactly what it was but the whole event was just unappealing to me and completely disrupted what felt like a very naturally built up relationship. Seriously, some relationships have stumbling blocks but this one just felt so overblown. Maybe I would have understood it more if we'd gotten a better idea of how Red's ex had changed him mentally and emotionally but the information we did get on her seemed so surface level. The one scene that was meant to express his emotions was done using art which I think the author is unfamiliar with so it came off a bit weird. ehh, or maybe i'm just a heartless she-demon who can't interpret scenes correctly.
I know In Love And Words talked a little bit about nicknames with one book she was reading. The male protag called her "goddess" and I thought that was pretty cool (and also a little cringey haha). She has great romance recommendations if you're ever looking for any!
Accidental pregnancy is for sure one of my most hated tropes. I also hate reading books where the parents are abusive/harmful. I get it’s unfortunately not a rare thing irl but I can’t read books with stuff like that. The perks of reading adult/NA romances is that the MCs are adults who can shut off their relatives and not depend on them. (Again I get that in various cases it’s not possible but I don’t want to see those kind of things in a romance book)
I looooove sports romances, but only hockey ones, maybe its the Canadian in me lol. If you want to try that, my favourite is Toni Aleo and her Assassins series
This video was LIFE. I also hate the trope where the main character has a mental health issue and then I will magically be fixed with love, like Why???
"Tall and small" can be fun, but when every f-ing couple is "tall and small", yuk. I'd like to read a book where she is like Gwendoline Christie and he's like Daniel Radcliffe. "Accidental pregnancy" is fine with me, but when the character becomes something different she was before she got pregnant... free spirited career girl before, pregnant and BAM SAHM. Or that the pregnancy is the only reason why they are together. I kind of liked The Awakening HEA :-D She's totally happy without the guy. "Slutty bitches" - oh, yeah. Hate that. Especially when they describe the other woman as really beautiful, hot, assertive, and really, really, really insecure, possessive, jealous. And that especially when it turns out that the "heroine" IS after her man, and he leaves her for the heroine. I don't think there's anything romantic with people who get flirty with people in relationship OR people in relationship who get flirty with other people. Another trope I hate: adults don't have exes. And another trope I want to mention - or myth actually - "first time hurts". I feel really bad for all the girls whose first time hurt, because they must have been really tense, worried, probably scared because they were expecting it to hurt, or he did something wrong. Because if sex hurts - first time, 20th time, 2000th time, there's something wrong somewhere. Usually the woman isn't aroused enough, because "foreplay, what's that?". And when it's a female writer who describes the first time like that... makes me wonder. How can a woman not know this? Oh, yeah... www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/nearly-half-of-british-women-dont-know-where-the-vagina-is-and-it-gets-much-worse/
You're so right about expectations that a woman's first time, the "deflowering" (insert eye roll), will be painful and usually bloody. What a shameful thing to perpetuate. In my mind it allies alongside the old toxic idea that a woman's place in a relationship is to endure uncomfortable relations with her husband. Gross.
I'm with ya about the evil ex and the romanticizing accidental pregnancies, especially the latter. (While I never experienced an accidental pregnancy myself, I know another person who has. And, yeah. Not romantic at all. It's terrifying and often leads to the couple breaking up.)
Speaking about sport romances! I have the feeling that you have talked about Foxhole court but I'm not sure and can't find anything? Anyway it's great if you read it in certain state of mind (not getting too picky about realism hehe).
@@ThoughtsOnTomes I hope you will give it a try! Despite the sport genre it's not actually about sport as much as it is about found family feels. Also the main character is so deliciously Slytherin, I love him so much.
I'm so tired with straight troppy romances I just gave up on them all together. For now I'm just diving into Chinese bl books with whole new set of tropes and problematic themes but as those are not something I'm used to (well ok some tropes are bit annoying ) I find them relaxing. I think it's just I got spoiled by Yoon Ha Lee and his amazing Ninefox Gambit series with all those amazing deep relationships and now everything seems shallow and boring. I do admit I'm not big fan of the romance focused stories - for a time (as a teenager) I quite enjoyed those but now - I want more from the story. But then most sf/fantasy stories lack good emotional developement and any romantic elements seem to be quite shallow in those. Can't i have both? Like great sf/fantasy saga with amazing angsty slow burn romance? Preferably non het one? Dream on I guess...
I literally agree with every single point in this video!!!! I'll starting to realize that I think I just don't even care for romance novels at this point lmao, but for whatever reason I keep on trying!
I agree with so many of your statement! I think the only sports romances I liked was the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy and that was with Ice Hockey.
i hate the accidental pregnancy. i spoke about this recently in romantic series that follow the same couple its like the PEAK book 2 slump where the author throws in the IMMEDIATE accidental pregnancy to create book 2 drama...also YES happily long term partnership rep please i need this
Have you read The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary? I think you would really enjoy it. The guy is not hyper-masculine (and he's an average-sized dude). The girl is a little taller (5'9 I think). She's going through a breakup at the beginning of the book, and that storyline follows throughout the book because she's realising how toxic it was. Still, while the main-guy-love-interest is super supportive, he's not like, 'her knight in shining armour'. Most of her healing happens through therapy which I ADORED. The main guy works in a hospital as a nurse (I'm not sure if that's good or bad for you). Also, there are no explicit sex scenes. I dunno, I thought it was a breath of fresh air in the romance department. Also, I just now finished it when I watched this video and was like 'Ooo The Flatshare didn't do that...well, The Flatshare got that right!...etc.' as I was watching this video.
you should read The Foxhole Court. idk if you take recommendations here I know a lot of people dont but if you wanna try a sports romance, the focus of the story is a combination of very solid mafia plot, sports stuff about a sport that doesn't actually exist, so it's not annoying to follow, and the relationship (not necessarily the romantic part of the relationship) between the main character and the love interest (and the other characters are awesome too). Also, I repeat: mafia plot. It's pretty awesome
It doesn’t help that I mostly wildly despise contemporary romances, but my most hated trope are childhood friends to lover and the popular/nerd or bully/victim nonsense. Childhood friends to lover just feel icky to me like can people just be friends for goodness sake. Popularity just doesn’t make any sense to anyone out of high school so that’s it for that trope and anyways, ain’t no way I wanna read about goddamn high school drama, my favourite colour isn’t beige it’s alright. As for the bully victim thing,as someone who’s been bullied by the same people for a long time, my main fantasy about them is to punch them square in the face so I don’t see why anyone would want to date their bullies 🥸
I usually don't like sports romance for the same reasons as you, mainly because I hate sports and they are usually sports that we don't practice in my country so i couldn't care less. The only one that I loved so much that I even reread it was From Lukov with love by Mariana Zapata, they are both ice skaters and I adored it sooooo much. It's long, it's slow burn because Mariana Zapata buttttt it's really good.
So with you on the “bro dude” hypermasculine BS in books. Also Hate: - Accidental Pregnancy (prolly my most triggering) - too much focus on lust instead of true feelings. If I’m reading erotica, that’s fine, but so many “happy” romance is all lust. - Ridiculous jealously. Get over yourself. - the SO’s mocking of their love interest’s past, sexuality, etc. screams insecurity to me.
Miscommunication. Is. The. Worst. Especially when you are in the heads of both leads and they are going on and on about how the other doesn't have feelings for them. I hate it.
I hate the unnecessary break up, usually following some miscommunication or lack of communicating or misunderstanding...whatever! Its usually right before the end of the book and it's super dramatic , everyone's world is ending, the sun no longer shines...but then! Come to jesus moment! Cant be without eachother. Boom. Engaged. The end.cue epilogue. Ugh. Just let them stay together!
Girl, I couldn't say it any better than you. Great video, you got it 💯 (there're some great hockey romances, apart from that - hell yeah damn straight)
I am so with you in the accidental pregnancy thing and the epilogues of them married with all these children. Another thing I hate is when it like ends with a proposal/marriage when they’ve only known each other for a couple of months...the book could be going perfect and then that happens and it makes me cringe. It’s like I just want to say, you know it’s completely possible to have a HEA without them being married. I don’t mind so much when the epilogue is a proposal like a year or so into the relationship because it’s like yes, that’s reasonable.
i agree with most of these. i also don't give a shit about most sports, but the bromance book club i think had enough baseball talk that i remembered he was supposed to be a big deal, but not too much that i felt like i had to actually care about the sport itself. also there isn't a lot of sex right out the gate, it's a build, which i prefer.
Oww we have the same taste in sports!! Rugby & baseball! If you ever come to Toronto, let me know and if there is a Toronto Wolfpack (our European rugby league team) game happening, I am dragging you to it!
I hate the "slutty girls" thing. I hate that mindset. They do that a lot in contemporary and it's become such a toxic thing. That's why I could never like the ya female mc's. Especially since after 2 chapters, you'll read about them going to a party with a top on as a dress and is so "hot" and "beautiful". So if you do it, it's fine, but any other girl does it, it's not? I'm nOt LiKe oTHeR giRLs
I would also climb Jason Mamoa like a tree! LOL But I agree I don't need to keep hearing how LARGE a man is. I also Hate an accidental pregnancy.. I think b/c my daughter was "accidental" It isn't romantic, it was difficult... I was with her father ( still am) and it was still SUPER hard so to me it isn't something I want to read as a romantic trope
You should try Undercover Bromance. It pokes fun at a lot of tropes in my opinion. I do think a lot of the tropes you mentioned are overdone. I just happen to have experienced (either personally or through friends) most of them. Women can be really toxic to other women, and so can men to other men, especially if they get into a new relationship before they’re truly done with the old one. Then all the insecurities and baggage get dragged out.
“I would like some variety” HOW DARE YOU. No but really can we just have an awesome partnership? We can even just add a dog to the happily ever after. Let’s just skip the kids every once in a while.
One thing that’s been annoying me in romance books lately is dual perspectives where the sex scenes are from the male perspective. One that really stuck out to me was when the girl was having sex for the very first time but it was from the guy’s perspective. Like he’d had a ton of sex this moment wasn’t as important to him as it was to her but we completely lost her voice. I dunno I keep noticing it in romances and I feel like a lot of the emotion gets lost if that makes any sense.
I’m honestly so glad my boyfriend isn’t into pet names. My ex husband called me “babe” so much that I can’t remember the last time he used my actual name. Occasionally, if I’ve had a really bad day or I’m sick, he’ll call me doll. Because he knows I think it’s cute, but it’s also super rare.
Sports romances are my favorites! (Though, admittedly, most of the sports romances I read are MM romances.) It's interesting because it didn't occur to me that people would read sports romances if they aren't actually interested in sports. Like, I read hockey romances a lot because I LOVE hockey. But I recently read a hockey romance between a player and someone who hates hockey. And there's almost a lot of hockey bashing in it, which was so weird to me because I thought to myself, "Presumably everyone who reads hockey romance likes hockey??" But apparently not!
One thing that I HATE with accidental pregnancies in romance genre, is that they always make the woman decide that she wants to keep the baby and look happy with this mishap, even if the woman wasn't the baby-loving type before. A good example would be in the big bang theory. Or how all epilogues end with marriage and children. I hate it so much. In the hunger games it was clear that Katniss never wanted children, but the author still went ahead and added children. I've never seen a story where the woman decides she doesn't want to have the baby.
Based on this list of tropes my diagnosis is that you are not a fan of toxic masculinity and misogyny lol. This is one of the big reasons why I've always been apprehensive of the romance genre as a whole. I guess I have this expectation that gender roles maybe tend to be a bit more... rigid in a lot of romance books than they are in a lot of, say, fantasy or science fiction (at least the kind that I tend to read, don't get me wrong, I know there is some DEEPLY misogynistic fantasy out there). I haven't really ventured into the romance genre though so I could be very wrong. I didn't even know sports romance was a thing, but I can already see how it would be very prone to having a lot of these misogynistic/sexist tropes. I'd be interested to see if there are many sports romances where the woman is the sportsy one, or where the sport is, like, figure skating or something.
“I would climb Jason Mamoa like a tree” Girl SAME
Get in line!
I mean, who wouldn't at this point XD
I can see Jason M. as the Earl in a book called " A Heart's Journey" by Beth Howard, found on Amazon
Hmm I'm not into guys that make rape jokes.
Get in line! 😉
I agree with the “not everyone has to end with married and kids” thing. Marriage and kids is fine, but that’s not what “happily ever after” looks like to everyone. I would love more romance books where the couple are just together and they don’t need to “prove” their happiness with weddings and kids.
Omg I spit out my coffee! “I would climb Jason Momoa like a tree”! Incredible hahaha loving this content 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
You hit the nail on the head with a lot of romance tropes I hate. One thing that I hate, that isn't exactly a trope, is when characters completely lose their personalities in sex scenes.
Like yeah, of course it makes sense for them to behave a little bit differently in bed than compared with the other scenes. But sometimes it seems like characters just have complete brain transplants for the duration and their previous banter or chemistry shifts to some unrecognizable corny porn dialogue.
Neville Longbottom Omg yes. I don’t read romance novels but I’d say Sarah J Maas has this in her sex scenes in her books and I’m just like 🥴🥴🥴
Omfg YES
Lol brain transplant. That got me 😂
“Farmers market hot bigness” 🤣
Reads with Rachel it’s a thing lol
"maybe more empowering nicknames"
me: YOUR MAJESTY
MY GENERAL
Goddess works too ;)
@@Vickynger Oh, captain, my captain lol (without the 'fallen cold and dead' thing)
The illuminae filed books had this. Beautiful and Highness were used. The second one was kind of a dig that turned into an endearment
The thing that will make me DNF a book is if anyone calls someone else “daddy.” That ain’t it. I can’t.
I have read ONE fanfic where it kinda worked and I liked the story but she casually called him that in regular conversation and just...blegh.
Thankfully I have yet to see that but I know the daddy kink is alive and thriving these days
Eww ewww NO! UGH gross. The only time I ever refer to my Honey as "Father" or "Daddy" is when I'm talking directly to one of our cats. Like, "I'm about to get up so go cuddle with your Daddy." See? Not gross.
diagonali394 Right!
Heather-Lin Brannon Exactly. We are mommy and daddy to our cat and that’s it! I can’t. I just can’t. I’ve legit gagged when it was used in a book. That’s what I used to call my actual dad, so hell no lol
I really hate when there is a love-triangle and the author totally ruins a nice lovely character just to justify their final OTP (e.g. suddenly turning them abusive, cheating etc). Alternatively, when they get killed off so the OTP can thrive in peace or randomly paired up with some secondary character in the last 2 pages of the trilogy. 🙄
So much this! Ok, it didn't work out, they stayed friends or the one who didn't get the girl can't take staying close and went on the journey to find himself or something. It's like ALL the characters have to either be in the relationship or die in the end!
So basically the Shatter Me series
@@worldsofsugar true :( Adam literally told Juliette to die. Wtf
@@worldsofsugar I didn't finish the Shatter Me series because of that!!!! A world of thorn and ruins did the same thing with Tamlin. Made him controlling so she could be with Rhys. DNF'd that as well. My most HATED trope😒
u just called our sjm so hard lmao
Haha omg I agree with all of these, especially the accidental pregnancy one! One of my most hated romance tropes is miscommunication. Sometimes it can be well done but most of the time it's just used to stall and I've read books where that's the only source of the conflict and it's so annoying.
WHEN THE DUDE DOESN'T STICK UP FOR HIS PARTNER!!! I hate it in m/f relationships when they do the trope of the woman being mistreated by his family/friends (you know snide comments, favoring others) and he doesn't know or won't do anything about it. Sorry, but if it were me I wouldn't be with anyone who isn't going to stick up for me in those situations.
TheWordN3rd this is the story of my life
@@theimperfectscrapper5313 Ugh. I'm sorry. You deserve someone who sticks up for you.
Oof, I *hate* it when women are nicknamed "baby girl" or "little girl" or stuff like that - it's gross and it makes me very uncomfortable :')
Anne's Bookish Corner SO GROSS
i read a book recently where the lovers ended up founding their own company together (it was a worlplace rivalry romance ofc), that was a cute end goal.
Ugh. I hate the trope of other women always being b#tches except for the main heroine's best friend. Especially if the love interest cheats on a "b#tch" with the main character, and the author implies that cheating in this situation is acceptable because it is true love / the main character was worth it because she was virtuous smart and sweet.
I also hate some of those epilogues, especially when the two characters get together at the very end of the movie and like 1,5 years later they already have a half-a-year old baby... I mean, people who cannot get together for 300 pages (usually more than 2-3 months) I would not trust with a baby being born so quickly after they get together, which is a decision that should be taken after a lot of deliberation, and in a really stable relationship... sometimes when a dream wedding is mentioned, and you count after it, you realize the main character had to be very pregnant at the wedding... which in itself is fine but then there should be a mention of it.
Teacher /student . Probably cause I am a teacher, but just no, especially if it's high school. Just no
Thea oh yes the high school teacher trope is a no for me too because of the power dynamics there. I’m ok with college ones though not that I’ve read any.
100% 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I couldn’t stand pretty little liars because of the teacher/student relationship in it either!
@@ThoughtsOnTomes tbh i don't like college ones either, there's still a lot of power dynamics too and an 18 or 19 yo is not that mature. even a 21yo. MAAAAAYBE grad school if i am sure this is a one off and not a pattern.
@@thea4676 I'm exactly the same, I can't stand teacher/student relationships of any kind, even in college. Even if it's just an AU fanfic, and the characters don't actually have that sort of relationship in the canon.....I just can't deal with it ever, it squicks me out too bad. Severe power imbalances in relationships in general is just something that I can't get on board with, but this permutation is the worst of the worst for me.
@Thea 100% the same.
I get a little eeked out by "baby girl." It just seems one step away from "call me daddy." I know that's a kink, whatever people want to do but I personally get a little creeped out by it.
“I’d climb Jason Mamoa like a tree” OKAY SAME
I can picture Jason M. as the Earl in a book called " A Heart's Journey "by Beth Howard, found on Amazon
I can't not wonder how many of these tropes are just overblown (or embodiment of) heteronormative (cisnormative, sexist, allonormative etc) ideals. And then whether we see them as something 'romantic' stems from (some personal preferences, of course, too, but also) how much we buy into those ideals as something objectively 'good'.
I despise romances where the main character has an overachieving best friend who will do literally anything for them. They'll be in the middle of open heart surgery and the protagonist is like "I need earrings" so the best friend stops the surgery to get the earrings and I'm just like? Girl you will die of blood loss get back on that table
Yay bring on the salt!
How about the normalization of anger?
I recently read a romance book where at one point, the Ex boyfriend of the female lead showed up. And the first thought that the Male lead was " kill him" on repeat.
Also, she gets almost assulted by a dude, so the romantic leads friends (who are all in like the marines/spec opps..idk its not really explained well) interven and escort him out. Later they tell the lead that they bashed him so bad, that they broke his fingers. And the lead is upset...because he wasn't there to do it himself. Um Wtf?
Also, can the miss communication troupe just die in a hole?
I sincerely hate:
1. insta romances
2. love triangles
3. accidental pregnacies
4.fuck buddies to lovers
5. abusive dudes presented as love interest Eew!
There are tons of more but these are my biggest pet peeves.
OMG you read my mind!!! I hate those things as well... when I find those in the books I... ugh!!! PS: Amazing videos, I am so happy that I found your channel :)
Imagine if there was a romance book with an epilogue that was like "oh yeah five years later we broke up nvm lol". It'd never happen and I'm not saying I'd like it but it would be something different 😂
I hate "little girl"/"baby doll" nicknames too. I also don't like when the female character says her name and the guy calls her the name she doesn't like. For example Levi calling Cath "Cather" in Fangirl or Augustus calling Hazel "Hazel Grace" in TFIOS. Call her by her correct name! Sometimes this can be ok if a love interest uses a name or nickname that other people don't use (like Juliet calling Sawyer "James" in Lost) but if a character says that they don't like being called a certain name and the love interest ignores that, it kind of irks me.
Gansey calling Blue "Jane" in the Raven Cycle drives me crazy!! THATS NOT HER NAME
I just found your channel recently, and I'm in love! You're hilarious and you're one of the few booktubers who share my genre tastes: fantasy and romance both together and exclusively lol. You're definitely speaking my language here with all these horrible tropes 😂
Growyoung, funny and also she can give you a whole new TBR list.
I feel the same about nicknames. I would like to add pet to the list. I also saw Doggy once and I puke in my mouth a little.
I definitely agree with most of these, some bother me no matter what while some I think can be done well/in moderation. I really hate miscommunication in romance books because while it's a thing that can and does happen in real life, sometimes it just goes way too far.
Another thing I hate that usually ties into that is public declarations of love (or even proposals) following the fallout of the miscommunication, I would absolutely despise anyone putting me on the spot like that in general, but I think it's especially off-putting when the relationship is broken to whatever degree.
Also, wanting to climb Jason Mamoa like a tree is a whole mood.
Hope you have a lovely day!
Next time, could you say what you really mean, Sam 😂 ? Oh, I do so 💖 your content!
Cheered the whole way thru this video, these kinda tropes stop me reading romance....but I might try some of your Romantic Recs. Great fun. Hope the whole Back to the Midwest plan brings you joy and growth this year x
And I feel you on the nickname trope! The only one I really like is Peter calling Laura Jean by her last name “Covey” in TATBILB.
I hate it when a guy would tell a girl how she's his and his only. Like, she can't ever talk to a guy because he'll get jealous. Or even claim a body part of a woman (I've seen this a lot in wattpad. Don't know why they think its cute when guys would do this)
Basically their conversation would be like this:
*girl and guy having sex*
*guy touches the girl's breast*
Guy: "This is mine. No one can ever have this"
Girl: "WhAt aBoUt ThE bAbY?"
FUCKING RIDICULOUS
I hate accidental pregnancy that brings the couple together, like a baby doesn't solve your problems
I started laughing hysterically over the hyper aggressive nickname - just call me MadCat crazy Kitty machine lady 😹😹😹
As a woman on the tall side, I feel personally attacked by the tall & small trope and I hate it.
I loved this video!! ❤️ I definitely agreed with all your hated tropes (especially the one about the women nicknames!) my most hated romance trope (or one that keeps coming up in fantasy) is when a teenager and a super hot century old supernatural creature (that looks like they’re twenty-one) fall in love. For some reason that just creeps me out! (It’s not an end all be all for me for sure and I’ve read so many books that I’ve loved with that trope, but every time it happens I just feel it in my guts!) :)
Yoooo, bringing out the salt on Saint Valentine!
Fake Dating / Fake relationship is the trope that I hate around this genre. They are like "Hey, let's fake dating and pretend to be together." at first, but then stuff happens and then "Oh no! Now we have feelings for each other. What we do?" And then drama, happens and roll my eyes.
Thanks for the video. I think when it comes to romance readers are very, very specific about their likes and dislikes. I think reading a romance book is almost like dating a person. What works for one person might be a total turnoff for another. I am glad that romance books come in all sorts of flavors, but I think as romance readers are so diverse we will get more and more romance offering things that will appeal to different audiences. It can be hard to weed through the books to find what works, but every once in a blue moon something sparks.
But do you love it when the characters call each other by their last names? Because I love that. Probably because I love friends to lovers so much,
Sydney Purifoy yes I’m totally fine with that!
Oh my god and when something happens to person A and person B calls them by their first name, likely for the first time???????!!!! 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕
we are like literally the same person we both love and hate the same tropes lmao. The last one though? The cutesy nicknames??? Ugh as soon as I see it in a book being a thing I dnf it. I just can’t deal
I’ve only discovered your channel recently (and totally love your content), so this comment comes a bit late. I totally agree with you on the “large man” trope, especially if the focus is on a certain large part of the male anatomy that always makes me cringe 😂. And hell yes to Henry Cavill!
I hate the ending with the kids and the house. It's just lazy. There are so many people out there that would never want this life and it's sad that this is what romance books resort to. Also, I feel like it gives off the impression that your life is over when you're married and have kids. Even if I did want that life, which I don't, that wouldn't mean that I'm done with experiences, you know?
Hey Sam I think a graphic novel you would really enjoy (if you haven't read it already) is Heartstopper by Alice Oseman. It's about two high school boys falling in love -- with a little bit of rugby thrown in! -- and has a lot of really healthy messages about mental health and masculinity, it's absolutely adorable!
I am not a fan of sporty romances either, but you should check out The Right Swipe. It has some football in it, but the man in the romance actually is a caring, and shows his emotions and talks about it and has healthy relationships all around. It's really good!
Sam, please please don't hate me since I love your channel so much and your insight (You're the reason why I started the Witchlands series) but....i actually love the ending with them happily married and kids.
Maybe because of fairytales. Maybe just because I see so many of my ships suffer and want that for them. Because I've seen so many great couples have that.
However I do agree. Not every couple has to have kids. Not every couple needs to be married. And sometimes, depending on the story and couple, I don't really love it.
But overall I just....i love it. I eat it up
That voice change at 4:19. I felt that... 🤣
Accidental pregnancy! UGH. It almost always knocks a star off for me. Even if I love the characters and love the family they make together. We don't need accidental pregnancies to add contrived drama OR to bring the characters together closer. We. Can. Do. Better!
Also, I read that Henry Cavill's hot hot muscles kept wearing through his leather Witcher gear so they kept having to replace it. And, that, well, how do you beat THAT particular example of the big broad man trope?
Yes on the evil mother-in-law. I love my daughter -in-law. She is great for my son. And her mom is great. We're not all bad!
Re: sports romance... I hear you. You might like The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai. I just read that one and the hero is an ex-football player who quit b/c of how concussions were not being treated. Also, heroine is the CEO of a dating app and never described as "small" compared to him (at least not that I recall).
I love your videos so much! Also. Girl. YOURE SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL! I absolutely love your lipstick 😍 hoping you find some wonderful romances to read in 2020 💕💕
Leigha Klopp 💜💜💜
_"I frickin' get it!"_ LOL! Yeah, but his pecks........
If some guy in a relationship calls me "baby girl" i'm immediately like "wtf did you just call me?!" It's usually on a first date/meeting when they're trying to be 'sweet' (aka get in the pants) and i just don't understand why anyone thinks that is sweet. it kinda skeeves me out, ok a little more than kinda, and it's a deal breaker for me, in real life and fiction.
I feel you I hate baby girl and baby! Like I'm not an infant!
AGREED!! I NEVER understood the nickname babe or baby!
I recently read Enemies by Tijan and really liked it. It's a enemies to lovers, we used to be friends in the past but now cant stand each other, football romance. I normally cant stand sports romance books but I think you might like that one
I haven't found a ton of sports romances I like, but I'd suggest trying out L.S. Cosway's Rugby series. Skip the 1st book (too much possessiveness for me), but I really liked The Player and the Pixie and have positive memories of the other two books.
I lol-ed and seconded the traumatic pregnancy perspective. It's always traumatic when it's unplanned. It's the death of your independence. Now, I don't read romance because it's not my jam. I truly tried with the Hades and Persephone retelling you haphazardly recommended with a glaring caveat that the sex scenes were a little much. I love ancient Greek myth retellings. I don't think I understood what you meant until halfway through the first book. I flipped through the rest. It was a quantitative statement. The frequency of the coupling made it trite and dull. And my tastes are more varied than heteronormative pairings. So it just confirmed what I knew all along. The most romancy I get is Eli and Oskar from Let the Right One In, because it's so creepy and flawed and doesn't present itself as a healthy life choice. I didn't expect to be as creeped out as I was with Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester. Jeez Louise. Back to the subject, if you take away all the tropes you mentioned from romance wouldn't you be left with a literary work? I thought romance is a caricature of a relationship dialed to a thousand presented to women who want nothing more than escapism? You gravitate to the genre for the tropes. You know what to expect and when you have a novel deviate from it it will disinterest the intended audience. I don't know if I'm making sense. All I know is that I don't read YA or children's books like Harry Potter, or Romance because I know what tropes formulate what genre and I avoid them altogether to spare myself annoyance. Horror works for me, literary works for me, Historical, magical realism...books with an abundance of longing. And when I've made my way through that I go to AO3 and read fanfiction for the work. I end up never wasting time and energy that way.
I agree to everything you said! I think, one thing that stopped me from reading contemporary romance is that every character atleast in the books that I've read are portrayed as 'perfect'. I just don't find them relatable.
I agree with you on so many of these tropes lmao, especially on the nicknames. I cringe when I read the word "baby girl" on a page, like whyyyy
I haven't bumped into all of these and as for the small woman with the large man, I can only recall one book I recently read where it came up, but the dude was actually really tall, like 6'7" tall and she wasn't a tiny woman, just tiny by comparison. It also didn't feel like it was consistently being talked about, so that's probably why it didn't bug me. I wasn't consistently reminded about their size difference. And again, he was taller and bigger than everybody except his twin brother pretty much.
I read "Get a Life, Chloe Brown" like a week ago and this reminded me of The Break Up-Make-up that always happens like 2/3 of the way through most romance novels. They can be done well but this one just felt off to me.
It felt like it came really late and was SO unnecessary. I especially hated that the main character was then showered with gifts in order to 'prove' how much she was loved and how much he'd screwed up. I don't know exactly what it was but the whole event was just unappealing to me and completely disrupted what felt like a very naturally built up relationship. Seriously, some relationships have stumbling blocks but this one just felt so overblown. Maybe I would have understood it more if we'd gotten a better idea of how Red's ex had changed him mentally and emotionally but the information we did get on her seemed so surface level. The one scene that was meant to express his emotions was done using art which I think the author is unfamiliar with so it came off a bit weird.
ehh, or maybe i'm just a heartless she-demon who can't interpret scenes correctly.
LOL!
Also, She-demon would qualify as a welcome and empowering nickname in my world 👍👍
I gasped when you said sports romance! I love hockey romances (do I understand hockey? barely) but there is something about it that pulls me in.
I know In Love And Words talked a little bit about nicknames with one book she was reading. The male protag called her "goddess" and I thought that was pretty cool (and also a little cringey haha). She has great romance recommendations if you're ever looking for any!
Accidental pregnancy is for sure one of my most hated tropes. I also hate reading books where the parents are abusive/harmful. I get it’s unfortunately not a rare thing irl but I can’t read books with stuff like that. The perks of reading adult/NA romances is that the MCs are adults who can shut off their relatives and not depend on them. (Again I get that in various cases it’s not possible but I don’t want to see those kind of things in a romance book)
I looooove sports romances, but only hockey ones, maybe its the Canadian in me lol. If you want to try that, my favourite is Toni Aleo and her Assassins series
This video was LIFE. I also hate the trope where the main character has a mental health issue and then I will magically be fixed with love, like Why???
"Tall and small" can be fun, but when every f-ing couple is "tall and small", yuk. I'd like to read a book where she is like Gwendoline Christie and he's like Daniel Radcliffe.
"Accidental pregnancy" is fine with me, but when the character becomes something different she was before she got pregnant... free spirited career girl before, pregnant and BAM SAHM. Or that the pregnancy is the only reason why they are together.
I kind of liked The Awakening HEA :-D She's totally happy without the guy.
"Slutty bitches" - oh, yeah. Hate that. Especially when they describe the other woman as really beautiful, hot, assertive, and really, really, really insecure, possessive, jealous. And that especially when it turns out that the "heroine" IS after her man, and he leaves her for the heroine. I don't think there's anything romantic with people who get flirty with people in relationship OR people in relationship who get flirty with other people.
Another trope I hate: adults don't have exes.
And another trope I want to mention - or myth actually - "first time hurts". I feel really bad for all the girls whose first time hurt, because they must have been really tense, worried, probably scared because they were expecting it to hurt, or he did something wrong. Because if sex hurts - first time, 20th time, 2000th time, there's something wrong somewhere. Usually the woman isn't aroused enough, because "foreplay, what's that?".
And when it's a female writer who describes the first time like that... makes me wonder. How can a woman not know this? Oh, yeah... www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/nearly-half-of-british-women-dont-know-where-the-vagina-is-and-it-gets-much-worse/
You're so right about expectations that a woman's first time, the "deflowering" (insert eye roll), will be painful and usually bloody. What a shameful thing to perpetuate. In my mind it allies alongside the old toxic idea that a woman's place in a relationship is to endure uncomfortable relations with her husband. Gross.
I'm with ya about the evil ex and the romanticizing accidental pregnancies, especially the latter. (While I never experienced an accidental pregnancy myself, I know another person who has. And, yeah. Not romantic at all. It's terrifying and often leads to the couple breaking up.)
Speaking about sport romances! I have the feeling that you have talked about Foxhole court but I'm not sure and can't find anything? Anyway it's great if you read it in certain state of mind (not getting too picky about realism hehe).
Катя Мазурчак I’ve had that series on kindle for years and still need to read it lol
@@ThoughtsOnTomes I hope you will give it a try! Despite the sport genre it's not actually about sport as much as it is about found family feels. Also the main character is so deliciously Slytherin, I love him so much.
Everything you said about the Exes trope is FACT!! Great video as always!
I'm so tired with straight troppy romances I just gave up on them all together. For now I'm just diving into Chinese bl books with whole new set of tropes and problematic themes but as those are not something I'm used to (well ok some tropes are bit annoying ) I find them relaxing. I think it's just I got spoiled by Yoon Ha Lee and his amazing Ninefox Gambit series with all those amazing deep relationships and now everything seems shallow and boring. I do admit I'm not big fan of the romance focused stories - for a time (as a teenager) I quite enjoyed those but now - I want more from the story. But then most sf/fantasy stories lack good emotional developement and any romantic elements seem to be quite shallow in those. Can't i have both? Like great sf/fantasy saga with amazing angsty slow burn romance? Preferably non het one? Dream on I guess...
"I would climb Jason Momoa like a tree" LOOL 😂😂😂 but yeah i feel yah cz same 😂
I literally agree with every single point in this video!!!! I'll starting to realize that I think I just don't even care for romance novels at this point lmao, but for whatever reason I keep on trying!
I agree with so many of your statement! I think the only sports romances I liked was the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy and that was with Ice Hockey.
i hate the accidental pregnancy. i spoke about this recently in romantic series that follow the same couple its like the PEAK book 2 slump where the author throws in the IMMEDIATE accidental pregnancy to create book 2 drama...also YES happily long term partnership rep please i need this
"The last one that I have (for now)" lol I like that caveat you've built for yourself... pt 2 will be next valentines day, then? 😂
I hate the accidental pregnancy so much, that happens wayyyy too often 🙃
Novel recommendation
1) Kindle by Fuin K available on kindle unlimited. A family story on adoption.
Have you read The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary? I think you would really enjoy it. The guy is not hyper-masculine (and he's an average-sized dude). The girl is a little taller (5'9 I think). She's going through a breakup at the beginning of the book, and that storyline follows throughout the book because she's realising how toxic it was. Still, while the main-guy-love-interest is super supportive, he's not like, 'her knight in shining armour'. Most of her healing happens through therapy which I ADORED. The main guy works in a hospital as a nurse (I'm not sure if that's good or bad for you). Also, there are no explicit sex scenes.
I dunno, I thought it was a breath of fresh air in the romance department. Also, I just now finished it when I watched this video and was like 'Ooo The Flatshare didn't do that...well, The Flatshare got that right!...etc.' as I was watching this video.
its on my TBR!
you should read The Foxhole Court. idk if you take recommendations here I know a lot of people dont but if you wanna try a sports romance, the focus of the story is a combination of very solid mafia plot, sports stuff about a sport that doesn't actually exist, so it's not annoying to follow, and the relationship (not necessarily the romantic part of the relationship) between the main character and the love interest (and the other characters are awesome too). Also, I repeat: mafia plot. It's pretty awesome
I've actually had those books on my kindle for years! I haven't been a kindle reader until recently though so this may be the year I finally read them
It doesn’t help that I mostly wildly despise contemporary romances, but my most hated trope are childhood friends to lover and the popular/nerd or bully/victim nonsense. Childhood friends to lover just feel icky to me like can people just be friends for goodness sake. Popularity just doesn’t make any sense to anyone out of high school so that’s it for that trope and anyways, ain’t no way I wanna read about goddamn high school drama, my favourite colour isn’t beige it’s alright. As for the bully victim thing,as someone who’s been bullied by the same people for a long time, my main fantasy about them is to punch them square in the face so I don’t see why anyone would want to date their bullies 🥸
I usually don't like sports romance for the same reasons as you, mainly because I hate sports and they are usually sports that we don't practice in my country so i couldn't care less. The only one that I loved so much that I even reread it was From Lukov with love by Mariana Zapata, they are both ice skaters and I adored it sooooo much. It's long, it's slow burn because Mariana Zapata buttttt it's really good.
So with you on the “bro dude” hypermasculine BS in books.
Also Hate:
- Accidental Pregnancy (prolly my most triggering)
- too much focus on lust instead of true feelings. If I’m reading erotica, that’s fine, but so many “happy” romance is all lust.
- Ridiculous jealously. Get over yourself.
- the SO’s mocking of their love interest’s past, sexuality, etc. screams insecurity to me.
Have you seen the rom-com film Wimbledon? Tennis romance. Not a book, but good fun.
I don’t like the romance between children or even young teens. Its not enjoyable to read about two children falling in love
Miscommunication. Is. The. Worst. Especially when you are in the heads of both leads and they are going on and on about how the other doesn't have feelings for them. I hate it.
3:12 thought I was the only one who hated this trope. 4:17 I agree with this so much
I hate the unnecessary break up, usually following some miscommunication or lack of communicating or misunderstanding...whatever! Its usually right before the end of the book and it's super dramatic , everyone's world is ending, the sun no longer shines...but then! Come to jesus moment! Cant be without eachother. Boom. Engaged. The end.cue epilogue. Ugh. Just let them stay together!
oh god i just love this video so much you made me laugh so much 😂😂😂
Girl, I couldn't say it any better than you. Great video, you got it 💯 (there're some great hockey romances, apart from that - hell yeah damn straight)
I am so with you in the accidental pregnancy thing and the epilogues of them married with all these children. Another thing I hate is when it like ends with a proposal/marriage when they’ve only known each other for a couple of months...the book could be going perfect and then that happens and it makes me cringe. It’s like I just want to say, you know it’s completely possible to have a HEA without them being married. I don’t mind so much when the epilogue is a proposal like a year or so into the relationship because it’s like yes, that’s reasonable.
i agree with most of these. i also don't give a shit about most sports, but the bromance book club i think had enough baseball talk that i remembered he was supposed to be a big deal, but not too much that i felt like i had to actually care about the sport itself. also there isn't a lot of sex right out the gate, it's a build, which i prefer.
yogi with a book that one is on my TBR and I’m actually excited to hear there’s baseball in it lol
I see you have Soulless on your shelf! Did you ever talk about it on your channel? It's one of the only romance books I ever liked lol
Ester York I actually read it way before Booktube! I want to continue the series.
If I’m not mistaken doesn’t The Bromance Bookclub has a baseball player? I may be wrong but it could be interesting!
thatgirlbookworm bless I have that on my TBR
Oww we have the same taste in sports!! Rugby & baseball! If you ever come to Toronto, let me know and if there is a Toronto Wolfpack (our European rugby league team) game happening, I am dragging you to it!
yessss
I hate the "slutty girls" thing. I hate that mindset. They do that a lot in contemporary and it's become such a toxic thing. That's why I could never like the ya female mc's. Especially since after 2 chapters, you'll read about them going to a party with a top on as a dress and is so "hot" and "beautiful". So if you do it, it's fine, but any other girl does it, it's not? I'm nOt LiKe oTHeR giRLs
I would also climb Jason Mamoa like a tree! LOL But I agree I don't need to keep hearing how LARGE a man is. I also Hate an accidental pregnancy.. I think b/c my daughter was "accidental" It isn't romantic, it was difficult... I was with her father ( still am) and it was still SUPER hard so to me it isn't something I want to read as a romantic trope
You should try Undercover Bromance. It pokes fun at a lot of tropes in my opinion. I do think a lot of the tropes you mentioned are overdone. I just happen to have experienced (either personally or through friends) most of them. Women can be really toxic to other women, and so can men to other men, especially if they get into a new relationship before they’re truly done with the old one. Then all the insecurities and baggage get dragged out.
that one is on my list to read!
“I would like some variety” HOW DARE YOU. No but really can we just have an awesome partnership? We can even just add a dog to the happily ever after. Let’s just skip the kids every once in a while.
One thing that’s been annoying me in romance books lately is dual perspectives where the sex scenes are from the male perspective. One that really stuck out to me was when the girl was having sex for the very first time but it was from the guy’s perspective. Like he’d had a ton of sex this moment wasn’t as important to him as it was to her but we completely lost her voice. I dunno I keep noticing it in romances and I feel like a lot of the emotion gets lost if that makes any sense.
That was your funniest video lol i cannot imagine what a super caffeinated Sam is like .... good god.! id still have coffee with you though.....
I’m honestly so glad my boyfriend isn’t into pet names. My ex husband called me “babe” so much that I can’t remember the last time he used my actual name. Occasionally, if I’ve had a really bad day or I’m sick, he’ll call me doll. Because he knows I think it’s cute, but it’s also super rare.
Sports romances are my favorites! (Though, admittedly, most of the sports romances I read are MM romances.)
It's interesting because it didn't occur to me that people would read sports romances if they aren't actually interested in sports. Like, I read hockey romances a lot because I LOVE hockey. But I recently read a hockey romance between a player and someone who hates hockey. And there's almost a lot of hockey bashing in it, which was so weird to me because I thought to myself, "Presumably everyone who reads hockey romance likes hockey??" But apparently not!
I think the last romance that I read that was completely 100% perfect, was Becky Chambers Small Angry Planet. I know, not a romance, but perfect 🖤
One thing that I HATE with accidental pregnancies in romance genre, is that they always make the woman decide that she wants to keep the baby and look happy with this mishap, even if the woman wasn't the baby-loving type before. A good example would be in the big bang theory. Or how all epilogues end with marriage and children. I hate it so much. In the hunger games it was clear that Katniss never wanted children, but the author still went ahead and added children. I've never seen a story where the woman decides she doesn't want to have the baby.
Based on this list of tropes my diagnosis is that you are not a fan of toxic masculinity and misogyny lol. This is one of the big reasons why I've always been apprehensive of the romance genre as a whole. I guess I have this expectation that gender roles maybe tend to be a bit more... rigid in a lot of romance books than they are in a lot of, say, fantasy or science fiction (at least the kind that I tend to read, don't get me wrong, I know there is some DEEPLY misogynistic fantasy out there). I haven't really ventured into the romance genre though so I could be very wrong.
I didn't even know sports romance was a thing, but I can already see how it would be very prone to having a lot of these misogynistic/sexist tropes. I'd be interested to see if there are many sports romances where the woman is the sportsy one, or where the sport is, like, figure skating or something.