Romance Tropes And Hooks

An extensive collection of over 500 tropes and hooks. Each has a description, and some include examples and variations for crafting romance stories your readers will love.

A deeply emotional standalone romance set in the worlds of professional basketball and high fashion. Divorced. Single dad. Traded to a losing squad. Cheated on, betrayed, exposed. My perfect life blew up in my face and I'm still picking up the pieces. The last thing I need is her. A wildflower. A storm. A woman I can't resist. Lotus DuPree is a kick to my gut and a wrench in my plans from the moment our eyes meet. I promised myself I wouldn't trust a woman again, but I've never wanted anyone the way I want Lo. She's not the plan I made, but she's the risk I have to take. A warrior. A baller. The one they call Gladiator. Kenan Ross charged into my life smelling all good, looking even better and snatching my breath from the moment we met. The last thing I need is him. I'm working on me. Facing my pain and conquering my demons. I've seen what trusting a man gets you. I. Don't. Have. Time. For. This. But he just keeps coming for me. Keeps knocking down my defenses and stealing my excuses one by one. He never gives up, and now...I'm not sure I want him to.

Life isn't a fairytale, but for a few days I got to pretend it was. Now I'm back in my childhood bedroom in New York, eating breakup ice cream and listening to early 2000s emo music. Whatever, this was the wake-up call I needed. It's time for Ria 2.0. No more bailouts. No more half-baked projects. No more impulsive decisions. Simple, right? Except my ex-boyfriend wants to drop the ex part, the three bears aren't so willing to let their Goldilocks go, and their mother is more Wicked Witch than Mama Bear. How am I supposed to pull it together when chaos follows everywhere I go? Golden Chaos is book two of the Three Bears duet. It is a medium burn, reverse harem romance for readers 18+

If he had been with me everything would have been different... I wasn't with Finn on that August night. But I should've been. It was raining, of course. And he and Sylvie were arguing as he drove down the slick road. No one ever says what they were arguing about. Other people think it's not important. They do not know there is another story. The story that lurks between the facts. What they do not know—the cause of the argument—is crucial. So let me tell you...

So, why this book? Why not one of the other "How to Write..." titles? Because everything in Man, Oh Man is geared to the M/M market and the M/M writer, to you and the genre that you love, whether you're an aspiring writer or you're already published. Lambda Award finalist Josh Lanyon takes you step-by-step through the writing process in this, his first non-fiction book: from how to find fresh ideas and strong hooks, to how to submit your carefully edited manuscript. With help from the genre's top publishers, editors, reviewers, and writers -- experts in the field of M/M and gay romantic fiction -- Josh offers insight and experience in everything from creating believable masculine characters to writing erotic and emotionally gratifying M/M sex scenes. Indulge yourself and your dreams... It's within your grasp to be a published author in a growing market. Let Josh show you exactly how to do it.

AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES AND #1 USA TODAY BESTSELLER In the follow-up to It Happened One Summer, Tessa Bailey delivers another deliciously fun rom-com about a former player who accidentally falls for his best friend while trying to help her land a different man… King crab fisherman Fox Thornton has a reputation as a sexy, carefree flirt. Everyone knows he’s a guaranteed good time—in bed and out—and that’s exactly how he prefers it. Until he meets Hannah Bellinger. She’s immune to his charm and looks, but she seems to enjoy his… personality? And wants to be friends? Bizarre. But he likes her too much to risk a fling, so platonic pals it is. Now, Hannah's in town for work, crashing in Fox’s spare bedroom. She knows he’s a notorious ladies’ man, but they’re definitely just friends. In fact, she's nursing a hopeless crush on a colleague and Fox is just the person to help with her lackluster love life. Armed with a few tips from Westport’s resident Casanova, Hannah sets out to catch her coworker’s eye… yet the more time she spends with Fox, the more she wants him instead. As the line between friendship and flirtation begins to blur, Hannah can't deny she loves everything about Fox, but she refuses to be another notch on his bedpost. Living with his best friend should have been easy. Except now she’s walking around in a towel, sleeping right across the hall, and Fox is fantasizing about waking up next to her for the rest of his life and… and… man overboard! He’s fallen for her, hook, line, and sinker. Helping her flirt with another guy is pure torture, but maybe if Fox can tackle his inner demons and show Hannah he’s all in, she'll choose him instead?

The Instant New York Times Bestseller and TikTok Sensation! As seen on THE VIEW! A BuzzFeed Best Summer Read of 2021 When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos. As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.