What is Romance?
Romance is a genre defined by its happy ending. In fact, a happy ending is so crucial that love stories that do not end with a Happily Ever After (HEA) or a Happy for Now (HFN) are not considered Romance. Typically, Romance focuses on the emotional and physical connections between people. The core story is about the relationship. The characters are expected to go both on personal journeys and journeys together. And, the couple should be better together than without each other. No matter the plot or subgenre, this core story is the heart of any Romance.
What is a trope?
Romance is full of tropes. Tropes are common themes or plot devices. For example, imagine the characters are on a road trip. How does an author get them to spend more time together? Perhaps, the hotel or inn only has one room available, so the characters have to share! To take this trope even further, the room might only have one bed. Will someone sleep on the floor? Will they share? Many authors put their own spin on tropes, but when reading a Romance, tropes can often provide comfort. You know what to expect. And, if you like a particular trope, you can seek out more books that contain that trope.
Trope: Sports
Sports Romance is exactly what it sounds like: romance centered around sports. Typically, one main character is an athlete, a former athlete, or in an athlete-adjacent position, e.g., physical trainer or publicist. In these books, the environment often creates tension. For example, a superstar athlete wants to keep the relationship a secret to maintain their reputation or to protect their partner from scrutiny. In another common example, the athlete left someone, perhaps their high school sweetheart, behind to pursue their sports career, and now they’ve met again and those old feelings rise to the surface.
In sports romances, it’s not all about winning the big game.
Recommendations
After an abusive relationship derails her plans, Adri Rivera struggles to regain her independence and achieve her dream of becoming an MMA fighter. She gets a second chance, but the man who offers it to her is Max Lyons-her former training partner, whom she left heartbroken years before. As she fights for her future, will Adri be able to confront her past?
Elliot Reed is living her best life. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but she's trying really hard. But now that she's landed her dream job as the Strategic Communications Manager for the Denver Mustangs, things are starting to look up. Or at least they were until Quinton Howard Jr. decides to use the field as his stage when he becomes the first player to take a knee during the national anthem. After getting off to a horrible start, Elliot is convinced that Quinton is nothing more than an entitled jerk. But as her new job forces them to spend time together, she realizes they may have more in common than she could've ever imagined.
College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants. For this hockey star, life is a parade of parties and hook-ups, but behind his killer grins and easygoing charm, he hides growing despair about the dead-end road he'll be forced to walk after graduation. A sexy encounter with freshman Grace Ivers is just the distraction he needs, but when a thoughtless mistake pushes her away, Logan plans to spend his final year proving to her that he's worth a second chance. After a less than stellar freshman year, Grace is back at Briar University, older, wiser, and so over the arrogant hockey player she nearly handed her V-card to. If Logan expects her to roll over and beg like all his other puck bunnies, he can think again. He wants her back? He'll have to work for it.
When his wife asks for a divorce, Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.
The past seven years have been hard on Avery Abrams. After training her entire life to make the Olympic gymnastics team, a disastrous performance ended her athletic career for good. Now, reeling from a breakup with her football star boyfriend, Avery returns to her Massachusetts hometown, where new coach Ryan asks her to help him train a promising young gymnast with Olympic aspirations. Despite her misgivings and worries about the memories it will evoke, Avery agrees. Back in the gym, she's surprised to find sparks flying with Ryan. But when a shocking scandal in the gymnastics world breaks, it has shattering effects not only for the sport but also for Avery.
Thaddeus Walker Bowman Owens, backup quarterback for the Chicago Stars, is a man with a low tolerance for divas. Olivia Shore, international opera superstar, has a monumental grudge against the egotistical, lowbrow jock she's stuck with for a nationwide tour promoting a luxury watch brand. When threatening letters, haunting photographs, and a series of dangerous encounters complicate their lives, is it the work of an overzealous fan or something more sinister?
Maya Farlow learned the hard way to depend only on herself, so when she fell too deeply for the bad-boy charms of Del Mitchell, one of five brothers, she did the only thing she could--she ran. Stunned, Del left Fool's Gold to make his name and fortune in extreme sports. Now ten years later, Maya's been hired to promote her hometown's new slogan, The Destination for Romance. The celebrity spokesman is none other than Del, the man she dumped but never forgot. Although Del's not the type to hold a grudge, he's determined to avoid falling a second time for the woman who broke his heart.
If someone were to ask Jasmine Santos to describe the last few years of her life with a single word, it would definitely be a four-letter one. After seventeen years--and countless broken bones and broken promises--she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close. But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she's spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything. Including Ivan Lukov.
If you love Romance books, be sure to check out our upcoming Romance library events!
Saturday, February 11
1:00-2:00 p.m.
Hampton Park Library
Tuesday, February 14
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Hampton Park Library
If you missed part one, click here for Romance featuring Fake Relationships.
Brittany
Information Specialist
Post Road Library
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