Romance Writers Weekly ~ Tropes ~ #LoveChatWrite

This week, on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop, we're asked, "Do you have any favorite or least favorite tropes?"

This is a question that I think we get asked a lot, in some form or another. I'm always reluctant to list my least favorite tropes because my muse is a wee bit contrary. As soon as I put it out there that I dislike a particular trope, or would never write a book like that, my muse gets to work creating an idea for JUST THAT TYPE OF STORY.

However, I do think I'm safe in saying I'll never write a dark mafia romance book, because my family is Sicilian, I grew up (in New Jersey--yes, right in the heart of The Sopranos' territory) hearing the horror stories. There's nothing romantic about that to me. 

But I digress. 

Among the tropes that I never thought I'd write--until I did--were amnesia and secret babies. 

My favorite tropes continue to be second-chance romance, snowed in, mistaken identity--boy do I overuse that one!--friends to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, and hurt-comfort.  These also tend to be the books I most enjoy reading...along with low-stakes, cozy mysteries. 

Still haven't managed to write a low-stakes, cozy mystery, but I keep trying. Oh! And time-travel. I'd love to write some time-travel stories. I have ideas, but the actual logistics are daunting.  

Now, hop on over to Brenda Margriet's page to learn what tropes are her favorite/least favorite. And don't forget to check out her book, Richly Deserved.

To these two skeptics, true love is as phony as fool’s gold. But this improbable search for buried treasure could lead to their hearts’ hidden desires.

More than twenty years ago, Claudia Aronson escaped an abusive marriage. She built a secure, stable life, and is now only weeks away from realizing a long-held dream—opening her own art gallery. But her well-ordered world is threatened by the compelling, abrasive man essential to bringing her new venture into the spotlight.

Artist Titus Wilcox is reclusive, nomadic, and passionate. His solitary, drifting habits have fed his creative soul, but played hell with his love life. Soon after he meets the statuesque, seemingly-serene Claudia, however, he feels a compulsion to paint a new reality—with her.

When an antique painting reveals mysterious documents concealed behind its frame, Titus and Claudia unite in a hunt for lost riches—a pursuit that takes them into the remote hills surrounding the fabled gold rush town of Barkerville.

https://books2read.com/RichlyDeserved

Fall Giada Mazzi is Living her Best Life

A Games We Play/Whole Latte Love Story

Life is more than just the lies we try and tell ourselves about what we’ve done and who we are.

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 I guess the truth is that I never stopped loving Ben. And I never stopped imagining how different my life might have been if he were only the person I needed him to be, instead of the person that he is. Which is silly, right? I mean, truly; it’s laughable. Because if he were someone else, he wouldn’t be him.  And the world is already full of people like that. What good is one more gonna do me?

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Besides, if I’m honest, Ben wasn’t ever the problem. That was me. I was never the person he believed me to be. Oh, I thought I was, in the beginning. I tried hard to be, and that worked for a while. Sort of. But eventually I reached the point where I had to make a choice between living life for myself, or for everyone else.

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And when it came right down to that…how could I not choose me?​

https://books2read.com/GiadaMazzi