i've read 78 books so far this year alone, here's things I've noticed that I want to be mindful about in my own writing.
1: The baby is very very very rarely a boy.
(Do you know how annoying it is for me to go into a book and immediately know it's a girl lmao. I've only read one book and that was just yesterday where she was having a boy, but that book was lackluster, I don't recommend lol)
2: The billionaire always has people do the gestures for him.
(Awe, how sweet, he got her a cute outfit, or yummy food... wait, no, he just texted his PA to do it. Why does none of the FMC's care? if I write a billionaire romance, my FMC is gonna have a fit. I want the gesture directly from you. Not your PA dropping it off at my house)
3: Small Town Romances feels like Gilmore Girls.
(This could be a compliment, but sometimes it just feels like copy and paste and when things remind me of other things, I'm turned off from it, even if I like the book. I grew up in a small town. It wasn't anything like gilmore girls.)
4: No one ever writes co-parenting with preexisting partners.
(The parents are either dead, or deadbeats. There is no happy coparenting. There is no "she's at her dads this weekend" or "His mom is coming to the sports game" I get it's easier to just make them the villain, but why is that every book? - I've tried to incorporate this into the unbroken series. I'll definitely try to do a better job at it in the future)
5: He always wins the trophy. (sports romance)
(Why don't they lose? I've read one book where he didn't win the big game trophy. I get happy ending, but predictability is boring)
6: Single dad is praised, whilst single mom is judged.
(Why is it that if a male is raising his kids alone, the books praise him, but if a mom is doing it, she's got issues. Like the dad is successful and the love interest is a bonus, vs the mom is poor + NEEDS the love interest to "fix her life". Why is that the go to plot?Why can't she be successful and he be poor?)