MAPping the Tropes

*Victoria Justice voice* "My best friend's brother is the one for me, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Ahoy! We're discussing the best friend's sibling/sibling's best friend trope in today's episode and it's a doozy of a show, especially as we talk about some romance classics. (Editor's note: at around the 7min mark there are some strange tapping sounds that last for about 2 minutes. They go away afterwards. We apologize if that's annoying!)

Books discussed: Guarding Temptation by Talia Hibbert, Pretending He's Mine by Mia Sosa, and Hold Me by Courtney Milan.

Media mentioned: Best Friend's Brother by Victoria Justice, Make a Scene by Mimi Grace, Acting On Cue by Mia Sosa, and Halsey's newest album.

Follow us on Twitter @mappingtropes and Instagram @mappingthetropes! Email episode suggestions to [email protected].

Theme music: Positiv Trumpet by John Yasut. Cover art by Luis Esteban @drawnesteban.

As Stefani Germanotta once said, we're doing it for The Fame, because we're talking about celebrities in romance! (A note that Paola's audio sounds strange briefly at the beginning but it's fixed later.)

Books discussed: Flashed by Zoey Castile, Scoring the Player's Baby by Naima Simone, and You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria.

Other media mentioned: Happy Endings series by Zoey Castile, Luck on the Line by Zoraida Córdova, Magic Mike XXL, Jane the Virgin

Follow us on Twitter @mappingtropes and Instagram @mappingthetropes! Email episode suggestions to [email protected].

Theme music: Positiv Trumpet by John Yasut. Cover art by Luis Esteban @drawnesteban.

Our faithful sailors, Marianne, Adriana, and Paola, are tuning their instruments and singing along to a much needed shanty as they go towards Friends to Lovers island. We talk about pining/seemingly unrequited love, why this trope is so engaging for us, and, of course, what makes a flawed top (and a perfect bottom).

Books discussed: If the Dress Fits by Carla de Guzman, Caught Looking by Adriana Herrera, and There are Things I Can't Tell You by Edako Mofumofu.

Other media mentioned: Criminal Minds, Adriana Herrera's newsletter, I Don't Dance in High School Musical 2, the Legend of Zelda mangas.

Follow us on Twitter @mappingtropes and Instagram @mappingthetropes! Email episode suggestions to [email protected].

Theme music: Positiv Trumpet by John Yasut. Cover art by Luis Esteban @drawnesteban.

The trio discusses the Age Gap trope in Adult Romance! Plus: sympathizing with Meredith from The Parent Trap, Hot Pieces of Ass, and MILFs, DILFs, & NBILFs.

Books discussed: That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert, So Sweet by Rebekah Weatherspoon, and Pink Slip by Katrina Jackson.

Other media mentioned: Rebekah Weatherspoon's everything, The Parent Trap, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Spy, and Private Eye by Katrina Jackson.

Check out the Virtual Indie Book Fest this Saturday, August 14th, 2021! Paola's one of the organizers and Marianne's hosting a panel.

Follow us on Twitter @mappingtropes and Instagram @mappingthetropes! Email episode suggestions to [email protected].

Theme music: Positiv Trumpet by John Yasut. Cover art by Luis Esteban @drawnesteban.

Help! We're drowning in the yearning because we're discussing the second chance romance trope... But we have a friend to keep us afloat this time around, because SILVANA REYES aka Sil @THEBOOKVOYAGERS (Frolic, Book Riot) is our special guest for this episode! We talk why we're drawn to the trope, hate f*cks, falling in love all over again, and the aching domesticity in romance.

Books discussed: Only For You by Naima Simone, The Captain's Midwinter Bride by Liana de la Rosa, Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai, and House Rules by Ruby Lang.

Books/series mentioned: Liana de la Rosa's Once Upon a Scandal series, Naima Simone's WAGS series, Naima Simone's Only for Your Touch, Katrina Jackson's Every New Year.

Follow us on Twitter @mappingtropes and Instagram @mappingthetropes! Email episode suggestions to [email protected].

Theme music: Positiv Trumpet by John Yasut. Cover art by Luis Esteban @drawnesteban.

Gonna take my horse to the small town roads, gonna: riiiide 'til we can't no more! Marianne, Adriana, and Paola talk Small Town Romances in this episode, the "pueblo chico, infierno grande" phenomenon, quirky town antics, US imperialism, and dragging abusers. We contain multitudes.

Books discussed: Sandcastle Beach by Jenny Holiday, From Scratch by Katrina Jackson, and A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert.

Other media/people mentioned: Schitt's Creek, Big Eden, Once Upon a Time, Silvana Reyes/thebookvoyagers, Her Christmas Cookie by Katrina Jackson, the Ravenswood series by Talia Hibbert, and Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert.

Follow us on Twitter @mappingtropes and Instagram @mappingthetropes! Email episode suggestions to [email protected].

Theme music: Positiv Trumpet by John Yasut. Cover art by Luis Esteban @drawnesteban.

Marianne, Adriana, and Paola dive into the deep end with Royalty Romances, discussing: Monarchies Shouldn't Exist, Hallmark Movie Vibes (in a good way), and The Best Royalty Romance Of All Time...

Books discussed: A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole, The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh, and Her Virgin Duke by Nicola Davidson.

Other books mentioned: The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot, Runaway Royals and Reluctant Royals series by Alyssa Cole, The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham, Courtney Milan's Brothers Sinister series, Cat Sebastian's Regency Imposters series, Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted series, and Adriana Herrera's upcoming historical romance series.

Follow us on Twitter @mappingtropes and Instagram @mappingthetropes! Email episode suggestions to [email protected].

Theme music: Positiv Trumpet by John Yasut. Cover art by Luis Esteban @drawnesteban.

Movies mentioned: The Proposal, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Faking It, Leap Year, and the To All The Boys trilogy

Books mentioned: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han; Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert; Learned Reactions by Jayce Ellis; Talia Hibbert’s upcoming YA series; Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martins

People mentioned: Jami of jamishelves

Follow us @mappingtropes on Twitter and @mappingthetropes on Instagram!

On our very first episode we tackle FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS! Books discussed: The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert, Dance With Me by Alexis Daria, and Go Deep by Rilzy Adams. We mention Silvana Reyes @thebookvoyager, who's the queen of trope lists.

Follow us on Twitter @mappingtropes and Instagram @mappingthetropes! Email episode suggestions to [email protected].

Theme music: Positiv Trumpet by John Yasut. Cover art by Luis Esteban @drawnesteban.

Welcome to MAPping the Tropes! In this intro episode, we talk about what exactly we'll be doing with our show and the types of books we enjoy.

Follow us on Twitter @MappingTropes and Instagram @mappingthetropes! Email us at [email protected] for suggestions of tropes or comments.

Theme music: Positiv Trumpet by John Yasut

Cover art: Luis Esteban @drawnesteban