Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Tropes



Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Feeling a bit embarrassed because I had no idea what a trope was until I looked it up. Sigh! I guess I can't know everything. This sounds like such a fun one.

Top Ten Favorite Tropes

  1. Treasure hunting - Often this involves historical fiction, but Karen White's The House on Tradd Street was a contemporary southern fiction novel with a ghost and the infamous Confederate treasure. 
  2. Fun occupations - Duffy Brown has two series which feature amateur sleuths with fun occupations. One runs a consignment shop and the other a bicycle shop. I've also read a cozy mystery where the main character was a real estate agent. 
  3. Small town romance - Those set during Christmas are my favorites, but often you find someone who has left home and returns after the death of a loved one and ends up falling in love and settling back into the hometown they had been so eager to leave.
  4. Opposites attract - Romances where the two main characters are polar opposites, but fall in love.
  5. Good versus evil - The Stand by Stephen King is the ultimate good versus evil story, but even if it is as simple as an awkward teenager facing a mean girl, it's fun to see how it turns out.
  6. Sympathetic villains - I don't believe people are born evil. Something happens to them. Stories where you get a glimpse into what happened in a villain's life to make them who they are now fascinate me.
  7. Coming of age - I've always loved stories where the character is coming into his own, making up his own mind, and deciding what to believe. 
  8. Family secrets - All families have them. Exploring them with book characters is great.
  9. Strong faith or rediscovering faith - I'm drawn to Amish fiction because of the strong faith displayed by the people in these communities. I also enjoy stories where a character might have come away from her faith, but through circumstances rediscovers that faith.
  10. Family drama - Maybe it is because I grew up around drama, but family drama--especially when the drama winds up with a reconciliation--makes for a great read. 

What are some of your favorite tropes? 

7 comments:

Greg said...

Treasure hunting is always fun, and I like fun occupations in cozy mysteries. Usually when I read a cozy about a bookstore owner or a cafe owner I want to go there haha! Also stories with faith, especially about finding it or rediscovering it- that's always welcome as well.

Lydia said...

I haven't read a book about treasure hunting in years. They're fun, though.

My TTT

Hannah said...

I love a good family drama or family saga! Here's my list https://hannahslibrary.com/2019/08/20/top-ten-tuesday-favorite-tropes/

dinipandareads said...

Omg! Small town romance also made it onto my list this week ��I love a good small town romance, always gives me all the feels. You've got some great ones on this list!

My TTT post

Poinsettia said...

Sympathetic villains can be great characters! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday

Rissi said...

What I like about a good opposites attract romance is when there's great witty banter! That always makes the romance stand out, and makes for some fun dialogue too! :)

Jessica at Booked J said...

Sympathetic villains can be a hit or miss for me but when they're done right, I really dig seeing the backstories in a way that doesn't cloak what they've done and just... lays it all out there. I think that's why I liked the show Once Upon a Time so much. One, because I'm fairy-tale trash, and two, it gave the villains a lot of backstories and it just made you think. I hope I'm making sense? I'm super tired so I may just be babbling. POINT OF MY COMMENT: I agree with your list of tropes. They are all great and really make the story click into place when they feature one or more of these. AH!