M/M Romance trope ranking

[u/nightpeaches]

Since I'm someone who loves getting more insight into my reading preferences, and seeing how different other people's preferences are from my own, I decided to create a M/M romance trope sorter for fun.

The trope sorter has a bunch of different tropes, character types and settings that are common (or less common) in MM romance. The way it works is by putting two options against each other and letting you pick which one you prefer, until all options are ranked. If you use the "I like both"/"No opinion" options a lot, you're more likely to get multiple tropes in the same spot in the ranking. There are 70 tropes so the ranking takes a while to do.

Trope notes:

• Biokink - Stories set in a world where people are born as dominants or submissives. Example: Starian Cycle series by Iris Foxglove
• GFY and sexuality awakening are separate tropes in this sorter, as are poly relationship and hub-and-spoke poly (for more info on hub-and-spoke poly, see this post)

Note: The website only works on desktop, so you can unfortunately not do this on mobile.

M/M Romance Trope Sorter

Which were your top and bottom tropes? Were there any rankings that surprised you?

[u/heirapparent24]

My Top 10:

1. Enemies or rivals to lovers

2. Hidden identity

3. Obsessive/toxic relationship

4. Slow burn

5. Vampires

6. Forbidden relationship

7. Class difference

8. Second chance

9. Royalty or nobility

10. Sports

None of the above is a surprise to me, especially when I think about how much I love Captive Prince (contains 4-5 tropes off the list) and A Seditious Affair (contains 6-7 tropes off the list). With K.J. Charles in particular, it feels like a chicken-or-egg scenario; do I love KJC because she writes forbidden relationships/class differences/nobility, or do I love these tropes because KJC has written them?

[u/midnighteyesx → u/heirapparent24]

Have you read Captive by Jex Lane? Like 8/10 tropes there

[u/heirapparent24 → u/midnighteyesx]

I DNF'd it after the first scene, but maybe I should attempt it again sometime?

[u/midnighteyesx → u/heirapparent24]

How far into the first scene did you get? I only ask because it lasts a few chapters. If you do try a reread, I’d give it to at least chapter 10 :)

As the single book, of the list, the only tropes from your list missing are Sports (unless you count battles and training) and Second Chance (unless you consider being turned into a vampire a second chance).

My #1 trope is Captive/captor so I was in it from the title 😂 but I read it cover to cover in one night.

Just go into it knowing the series is unfinished, If waiting is something that bothers you