Free tool · Counted, not estimated · as of 2026-09-16

Dark — Mafia Romance — how often readers mention each trope

Every trope we publish for Dark — Mafia Romance, ranked by demand-signal mentions counted over the 28 weeks to 2026-09-07. 21,727 trope mentions counted in the lane in that window. Pick one for the full readout.

Genre / subgenre Trope

Changing the genre and pressing Check demand reloads the trope list for that lane. 3,851 trope-and-lane readouts, last counted 2026-09-16.

#	Trope	Mentions	Share of lane	Direction	Tagged titles
1	Mafia Romance	1,904	8.76%	Share change under 15%	59
2	Dark Romance (as trope)	1,289	5.93%	Share up	170
3	Forced Proximity	985	4.53%	Share down	758
4	Marriage of Convenience	692	3.18%	Share change under 15%	179
5	Enemies to Lovers	565	2.60%	Share up	383
6	Found Family	486	2.24%	Share up	345
7	Possessive Hero	463	2.13%	Share change under 15%	98
8	Age Gap	451	2.08%	Share change under 15%	—
9	Slow Burn	418	1.92%	Share up	296
10	Morally Grey MMC	412	1.90%	Share up	266
11	Protective Hero	380	1.75%	Share change under 15%	187
12	Forbidden Romance	331	1.52%	Share down	338
13	Second Chance	279	1.28%	Share up	309
14	Possessive MMC	259	1.19%	Share up	213
15	Obsessive Love	219	1.01%	Share down	22
16	Reverse Harem / Why Choose	179	0.82%	Share up	88
17	Protective MMC	172	0.79%	Share down	298
18	Banter	170	0.78%	Share change under 15%	7,977
19	Obsessive MMC	169	0.78%	Share down	151
20	Plot Twists	146	0.67%	Share up	38
21	Strong FMC	135	0.62%	Share up	71
22	Secret Baby	135	0.62%	Share down	48
23	Revenge	133	0.61%	Share up	2,111
24	Alpha MMC	132	0.61%	Share down	40
25	Boss / Employee	128	0.59%	Share down	160
26	Grumpy MMC	119	0.55%	Share up	181
27	Redemption Arc	118	0.54%	Share up	47
28	Instalove	111	0.51%	Share down	1,945
29	Mystery / Suspense Element	107	0.49%	Share up	56
30	High Stakes	103	0.47%	Share up	26
31	Trauma Recovery	96	0.44%	Share change under 15%	17
32	Spicy Romance	89	0.41%	Share change under 15%	—
33	Character Growth	84	0.39%	Share up	9
34	Grumpy Sunshine	83	0.38%	Share down	227
35	Stalker Romance	83	0.38%	Share down	21
36	Series Continuation	78	0.36%	Share down	3
37	Captive / Captor	75	0.35%	Share up	45
38	Betrayal	65	0.30%	Share change under 15%	6,538
39	Single Parent	60	0.28%	Share down	154
40	Secret/Hidden Identity	60	0.28%	Share down	127
41	Ensemble Cast	59	0.27%	Share up	—
42	Page Turner	58	0.27%	Share up	2
43	He Falls First	58	0.27%	Share down	52
44	Opposites Attract	58	0.27%	Share down	122
45	Hurt/Comfort	55	0.25%	Share down	218
46	Secrets and Lies	51	0.23%	Share change under 15%	55
47	Romantic Suspense	51	0.23%	Share down	17
48	Morally Grey Characters	48	0.22%	Share up	4
49	Cliffhanger Ending	44	0.20%	Share up	8
50	Series Arc	42	0.19%	Not called	—
51	Steamy Romance	42	0.19%	Share down	6
52	Bodyguard Romance	41	0.19%	Share down	15
53	Happily Ever After	41	0.19%	Share down	30
54	Action Packed	41	0.19%	Share change under 15%	5
55	Emotional Depth	39	0.18%	Share up	29
56	Fated Mates	39	0.18%	Share up	215
57	Miscommunication	37	0.17%	Share change under 15%	12,058
58	Series Romance	33	0.15%	Not called	3
59	Fast Paced	33	0.15%	Share change under 15%	6
60	Angst	30	0.14%	Not called	4,836

Direction is the change in each trope’s share of the lane between the last 12 weeks and the 12 before — never a raw weekly move. “Not called” means the two bands hold fewer than 30 mentions between them and we will not pretend otherwise. Tagged titles are counted across our whole registry, not just this lane.

Keep going — free

Lane score for Dark — Mafia Romance — is the genre worth writing at all?
Opportunity Finder — every romance lane, ranked by one Green-Light verdict.
Every free Tropesmith tool — lane scores, trope opportunity check, demand signals, category & rank checker, Hook Lab.
The 2026 Romance Demand Report — the full year’s read on which tropes romance readers named, from the same engine.
Lane Score — is the subgenre worth writing at all?
Trope Demand Checker — pick a genre and a trope, see the counted conversation volume.

Build my Dark — Mafia Romance Map → All genres