Uncommon & Underrated Romance Tropes I Secretly Adore
- Bair Klos
- May 15
- 8 min read
Updated: May 29
This is going to be a short and sweet blog post, because lately, I’ve been dealing with burnout. So instead of pressuring myself to show up big by writing a post that is a 15min+ read that takes several hours of writing—followed by several more hours of editing and rewriting—I wrote this 5min read post. This post is to remind myself that showing up for myself in small ways is just as important as completing big projects and accomplishing lofty goals.
So, instead of a craft deep-dive or worldbuilding essay, I wanted to share something a little more personal. A softer kind of offering. A list of romance tropes I secretly (or not so secretly) adore. Because while I’m not someone who actively seeks out romance novels—and while I’ve read and enjoyed romantasy stories like Throne of Glass, ACOTAR, and Fourth Wing (fun fact, I read ToG and ACOTAR years before they exploded on TikTok)—I’m a hopeless romantic at heart. I may not swoon over every love story, but the ones that get me? They stay forever.
There are popular romance tropes we all know and love—enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, grumpy x sunshine. But today I’m not here to talk about those. I’m here to talk about the unpopular, fly-under-the-radar tropes. The slow burns. The emotionally complex. The ones that make you whisper "just kiss already" to your book at 2am.
Here are 8 of my favorites—and the deeper truths they taught me about myself.
1. The Secret Identity Love Triangle… With Only Two People
Fuuuuuuck. I don't know why but I looooove this trope. It's the classic identity mess. One loves the other’s normal self. The other loves the alter ego. One hates the alter ego. The other ignores the normal self. It’s messy. It’s delicious. It’s a screaming match with a little bit of destiny and disguise.
I love this trope because it turns the whole idea of knowing someone inside and out on its head. It’s all about layers—who we pretend to be, who we actually are, and what it means when someone sees through the performance. There’s something painfully romantic about characters falling in love with different versions of each other, only to realize they were already halfway there the whole time. It’s identity, desire, and longing in a blender—and I’ll never get tired of it.
2. You Made Me Want to Live Again
Not “I would die for you” or "I would kill for you" but: “I didn’t want to live at all… until I met you. And now I want to live. For me. For us. For the sunrise.” That shit hits me right in the feels. It's devastating, it's raw. It's powerful and transformational.
This trope has always resonated with the quiet ache I often explore in my stories—the ache of loneliness, of numbness, of surviving instead of living. There's something deeply moving about love that doesn’t swoop in to save you, but reminds you why life is worth saving in the first place. I love when characters gently help each other rebuild the will to exist—not as a savior fantasy, but as something tender and human and real. It's also far more realistic and healthy.
3. Rivals to Lovers > Enemies to Lovers
They’re not trying to kill each other. They’re trying to outdo each other. It’s mutual drive. Intellectual heat. Sparks disguised as arguments. A perfect match they’re both too proud to admit (until, hopefully, they're not. Until, hopefully, they just want to see the other succeed).
I love this trope because it's built on recognition, not hatred. Unlike enemies to lovers, where attraction often blooms out of trauma or violence, rivals to lovers is rooted in mutual respect—no matter how begrudging. They challenge each other not to survive, but to be better. And that kind of growth-driven love? That hits different. It's ambition meeting affection, pride melting into admiration. It's what I hope to genuinely have and find in my own relationships.
4. Pretend Enemies, Real Feelings
They want to hate each other. They’re supposed to hate each other. They might have even hated each other at first. But somewhere along the line without them realizing, the walls fell away, and now every insult is just a cleverly disguised compliment. Now they must pretend to hate each other to save face. And every argument and potential moment to "annoy" each other is just an excuse to be close. And when they’re alone… it’s game over.
This trope is a masterclass in emotional tension. The characters are fighting the wrong battle—not with each other, but with their own hearts. I love how the desire to resist affection only deepens the attraction. It's not about enemies in the traditional sense; it's about people trying not to fall in love, and failing spectacularly. That kind of vulnerability masked as banter? Unmatched.
5. I Hate That I Love You
This trope captures the quiet, internal wars we sometimes fight within ourselves. It’s not about whether they love someone new—it’s about whether they’re ready to. I’m drawn to stories where grief takes its time, where love arrives gently, and where forgiveness isn’t owed but earned (gimme that slow burn, babyyyyy). There’s something incredibly human about watching a character navigate love not in spite of their loss, but through it and because of it.
The trope of “Loving you means letting go of the one I lost. And I’m not ready for that” or the "Accepting and acknowledging this love for you means I've already started to move on from someone I'm not ready to let go of yet" eats me UP. It's emotionally devastating in the best way. It's the kind of story that leaves the reader changed as well. Because it's coming to terms with truths you may or may not be ready to face or even handle. And so it comes out in vicious ways because the character doesn't know any better, but they're doing the best they can with where they're at. The hate isn’t real—it’s grief, guilt, fear. But the love is real. And so is the healing.
6. The "I Swear I Kidnapped You For a Good Reason, Plz Don't Hate Me. It Was to Protect You—And I Couldn’t Tell You Until You Trusted Me" Trope
I'll admit it up front, this trope is a little fucked up… but it scratches a very specific itch for me—it’s mythic, symbolic, and filled with restrained emotion. The inability to tell the truth unless trust is earned feels like a love story forged by fate. It puts emphasis on action over explanation, trust over coercion, and creates space for one of my favorite narrative arcs: when care is offered even in the face of rejection. There’s something beautiful and brutal about love that waits quietly to be understood.
A curse. A spell. A divine rule. The captor can't explain why. The captee resents them. But the captor's every action is rooted in love—and once the truth comes out, it’s devastating and beautiful. It’s morally grey. It’s magically tragic. And it's fucked up but I love it anyways.
7. We Were Raised to Hate Each Other, But Now We See The Lies Fed To Us About The Other Side
Enemies by birthright. But the war? The divide? It was built on lies. And now they’re uncovering the truth together. Letting go of the past. And maybe… falling in love while they rebuild what was broken.
This trope speaks to the possibility of healing in the wake of deep generational pain. I love when characters unlearn what they've been taught, when they realize their enemy isn't a person, but a system or belief they never questioned or had been indoctrinated with. The love story becomes not just about romance, but about reclaiming their agency, their history, and their future. It's cathartic, rebellious, and profoundly tender.
8. Forced Proximity: "I Don’t Even Like You, But We’re Stuck Together"
Forced proximity is definitely not a rare trope, but as I was thinking of tropes I genuinely like, I realized this was one of the more mainstream tropes I do enjoy reading. So whether two characters are chained together, shipwrecked and marooned on an island, sharing a room, bound by magic or obligation, I will never tire of this trope. Especially if its paired with the "I hate your guts" trope. It's so good to see the characters get on each other's nerves for entertainment value… until that annoyance becomes fondness. And fondness becomes oh shit, I caught feelings.
I love how this trope forces characters to drop their facades. With nowhere to run, they have to face each other—awkward silences, petty arguments, quiet acts of care and all. It breeds intimacy in unexpected ways, making small moments feel seismic. Forced proximity isn’t just about tension; it’s about closeness without escape, which often reveals what the characters (and the reader) didn’t realize they needed.
What These Tropes Taught Me About Myself
When I sat down to write this post, I thought I was just talking about tropes I liked. But looking back… there’s a pattern. A truth beneath the fiction.
These tropes all reflect something deeper I crave in stories, and maybe in life: love that’s built through trust, not grand gestures; emotional intimacy that unfolds before physical closeness; the slow, aching unraveling of false truths; the choice to grow instead of clinging to power; and the deep, often painful ache of wanting to belong even when you feel unworthy.
And this is why I write, because writing helps me understand myself and the world at large. This is why I write fiction and non-fiction. Because all types of writing can lead to beautiful discoveries and fun rabbit holes.
Closing Thoughts
I didn’t sit down to write something polished today because I’m dealing with burnout—the kind that leaves you feeling hollow but still craving connection. So this post was my small way of showing up anyway. Not with something epic or perfect, but with something real.
I thought I was just rambling about tropes I liked. But as I kept going, I realized these stories all speak to the parts of me that still want to believe in gentleness, emotional truth, and in love that doesn’t demand performance, but invites healing. So if you resonated with any of these, welcome. You’re in good company. We’re all just looking for stories that help us feel a little less alone.
Thanks for reading. I hope you were kind to yourself today.
See you in the next blog~
—Bair✍︎
Where epic fantasy meets philosophical ponderings of the self.
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