Woke Up Like This possesses the two most common elements of the romance genre: “a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending” (“About the Romance Genre.” Romance Writers of America). First, the development of love between the protagonist and her long-time rival, Charlotte Wu and J. T. Renner, respectively, comprises the main plot and provides the central conflict. Their happy ending, though tentative because they cannot know for certain that their time-traveling experience of the future will actually take place, is optimistic in tone because Char learns how to live in the present, and this guarantees her much more happiness than worrying about the future or resenting the past.

That Char and J. T. begin the novel as rivals is another trope of the genre. The story takes place near the end of their senior year of high school, and their rivalry began several years before when J. T. stood Char up for a dance. Like Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813), Char feels slighted by J. T., and her pride prevents her from seeing who he really is or that he has romantic feelings for her.