Wednesday YA Corner: Tropes I hate

I decided since I have youth group on Wednesdays, I am going to talk about YA books. Today to start it off I am going to list the YA tropes I do not like. I will have three categories. Number 1, Tropes I loathe. These are tropes I will mostly DNF a book if it deals with these tropes. Number 2, Tropes I dislike. These tropes I can handle but will bring a star rate down. Finally, number 3, Tropes not well written. What this means is a trope that is used a lot but I can deal with it as long as it is written well. Most of the time these tropes are not well written.

Tropes I loathe:

1. Love at first sight
   Do I need to explain more on this?
2. The Girl who doesn’t believe in true love
   I don’t like this trope. I understand love isn’t for all people, but a plot built solely on the heroine being proven that true love exists… Ick! Find a better plot.
3. The Mistaken Idenity trope
   Ugh, I think this is one of the top reasons I will DNF a book. If I see mistaken identity, I turn the other direction.
4. First Boyfriend is jerk
   I don’t know what this trope’s actual name is, but it is the trope where the h is already in a relationship with a boy at before the beginning of the book. This guy turns out to be a jerk who doesn’t support her dreams. The H is always supporting her, showing her that he cares. She then realizes she needs to dump old boy then proceeds to get with H.
5. Dead, absent, or clueless adults
   I have read way to many of these stories. I am tired of no supportive parents. It gets old. Fast and in a hurry.
6. Protagonist doesn’t know their beauty
   Another over done trope I’m tired of reading.
7. Protagonist doesn’t fit in/heronie is not like other girls (Manic Pixie dream girl)
   This is overdone. Also, her quirkiness is annoying and not cute.

Tropes I dislike:

1. Mastering combat/magic without proper training
   Not plausible. Give me some training to develope the character
2. The bad boy (especially if he is dark and broody)
   I’m so over the bad boys.
3. The betrayal
   You see this in a lot in fantasy. Someone (mostly the H) betrays the h. It’s becoming an old plot line.
4. Heronie hates everything girly
   I can deal but I will hate the heroine. I am a woman who loves girly some days and other days I’m a tomboy. But I hate when an author wants the h to catch the H’s eye by not being girly and hating everything girly. Get a better personality.
5. Strong woman
   This is kind of like 4 but a bit different. These women normally are Mary Sues. There is no character arc. No personality. Just woman vs man.

Tropes not well written:

1. The love triangle
   There are a few books out there (ex: The Hunger Games) where the trope is written well. Then there are a plethora of books that try to use this but it’s just horrible. (ex: Twilight)
2. Forced proximity
   Depending on the author, this can be done. Most of the time though I cringe.
3. Enemies to lovers
   Unfortunately, this trope is starting to get old and redundit. Most times they aren’t really enemies to lovers because they are all of the sudden together in the second chapter. But there are a few out there that are well written. The author builds up the relationship.