Anna Banks | My Favorite Romance Formulas

We all have our favorite romance trope, the one story that, though we’ve read it a million times with different characters and backdrops, we keep coming back for more. Whether it’s the boy-next-door, the best friend’s older brother, the billionaire wounded alpha, or maybe the marriage of convenience—we know it when we see it, and we buy it on the spot.

Maybe we can relate to the story, or maybe we indulge in reading our ultimate fantasies. Maybe you actually fell for your BFF’s older brother and created memories that resonate with you even now. Or maybe you imagine yourself one day “accidentally” falling into the lap of that well-dressed business man you see on the train every morning, that billionaire who’s been waiting for a reason to talk to you anyway.

My favorite romance happens to be the enemies-to-lovers story. I remember the first time I watched the movie The Cutting Edge. An ex-hockey player has to team up with a diva figure skater to train and then compete in the Olympics. Oh, how they hated each other at first. The lengths to which they resorted to one-up each other on the rink and in life knew no bounds. So when they ultimately fall for each other, the chemistry and passion and suspense was so much more worth it. It left me screaming, “FINALLY!” at the TV screen. It really is one of those movies where you want to push their faces together and make them kiss.

And who can dispute the enemies-to-lovers sparks in You’ve Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? Or what about Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman? Or maybe one of the very first enemies-to-lovers in literature, Pride and Prejudice? And who grew up swooning over Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables? *Raises hand*

My point is, the characters start out with strong feelings for each other in the beginning, so the passion is there, it just needs to be redirected—and the leaps and bounds they have to conquer to bypass their hatred of each other, PLUS any other obstacles they have to overcome to be together, makes the payoff so much bigger. So much more meaningful.

In fact, the enemies-to-lovers approach is how my husband and I fell for each other. We both worked at the same restaurant; I was the hostess and he was the bus boy. We hated each other (we were both sarcastic, smart-mouthed know-it-alls and had never met our match before). I even broke a dish over his head...But, I digress. Since we hated each other, and only spoke to one another when absolutely required, management scheduled us together often. They figured the less talking, the more work would be done. And it went this way for a long time…Until they hired a new bus boy and scheduled him to my shifts. That’s when my would-be husband became irate. When the new bus boy began flirting with me (by parroting every word I said like my husband did), my husband informed him that copying was “our game” and that he wasn’t invited. Game? I was ready to murder him on a daily basis over a game?

And that’s when I realized he had it bad for me. And that he was a little cute. Okay, he was hot, but still infuriating. And maybe I enjoyed getting the last word sometimes, or outmaneuvering him with my ninja vocabulary skills. And maybe it wasn’t as fun being irritated by this new bus boy as it was by him, because clearly New Guy wasn’t sufficient smart-ass competition. Cute, but boring. The truth was, I missed my nemesis. And I had totally fallen for him.

So I guess you could say I have a personal connection with the enemies-to-lovers romance story. What about you? Do you have any favorite tropes? Do you have personal experiences, or do you fantasize about “what if”?

About Anna Banks

Anna Banks is the New York Times bestselling author of the young adult Syrena Legacy series and the young adult novel Joyride. She also wrote an adult sci-fi romance, Degrees of Wrong, under her pen name Anna Scarlett.

She lives in the Florida panhandle with her husband and daughter, where she enjoys pranking random people, coughing loudly at inappropriate times, drinking sweet tea, and being southern in general. Her life goals include competing on Wheel of Fortune, going to jail on a misunderstanding, and writing something controversial or influential enough to appear on The Ellen Show. Her favorite color is rainbow and her writer’s cat is a wiener dog named Puckledoo.

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About HOW TO LOSE A BACHELOR

Revenge was never this much fun...

When Rochelle Ransom auditioned for the dating show Luring Love, she had big plans for winning the prize money to help her favorite charity-and if she won the hot bachelor's heart, even better. But at the last minute she finds out the hot bachelor is her ex-boyfriend, Grant Drake. Desperate to keep her distance from him, she'll do anything-and everything-to get voted off.

Years ago, Rochelle broke Grant's heart, and he's out for revenge. There's no way he'll vote her off.

After all, vengeance is a dish best served red-hot...and on live television.

When her hilarious antics to get kicked off the show escalate, Grant's reminded why he fell in love with her the first time. Now he isn't sure which might be more fun... Seeing how far Rochelle is willing to go to get away or how far he will to keep her forever