Books that completely break the mold?
I want MM romance books that completely break the mold, but I don’t want simply: “let’s make the nerd dominate the jock.” I want to go a step further. I want stories that challenge tropes that are usually treated as cornerstones of many book.
Examples:
- The protagonists have an enemy who is a terrible, corrupt person, but instead of being punished in the end, that character gets their own HEA.
- The protagonists leave their families hoping to find a found family, only to discover that the found family is just as awful, and in the end they only have each other.
- A character falls in love with their straight friend, but the straight friend never has a gay awakening, and the protagonist ends up with someone completely different.
- The story starts as a love triangle / MMM, but the three characters eventually end up as a couple.
- The protagonist has a best friend/besite who constantly encourages him to do questionable things, but eventually the protagonist sets boundaries and cuts that friend out of their life.
- Or a protagonist who is the complete opposite of the stereotypical nonconformist hero. I don’t want a rebel; I want someone whose thing is fitting in and being good at it.
I want to read something that rewires my brain a little, something that makes me go, “Wow, that’s crazy”, just something new :)
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against traditional tropes. I read them all the time, and I love them! I just want something different every now and then :D
My only nos are cheating between MCs. All genres welcome!
Posted Jun 23, 2026, 10:29 AM UTC
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