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Recurring romance book plots that I don't think are even possible in the real world

7 replies

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 04/07/2025 21:58

To be fair all fiction is, well, fictitious and a romance that was firmly rooted in things that are likely would probably be quite boring.

However one plot line that seems to pop up in the summaries of romance novels is someone inheriting something (usually a ranch or sometimes a hotel) on condition that that marry someone in particular, or marry someone unspecified within a certain time period or have to live in the inherited property for a certain length of time before they can sell it (which usually involves giving up a demanding career that they come to realise was making them miserable). In the books there never seems to be any question that the deceased person can do this, but I have often wondered if it's even legally possible. I know funds can be left in trust but I've never heard of anyone with a trust fund that is contingent on them marrying or living in a particular location and nowhere else.

Another one that pops up a lot is being inadvertently snowed-in in a remote cabin either with a stranger or two people that can't stand each other. That's one that I particularly enjoy, there's something very pleasant about being cosy inside when the weather is harsh outside. There is always plenty of food and firewood but only one bed, and the plumbing never freezes. This has also never happened to anyone I know, but it seems a bit more possible than the previous scenario. My Mum was changing planes in Gatwick on her way back to Ireland from somewhere when she got snowbound for a few days. She managed to get a hotel room to herself though, it wasn't at all romantic. Grin

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Dufff23 · 04/07/2025 22:01

Ah yes, the improbable weather event! That’s a shame for your mum! I love romances but most of the tropes are very questionable…

HermioneWeasley · 04/07/2025 22:12

We have to pretend to be married for…..reasons…

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 04/07/2025 22:20

There is one that I've heard of in real life (sort of), the one where the woman has a one night stand and gets pregnant but can't find the man. Then years later he turns up and they end up falling in love. There was a letter to Ask a Manager where the writer had a one night stand as a student. By the time she realised she was pregnant he had left the country and she had no way to trace him. So in her letter she was asking advice because the man had been offered a job at the place where she worked as her manager and she recognised him. https://www.askamanager.org/2023/10/my-new-manager-is-someone-i-slept-with-years-ago-and-he-doesnt-know-we-have-a-child.html
I thought it sounded just like the start of one of those plots. Of course because it was real life the updates were much more prosaic.

https://www.askamanager.org/2024/06/update-my-new-manager-is-someone-i-slept-with-years-ago-and-he-doesnt-know-we-have-a-child.html

https://www.askamanager.org/2025/06/update-my-new-manager-is-someone-i-slept-with-years-ago-and-he-doesnt-know-we-have-a-child-2.html

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Dufff23 · 04/07/2025 22:22

Ooooooh!!

Not forgetting the woman heroically paying one of her family’s debts and then falling in love with her rescuer….

putitovertherefornow · 04/07/2025 22:28

Woman leaves her old life behind and starts new life & job in a country cottage / village by the sea / stately home / living with elderly maiden aunt.

On the journey there she has an altercation / misunderstanding / disagreement with a tall, handsome yet insufferable stranger and thinks no more of it.

Lo and behold, he turns out to be her new boss / next-door neighbour / owner of the Big House in the village, and he is of course relatively recently single.

They are repeatedly thrown together in a series of unlikely events, where their annoyance with one another threatens to ruin everything.

All of a sudden something dramatic happens, and they suddenly realise they are made for one another, and all their misunderstandings are resolved.

The End.

3luckystars · 04/07/2025 22:34

Yeah my family member and his brother were left a family property that meant a lot to the deceased (their dad) on the condition that they never sell it.
They just said f that and sold it a few weeks after he died.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 05/07/2025 12:03

3luckystars · 04/07/2025 22:34

Yeah my family member and his brother were left a family property that meant a lot to the deceased (their dad) on the condition that they never sell it.
They just said f that and sold it a few weeks after he died.

Was there any legal attempt to hold them to not selling it? I mean, was there provision in the will to sue for the money if they sold it or anything? Did they have to make an agreement not to sell it in order to get it in the first place? I just can't see how any preference or restrictions stated in a will can be enforced without a formal trust being set up.

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