Welcome to my Romance Trope Bracket Tournament. Once a month, I’m going to post a new matchup.
August’s matchup was between Opposites Attract and Anonymous Love/Secret Admirer. (See the book recommendations here.)
Opposites Attract had the overwhelming win, but a decent number of people were rooting for Secret Admirer.
September’s matchup was between Friends-to-More and Brother’s Best Friend. (See the book recommendations here.)
Friends-to-More won out, but 1/3 of those who voted rooted for Brother’s Best Friend.
This month, we’re pitting Enemies-to-Lovers and Forbidden Love against each other.
Vote for YOUR favorite trope below, and if you have a book recommendation for it, I’d love to hear it.
Then visit the tropes below to see my book recommendations for each trope.
Enemies-to-Lovers
When two people start as adversaries or rivals but gradually develop romantic feelings for each other.
Here are a few of my favorite enemies-to-lovers!
A Tailor-Made Bride by Karen Witemeyer
Burning Rivals by Voni Harris
Fire and Ice by Mary Connealy
Written in Secret by Crystal Caudill
Counterfeit Hope by Crystal Caudill
Forbidden Love
A romantic relationship is not allowed or frowned upon due to external circumstances, such as societal norms or family disapproval.
Here are a few of my favorite friends-to-more stories.
Prince of Spies by Elizabeth Camden
Miss Wylde in the White City by Grace Hitchcock
Three Little Things by Patti Stockdale
Sung in the Shadows by Crystal Caudill
Counterfeit Faith by Crystal Caudill
Tough decision but I vote for Enemies to Lovers
That one is my favorite.
Forbidden Love
So many great stories have that trope!
Forbidden love
There is so much fun to be had with that.
Enemies to lovers!!
My favorite as well!
Forbidden Love. My recommendation is my favorite book in this trope: The Miner’s Daughter by Tracie Peterson. I need to reread it ASAP now that I’ve thought of it again. 😉
Oh! Good to know. I think I might have that one on my bookshelf.
Enemies to lovers of course. Just not everything I read. 😉
LOL
Enemies to lovers definitely! It is my all-time favorite trope.
One of mine too!
My vote’s for enemies to lovers!
Same!
I would say Enemies to Lovers 🙂
Same
Enemies to lovers (if done well)
Done well is key!
Enemies to lovers
I enjoy that one as well!
Forbidden Love
That is a fun one!
Enemies to lovers is definitely my favorite if it’s done well
Done well is the key.
Forbidden love.
That can be done so well too!
Enemies to lovers
One of my favorites!
Forbidden love over enemies to lovers mostly because enemies often involves sniping at each other and sarcasm. Both bother me.
That would make it understandably hard. In our household, sarcasm is like a love language. But there are good ways to do it and not.
Enemies to lovers.
One of my favorites toO!
Forbidden love
Masquerade Marriage by Anne Greene
Oh, I’ll have to look that one up!
Enemies to Lovers
A favorite of mine too!
Forbidden Love and one of my favorites is A Chance for Kallie Mae by Ann H Gabhart ❤️
Fun! Ann is such a sweet woman!
Enemies to lovers. Neither is my favorite trope, though some are well done. Of the two, I’ll go with enemies to lovers.
Well done is always the key.
Enemies to lovers, hands down! (I had previously thought clicking the link from your newsletter was voting, so I suspect my votes in previous rounds weren’t recorded.)
Who knows. Technology is a tricky thing. I keep trying to figure out the best way to record votes.
Enemies to lovers
Me too!
That’s a tough one. I like both enemies to lovers and forbidden love. In fact, I fall back on both those tropes off and on in my own novels. But I guess for this one I’ll lean in on enemies to lovers. It’s a harder one to pull off and can have the best payoff if done well. Especially if you align it with redemptive messages.
Agreed! The whole reason I want my next series to take three books for the romance arc is that I feel that is what is needed for a true enemies-to-lovers arc. Time and experience are the things needed most, and one novel doesn’t provide enough to go from one extreme to the other.
Enemies to lovers