What are tropes and what kinds are there? February 5, 2026

The bookworms among you have surely stumbled across the word “tropes” on numerous occasions, and authors can hardly avoid this term nowadays. Books are increasingly being promoted by listing the tropes they contain. But what does this term actually mean?

In rhetorics, the word trope refers to a literary and rhetorical device with a figurative meaning. Tropes describe recurring themes, motifs, plots, and patterns that appear in books, TV series, and films—and there can be more than one trope in one story.

There are now numerous examples of these tropes, and some of them are not easy to understand at first glance. To give you an overview of the most popular tropes found in books, we have compiled a short list for you here.

What tropes are there?

Academy/College: Here, the setting (the academy or college) is the main focus and has great significance for the story. There is also the Dark Academia trope, where things are a bit more gloomy. 

Age Gap: The love interest is considerably older, which is often seen as a no-go in the story.

Bad Boy: The love interest often has a questionable attitude or mindset and comes across as rather dismissive and harsh. But, most of the time, they have a soft core that is “tamed” by the protagonist over the course of the story.

Best Friend's Brother/Sister: The best friend of the brother or sister becomes the love interest.

Boss Romance/Office Romance: A secret romance at work. The protagonists fall in love with each other but, for various reasons, are not allowed to reveal it to the outside world.

Fake Dating/Fake Marriage/Fake Lover: For certain reasons, the protagonists have to pretend to be a couple or even pretend to be married. In the meantime, they fall in love with each other and the feigned feelings become real.

Forbidden Love: A love that must not be made public. Often, the families hate each other, or the love interest is off limits for other reasons (often matching the trope age gap).

Forced Proximity: Both protagonists can't stand each other, but have to spend time together in a confined space, such as the workplace.

Friends to Lovers: Friendship develops into something more. At first, it's just a slight tingle, but gradually it turns into deep love.

Grumpy x Sunshine: Often, a cheerful protagonist meets a rather grumpy guy. However, he is attracted to her upbeat nature and they fall in love.

Haters to Lovers: The protagonists usually hate each other with a passion at first or come from enemy families/clans/groups, but fall in love with each other shortly afterwards.

He Falls First: The male protagonist falls in love first, while his counterpart still has to figure out their own feelings.

Love Triangle: Here, the protagonists are involved in a love triangle. Usually, two characters are already in a relationship when the third person joins in and causes chaos in the story.

Millionaire/Billionaire: Here, characters from different social backgrounds often find each other. It seems true, then, that opposites do attract!

New Beginning: The protagonist has experienced something terrible and now wants a fresh start. This can be through a change of job or a move, for example, and is when they meet their love interest.

Reverse Harem: Often found in dark romance or romantic suspense books. Here, the protagonist has several love interests and has sexual relationships with them.

Second Chance: The love between two protagonists has failed once before, and suddenly they meet again for certain reasons. Their love gets a second chance.

Single Parent (Single Dad/Single Mom): The protagonist is usually a single parent and has to overcome several hurdles in life. The love interest often doesn't know about the child yet.

Slow Burn: The characters' love story is drawn out and develops very slowly.

Sports Romance: Here, sports play an important role in the story. The sports are often American sports such as hockey, football, or rugby. The protagonists meet during practice and have to compete or train with or against each other, for example.

Strangers to Lovers: The protagonists get to know each other and have no prior knowledge of each other.

With all these tropes, you will surely recognise some stories immediately. The beauty of these tropes is that they can be perfectly combined with each other—such as Forbidden Love and Age Gap (e.g. when a student falls in love with their teacher)—to create new and exciting stories. Who knows, maybe you'll come up with a wonderful idea for a new story right away?