enemies-to-lovers

English

Alternative forms

• enemies to lovers

Noun

enemies-to-lovers (uncountable)

1. (often attributive) A trope in romance fiction (particularly fan fiction) involving the development of an antagonistic relationship into romantic love.

   Coordinate terms: enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers

   • 2018, Alice Oseman, I Was Born for This, unnumbered page:

     I know that she never falls asleep before 2 a.m. and her favourite fanfic trope is enemies-to-lovers and she’s secretly a fan of Ariana Grande.

   • 2023, Ali Hazelwood, praise blurb in Jessica Clare, What the Hex, page 1:

     And that’s because Go Hex Yourself is a romantic masterpiece, and the sexiest, most bewitching take on enemies-to-lovers I’ve read in ages.

   • 2023, Tara, quoted Fabienne Silberstein-Bamford, "The 'Fanfic Lens': Fan Writing's Impact on Media Consumption", Volume 19, Issue 2, March 2023, page 156:

     When I read a book now, I think I'm much more trope-aware, because before I read fanfiction, I don't even think I fully understood what tropes were. So now I see, like, when a book has enemies-to-lovers, I see it, and I'm like, oh-oh.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:enemies-to-lovers.