Book tropes are something we all read about in the novels that we get attached to. From start to finish, we follow these characters on a journey of self discovery, romance etc so it’s important to realise why these books use these repeated formulas. Today I’m going to be giving you my recommendations of books and the book tropes it follows.
1. One of Us is Lying
The book follows a group of students at Bayview High when they walk into detention with only four of them walking out alive, just as one of the classmates is about to reveal some secrets about the others in a gossip app. Each of the students, Bronwyn, Addy, Nate, and Cooper, had the opportunity and individual motives to murder their classmate, but all claim to be innocent as the case revolves around which one of them is lying.
My favorite thing about this book is that it’s a murder mystery and a classic ‘Whodunnit’ which keeps you guessing until the very end. I would love to be a part of a ‘Whodunnit’ murder mystery night because I think I know who’s done it but in reality, I’m just a really bad detective. I wouldn’t want to be a suspect in it but a detective as I’m trying to figure out who committed the crime. If this was a real crime that had been committed then I know for a fact there would be so many ‘TikTok’ detectives on the case thinking that they can solve it before the police do.
2. The School for Good and Evil
Best friends Sophie and Agatha find themselves on opposing sides of a battle when they’re taken to a school where future heroes and villains are trained to protect the balance between good and evil.
I read this book a long time ago but it wasn’t until the book was made into a movie by Netflix that I wanted to start rereading the series. If I could pick my favorite genre of books it would have to be fantasy because it makes the reader question their reality and ask themselves ‘What if’ this was true?
If a school for good and evil was real I would love to be in the school for evil mostly because I love the ‘underdog’ trope and that these characters are usually misunderstood. Plus, after the Harry Potter franchise with it ‘sorting’ the wizards into which house they would best suit, I would love someone to try and do that for me. Then again, what if I’m a bad hero or villain and get turned into something, I don’t want to risk my life for something.
3. Hidden Bodies
Hidden Bodies was the follow-up novel to Kepnes’ first novel ‘You’ and if you haven’t heard of the Netflix smash hit TV show then I advise you to watch it because at first, you might believe that ‘You’ is a romance novel about ‘the guy getting the girl’ but it asks the question to what extent does he do this.
After running away from his problems in New York, Joe ends up in LA where he bumps into Love – that’s her name. And the book is about this next relationship and how he believes that he’s a ‘changed person’ but in reality he’s still a psychopath.
The reason why I love this book series so much is that Kepnes’ is trying to make the audience feel sorry for him but if we do feel pity for him I think we are just as bad as him. I would love there to be a musical about my life that would center around this ‘trope’ of a romantic interest falling in love with me but I want it to just end there because the thriller part of him killing people I love just to ‘have me’ is a big red flag and a restraining order coming their way as I don’t want to learn that the person I have been dating has been stalking me for the last year.
I watched the TV show first before I read the novels because I wouldn’t know what to expect which is something I love about thrillers is that you don’t the direction the book is going to go. I do love how the novel is a mixture of both the romance and thriller genres which is fresh and a new take on the ‘guy getting the girl’ book trope.
If you could live inside a book trope what would it be and why? Let us know in the comment section or message us on Instagram @fangirlsworldtour or tweet us @fangirlswt.
fangirls world tour 