Top 10 All Time Favourite Book Tropes!

Hey guys and welcome to another week of Top 5 Tuesday which just so happens to be this week, a top 10! Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly tag run by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, she creates the prompts and runs the tag so if you want to get involved check out the upcoming prompts here!

This weeks prompt is supposed to be ‘Top 10 All-Time Favourites’ However, I am going to change it yet again (I’m so sorry Shanah for always changing the prompts) I talk about my faves a lot so wanted to make this post a bit more interesting. Therefore, I decided to change it to ‘Top 10 All-time Favourite Book Tropes’ I hardly ever mention what my favourite book tropes are so I thought this would be the perfect time to do exactly that!

Let’s go!

---

My Top 10 All-time Favourite Book Tropes

1. Enemies to Friends.

I’m a basic bitch when it comes to this, I love when two characters are enforced as enemies until they meet and actually become friends. Or, they dislike each other but have to come together to fight a bigger evil and in turn become friends, I love.

2. Enemies to Lovers.

Similarly, enemies to lovers gets me just as much. I love the tension that can be created and accidentally goes from hate to lust/love. That excites me more than I like to admit.

3. Heroes doing bad things and villains doing good things.

I love when this narrative gets flipped on it’s head and the ‘villain’ ends up doing the right thing and the ‘hero’ does the wrong thing. I love the dilemma this puts you in as a reader as you struggle to decide who to back.

4. Multiple plot threads coming together at the end.

This trope can be done so, so well that it makes me scream. I love it when things earlier on in a book seem quite pointless but you know it must be in there for a reason and then it all comes together in the end and it’s juts such a pleasure to read this trope.

5. Witty, independent women protaganists who aren’t referred to as being a ‘bitch’.

I love strong women mc’s. But what I see a lot as a trope that comes along with this is all the other characters thinking this character is a bitch just because she’s a strong woman. I hate that. I like my women strong and witty and in charge and not being called a bitch for it.

6. The character you forgot about shows up at the last second to save the day.

When you think all hope is lost and you honestly can’t see a way out and then ‘old loveable character that you forgot about’ shows up in the most surprising way. This can be cliche but I love it so much. (Think Battle of the Bastards😉)

7. In-depth, m/f friendship with no need for romance.

YES. I love a good male/female friendship and that’s all it is and needs to be. Don’t get wrong I like a good friends to lovers as much as the next person but it isn’t always necessary! I love a good friendship and I want it between differing sexes please!

8. Morally grey characters where they aren’t necessarily good or bad.

I have a soft spot for generally good but also not particularly likeable and cynical characters. The ones where you can’t decide if they’re good or bad and you don’t like them or hate them. These are the most believable characters and I think they are widely underused.

9. Villains that are purely evil and have no humanity.

As much as I like villains that switch roles and people who are neither good or bad I am also a sucker for just straight evil villains. Villains who you just hate and they don’t have a backstory that makes you pity them, they are just evil. Pure evil.

10. Lots of world building, but subtle where you learn so much about it without even noticing.

This. All the way. I love a complex world. However, it can get tiresome when it’s taught to you through big paragraphs explaining everything. Therefore, I absolutely adore when its done in such a subtle way that you don’t realise how much information you’re taking in about this world but before you know it the world has been built around you!

---

That’s all for my favourite tropes! Tropes can swing both ways, they can lead to hate but also love. I don’t think the use of tropes is always necessary but they can add something special to the book in question. What are some of your favourite tropes? Do you agree with any of mine? Let me know!

Thank you for reading!

love, bella x