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Great discussion! Thanks.

I love the way both you ladies use this trope in your books! It hooks me every time you use it!

I’d like to read a dollar princess romance one day personally. For context, dollar princesses were common in the Victorian/Edwardian eras and what they are is like. Okay so Oliver Cromwell made it so that nobles no longer made income from taxes on their lands. And as a result some families stayed wealthy due to wise money practices and investment but sometimes all it took for a family to lose it all was one guy with an addiction or gambling habit. So what these broke nobles would do is the heirs to or holders of the title would get marriages arranged to the daughters of recently mega wealthy families (think like Rockefeller or Carnegie type families but I’m not sure if either of them specifically had members who did this). The nobles would be given a generous dowry from the girl’s family and the girl would get a fancy noble title for her family to flash around in high society.

I'm really enjoying these Trope videos. Thank you!😊

On Netflix, there's a couple of great real-life programs called "Indian Matchmaker" and "Jewish Matchmaker". Full of great ideas!

I am reading One Foggy Christmas, and the forbidden love (because the female lead "has a boyfriend") totally works! The way it's done is that the FL was broken up with before she moved to start her internship, but her ex-boyfriend still acts as a boyfriend because they've been dating since third grade and she expects they will get back together when she moves back home. The ML is her boss, so trope crossing.

It doesn't seem that Sarah Eden's method is available anymore.

I've listened to a few of these. This one in particular helped the most with the "why pple like this" discussion (i.e, I can define and identify many tropes, but sometimes I'm at a loss as to why people like them or elements that they like about them, etc.).

Super excited about these trope segments! I'm writing my first billionaire romance now, so this was perfect timing.

Edward and Mrs Simpson...

thank you for this episode - needed! x

I actually love a slow-burn forbidden romance. Those are probably my two favorite tropes. My Greenwood Trilogy is slow-burn and forbidden romance. It's a whole trilogy, because I wanted to drag out that slow burn for longer. lol at the beginning of the story, she's dating one of his closest friends, which is one aspect of the forbidden part. He's also a bit older than her, which is another part of the forbidden nature. I explore their friendship and very slowly developing feelings for each other, but at first not realizing it, and then suppressing it because "No, I can't have feelings for her. She's too young for me, and she's dating my friend." Personally, I loveeeee the way that forbidden romance can add to a juicy slow-burn. It's honestly harder for me to do a slow-burn without a forbidden aspect, because if nothing is forbidden, then why are they holding back? Forbidden love can help make it make sense for both characters to be holding back a lot, suppressing their feelings for a long time, and keeping their feelings from the other character (or even from themselves, while the reader knows full well how much they like the person they're telling themselves they don't like).

Thank you so much for talking about my request! It was so helpful. xx

Also, thanks for the next one : forbidden love that I requested.

Austenland is one of my all time favourite films!

That was so helpful 😊😊😊 thank you 🌹🌹

Another favorite trope of mine. It’s hard to resist this trope.

I think this is my favorite trope. The Stand In By Lily Chu had this trope and I really enjoyed it.

I use this trope some. I’m curious how you two are handling the kindle Villa closing news? I know you both had popular stories in there at one time.

Daddy long legs was made into a film starring Fred Astaire. Loved it, cos I love him!

I didn’t know y’all were still doing videos! Excited to watch them.

This trope is used in all genres. There's a really popular TV show in the UK called "Death in Paradise" it's a cosy crime series set on a fictional Caribbean island, where a British police officer is sent to work. One of the biggest shows in the UK.

Oh, man! Having speed bumps can set the city up for liability. The standard anymore is for speed "humps" which do less damage to the bottom of the car. A neighborhood in the city I worked for wanted them so badly that they were willing pay for them (affluent neighborhood). After a couple of years, they asked for them to be removed because they discovered that teen drivers found they could get air if they hit them at 60 mph. So much for slowing down traffic! lol

I've read some billionaire romances where they are both super rich, but usually it seems to follow that the woman is from a rich family (not self made) and wants nothing to do with the wealth and the lifestyle. I guess it usually falls into enemies to lovers trope too.

I've only read a couple billionaire romances but I think my favorite one so far was Tree for the Billionaire :)

I love both of your billionaire series! I have a billionaire series. With my guys, two of them were really poor while the other two came from families that weren't rich but were well off. I loved playing with the almost embarrassment coming from sudden wealth and not wanting to turn into the snooty kids that had mocked them in high school.

Thank you. I love Billionaire romance novels. I've read Victorines series and loved them. I would love you to cover Forbidden Love trope esp how this would work in contemporary fiction.

I like the twist What Happens in Vegas puts on this trope. They get drunk-married in Vegas and win in the casino, but the judge won't let them get divorced and access the money until they at least attempt to be married for 30 days. So they move in together and they're both "trying" to be married but also sabotaging the other one so it doesn't look like the other one is trying.

I love the idea of your FMC becoming the nanny for the guy who adopted her baby, Victorine! I bet it made for some great emotional moments which are precisely why I love reading. 🥰🥰

There's a lot of overlap between fake dating and fake marriage, right?

this is why the proposal is my favorite rom-com hahah one of my favorite tropessss

While you were sleeping is one of my fav films ever. Love it so much.

10 things I hate about you was a one sided fake relationship.

I've never tried this trope before. Now I'm brewing ideas on how to do this. Thank you!

Yay for marriage of convenience! 🥳 I love these trope talk videos (and I can't wait for fake dating!) but I miss hearing what you guys are doing with your writing and publishing too. Are the long form videos coming back in the future?

I would love it if when you talk about marriage of convenience you tell us what differentiates it from fake dating for you. (Maybe it would even make sense to do those tropes together?) Thanks for these! I'm loving the trope talks.

And What's Wrong with Secretary Kim!

The specific examples of changing the context and why you need it to move the relationship forward were awesome! Pre-establishing the relationship with a date is really fun when it's done well. And I loved all of the side-character notes like the overly competent and put-together work rival and the matchmaker assistant. Thanks for making it so in-depth!

Closet kisses. That's totally a Michelle thing. lol

One thing that ruins this trope for me personally is when the entire book is full of hurt feelings and dwelling on the crappy past as a way to keep the two apart. I read romance for the joy and the good feels, and when the book has a lot of "we're not together because remember this crappy thing this person did and I'm so sad and I feel so awful about myself" I do not enjoy it. That's something to keep in mind while writing this trope, I think. Have whatever backstory you need to have to make the second chance trope believable, but don't have your characters wallow in the sad past. Keep putting in moments of happiness and *good* tension.

As a huge fan of the two of you, I thought this trope talk was a little less successful than the others. I really liked the prior ones with essential characters, essential subcharacters, essential scenes, what scenes do you really want to do well in, and what type of audiences like that trope. I think the examples of the trope are still great, but it feels hard to latch onto the conversation without having all of the core ingredients as talking points. I know these are supposed to be improv, but still! Just like hearing your opinions.

Great talk on this trope. Thanks for doing these.

This is my favourite trope to both read and write. It's always fun watching the characters learn, grow, empathize, and make sacrifices as they go from animosity to love. Seeing them struggle and deny their feelings when they first arise. And of course, banter is the bomb!

That's a good question, Michelle, because this trope tends to be my least favorite unless it's done well.

This is one of my favorite tropes. This and second chance. I struggle with a lot of enemies to lovers because I don't like people being awful to each other. All I can wonder is why they could fall in love with someone who treats them so poorly. It's not a healthy relationship. If the author handles it well though, I can get through it.

I love your insights, ladies, and appreciate your discussion on this topic.

I love this new series’s. I look forward to hearing more.

More of my books are second-chance than anything else. Even when romance isn't the main theme. Great discussion, thanks! 😍

Yay! Great to see you!❤

What a nice coincidence: earlier this evening, I was at the Kindle store, and requested a sample of Jennifer Hilt's The Trope Thesaurus: Romance. Wanting to know more, I was here on YT looking for videos. I looked at my notifications feed, and saw the title of this video. I was wowed at the timing: I wanted to learn more about tropes, and in my feed was a video about a specific trope.