Romance novels are often accused of being formulaic.  Of being the same story, told often.  After all, how many different ways can you tell the story of a girl and a guy (or a guy and a guy, or a were-beast and a girl, depending on the genre you prefer) falling in love and working there way to a happily ever after?  My general response to that is, how many different ways are there to make a dress? The answer of course, is TONS.  From choice of fabrics, line, length, cut, style, and level of sophistication, there are a million different ways to make a dress.  And is a dress going to be the same old dress, sewn often?  No, of course not.  Any dress Michael Kors makes is going to be different from Christian Dior, from Jessica McKlintock, from the Gap. Similarly, there are millions of different ways to tell a love story, because a love story is unique to each individual couple.  That said, much like with clothing, there are certain patterns that romance writers follow, called tropes.  These tropes are not meant to make the stories the same – but they are recognizable – just as a…