As much as I love reading, there are some tropes in books that have me ripping out the pages of the book and running them through a shredder. Okay… I would never do that (book sacrilege!) but I imagine myself doing it.
Number 1: Unplanned pregnancy
Coming in strong at number 1 is unplanned pregnancy or, honestly, any type of pregnancy in fiction. I predominantly read YA and NA for the specific reason that pregnancy and children don’t tend to appear- which I’m eternally grateful for. Because when it does show up?
My interest in the story shrivels up… along with my ovaries.
A good example of this would be The Goal by Elle Kennedy. I loved this entire series (ice hockey romances will always be my kryptonite) but the finale was undoubtedly ruined by the unplanned pregnancy trope. I love John Tucker as much as the next girl but… I just wish he’d used protection.
Number 2: Amnesia
I need to pre-emptively calm myself down on this one because I fall into full on rant-mode when talking about this trope.
I hate nothing more than getting towards the end of a book and being hit with the twist that the main character loses their memory. Like… what was this whole thing for, then? I have read four books, over 1,000 pages, only for the character development to be thrown out the window and all this conflict to be for nothing?
I didn’t sign up for this.
As soon as the amnesia trope shows up, I want to throw the book across the room and, ironically, forget everything I just read. The character gets the sweet bliss of ignorance, why can’t I?
A particular YA angel series that was popular in the 2010’s is guilty of this. Yes… you’re probably thinking, ‘wait, this could be two book series.’ For some reason, the authors of angel series woke up and chose violence.
Number 3: Miscommunication
There is nothing worse than watching two character stumble around each other and cause 300 pages worth of issues simply because they can’t speak the truth. I completely understand characters being flawed and making the wrong assumptions and making mistakes but if it gets dragged out across the entire book, I will be tearing my hair out by the end of it.
I work in communications so miscommunication is like a personal offense to me, what can I say?
Number 4: The chosen one
I’m not about to crap all over Harry Potter, okay? Buuuuttt… the chosen one trope is getting a little old. And sometimes it doesn’t make any logical sense. You’re telling me that in a post-apocalyptic, fantasy, magical world that a teenager with no parents and anger issues is naturally the magical solution to save the world?
Give me an eighty-year-old pensioner with their life together getting their calling to save the world and maybe I’ll be interested.
I just prefer characters that seize the day regardless of their ability or calling in life. I love an underdog and I also love a reluctant hero. Leave me alone with that holier-than-thou nonsense.
Number 5: If I can’t have you, no one will
This trope is a walking ick.
If a love interest is abusive or controlling or manipulative, it’s an instant no from me. I have standards both in real life and fiction and they’re both higher than the bare minimum.
Sorry, not sorry.
Number 6: Insta-love
I figured I’d finish with a classic… the dreaded insta-love.
If two characters fall in love after knowing each other for a day, I will roll my eyes so hard they’ll fall out the back of my head. Maybe it’s the enemies-to-lovers, slow burn part of me but I cannot stand insta-love. The only time I will even remotely accept it is in Disney’s Tangled. If it’s not Flynn Rider and Rapunzel, I do not want to hear of it!
And those were my least favourite book tropes! There are many more (many many more) but those are the very worst in my opinion. If you ever read any of my books, trust me when I say they avoid all of these tropes.
What book tropes do you hate?
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