I usually hate the “big “misunderstanding” plot device unless the misunderstanding is truly believable. When the whole thing could be overcome by one or both parties being honest, or sitting down and talking the situation through, then it only serves to frustrate me. But there have been stories where the misunderstanding or misconception is well-written and believable, and then I love it! Sorry I can’t think of an example right off-hand. One will come to me as soon as I hit “submit.”

I have to mention Carla Kelly’s Libby’s London Merchant and One Good Turn as well. Benedict Nesbitt (Nez), who is in both books, is an alcoholic, but he’s also a wonderful person. I think we’ve all known someone like Nez. He conquers his addiction and lets Liria into his life even though he makes some incorrect assumptions about her. Carla Kelly always writes interesting, real characters in believable settings, and she does it in a few hundred pages. If you can’t find Libby’s London Merchant as I couldn’t for yrs., read One Good Turn anyway if you can find a copy. It’s the sequel, but can be read first. Or read anything else by Carla Kelly you can find!

Others… I love stories which involve one of the leads – though it’s usually the heroine – breaking through some sort of psychological shell and emerging as the person they were always supposed to be, and stories featuring musical, artistic, or intellectual people or situations.

Also, I read mostly historicals, and I prefer the ones where the heroine is a bit older and not direct from the schoolroom, and I love the all-too-rare stories where she’s already been sexually awakened and doesn’t need the hero’s help. I wish the wicked widow got to be the heroine more often in historical romance.

Definitely love marriages of convenience except when forced by a stipulation in a will, which seems both illegal and silly to me. The poor but titled hero/heroine needing to marry a wealthy commoner is a lot more believable and far less contrived. Another favorite is friends-to-lovers. Again, far more believable when the couple have known each other for a reasonable amount of time, even if they haven’t seen each other for a while, than the stories where they are certain they’ve found True Love in a storyline that takes place over less than a week.