Discussion What are the tropes that you hate in a romance novel?

What are the tropes that you hate in any novel that has romance as it's genre or subgenre? Why do you hate it?

I usually set my bars low if there's romance involved but there are a few things I can't tolerate.
1. Saving the beauty trope
"I saved you so repay me with your body or marry me, even if you don't know me."
2. Master and Disciple
I just can't with this. If ML (master) & FL (disciple), you almost cannot see any progress with the FLs character. FL most of the time can't stop being a damsel in distress. If reversed, usually it's either the FL (master) becomes part of her disciple's harem or FL and ML falls in a very toxic relationship
3. Incest for no d*mn reason
4. The rape-y ML
Author-san be like: "He's rape-y BUT he made it up to her by marrying her and being a 'good' husband. And besides, the deed is done so FL WILL be satisfied after they marry because ML is rich, handsome, and will save her in everything."

 

Everyone fell for the MC tropes or just harem in general. I just hate the way the MC unnecessarily become the center of the universe with no explanation as to why and I think we all know what the answer is. Because the author say so...

 

1. Harem or Reverse Harem or the MC flirts with many candidates throughout the novel but ends up with one only in the end
2. Rape or Reverse Rape
3. Very large age gap (If it's over 7 years I am dropping it)
4. Step sibling relationships

 

I agree with everything ^_^. But also, do you remember reading fairytales as kids, the types where the prince or hero saves the princess and the king gifts her to him as a reward?

Anyway, tropes I hate - bully and victim become lovers, ew. Adoptive parent and adopted child .

 

1.The trope where FL goes from one crappy ex to another crappy ml but his action is justified or forgiven (Remarried Empress: both Sovieshu and Heinly are jerks but as the latter is the ml , his creepy actions are pardoned cause he licks Navier's foot. She should not have ended up with either of those two. Cause in recent arc Sovieshu and Navier ends up together. And of course the nobles are portrayed as the good guys and slaves are just greedy and problematic)
2.Unnecessary girl Vs girl crap and punishing the female villainess way more than the male villains (Sister in this life I'll be the queen: Isabella gets the worst punishment in every way but Caeser gets a slap on the wrist despite him betraying the FL). Imagine if these two actually worked together. But we know it'd never happen, only one girl is allowed to shine unless the other girl is a total simp for FL. No in between. (That's why I like Yuna from beware of the villainess. She's sarcastic, calls out Melissa when she's doing something stupid, has her own agenda and helps Meslissa without turning into a simp. I just want a normal female freindship.
3. Evil sisters. So tired of this.
4. ML has no characteristics outside being a simp for FL.
5. ML sleeps with a drunk FL that's unable to consent but it's okay as he's hot and was virgin too
6. ML is virgin but somehow becomes a s*x king in his first night and of course has 2 feet pp (exaggerating but you get the idea)

1.Boy do I agree with this! I hate the step siblings or adopted siblings relationship trope. IT iS oKAy cAuSe tHeY ArE nOt ReLaTeD. Like get outta here

2. I hate love triangle. And in most harem FL chooses the crappiest ML out there.
3. I dropped many manhwa because of rape.
4. Huge age gapes also yikes me out especially one is barely adult.

 

he did WHAT??????? IN WHAT CHAPTER?

 

You made a very solid point! I dropped remarried empress after 70 chapters. It's just not for me. I don't like both guys tbh.

And where do I start about this. I think male characters (especially in mature theme) only exist to want to bed the fl just like how the female characters exist to want to bed the ml.

And of course fl can't have supportive female friends/family because women in manhwa/web novels are jealous hating bitches who just have it out for fl. Lol...

 

You're wiser than me. I should have done that. I've heard many people dropping it after the divorce cause they didn't like it after that.

Figure of speech. Btw who's those characters in your profile pic? Which manhwa is it from? They look cute

 

why isnt this in the novel general section i could have earned more nuffies

*thinking Orris noises* hmm i agree with a lot of the ones already said
reading a character take advantage of a drunk mc always makes me want to punch the author peace was never an option
A lot of obssessive/yandere love interest stories are really hard to stomach especially because authors like to make the main character clueless helpless or both
amnesia plots arent usually fun to read... actually, i think i never enjoyed reading them
and i always thought evil antagonist has evil brainwashing powers but the love interest will always find a way to break out of it is complete bs
broken engagement in the beginning but they come back after mc becomes a powerhouse and mc just forgives them since they are a love interest what why

an 8 year age gap isnt always that big of an age gap irl tho. Eight years between older ages like 33 and 41 doesnt sound like something is off but 18 (or lower ) and 26 is a little

 

Runaway and separation. If you need that to strengthen the relationship then that relationship is doomed and isn't going to last long. It's not going to be secure as you know that when things get hard, the other party is ready to dip anytime it isn't favorable to them anymore and then gaslight you into saying it's because of you. Then there's going to be guilt. It's not a solid relationship base on trust but just a relationship base on obligation to make amends. Also the one where the mc questions the ml just because someone who obviously is against their relationship say something bad about the ml and the mc as usual would jump to conclusions without trusting the ml. You don't want that kind of prick to be with you.

 

Well, personally, I hate hypocrites and overly-filial characters.

For example, there was this male lead who had married a rich wife. And he had been enjoying the benefits of his wife's wealth so far. Like getting promotions at work due to his father-in-law's connections, living in a huge mansion bought by his wife's family and getting waited on by servants and so on and so forth.

Then one day, the male lead's parents from the countryside came down to visit. And they started criticizing the wife. For example, the mom complained that her daughter-in-law did not know how to save money as all the food in the fridge were bought from an upmarket supermarket. She wanted her daughter-in-law to shop at an open air market instead. And then when the male lead's parents saw the servants preparing dinner, they complained that their daughter-in-law were wasting money by hiring too many servants. The mom said all the women in their village could easily prepare a dinner for 4 without outside help. Also, when they learned that the servants cleaned the mansion, they asked the wife why couldn't she just clean the mansion by herself.

At that point, the husband who had been quietly enjoying the benefits of his wife's wealth also turned on his wife. He told his wife to think about his parents' suggestions (i.e. buying cheaper food and firing the servants).

And I was like, "OK, why don't you leave the mansion and go shack up with a village girl then, Mr. Husband?"

 

Harem.
I believe if harem exist in a novel, romance cannot.

 

Idk man my preference. Maybe I can accept 8 but 10? 15? Hell nah (oh and 18 and 26? I am calling the police )

 

When you're both adult it's actually not a problem. When I was 21, I dated someone who's 10 years older than me. And he didn’t look old tbh, so there's no problem. My last bf was 6 years older and there's no problem either. But if the 10 years age gap is between minor and adult, then it's big no.

 

A lot of them have been said but one which I hate too much is when the main character (Mostly female) goes back in time and ends up with the person who was disgusted with her and abused her in her previous umm..... life? run? just because she suddenly decides she doesn't want to marry/like him anymore.

 

Well I guess that's a preference. A 18 year old and a 26 year old are at a different stages of life - the 18 year old just got out of teenage and would need atleast 2 years to become a adult mentally while the 26 year old is mature enough to be called adult. A person should atleast cross the age of 20 to date someone very old from them.

 

Ooh ooh one thing popped up in my mind immediately.

It's those usually cinderella-y plots where the poor guy/girl has to pretend they are rich and stuff (sometimes the rich person even forcibly sets them up) - I hate this so much. It's generally where one party feels the need to force someone to be someone they're not just for their own "face".

 

For me its the nerfing of FL just to make the ML look good/realiable. Suddenly she's making mistakes/weakened/etc.. just for the ML to swoop in and saves her lol.

I get that it's mainly done to get the romance rolling but ugh, there's still better ways to do it rather than just simply weakening the FL for romance plot device.

 

Figure of speech. Btw who's those characters in your profile pic? Which manhwa is it fr

What? He was literally mooching off from his wife's money, a gold digger now acting like his wife needs to save money? That's why women should not marry gold diggers. Ugh just by reading it, I'm getting angry. How he's a mL? Please tell me the wife leaves his gold digging butt.

I'm sorry but 21 and 31 is huge not only because of different life experience but also one's brain hasn't been developed yet, others not only fully developed but it's been for a quite time. If a man in his 30's goes for a girl in his early 20's he's a creep to me. I'd walk to opposite direction if a guy like that approaches me. Man in his 30's can't pull a woman in his same age means, these same age women saw through his bs when younger girls couldn't. If I'm 31, 21 years old boy would feel like a child to me.

 

I really like urban novels so one thing I CANNOT tolerate is urban harems. Harems are bad enough but put them in an urban setting and they get unbearable. Especially, because literally everyone is monogamic and the MC comes around and says, "I've got a few wives already, be my next one." and the FLs act like it's completely normal!??

Cheating is another one that I dislike for obvious reasons. This is actually a big part of why I don't read English published romance novels. It's too common of a trope there. t least in terms of romance, web novels are a little reassuring because you know that if there's a cheater \, he's going to get what he deserves. Might be a little childish but it doesn't skimp on satisfaction.