Hey mersquad!

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve wanted to share my thoughts on a subject, but since I’ve been listening to a book that is really irking me because of the miscommunication thing happening, I knew I had found inspiration to write something tonight. So let’s see how it goes, shall we?

So what exactly is the “miscommunication” trope?

So it may sound a bit obvious, but for those who may not know – or for more causal readers that have somehow found their way onto my blog (hello! by the way) – the miscommunication trope is when a miscommunication between characters play a large part in the plot of the book. Thank you to Book Trigger Warnings for that succinct definition, and I highly recommend you check out that website for other tropes and trigger warnings for books you may want to read. No, seriously. Go check it out!

Now, the miscommunication trope can be as simple as… not saying everything that you intended to say, or saying something without the proper context… I’m honestly trying to think of what else can be an example, but just think about it. There’s many ways that miscommunication can happen, and a lot of times, parts of the plot wouldn’t end up happening if the miscommunication didn’t happen.

why does it happen a lot, especially in romance novels?

I touched on it a bit above, but a lot of times authors will use it as a plot device, to move the story in the direction that they either want it to go, or needs to go. I’m not sure if it really needs to happen in order for the plot to move along the way it should, but I’ll just include that anyway.

It usually happens after the main couple is having an amazing time, whether it’s with hot sex or just enjoying their relationship and all it entails. Most of the time, though, there’s something physical that has happened between the main couple, and most of the time it is sex. I’ll give an example for the current book I’m listening to, the one that prompted me to write this post:

Okay, first of all… why is this photo so massive? Sheesh I was trying to make it a bit smaller.

Now, I may give slight spoilers for this, so if you don’t want to know, I suggest turning away from this point until I give the go ahead (which will be indicated with a separate border).

Layla and Caleb have an agreement to fake date each other to see what the other is doing wrong with their relationships. Basically it’s a way for them to see how they can improve so that the next people they date are happy with them. I mean, I get it, but it’s weird. Anyway, they end up realizing that they are falling in love with each other during this arrangement – and yes they have hot sex – and when it comes to the one-month deadline, Caleb realizes that he needs to end it so that they can date for real.

That’s cute, right?

WRONG.

You know why?

Because instead of saying “I think we should end our arrangement of fake dating so we can actually date”, which he does articulate in his head while he is standing in front of Layla, all he verbalizes is “I think we should end our arrangement.” Which of course, makes Layla think that he wants to break up with her – even though it was just an arrangement – and it breaks her heart and she doesn’t try to hear him out when he tries to explain WHY he wants to end the arrangement. So she tells him basically that he needs to give her space because she didn’t think the breakup would be so hard, and here Caleb is confused because he doesn’t understand why she’s so upset.

BRUH.

HELLO?! If he didn’t end his sentence so prematurely, if he had said WHY he wanted to end their arrangement in the SAME BREATH, then maybe he and Layla wouldn’t be in this heartbroken mess.

Okay, that’s done. But basically, for those who didn’t end up reading it, the main premise was that if Caleb said everything that he meant to say, everything that he was thinking at the time, then there wouldn’t have been miscommunication in the first place. And I’ve noticed that trend in this book series with all three couples. It’s either one or both people that will omit part of what they mean to say, and then the other half of the couple will react based on what they heard and it’s not the reaction that the initial person was expecting. It’s so weird!

Then it takes like a few days, sometimes weeks, sometimes MONTHS, for them to somehow come back together to truly explain what is going on, and then it’s like… oh no… why was I so stupid? It’s like, no you technically weren’t stupid, you were reacting based on what you heard and understood. And to the person that didn’t communicate effectively, how else did you expect them to react when you didn’t communicate everything you meant to say?

I stay confused.

This isn’t to say that the book doesn’t end up being enjoyable, but I do feel like the miscommunication trope needs to end. It needs to not be a plot point to move the book along. I need my characters to learn how to communicate with each other so that they are all on the same page. Can we just do that from now on? Please?

Oh, by the way. All of what I mentioned in the spoiler section, happened at like 80% or so of the book. So of course there’s very little time for them to reconcile and figure out what the heck is going on. Then it starts to feel rushed because like, why can’t they figure out their communication struggles earlier on in the relationship, and then work on it from there? Continue to work on it rather than it just end their blossoming relationship until they come back together at the end? Is this not realistic or something?!

so what can we do?

Honestly, is there much we can do? Maybe not. But we can at least voice our opinion on it as much as we can. I’m sure that a lot of authors are working on straying away from the miscommunication trope, since I have been seeing more recent books doing a better job at working on that, but it’s still a popular trope to utilize.

And hey, I’m not an active author right now, so I can’t stand on much. I’m just saying what I feel about this trope, and maybe it hits a certain way for me because of my own communication issues in my personal life. Who knows? But I stan me a relationship (platonic or romantic) that works on communication because that’s so healthy to me and what I love, so I would rather root for those. Will it deter me from enjoying the book? I’m not sure yet. I’ll figure it out when I finish it, but for now, it’s enough to make me sit down and write a whole post about it.

So… what do you think? Did I just complain about nothing? Well, I didn’t really complain, I just had a lot to say about it. Are there any tropes that you wish would stay in 2023? Let’s talk about it! I’d love to hear from others so I’m not looking wild out here.

I promise I won’t bite.