How to Write the Black Cat x Golden Retriever Romance Trope

One of my favourite new romance tropes that's cropped up in the last few years is the black cat x golden retriever trope. It's like opposites attract, but with very specific personality types, and I love that with this trope, it's (usually) the woman who gets to be grumpy and aloof, and the man who cares for her and shows her nothing but unconditional love.

But unlike many tropes, the trope's name itself doesn't exactly explain the dynamic between the characters, so that's what we're looking at today: What a black cat and golden retriever is, where it appears, and what other tropes you can use with it in your next romance novel.

What is a black cat?

In Romancelandia, a black cat is a character who is aloof, mysterious, and aren't especially warm, except to those closest to them. Think of it as a combination of ice queen/ice king and a grump, with a splash of rakishness thrown in, because they don't play by the rules, and really don't care what people think about that.

What is a golden retriever?

A golden retriever romance character is much like the dog itself—loyal, happy-g0-lucky, affectionate, kind, easy to be around. Their naturally affable nature makes them difficult for black cats to dislike (much as the black cat character might try),

Does the black cat x golden retriever trope appear in all sub-genres of romance?

Like the opposites attract romance trope, the black cat x golden retriever romance trope works with virtually all sub-genres of romance, because the trope affects the personality types, rather than any rules dictated by a sub-genre, like a character's occupation or the story's setting or era.

Examples of contemporary black cat x golden retriever romances include Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings, Top Secret by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy, and The Astronaut and the Star by Jen Comfort, a book so good I stayed up all night to finish it. Historical examples include Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase and The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian (which is great on audio). And you can find the black cat x golden retriever trope in the fantasy romance novels Homegrown Magic by Jamie Pocton and That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted A Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming.

Are there any other tropes you can combine with the black cat x golden retriever trope?

There are so many great tropes you can use in combination with the black cat x golden retriever trope. Second chance romance, as seen in Well, Actually, is one example that works well, because it forces two people who might not have gotten along because of their differences to re-learn each other and re-evaluate their compatibility.

Another is fated mates—a fun trope to use any time a romance novel's characters have opposing personalities, because they know they're fated to spend eternity together and have to work out their differences somehow (usually through banter, flirting, and some delightful bedroom scenes).

The trope also works well with forced proximity romances—as with fated mates, the two characters are forced to find a way to make things work because they can't escape each other, and in spending so much time together, the black cat's defenses are slowly lowered by the golden retriever's disarming nature.

Check out my other posts on how to write some of romance's most popular tropes, and until next blog post, happy reading and writing!