Data note: every figure here comes from the PlotProse / Tropesmith reader-demand engine — 112,000+ dated reader-demand signals across ~40 sources (Reddit, BookTok, Goodreads, AO3, StoryGraph), refreshed continuously. Enemies-to-lovers is drawn from 3,088 live reader requests. Last refresh: 19 July 2026.
Enemies to lovers is one of romance’s most-requested dynamics — and the data shows readers are still hungry for it. Most “best trope” lists run on vibes. Ours runs on counts.
What “enemies to lovers” means
Romantic leads start as adversaries and end as partners — the tension of that arc is why it keeps topping reader wishlists. It shows up under many names: hate to love, rivals to lovers, workplace enemies, academic rivals, forced teammates, competing business owners, rival athletes, political opponents and foes to lovers.
A glimpse of what readers are asking for
Here’s just one live request our engine surfaced this week — ranked at the very top of enemies-to-lovers demand:
Your book’s full Map ranks every one by demand — and shows what a trope list never can: the exact character archetypes readers are begging for, the heat levels, the winning sub-trope stacks, the comps, and the cover & title direction to own the lane. Written into a go/no-go verdict, in minutes.
See your book’s demand-vs-supply Map →Knowing what to write is half the job
The other half is when to release it and how to feed the algorithm around it. That’s what The Perfect Year does — a done-for-you 12-month publishing plan built on this same live engine. And our premade outlines and Skip-the-Draft packages come with the winning stack already built in.