Childhood Sweethearts (+giveaway)
Giveaway · Romance Tropes · Roundup

Childhood Sweethearts (+giveaway)

Jaycee Weaver

Childhood Sweethearts + giveawayWhat’s your favorite trope within CCR? I see this question asked a lot, and I have to admit I am one of those people who can’t choose a favorite ANYTHING to save her life. I mean, in all the breadth of the whole world, why would I limit myself? I do find myself drawn to some more than others, however, and one of my top ten favorites is childhood sweethearts.

Here’s how I’ll define childhood sweethearts, in case you’re wondering: a couple who knew each other as children/young teens and either one or both experienced a strong affinity for the other.

Best friends? Counts. Childhood crush? Definitely counts. Next door neighbors sweet on each other? Totally counts.

As you can see, I might be a little liberal in my definition of childhood sweethearts. But considering a little quick research (thanks to DuckDuckGo) reveals that only about 2% of the population marries their childhood first love and the numbers aren’t much higher for marrying a high school sweetheart, there’s got to be more to the story than two kids who’ve loved only each other most of their lives.

Perhaps that’s what makes childhood sweethearts such a wonderful trope—how well it pairs with others. Think about it. Second chance romances, reunion romances, marriage of convenience, friends to lovers… and that’s not even factoring in the various subgenres like cowboy romance, Southern romance, etc. The options are fairly limitless and equally appealing.

I’ve written a number of friends-to-lovers type books (and read a gazillion more), but childhood sweethearts is something I’ve only played with a couple times in the past year or two. I have to say, though, it’s a lot of fun keeping each story unique!

For example, in This and Every Christmas (which released individually on Oct 1), Noah and Clari met several times as kids. It was fun crafting vignettes in which their annual meetings were memorable enough they’d recognize each other years later. I got to pair this novella with the single dad trope, throw in a tree farm and a music teacher, all under the umbrella of the Christmas romance subgenre.

The sequel to this tale is coming up at the end of the month in the 2021 Christmas Lights collection Home for Christmas (eBook) and individually (paperback) October 26. Now and Forever Christmas is technically a friends-to-more/second chance romance, but since they were young teen sweethearts, I think it sort of counts.

I’m kind of loving this trope right now, if you can’t tell. The third sister will get her HEA in 2022 with Not Another Christmas, but for that one I’m twisting the childhood sweethearts into childhood enemies who gradually discover more. I’ve never done enemies-to-lovers, but that is one of my top five favorite tropes, so I’m kind of excited to finally write one.

And of course, I can’t forget to talk about Braver With You, which is in the upcoming Save the Date collection. I’m sure you’re tired of hearing me talk about this one (LOL! we’re in the home stretch, people!), but I’m really attached to Ashlyn and Conrad. This is the purest (as in, closest to the definition of) childhood sweethearts story I’ve written… or read for that matter, now that I think of it. They’ve only ever loved or dated each other and never faced a potential breakup. From their first pretend wedding as kids to the one they’re stressed over now, there’s never been a doubt in either of their minds that this was forever. These guys are the 2% statistic who defy the odds, and I adore them. Just because they’re sweet, though, doesn’t mean there isn’t trauma or chaos on the horizon they have to work through!

Have I enticed you to check out more of this fun trope? I hope so. And because I love contributing to your already out-of-control TBR pile, I’ve got a great list of other titles in CCR for you to choose from!

Starting with a randomly assembled list from several Inspy Romance authors and a couple others just because I can:

Okay, I’m letting the list get away from me. I know many more of our IR authors and CCR favorites have titles that fall under the “childhood sweethearts” heading, so I will leave the rest to YOU to put in the comments so I can add to my own out-of-control TBR. Influence away, my friends. Tell me why the title you’re commenting with qualifies! At the end of the week, one lucky commenter will be selected at random to win an eBook of their choice between This and Every Christmas or Braver With You (an ARC). Looking forward to reading your comments!

*As an Amazon associate, I may receive a small commission from any links clicked in the lists above.

Published by Jaycee Weaver

When New Mexico resident and USA Today bestselling author Jaycee Weaver isn't reading or writing, she enjoys dates with her brainiac hubby, drinking coffee, crafting, pretending she's a nature photographer, and making her teenagers cringe. Jaycee considers herself a recovering perfectionist and frequent hot mess. She does her best to live her faith in action authentically, trusting God to be Lord over the good, the bad, and the ugly even when it’s hard.

36 thoughts on “Childhood Sweethearts (+giveaway)”

  2. I loved the book, A Story Like Ours by Robin Huber. The main characters, Sam and Lucy, felt like soulmates when they were young but were torn apart. They reunited years later and rekindled their love.

  3. My favorite troupes are (not necessarily in this order)…marriage-of-convenience, mail-order bride (two troupes mostly for historical), friends-to-more, reunion, second-chance, and widow/widower finding love again.

    Like you though, I love any good love story! I think the only ones I don’t care for are love triangle or secret baby/child. Other than those, the skies the limit 🙂

  4. I don’t think I could narrow it down to one, Jaycee. I pretty much love all romance tropes. I do especially like high school sweethearts though. Maybe because I married mine a year after high school graduation. And 37 years later, we’re still going strong.

  5. I don’t have a favourite from the list of the ones I read but been with my wife since we were kids & been together over 20 years & married for 14 yrs.

  6. My husband & I are childhood sweethearts & met camping when I was 8 & he was 12. We were best friends & started dating when we were young & have been married for 14 years now!!

    As for books I may have read one or two from your list but my favourites are Diary Of A Teen Mom series 1-11 & The Anderson Brothers (3 in 1 book).

  8. I enjoy reading the friends to other’s troupe. I have a non Christian book that falls into this category. It is Kristy Woodson Harvey’s latest release Under the Southern Sky. It is a story about two friends who were next door neighbors. One of them was an investigative reporter who uncovered that her friends late wife had donated some of her eggs before she died of cancer, but they appeared to be abandoned. This is a wonderful story of friendship, love, support and new beginnings.

  9. I love the trope of childhood sweethearts and best friends to lovers, I love it even more when they go together!
    I guess it’s because of my desire to have lived such a story … nothing better to trust a boy than to have known him since he was a child, having grown up together … etc. As a new adult you have more to deal with … is it trustworthy? is his faith genuine? how were his past?

    Although who knows … maybe God will send into my life that boy with blue eyes who when we were six years old told me that he liked me (even though I was not very popular among my classmates for being the best in the class and having a bad temper).. We were children but at least the first boy who confessed to me loved me as I am ahahah

  10. right now cant think of books but know I have read them. But was thinking at my 40th reunion of starting high school at least 4 couples meet in primary school and ended up married some probably had other boyfriend/girlfriends but they did end up together. One couple me the first day of High School. Another 2 married a brother or sister of a classmate. all are still married (except one whos husband passed away).

    I like these types of books too or the little sister who has a crush on the brothers best friend etc. they often know each other from childhood and then see them as more later.

    I am not into tropes I was the one who a few years asked what it meant. I read a book because I like the premise (and put a cat on the cover in a prominate place and I will probably be sold)

      1. True but I think many readers don’t go out seeking a particular trope. I know when secret babies seemed to be in every book I had to read I was so over them. Didn’t know it was a trope just know I was so over them. The same happened with LIH at one stage when every book had a baby or small child and a parent that needed help (widowed, widower, uncle or abandoned etc). They had different stories but with so many with this same sort of theme I was needing something child free for awhile.

  12. If one’s to enjoy Tropical Kiss and Tell to the fullest, one needs to read both book #1 and Taking a Chance on the Enemy, which is also a story where the MCs know each other from HS 🙂 Oh, and another one from Liwen would be Ten Things I Like About You. That one stayed with me for a while (plus, the whole series is just really good).

    As for childhood enemies who gradually (or more like, years down the road) discover more, I’d also recommend My Own Best Enemy by Julie Christianson. It’s not CF but it’s a Clean/Sweet Contemporary Rom-com (maybe it could count as research?).

  13. You got a pretty good list of books there. An Unlikely Proposal by Toni Shiloh is another one that follows friends to more.

  14. I like childhood sweethearts trope. Your list has some good ones.
    My romance is highschool sweethearts. We met at age 15. We celebrated 52 years of marriage in June! It worked!

    1. Hello, Kelley! I sure hope we can remedy that. I have two free books available if you’d like to give me a low-risk try. Here on the blog, you can click the “books” tab and find links to the freebies I and the other IR authors offer. 🙂

  16. I’ve read a few of the ones you mentioned! I have to say, one of my favorite’s is Rose Fresquez’s series The Buchanans and Romance in the Rockies. There’s at least one book in each series that has this trope, and her newest book is going to have it, too. Alexa Verde’s Hold Me, part of the same series as the book by Marion that you mentioned is also really good! Autumn’s book in that series, Cherish Me, is also super good! So many good ones!! In all of these, they knew each other from either early childhood, or late elementary school, or high school, so all qualify!!

  17. Hi, Jaycee!
    Childhood sweethearts is one that I enjoy but usually with one of the variations like reconnecting as adults or friends to more. I have read five of the ones on your list and have another six either in the TBR pile or on pre-order.

    I don’t know why for sure, but I think maybe the childhood sweethearts trope appeals so much because there is a history that goes back beyond the front, the walls, that adults put up when getting to know someone new. I, of course, have never hidden behind such walls so I don–OUCH! Sorry, had to dodge some heavenly lightning there. Maybe I have put up a wall or two but only to discover that the sweetest moments with my sweetie are when we are both vulnerable and allow our inner children to play together. Laughter, joy and time spent with the prettiest little brown-eyed girl. 🙂

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