When you're a romance reader, it's both empowering and helpful to learn what plot devices, tropes, characters and familiar elements of romance constitute your particular catnip. If you know you like May/December romances, or stories about characters who struggle with speech impediments, and you know those make the mental prairie dog poke his head out and say GIMME READ NOW, it gets easier to shop or find books that will make you and your mental prairie dog happy.
Oddly, it took me awhile to figure out what my catnip was when I started reading romance. I shopped by dress color on the cover, and I did in fact harbor the idea that they were all the same. OH HOW WRONG I WAS. Arranged marriages are very different from guardian/ward romances, and an arranged marriage in historical Scotland (ACH LASSIE) is different from an arranged marriage in Regency London. Identifying your catnip means you can find the books that will make you most happy and find them faster. Win!
I asked the posse here what combination of plots or tropes constitutes their catnip, and here are their answers.
Sarah: One of my biggest: forbidden or resisting romance. Forbidden, like, not because someone's big brother will have a poutypants problem (feh), but because there are real reasons why those two being together would be problematic – but not so big that I have to accept a happy ending that's entirely made up for farted rainbows.
A close cousin is the resisted, e.g. I'm not supposed to like you/I don't wanna like you/I don't want to like you/ I can't stop thinking about your hair DAMMIT romance. Oooh, I love that.
And the hero who keeps his feelings to himself not because he's angry that he has them, but because he doesn't think the heroine would welcome his attentions, or that his feelings for her are good for her.
The obvious example of that last one is The Heart of Devin MacKade by Nora Roberts ($1.99: A | BN | K). When I was tweeting about it being on sale last week, so many people had that same reaction – the transcription of Good Book Noise®. Devin is a caretaker and a strong dude, and has deep feelings that he's comfortable with having, but not comfortable with sharing because he doesn't think it would be good for Cassie to know how he feels. Oooooh, I love that. A hero with a strong and fixed inner moral compass and comfort with emotions can make up a lot of my catnip.
Elyse: I'm a sucker for fairy tale tropes. I don't care how old I am, I want songbirds to braid the heroine's hair. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite, probably because my second favorite trope is a non-traditional hero.
I like it when the hero is different: a virgin, painfully shy, nerdy, scarred, younger than the heroine, other-abled etc. It sounds like I'm a jerk to the hero, but I think I like it when the traditional power dynamic between the hero/heroine is subverted.
And I love a broody, wounded hero thanks to all those gothics…
Too Wicked To Tame by Sophie Jordan ( A | BN | K) has a great gothic hero.
When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James ( A | BN | K) is probably my favorite tale romance.
Carrie: I like scientist heroes and heroines – in general, I like people who are funny and smart. I love a kick ass woman but I love them whether they use martial arts skills to beat people up or their brains to figure things out – I like the idea that there are many ways to be strong. I love an omega hero – someone who is secure without being an alpha, someone respectful and nurutring. I love clear communication and I love it when two people can depend on each other. I love it when the heroine saves herself. I think the crux of romance is when two people accept each other for who they are, help each other grow, and have one another's back.
I also love it when one person has some sort of disability — for instance, dyslexia in Bet Me ( A | BN | K), or the leg wound in Sum of All Kisses ( A | BN | K) — and love doesn't fix it – but the support of the other partner DOES help the person better take care of themselves, help the person maximize their health, and better appreciate their strengths. And I have to admit that as someone with serious body image issues and tons of scar tissue, I adore it when one partner is scarred and the other parter treats the scars as a sign of strength and endurance – not in a fetishist way, but as part of acceptance and appreciation for who the person is and what they've survived.
I wouldn't say Sum of All Kisses is the pinnacle, because of the problems the ending, but Bet Me, What Happens in London ( A | BN | K), Skies of Gold, ( A | BN | K) and Riveted ( A | BN | K) are good examples. Actually Sum of All Kisses is a perfect example of how sometimes your personal catnip can overcome other problems with the book – I REALLY liked the banter and the treatment of the leg injury, so much so that when things got weird I was willing to gloss over it. (Carrie's grade: A- | Sarah's grade: C+)
Above all, I love humor! Snark, bring me snark! Even the most angsty story can employ humor and I love banter and wit.
RedHeadedGirl: We all know that, like a 16 year old boy being told “This is SO GROSS. Try it!” I can't resist “This book is SO AWFUL, no one should read it.” (stuffed plushie erotica notwithstanding).
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
Plus sassy heroines with have that “Slap slap kiss” (without actual slaps) dynamic as demonstrated by Beatrice and Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing. I love that. I love quick, snappy dialogue and sassing back and forth at each other. They don't need to have known each other previously, but when the sparks fly from minute one and they're both sniping while not being able to stop thinking about the other one's hair, dammit (or abs, as the case may be)…. that's a happy sigh book.
Amanda: Oh god, this is like trying to pick my favorite Girl Scout cookie.
Second chance romances: I have a thing for couples who either can't get their crap together or realized they missed out, way back when.
Simply Irresistible by Rachel Gibson ( A | BN | K) is one.
Hot Finish by Erin McCarthy ( A | BN | K) is a good example of the first. I love the Fast Track series, though I desperately need to catch up. I just want to shake the characters and yell at them (in a totally supportive and constructing way) that the man/woman they need is RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEIR FREAKING FACES.
Love/Hate or Enemies to Loves:
Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night by Kresley Cole ( A | BN | K) is my everything! Werewolves and witches are enemies. Naturally. And said werewolf can't possibly fathom that his mate is a witch, especially when he was already mated in the past. Seriously, it's the perfect book for this trope and, for me, it's all about the tension.
Also, in my honest opinion, these sorts of plots have the best sex scenes.
So, what about you? Which books are the best example of your absolute favorite tropes and characters? What parts of romance are your catnip?
On the topic of librarian heroines (they are NEVER the heroes – which would be interesting)…it is very hard to find the good ones @laj, I feels your pain! My best recommendations are: Elizabeth’s Peters’ Die For Love (mystery about romance writers) and her other books with Jacqueline Kirby….Linda Howard’s Open Season (ignore the description in Amazon – it’s better than that!)…Julia Harper’s (aka Elizabeth Hoyt) Hot (which it totally is!). Good luck!
While (because?) I prefer erotica to romance, I prefer the heroine who isn’t 100% clueless and inexperienced about sexuality and her own body. I think a smart, confident woman who knows what she wants and can ask for/expect is sexy (in real life as well as books). By contrast, I tire of the pure/virginal/pristine heroine who has never figured out what she likes (You’ve had breasts for *how* many years and never touched them?) and relies on the hero to show and tell her that sex can indeed be fun.
Funny you mention The Heart of Devin McKade! I just started it………actually I had never read the McKade bros series and have been on a glom. Nora’s series are restful. I use them as a palette cleanser. I also enjoy the older H and H’s………being of an age myself :-). For some reason I also like the historicals that write about gaming hells and women and men that run them. Don’t know why as I dont gamble, but I think I could take a hand or two of whist.
Fun thread, thanks!
I forgot to mention that I also like time travel.
So, on my Goodreads account I organize my bookshelf by category. On each shelf I first have the category listed, then the subsequent information. The cateogries are as follows: author, classified (like DNF, ebook, book group, etc.), genre, in-ownership, series, trope, and wishlist.
Without question, the number of entries on my Trope category are the most epic. So epic, in fact, that they take up three pages of the GR bookshelf sidebar. The tropes that immediately come to mind are time travel, unrequited love, ugly duckling, impoverished heroine, heroine in servitude/class divide, beta heroes, older male teacher/guardian roles, hero or heroine handicapped or disabled (blind, deaf/mute or mental or physical illnesses/injuries), virgin heroes, what I call the Darcy Trope (starchy hero gets un-starched), genius/cerebral heroes, plus sized heroines, nerdy/super intelligent heroine. I mean, I could just keep going.
I have an affair with tropes, and honestly if a book doesn’t hit with at least one trope that makes me go “OH DEAR GOD YES!” then I typically don’t read it.
I’m a snob like that.
my catnip is people who have known each other a long time maybe from childhood who aren’t necessarily friends, but find love. Also second chances, reunited couples, feeling like things happen for a reason (even if I believe this less in real life) and a feeling of destiny.
Also good, nice, decent people who treat each other well. **
(nothing makes me hate a book more than when one character does something I consider totally unnecessarily mean to another person.)
Also people taking principled stands for what they believe in, (not so much them giving up their beliefs).
Also people (particularly the heroines) who are good at what they do. I can’t think of a book where the man is bad at what he does, but there are lot of books and tv shows where the heroine is bad at her job/other things (like driving)
Also books where families make a mess of everything; rather than “solve” all the problems. (Although I also like books with nice families.)
Love second chance romances. One of the first romances I ever read was Paradise by Judith McNaught, and it’s always been catnip for me. I also love gentle giant heros! Not
over-the-top alphas, but good, strong heroes, both mentally and physically. Jamie from Outlander is kind of what I mean—although, for me, he is in a catnip category all his own. Would love some recs for other books with this trope.
There are a few of tropes that I really like. The first is re-untied lovers. I just love when a couple gets thrown together years after their relationship imploded. There’s just something about people finding their way back together.
Second is friends to lovers. People who have known each other forever realizing that their relationship is deeper than they thought? Hell, yeah. Plus, it has a bit of the forbidden love thing thrown in from time to time: “I can’t be in love with her; she’s my friend. It will ruin our relationship.” I just finished re-reading Candace Camp’s An Affair Without End and the reason I love that book so much is that Oliver and Vivian knew each other forever before giving in to the lust that they hadn’t realized they had for each other and it allowed them to see something in each other that they didn’t know was there before.
Last, is what I call “surprise, I’m a spy!” This is something I love in my t.v. shows—Chuck always had the best reveals (my favorite was when Morgan found out the truth) and I always wonder what would have happened had Amanda told her mother about her real job on Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Unfortunately, I have trouble finding good books with this trope. I love the Pink Carnation Series, but with that ending next year I need to find some others. Candace Camp has a good one, but I can’t think of the name now. If anyone has any suggestions, I’d love them.
My favorite tropes include beta heroes (all that nurturing and respect! Swoon!), friends-to-lovers storylines, rock stars, and chefs. And yes, I’m fully aware of the contradiction that makes me prefer my rock star or chef heroes to also be beta. I can’t help it. Sorry.
Tangent: can somebody please write a friends-to-lovers romance between a beta chef hero and a rock star heroine? My collection would be complete. Thanks.
Here’s the thing. Competence is very, very attractive to me. Somebody who cares enough about something to become expert at it is somebody I can respect and admire. That goes for anything from automotive mechanics, to chemical engineers, to cellists. I happen to be both a musician and a cook, so I like reading about characters who are also competent in those areas. It’s not the glamour or the prestige of the job; it’s (for me) the relatability. So while chefs and rock stars may be frequently stereotyped as alpha douchebags, that stereotype is not what I look for in books about them.
In conclusion, my brain works in mysterious ways.
Catnip is my central reading thing. I am all about the trope. Except I also need the catnippy trope to be well-written, which makes reading like an exciting/terrifying game of Brain Roulette.
My faves:
*Rake/spinster – but only of a particular type. I like either cheerfully dissolute or grimly dissolute rakes, but they have to actually be rakeish. Not that thing where the book tells you he’s scandalous, but really he’s pretty boring. They should be rakeish enough that they have a moment of realizing “I am a terrible prospect and no decent woman should consider me as a husband.” The spinster has to be both flustered by the rake, and also bright and grown-up and fairly cognizant of what’s happening. (I also like it when rakes get stiff and formal and kind of judgmental about the heroine’s behavior – hey, no going shopping without your maid, miss! Which is probably terrible.) One of my favorites of this type of catnip is the Heyer novel Venetia. Oh, Damerel. *fans self*
*I like one of the characters to be slightly sexually unsure. Not necessarily traumatized and/or virginal, but I like at least one of them to be embarking on something new and slightly nervewracking through the relationship. I don’t particularly care which character it is. I am often very charmed by the dynamic in older lady/younger, less-experienced man romances (although, of course, in a historical romance, it’s more likely that the man is, uh, three years younger.) Or the older gentleman/younger lady. I don’t really care, I think I just like the power imbalance, frankly.
*The hero is physically totally into the heroine. I like this so much I wrote in to the Rec League about it, in fact! Anything where the hero gets dry-mouthed and strange when the heroine enters, if the author can really sell me on the hero having that experience, I am pretty likely to want to read it. (I want the hero to actually experience this as overwhelming and awkward-making, not just as “That is an attractive lady.” I have many demands!)
*Forbidden love of too many embarrassing types to list. One variant of this I have just discovered I love, while reading First to Burn by Anna Richland, is officer-enlisted romance. Um, the best, especially if the officer is a woman and the forbidden but hotly competent sergeant is the dude. Oh my goodness, you guys, the competence porn, the muscles, the flustered woman who also has to totally keep it together because she’s an officer and can’t go around blushing. Perfection!
I had to really think about this while reading about everyone else’s catnip. 🙂 I read a lot, but not a lot of romance. When I *was* reading a lot of romance, it was mostly historical and mostly opportunistic – which is to say, I read what I could get my hands on, mostly from the secondhand paperbacks shop. Even though I have now written several romances, I still think of them as Twinkies – a fun treat, not a full meal. Which really isn’t fair given that many romances are very fine books indeed.
Anyway, back on topic, I think my personal catnip would have to be The Challenge. It might be a dangerous situation, it might be a personal conflict, it might be externalities such as opposed relatives or friends, but to me the best stories are the ones where hero and heroine have to mutually overcome a challenge.
Essential to any plot … intelligent characters with snappy dialogue that does not degenerate into bitchiness or meanness.
There is a long list of things I DON’T like in romances, and which largely account for the minor part romances play in my regular reading, but that can wait for another day.
I like my heroes to be cold and heartless rakes. Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer is the best example of pretty much everything I love. Brave spinster, heartless hero, kidnapping, mistaken identity and wonderful secondary characters. Plus it’s a sequel, another thing I love.
I love a scarred or disabled hero. I also tend to love it when the hero gets physically hurt in the actual plot, not just in backstory. I once bought a book because the blurb started with “scarred Waterloo veteran.” Clicked Buy before reading any further.
I also love alpha women. Or any situation where the heroine is somehow dominant. But these books are sadly few and far between. Way too often it seems like the hired muscle is the one in charge instead of the person who actually hired them.
My catnip in romances?
1. Plain Jane heroines who attract the hero WITHOUT a makeover.
2. Heroines with brains and heroes who not only don’t mind, but are proud of her and willing to listen.
3. Heroines who like to protect the big, bad hero (very early Amanda Quick heroines were great at that).
4. Heroes who love, or at least strongly like, the heroine from the get-go.
5. Heroes who believe his lady love is his partner, not someone to be ordered about.
I don’t mind a good damaged hero either, whether his damage is physical or emotional.
Unrequited love/resisted love is catnip for me. I think it goes back to my love for Far from the Madding Crowd because I adore Gabriel Oak so much. Sigh. It’s the heartache of seeing a character think that there is no hope for his/her love that makes the HEA so sweet. Some recent favorites are the last two books of Sherry Thomas’ Fitzhugh trilogy. I had all the feels for the heroine of Ravishing the Heiress, though at times I wanted to slap the hero upside the head for not seeing how amazing she was.
I love heroes with as bit of the (benign) con artist about them. Rupert in Mr. Impossible and Bobby Tom (oh lord, that name!) in Heaven Texas come to mind. In fact, all of the heroes in SEP’s Chicago Stars series have that quality about them. I haven’t forgotten the Lucky Charms or Cal infiltrating his own house, lol. I have laughed my way through a reread of these books.
And if I see ‘marriage of convenience’ in the book blurb, it’s a done deal. Not for contemporaries – the author would have to work awfully hard to get my belief – but it’s tailor made for historicals.
Beauty and the beast is my third catnip; Eloisa James’ When Beauty Tamed the Beast and I know there are others but I can’t think of them.
Good stuff. 🙂
It’s been fun reading all the replies! My most potent catnip lately has been the scarred/damaged hero. I am currently reading Stroke of Genius by Mia Marlowe and am half in love with a cranky sculptor tonight. Have to read the books in Mary Balogh’s Survivors series as soon as they come out. Like Carrie, I am moved when one of the couple is scarred or damaged and the other treats it as a sign of strength, not a weakness.
I really enjoy the fake relationships that turn real, especially in contemporaries. Yay! We can all be friends with hot guys. Three Little Words by Susan Mallory became a keeper for that reason, and because it was also about a reconnection. I am a sucker for a second chance story, too. My marriage was a second chance. 🙂 Recently tore through One More Night by Julia London and have been anticipating Kristan Higgins’ Waiting on You.
@ Bamaclm – try Lily Everett’s Shoreline Drive for a contemporary marriage of convenience.
My catnip is quirky romantic comedy with a strong sense of place. It doesn’t have to be a small town, although authorial license tends to nearly guarantee strong sense of place with a small town setting. It just has to resonate. Once upon a time I could identify my catnip fairly easily, they had cartoon covers with squiggly font. But they stopped making those covers so now I have to read the blurbs, and then I have to read the first chapter to make sure some editor isn’t trying to bait and switch me.
I LOVE Wounded Heroes—suffering from either physical or emotional trauma, it doesn’t matter—so long as they don’t take out their frustrations on the heroine. One of my favorites is Sydnam Butler from Mary Balogh’s Simply Love. He’s missing his right eye, has lost the use of his right arm, and is pretty much scarred all along the right side of his body after being captured and tortured by the French. And, oh boy, I just want to give that man a hug. Paranormals are a good source for this trope, too. Most of Kresley Cole’s heroes have suffered from some sort of life-altering tragedy. (I guess that’s what happens when you live for hundreds of years.) I blame this obsession on repeat viewings of North and South as a child. Oh… Orry Main. (Basically, if you’ve got a limp and an accent, I am putty in your hands. And I’m from NJ, so –yes– ‘Southern’ is a perfectly acceptable foreign accent to me.)
Forbidden or Taboo Relationships is another trope that I really like, and I generally lean toward the “Not Quite Family” type of romances. Kristan Higgins has a few where the heroines fall in love with their former brothers-in-law (The Next Best Thing and Fools Rush In), and I totally glommed those. I’m not a huge fan of the “Guardian/Ward” type, but Georgette Heyer has written a few that I’m completely enamored with. Does The Corinthian count? It’s one of my favorites, but Sir Richard is only a self-appointed guardian to Penelope for a few weeks’ time. In any case, I love that Richard falls in love with Penelope long before she falls in love with him, so he goes to great pains to protect her, protect her reputation, and essentially protect her from himself. And all the while, she doesn’t even really view him as a ‘man’…yet. It’s a fun and frothy stew just bubbling over with tropes (the rich orphan, the scheming family members, the arranged marriage, the runaway girl dressed as a boy, the bored rake, the roadtrip romance, etc., etc.) and the end result is simply charming.
Beta Heros are also my catnip. I love kind, gentle, funny, and endearingly goofy heroes. You know what I want to see more of? Heroes like Turnip from Lauren Willig’s The Mischief of the Mistletoe. He is the most adorable hero EVER, and I want to hug him, and squeeze him, and put him in a box, and possibly call him George. Whenever I (accidentally) read a book that has an alpha-hole as the hero, I think of Turnip …which sounds really odd when taken literally. Freddy from Heyer’s Cotillion is another favorite beta hero of mine.
And last but not least: Small Town Cops. This is a new trend for me, which I will call the Van Alstyne Effect, because I started seeking out cops (mostly small town sheriffs) as heroes after reading Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Out of the Deep I Cry. (If you read JSF’s Reverend Claire Fergusson-Chief Russ Van Alstyne’s mystery series, that’s the one where the villain locks the pair of them in a storm cellar—and yes, it gave me the ‘good’ goose bumps.) Unfortunately, I’m not a big fan of romantic suspense (or uber alphas), so I find more cops in the cozies I read than I do in the romances.
If anyone has any suggestions for beta heroes or good-hearted, small town cops, I’m all ears.
Love this thread! I love a lot of the catnip already mentioned here (especially enemies-to-lovers, pining heroes, fish-out-of-water, and humor), but also have a weird one: I love stories where someone is in costume, whether as a mascot, performer, etc. I didn’t realize it till it came out in my own storytelling and my husband pointed it out. It’s the reason I’m such a weirdo in finding _Death to Smoochy_ one of my favorite romance movies, even though it’s not exactly a typical rom-com. Also Ed Norton is pretty hot. Not to mention a beta!
So many good recommendations from this thread! I am SUCH a sucker for my favourite tropes. Right now my faves are: friends to lovers, marriage of convenience/arranged marriage, RESPECTFUL HEROS, books filled with good and decent people/happy families, virginal/sexually unsure characters. But my biggest catnip is Indian romances or books starring Indian characters.
Courtney Milan. That is all. (Really, I can’t narrow it down any further. Because it’s specifically the way she turns the tropes on their head that is my catnip.)
Wow, I can see this is going to be an expensive post.
My personal catnips are doctors/scientists/professors, especially if it’s the heroine. Sadly, as I get older (and more professionally experienced), the science/medicine/professional details need to be fairly realistic. I also love supernatural, though not vampires or shifters, in general. I like supernatural tied into mythology/spirituality but, again, they need to get it “right”. My Norse gods need to be recognizable and/or make sense, for instance. Though if it is a totally made up mythology, I can get into that (N.K.Jemisin, for instance). Heck, I’ll even take modern mythology such as Laurie King’s re-imagining of Holmes.
Doomed love or love against all odds will call to me. Secret babies, if there’s a good reason for the secret. Wounded heroes/heroines. Being in love without recognizing it. These are also good.
Oh, and who said the hero should be the librarian at some point? Should I share a doomed romance of mine (separated by miles, careers, and duty) with a tall, hot librarian who, at night, took off his glasses and was a bad-ass union organizer? Someone should write something like this.
See? I KNEW I wasn’t the only one who felt completely lied to by the cover of “Love Overdue”. I’m really not a contemporary fan – I’m more of a historical romance gal myself (except for m/m romance, which I will take any dang way I can get it – historical, paranormal, contemporary, etc – because when it’s good, it’s GOOD!).
Tere Michaels (I’m not worthy… I’m not worthy….) basically nails every single thing I love about a romance – humor, chemistry, banter, scorching sexytimes…. Yeah. I’m also a big fan of Lynn Lorenz’ Bayou Loup books (m/m paranormal romances – a couple of them feature small town cops as one of the heroes), Willa Okati’s “And Call Me In The Morning” (usually hate hospital romances, but didn’t I say good m/m is my catnip? Because it totally is.)…. this list could go on all night.
I feel like I’m still figuring this out. But I do know that I have a soft spot for scary, dangerous guys who are secretly sweet. Really, any character who seems to be one thing and is really another is kinda fascinating. Also nuanced characterization, capable women, and turning familiar tropes on their heads. Like in the Nora Roberts book with the comic book author and the ex-actress house restorer that I’m blanking on the name of. When the heroine’s ex shows up on a motorcycle, and then turns out not to be a douche, but rather a sweetie and a big ol’ geek, it made my day.
my favorites are:
hero or heroine (sometimes both) has always loved the other for years (The Second Bride by Catherine George, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton. Seduce me at Sunrise, Behind Closed Doors by Oliva Rupprecht)
2. marriage of convenience (both historical and contemporary-pregnant or not H is father or not) Sweet Lullaby by Loraine Heath and Morning Glory by Lavyrle Spencer, Bright Than the Sun by Julia Quinn
3. Friends to Lovers (Best Laid Plans by Sarah Mayberry, Pure Temptation by Vickie Lewis Thompson, Let Me Be the One by Bella Andre (Ryan’s story)
I love it when the hero chases the heroine hard and she doesn’t really want a relationship right then. When the hero wants the commitment and the marriage and the heroine is like, I don’t have time for you, and get out of my face. I know everyone else hates this trope, but I absolutely love fated mates, or if not fated, some sort of mate bond where the hero knows exactly what he wants, and that is the heroine. Biggest turnoff: slutty heroes terrified of commitment. I just recently realized that that might be why I don’t like most Regency romance.
Several of my buttons have already been mentioned: pining heros, beta heros, starchy heros, Beatrice&Benedict;… (Yep, I’m all about the hero)
A few *not* mentioned: Short heros. Socially awkward heros. Love love LOVE the “Crouching Doofus Hidden Baddass” trope (aka Scarlet Pimpernel Syndrome). Especially if the hidden badass is a thief, a spy, or an assassin, or all three.
Umm, did somebody mention Miles Vorkosigan? How many of my weaknesses does he hit?
Tropes! I think about this every so often so here goes:
1) Reunions. I love when the H/Hr reunite after failing the first time. Actually, the reunion could occur off screen or during the course of the book. Simply Irresistible by Rachel Gibson is a good example, as is Salt Bride by Lucinda Brant. Even better is if there’s a secret baby that results from the separation.
2) Imperious, scary heroes and b*tchy heroines. I feel like these two can be equals, looking down on regency society together. They are richer, more aloof, and cutting to the ton but loving with each other. Examples of this are Serena and Ivo in Bath Tangle and Mary and Vaughn in Seduction of the Crimson Rose.
3) Scarred, damaged heroes who are healed by the heroine. I mean, not magically fixed, but feel better and learn to love. Lord of Scoundrels, Always and Forever by McNaught.
4) Romances that portray married life or relationships, instead of just ending with the wedding. SEP does this sometimes, like with Jane and Cal, and I love seeing how well they evolved and meshed with each other. Another good example of this is The Wild One by Danelle Harmon.
Two of my favorite tropes are the damaged hero with a secret (like he can’t read, has ADD, etc), or where the hero and heroine have completely different careers and judge each other by them. The specific example I can come up with for the second catnip is Girl Least Likely to Marry, where she is a astrophysicist(?) and he is a former NFL player. She assumes he is dumb because of what he used to do, and he spends the book trying to convince her otherwise (he has like a phd in english lit or something).
My catnip is second chance romance, especially when it is the prodigal bad boy who made good coming back to the town that shunned him. Of course, I can’t think of a title off the top of my head except the Harlequin title I’m reading now by Kimberly Holt. lol.
I mostly have-anti catnip: any book that features a heroine that has the same name as my daughters, parents, siblings or aunts/uncles. That creeps me out.
I love geeky heroes/heroines (like Mac in Heaven and Earth by Nora, or Rebecca in The Fall of Shane Mackade, or, for that matter, Percival Whyborne in Jordan Hawk’s Whyborne and Griffin books). I love second chances (a recurring theme in my own writing). I love characters who think they’re not good enough for their partners, when it’s really obvious to the reader that they’re exactly what their partner needs.
I love books set in 19th and early 20th century North America. I love the kind of paranormal where it’s normal people dealing with the supernatural, as opposed to being supernatural themselves (although, to a lesser extent, I do like shifters, too).
And there’s a certain kind of writing when it comes to love scenes that just does it for me. I can’t describe it except to call it kind. I wish there was a way to search for novels with kind love scenes…
1) Strong heroines: intelligent, have a plan for what they want (even if that plan goes somewhat awry), and being a social outcast due to this “weird” intelligence is a plus. Bonus points for the previously mentioned Beatrice/Benedick chemistry with the hero.
2) Supernatural elements. Vampires especially make me spend money, and bonus points if they’re Scottish ones, lol. I’m not so big into werewolves, but I blame Richard from the Anita Blake series for that.
3) Period pieces, especially Regency.
4) I will admit, there are times when all I want is the silliest, most purple-prosed sex scenes wrapped up in a teal-and-fuchsia bow. I want the Magic Hoo-Ha to conquer the Mighty Wang. I want plot moppets and pirates and secret pregnancies. I once read one where the plot moppet the hero was raising turned out to be the heroine’s long-lost daughter from her previous marriage that was taken from her by her evil in-laws (I think. I was 13.). At one point, the seducing involved a settee designed to “entertain” several ladies at once. And it was awesome.
@Aliyah Oh my God, I’m reading How Beauty Met the Beast right now and it is SO TOTALLY MY CATNIP I CAN’T EVEN. I am making Good Book Noise really loudly and freaking out my dog. Thanks for the recommendation!
My catnip is very similar to Elyse’s and Carrie’s catnip. Knowing this is good for me but bad for my bank account because I suspect I will be auto-buying everything they review from here on out.
OK, way late to this post but I wanted to contribute! I love friends to lovers, and especially the subset of “friend’s little sister”. I also love geeky, nerdy, sciencey characters (heroines or, even better, heroes). I love gentle heroes who are nurturing and kind to the heroines.
Many of my favorite tropes come from romantic suspense because that’s one of my favs. For instance, I love crazy serial killer stories. I also am a huge, huge sucker for when the hero has to protect the heroine, especially when he needs to move in with her. I know it is entirely unrealistic and ridiculous—no cop/FBI agent/CIA operative/etc would ever, ever do that….and yet I LURVE it so! Honestly that’s probably my favorite trope of all.
And this one probably makes me sound like a burgeoning psycho, but I love stories where someone almost dies (usually near the end) and that is the kick-in-the-ass that the other person needs to realize how much they need the other. Those moments of pure terror always reveal so much about the relationship. (And if anyone has any suggestions or titles or of how to search for books like this, I’d love to hear it! Most people consider this a spoiler so it’s not mentioned in reviews, but I want to know!)
@Jen I have no idea how to go about searching for that particular plotline, but thought I would throw out my suggestions for books that fit. All of my suggestions are books that I think specifically address when a character almost dies and this causes a huge epiphany in the other character. For anyone else reading the list, if you consider this a spoiler, you have been warned. Since I read a ton of historical romances, most of my suggestions are for that, with a few romantic suspense.
Historicals: Secrets of a Summer Night – Lisa Kleypas; Dreaming of You – Lisa Kleypas; The Viscount Who Loved Me – Julia Quinn; Taming Rafe – Suzanne Enoch; The Care and Feeding of Pirates – Jennifer Ashley; More than a Mistress – Mary Balogh; Challenge to Honor – Jennifer Blake; The Least Likely Bride – Jane Feather; Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake – Sarah MacLean.
Romantic Suspense: Black Ice – Anne Stuart; Thread of Fear – Laura Griffin
I enjoyed all of these books, although some of the older ones are more problematic than others. But they all have great scenes with near death experiences and show how this affects the romance.
Also, Something About You by Julie James is super fun. It has the FBI hero move in with the heroine and a near death experience, although I wouldn’t necessarily say the h/h come to any new realizations about their feelings, as those were established before the villain tries to kill them.
Historicals with book-loving characters. Bonus points for heroes who give heroines their libraries or crates full of books.
Fairy tale retellings, usually Beauty and the Beast-type stories more often than others. (And it probably explains the book-loving characters preference.)
The third one would probably be good space adventure romances.
Anything where a woman pretends to be a man. I think it’s because I loved Alanna: The First Adventure SO MUCH when I was little that I’ll put up with the overall ridiculousness of the idea.
Love/hate: smart, super nerdy heros or heroines. I love it when it’s done well, or when it has anything to do with ancient history. Those Connie Brockway and Loretta Chase novels where the characters are Egyptologists or the like? I LOVE THIS. I’ve read every Amelia Peabody novel. But the ones where the author hasn’t put very much time into making the character’s genius believable drives me crazy. Sarah McLean, in One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, which most people really liked, really upset me. The heroine was supposed to be a genius because she basically spent all her time doing the equivalent of fifth grade science projects. Her observations were really elementary and seemed like the author wasn’t willing to put in the work to show the reader that Pippa really was smart.
Hate: high school loves reunited. This may be because I got dumped for my ex’s high school girlfriend, admittedly.
@Eliza – if you haven’t, check out “Almost A Scandal” by Elizabeth Essex. A young woman masquerades as a boy in order to serve in her brother’s place as a midshipman. I am normally not a fan at all of when a woman pretends to be a man (although I am a longtime Alanna fan, too!) because I generally find it to be horribly done, but I thought this was really excellent in all ways.
GR link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13167142-almost-a-scandal
And I totally agree about One Good Earl. I may just not be a fan of the author’s style, because a couple of times now I’ve felt befuddled by the high ratings of something in that series.