We all have them. Those tropes that make us cringe as we are reading a book. The ones that cause us pain and make us second guess continuing with the book. Tropes that regardless of how well written the book is will never quite reach perfection for us because of that addition to the story.
Now many of these tropes tend to appear in YA a lot more than New Adult and Adult, but that doesn’t mean that don’t make an occasional appearance. And I feel like I have to state that there are books I really love that include some of these tropes. But with all that being said I am still not a fan and tend to shy away from those books that include them. Most of these are also because it hurts my female empowerment heart.
Top 5 Book Tropes I'm Over
Insta Love
This is just so unrealistic. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the whole love at first sight and even more so the crush at first sight. But usually with love at first sight or when people talk about it IRL they still had to go on dates and work on developing a relationship, its just they knew when they say them it was going to be love. I also can see and do not mind as much the one sided insta love and then that person working to make the other fall in love. I just do not believe that the forever HEA can come from insta love.
The world is not that perfect and neither are people. It is also not that fun to read about a romance that happens instantly. I like the development, the fights, the discovery. It makes it more real and really draws you in, having you root for that relationship.
Love Triangles
This is so overdone and many times not even done well. I will say I can deal with it a little better in Adult Romance just because it is usually a more complex relationship and more thought out. In YA it is just annoying. I really don’t know what else to say on this topic. I am just not a fan.
Girls Life changes Because of Love Interest
This trope usually makes me so mad. I have seen it on both ends of the spectrum of good and bad. I think it is human to be constantly changing. We change our likes, our direction, our wants, but when it is due solely based on another person and most times deals with what they want. It makes me so sad to see it in books when a girl upends her whole life or changes who she is because of a love interest. I think that sends such a bad message to young girls. I know it is something that definitely happens in real life, but I am just not a fan of it.
Maybe I am just a very selfish and independent person. I would never change my life because of someone else. I do think I could make compromises and alterations, but to complete change because the other person doesn’t like it etc is not for me.
Absent & Dead Parents
I will start with this, I understand that sometimes this plot point adds to the backstory/personality of the main character etc. The thing I do not like about this is the unrealistic version of YA books never mentioning parents. Like every YA book cannot use this same trope, not everyones parents are dead or gone. I think the use of parents and that relationship is important to show.
So many books you have all these young kids running around on their own for 3 books and like where are their parents at. So many dystopian/post apocalyptic books use this. Sometimes its explained what happened to the parents and then there are times they don’t even get mentioned.
Insta Self Esteem
I think this might be one of the absolute worst tropes. When you have these beautiful female characters and they think they are ugly and not worth love etc. Cue the hot dreamy male (that is usually some wimpy/loner type male) that tells her she is attractive and instantly its like the ugly duckling transforming to the beautiful swan. This is why so many females struggle with body shaming and eating disorders. In society we have made it that you are only beautiful if it is confirmed by media or the opposite gender etc.
Young girls need to be taught body positivity and be built up by those in their lives. You shouldn’t need some boy coming along to tell you that you are pretty, you should already know that.
What are some you would add to your list if you were making a Top 5 Book Tropes I'm Over list ?
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