Top Ten Tuesday – Loves and Loathes In Romances

By Rachel

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Loves and Loathes In Romances

Ohhh, this was a tricky one. I know what I like and what I don’t like when I’m reading it, but trying to put those things into a list was surprisingly tough! Especially because I know I like things that others don’t, or things that I know I shouldn’t… but I do anyway!! Then of course, there’s always exceptions to the rules!

Loves in Romances

1. Romantic declarations of love, feels and swoons: This can be so hard to get right because it can come across as so cheesy, but I just can’t help but love when characters say those movie-script style lines that make your heart melt!

Swoon gif

2. Absolute and total banter: I LOVE when characters have banter. Banter is a pretty big deal where I’m from, and I personally love it – sarcasm, playful teasing, chemistry – call it what you will, but I need the bant!

playful banter gif

3. Characters with issues who help each other/see beyond it: No one is perfect, and I love when characters help each other with the struggles in their lives.

crying gif

4. The Build-Up: I love the tension, the suspense and I love it when the reader is in on it but the characters aren’t. This does become a dislike if it drags on for too long though.

this is the best gif

5. All the tropes you’re not supposed to love, but you do: The I-fell-in-love-with-my-brother’s-best-friend, the we-were-childhood-friends-who-fell-in-love, the bad-boy-who-turns-good-boy-for-the–one, you can see where I’m going with this…

i like it a lot gif

Loathes in Romances

1. The dreaded Insta-Love: I don’t mind lust at first sight, it happens. But instant, deep and unmoving love at first sight really is grating! (Though it seems to work in paranormal).

Not-This-Again-Reaction-Gif

2. Unnecessary or unreasonable love triangles: I’ve read and even enjoyed some love triangles when they make sense, or add value to the story, but sometimes it feels like they’re just thrown in to add some tension.

frustrated gif

3. Characters being together when it doesn’t make sense, or they don’t even like each other: I’ve seen this a couple of times, where characters are together for no obvious reason, other than popularity or high school hierarchy. Just break up already!

i can't even gif

4. Everyone is perfect, and hot, and stunning, and the male has a floppy fringe, and the female doesn’t even know how good looking she is when she wears trackies and no makeup…

soak up awesomeness gif.

5. Couples who don’t seem to talk, at all: Some couples just don’t seem to talk or even really know each other, and I hate when breakups happen because of a lack of communication when there was no need for it to happen at all!

frustrated angry gif

What are your romance loves and loathes? Let me know in the comments!

About Rachel

Avid reader & #bookblogger. Lover of all things business. A fan of drinks & dancing. Ever optimistic. Feminist.

31 Responses

  2. Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense

    Give me the banter! It’s a good gauge to determine whether someone has a sense of humor, is witty, and doesn’t have to take everything so seriously. It also has a way of getting two characters, even if they are very different, to meet on the same level.

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    1. Rachel

      It does, and I think it’s really important to see that connection – whether characters are similar or opposite, there has to be a personality meld in there somewhere. I LOVE when I can have banter with someone, it just makes it click! R x

      Liked by 1 person

  5. thesepaperhearts

    The declarations of love and swoons are the BEST! I love that part of the romance, but you’re right, too much and it’ll get mushy. I love the tropes too! I know a lot of people look down on them because they are too common, but I guess I haven’t gotten sick of them yet 🙂

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    1. Rachel

      There’s such a fine line in romance between just enough, and too much, and that line is different for everybody. I definitely don’t have the same problem with tropes that others have. The way I see it, they are based on reality somehow, these things do happen to some people, and really – how can you be completely original with a love story? There are so many, that everything is a remix. Some have original elements and when that happens I sing about it from the rooftops lol I guess because I read so many genres and age ranges of fiction too though it breaks it up for me, so it doesn’t feel as repetitive. R x

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  6. BringMyBooks

    Rachel, these are perfect! You hit on a few that I like/loathe as well, and also brought up a few I didn’t even remember I loved/hated until I saw them here! (Examples: the declarations of love (how did I miss that??) and helping each other through issues (this one is beyond words perfection!!!).)

    Also, can I just say that you do a remarkably good job with your GIFs here? I especially love the one from Mean Girls … bahahahaha!

    Great list 😀

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    1. Rachel

      Hi, Lindsey! I’m a sucker for the declarations of love, even though I know internally I’m cringing (where are those monologues in real life?!) I can’t help but cuddle my cat a little closer, and sniffle my way through it… lol

      I LOVE my gifs!! As soon as I thought of everyone’s perfection that scene came into my head. I ideally wanted it to be just “sit around and soak up each others awesomeness”, but I could only find the whole thing! This mostly came into my head because me and Stef from Caught Read Handed did a Mean Girls quote comment-off a while back that lasted for days! Lol R x

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Girl in the Pages

    HAHAHA I’m dying looking at your mean girls GIF but it’s SO TRUE. When everyone is perfect looking no matter what situation they’re in, no make-up, middle of the night, etc. So annoying!

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  11. Laura

    DECLARATIONS!!!! Declarations are the best!!!!

    God, that’s the one thing I don’t like in YA contemporary: being with someone because of some stupid high school social hierarchy. Why? Just why? What drew you together in the first place, apart from popularity? Horrid.

    Spot on with the Mean Girls and Lizzie McGuire gifs 😉

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    1. Rachel

      Hahah I love that declarations is in caps!

      I’ve read books where someone COUNTS the number of seconds they have to kiss someone for before breaking away. And they still plan on sleeping with them and being with them because “they’re good together” – I wanted to pluck my eyelashes out one by one in protest!

      Thanks, I LOVE gifs! R x

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      2. Rachel

        Yea – I enjoyed the book this was featured in overall (Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington) but that part did irk me. I remember being young and naive, but not sure if I would have done that! It just seems so… pointless? R x

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