This was such a cozy romance set in Alaska, like a Hallmark movie in book form but with a little extra spice. The chemistry was off the charts and this is exactly the book to read by a fire!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and will be posting my own, honest review. Thanks #NetGalley!

This was a cute, easy read! Not the best but not the worst. I thought the character development was really good and I like the self reflexivity about the genre.

I will start by saying I haven’t read a contemporary romance novel this good since this year’s magnificent Cara-Bastone Promise Me Sunshine (a nod to Beth O’Leary’s Swept Away, which had that promise until it didn’t), though I don’t draw parallels between them, just standing up and waving the romance-reader’s flag of don’t-miss-this. The wherefores? Post-blurb thing:

Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark secret: she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, and not even for her characters, for whom she secretly writes alternate endings that swap weddings and babies for divorce papers and the occasional slashed tire. When her Happily Never After document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher.

Desperate to find a way to continue supporting her chronically ill sister, Savannah, Margot decides to trade meet-cutes for murder. The fictional kind. Probably. But when Savannah books Margot a six-week stay in a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first murder mystery, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead.

The last thing Dr. Forrest Wakefield ever expected was to leave his dream job as a cancer researcher to become a glorified bellhop. What he’s really doing at his family’s resort is caring for his stubborn, ailing father, and his puzzle-loving mind is slowly freezing over—until Margot shows up. But Forrest doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date.

As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.

As with any great romance novel, it’s not the concept, stupid, it’s the writing. I mean that the romance premise/concept has to be trite: heroine meets hero encased in a familiar trope and checks off Pamela Regis’s eight elements, tick-tick-tick, as old as, well maybe not time, but surely Pride and Prejudice. (A side note that Lavine’s additon to the Regis elements, “the Melting Moment,” is going down in my romance novel course as the ninth, with all due credit to Lavine, of course.) The key to a great romance, like Austen’s, like Bastone’s, or in this case, like Lavine’s, is in the execution and the execution is only as good as the writing. And Lavine’s writing is witty, hilarious, and heartfelt: it’s familiar in its romance ethos but original in how she uses romance tropes to build Margot and Forrest’s journey-to-the-HEA. Lavine made me laugh and she made me cry (only at the end and they were good HEA sniffles, with Margot quipping about completing their relationship’s round-of-tropes by nodding to Forrest’s “grand gesture”; no spoilers, it’s pretty darn good, though). Lavine’s originality is that not a page goes by without an allusion to a trope leading to a laugh, or cry.

But I’ll start with the laughs. Though I’ve noted the publisher’s admonishment not to quote, I have to quote, it’s too delicious not to. This is Margot on meeting Forrest: “On top of his romance good looks, his woodchopping habits, and the perfect meet-cute I accidentally had with him, the revelation that he’s also a doctor is one trope too far. What the hell is going on?” Romance-trope-heaven is what’s going on…if meta is your thing and it’s mine. I wallow in this stuff like a pig in mud. And off we go… Forrest’s dad, Trapper, looks at Forrest “with a level of pride and love I thought was reserved for Hallmark movies.” Forrest possesses “Heathcliff energy” (okay, he’s a bit grumpy, but he does have an adorable half-grin and eyes the colour of the evergreens in the Alaskan forest). Forrest is also “Mr. Moral Compass” and dresses in a “lumbersexual flannel and puffer-vest combo”; Forrest’s cabin “smells like someone lit a scented candle in here called Cedar and Muscles”. You get the trope? Nothing can match this baby: “Cradled against his warm chest, I’m a woman transformed. Never again will anyone catch Margot Bradley scoffing at a trope. If I were wearing a bodice, I’d rip it myself.” Dee-light-ful and fun and light…

is where the pathos and pulled-heartstrings come in and so well done are they. This is where the pathos and gravitas steal the romance show. Because meta-rom allusions are cool, but unless the emotional stakes are high and believable, no trope can stand on its own. Lavine builds sympathy and care for her characters because while they’re banterishly witty and Margot is downright funny, they’re also deeply feeling, deeply caring and not-mawkishly-so self-sacrificing. Forrest is care-giver to his wheel-chair-bound dad, Trapper, and gave up a prestigious career in cancer research to move back to Alaska to care for him. And Margot, with her successful romance career bringing in a good life, cares for and ensures a good life for her immuno-compromised sister, Savannah. As care-giver to my mom with Alzheimer’s for years now, this aspect to Lavine’s novel had me snivelling and snapping tissues to sop up the sobs like a movie-goer scarfing a tub of popcorn. Lavine did a wonderful job of showing how becoming a care-giver engulfs your identity until it becomes your sole identity. And as your sole identity, there’s a block to seeing anything beyond it until you’re too afraid to be anything but and you identify fully with the love, duty, and obligation and hubris no one can do what you’re doing. As far as romance’s dark moments trope is concerned, binding it with the care-giver’s role for both Margot and Forrest worked perfectly. Because how can two good people be anything but good to each other? Unless someone weaker, more vulnerable needed them more…

…and then Lavine did another great thing, she created two wonderful secondary characters, Forrest’s dad, Trapper, and even more and better developped, Margot’s sister, Savannah. Because Forrest and Margot can never set themselves “free” to love each other unless someone as loving and good as they are can do it for them. The fact that it’s done with such humour and cleverness only adds to the reading pleasure.

If I have a criticism of Lavine’s Any Trope But You, it’s one I’ve lobbed at contemporary romance before and that’s the anemically edge-less hero characterization. Forrest really is a tropish-dream-come-true and thus, he’s so much less darn interesting than Margot. But a forgiveable it’s-not-you-it’s-me offence. Miss Austen would agree. We’d say Any Trope But You proves “there is no charm equal to tenderness of heart,” Emma.

Victoria Lavine’s Any Trope But You is published by Atria Books and released on April 1st, 2025. I received an e-galley from Atria Books via Netgalley. The above is my honest, AI-free opinion.

Searching for your HEA as a romance author - it can be tough to keep the faith in love. But when Margot's inner doubts about true love are revealed to all her diehard readers and fans, she's canceled and flees to Alaska to hide and write a new book.

This was another perfect summer read. The snow and talk of cold weather was so nice in the midst of our heatwave. The slow simmer of the love story was a nice pace and the family obligations were well explained and felt realistic. Sometimes it's nice to start one you know will warm your heart in the end. This one was adorable, I loved it! Also, flipped to audio and the narrator was great!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark secret: she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Instead, she secretly writes alternate endings for her characters in her Happily Never After document. When said document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher. In an attempt to switch writing genres, Margot is sent to a remote Alaskan resort by her chronically ill sister, Savannah. While there, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, Dr. Forrest Wakefield, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead. Forrest, who left his dream job as a cancer researcher to runn his family's resort after his dad suffers from an accident and becomes disabled, doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date. As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.

I really loved this book! It started out slow for me, but mostly I had trouble finding time to sit and read it. I found Margot to be a very endearing character, and I really felt sympathy for the hard time she found herself in. Her relationship with her sister was so sweet and their friendship really shown through all the drama they have endured together. Forrest was also a really enjoyable character, and I again felt for the circumstances he found himself in. I was glad that Forrest and Margot found their way to each other. They had amazing chemistry and really understood one another's circumstances and feelings. In addition to having personalities that meshed well, their bedroom chemistry was off the charts. They had a really great whirlwind romance, and I was sad to see the third act breakup play out. I enjoyed the reunion at the end, I just really wish there had been an epilogue to show where the characters went from there. I really would have enjoyed seeing both Savannah's side of an epilogue and Forrest's dad's side...not to mention a future glimpse for Margot and Forrest! Overall, I found this book to be sweet and enjoyable---with a little spice, of course!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

They said trust the process, and yes they were absolutely right. It took me a while to comeback for this book, I consider myself as a mood reader and i really took my time to this book and it as all worth it! The start became easier to read and I love the character interactions, they were not dull and dry.

Sexy and adorable! I found this book to be humorous and pensive - it some hard real-life topics but still hit the spicy romance, light=hearted rom-com notes. From an individual fighting her own multiple autoimmune/illness issues, I thought there was great representation on that and appreciated the spotlight on the role of the caretaker/support role. I laughed out loud multiple times and appreciated how every romance trope under the sun was thrown into this story.

“Any Trope But You” by Victoria Lavine follows Margot Bradley, best selling romance author, on a trip to Alaska following her fall from grace when her happily never after file is unearthed. Hoping to restore her hope in love and life, her sister plans a trip. Little do either of them know, the perfect guy (who also happens to hit all the best tropes) is at the Alaskan lodge…

Why did this book have me looking into trips to Alaska? I loved the atmosphere of this whole book, from the frosty scenes to the lodge and cabins. I’m not super outdoorsy, but this felt like the kind of trip that I could appreciate, even if it meant disconnecting from Facebook for a few weeks, ha.

To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure if Margot was a character I particularly liked, but as the story progressed, she grew on me. Really her sister Savannah and Doctor Forrest stole the show for me. And they were what made me like her more.

Overall, this was a fun read! I loved the will-they, won’t-they vibes, and this book certainly delivered on that! I honestly see this as a great read by the fire with coffee and a blanket book. In the end, it was a 4 star read for me!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria books for an eARC!

This was such a cute fun read! I loved the chemistry between the two and i love when we get to see writers in books and it’s all kind of meta

4.25/5

If you are a fan of romance novels with multiple tropes this is definitely the book. This dual POV steamy romance book has the classic enemies to lovers and forced proximity tropes and it's set in a remote resort in Alaska.

In this book, we meet Margot who is a famous romance novel author known for her HEA (happily ever afters), but has been keeping a secret not even her family knows about and Dr. Forest who encapsulates all the psychical characteristics of the perfect book boyfriend. After Margot's secret is revealed in a video conference with many of her fans, her sister books her a trip to Alaska to recoup and work on her next script for 6 weeks; which is where she meets Dr. Forest, the son of the resort owner, who is facing his own challenges. During these six weeks, both Margot and Dr. Forest develop a relationship and are forced to make big decisions in their lives that they have been avoiding.

Overall, the story was very well-written and the characters were well-developed; my favorite secondary character was Margot's sister, Savannah. Can't wait for the author to release more books.

Thank you Atria Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This was really good. It was funny and contained so many romance book tropes. But also was good because it dealt with real life challenges faced by the characters. I really enjoyed it.

Successful romance author Margot doesn’t believe in HEAs. In fact, she even writes secret alternate endings for her books without the HEA. Unfortunately, someone exposes Margot’s secret, and she is immediately cancelled. Desperate for a change, she heads to remote Alaska to try her hand at a murder mystery novel. Cancer researcher Forrest has returned to Alaska to take care of his family’s resort after his dad’s accident. After falling through one trope after another, Margot and Forrest are forced to confront their painful pasts if they have a chance at their own happily ever after.

In the blazing heat of summer, I thought what a perfect time to mentally escape to a snowy Alaskan tundra. I was right. This was such a fun little tour of romance novel tropes. I was pleasantly surprised to find the story also had a layer of depth to it. I loved having some chronic illness representation. A solid debut overall, and I enjoyed it.

Thank you to Victoria Lavine, Atria Books, and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Such a cute romcom! It read so smoothly and had me smiling the whole way through. I really enjoyed the story and characters—perfect if you want something light, sweet, and feel-good.

Any Trope But You was a lot of fun! It was very “meta” in that it was a self-aware romance book that kept referencing a ton of familiar tropes encountered in the romance genre.

Margot is a 30-something romance author in LA who has soured on love due to some bad experiences, despite making a good living writing about it. She gets outed by a fan who exposes her private “Happily Never After” journal and is “canceled.” Forrest is a cancer researcher who has given up his career to care for his disabled father and work at his family’s Alaskan lodge. He’s been burned by a bad experience with a guest and has also soured on love. (With a hat tip to Katherine Center, this could have been titled The Love Haters.)

Of course, Margot and Forrest wind up together since this is a romance novel, but it’s always about the journey. We get chapters from both of their POVs.

I loved all the scenes in Alaska with the very citified Margot dealing with a very rural lodge and its charms and inconveniences/difficulties.
Margot wasn’t all that likable but I still really enjoyed the story. I rolled my eyes at Margot quite a few times. And I thought Forrest was a bit too good to be true.

The author explores the life of a caregiver with sensitivity. Margot has been caring for her sister who has some sort of autoimmune condition. Forrest’s dad had an accident that put him in a wheelchair and Forrest does physical therapy with him and helps run their lodge.

This was a debut novel and Victoria Lavine did a great job with it.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book started off a bit rough for me because in an effort to make herself unlikeable to Forrest, Margot also made herself unlikeable to me as the reader. I was really close to this being my first ever DNF by Chapter 4, but I’m so glad I stuck with it because I wound up enjoying the book and all of the tropes. The quintessential third act break up was more understandable than most, but I wasn’t a huge fan of their character growth being forced upon them by others rather than the FMC and MMC making the decisions themselves.

Oh, to be a disillusioned writer hiding from her own heart but still somehow tripping into all the tropes she swore she’d never touch—fake dating, second chances, forced proximity (!!!) and a touch of rivals-to-lovers realness. This was meta in the best way, swoony when it counted, and sharp with its commentary.

The chemistry? Immaculate. The banter? Sharp and delicious. And the trope play? Chef’s kiss. My only tiny gripe is that some pacing moments felt a bit rushed, but overall, I devoured this with a goofy smile on my face.

Perfect for anyone who’s ever rolled their eyes at a romance cliché… and then melted when it actually worked.

Any Trope but You is a new debut romance novel by Victoria Lavine. I really enjoyed the premise of this book where the main character needs to get away from reality and finds herself in a beautiful location where she finds a grumpy man. I loved the characters in this story and how much it made me laugh!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for a review!

A perfect summer read! I know it looks like a winter read, but it’s a cute, feet kick in’ romance that you wanna curl up with in a beach chair and yummy drink!

Any Trope But You was a fun, romance that follows romance author Margot Bradley as she flees from personal and professional disaster and attempts to reinvent herself while staying in an Alaskan cabin only to find herself living a romantic cliché with hunky, broody Forrest. Overall, a fun book!

Okay what a both hilarious and heartfelt read (I will admit, I almost quit in chapter one because of the narrator, so if you’re in that boat just keep on going or pick up a physical copy) because this was gold. It was a quick read, had me literally laughing out loud, but also was touching in so many ways, especially in its inclusivity. And, an Alaskan setting? A lumberjack? Ok. I’m in.