Not to be confused with the 1990s book of the same name based on a series of commercials for Gold Blend coffeenote , or the album by Dire Straits.
Love over Gold contains examples of:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: Originally published in 2019 and set from 2017 to 2020, covering the Tokyo Olympics. After the COVID-19 Pandemic hit, the author released a second edition dealing with the pandemic and the postponement of the Olympics to 2021.
- Amazonian Beauty: Katrien is 186 cm, muscular, and beautiful. Diane compares her to an Amazon.
- The Atoner: When Katrien was a teenager, she participated in the bullying of an undiagnosed autistic girl named Grietje in order to gain the approval of Alpha Bitch Truus, who she secretly had a crush on. After Grietje attempted suicide and was pulled out of school, Katrien was horrified by what she'd done. She stopped talking to Truus and has spent the decade since then learning how to be a better person.
- The Benchwarmer: Diane joins the British national hockey team as a reserve goalie, and spends almost all her time benched at first. When Maddie Hinch announces that she's taking a break from international hockey, Diane finally gets to play in international games.
- Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: At a bar, Diane runs into Truus, who tells her about what she and Katrien did to Grietje. Truus feels no remorse and thinks Grietje deserved what she got. Thinking Katrien must still be as cruel and remorseless as Truus, Diane breaks up with her. After a month of the two barely talking to each other, Katrien decides to invite Grietje to coffee to apologize, which she never did all those years ago, and invite Diane along as well. Both women agree to meet her. During their conversation, Grietje talks about how her therapist has helped her learn to stop wanting revenge and obsessing over the past, and Diane learns how remorseful Katrien is and how much she's changed since she was a teenager. Diane finally decides to take Katrien back. She and Grietje go on to form a close friendship.
- Bridal Carry: Right before Katrien and Diane have sex for the first time, Katrien lifts Diane into her arms and carries her into the bedroom.
- Bully Magnet: As an undiagnosed autistic adolescent, Diane was bullied so severely that she contemplated suicide. Her life didn't improve until she proved her worth as a goalie, allowing her to achieve some amount of popularity. Katrien tells her that she went through the same things - at twelve she was bullied for being skinny, flat-chested, and overly tall, and things only got worse once the other kids found out she was gay.
- Caretaker Reversal: Katrien catches Covid early in the pandemic, and Diane takes care of her while she's too weak to do anything for herself. Then, just as Katrien is getting better, Diane starts coming down with the illness, and Katrien nurses her back to health.
- Closet Key: Diane was attracted to both boys and girls as a teenager. Her classmates were incredibly homophobic, so she convinced herself that she was straight and that her attraction to girls was just a phase. She's had several relationships with men, even though her attraction to that gender faded over time. She never considers that she might actually be a lesbian until Katrien kisses her. Alarmed by how the kiss made her feel, Diane flees Katrien's apartment in a panic. The next day, she talks to Katrien about her feelings, and the two start dating.
- Down to the Last Play: The final Olympic game between the British and Dutch teams ends with the score at 2-2. During the ensuing penalty shoot-out, each side takes four shots without scoring a goal. Then the British team scores a goal, meaning that if Diane can fend off one more shot from Katrien, the British will get the gold. Diane just barely deflects the ball before it goes into the goal. It hits one post, then bounces off the other post, then goes in almost just as the buzzer sounds. The video referee concludes that the buzzer sounded before the ball went in, making the British the winners.
- Forced Out of the Closet: When Katrien was fourteen, her girlfriend's father walked in on the two of them kissing. He accused Katrien of seducing and corrupting his daughter and complained about her to the school, which is how all her classmates found out that she was gay.
- Gay Groom in a White Tux: Female example. On their wedding day, Diane wears the traditional white dress, and Katrien wears a black dress.
- Give Away the Bride: Diane and Katrien agree to both be given away by both their parents, which Diane thinks is less patriarchal than being given away by their fathers.
- Let's Wait a While: Diane and Katrien agree to put off sex until their third date so it will be meaningful. They both want to have sex earlier, but Diane thinks that if they did, they couldn't build a real relationship.
- Meet the In-Laws: Diane comes out as gay to her parents by introducing Katrien first to her father, then to her mother. Diane's dad already knows from reading about one of her dates with Katrien in a Dutch tabloid. Her mum at first thinks Diane is going to break really horrible news to her, and is relieved when she tells her she's gay. Both parents like Katrien and are completely accepting of her and Diane.
- Oh, Crap, There Are Fanfics of Us!: In Tokyo, fans ask Diane and Katrien to sign copies of a yuri manga called First Love Hockey Girls, which they're startled to realise is about thinly fictionalised versions of themselves named Dinah and Katerina. Katrien is annoyed by how the manga misrepresents them, especially with her teammates constantly quoting the cheesy, poorly-translated dialogue at her, but Diane sees it as harmless fantasy.
- Onee-sama: Fans of First Love Hockey Girls call Katrien and Diane "o-nē-sama and imōto". When Diane explains what those words mean, Katrien admits that they fit the trope.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: When Diane comes out to her mum, her mum tells her that she once experimented with her friend Elaine. Diane is horrified by the thought of her mum being sexually active.Mum: Oh, so I'm supposed to be all accepting of your sexuality, but the moment you hear about a snippet of my sex life, you act like it's all horrendous and terrible?
Diane: That's different. You're my mum, you're not supposed to have a sex life. - Shower of Love: Diane and Katrien shower together the morning after Their First Time having sex.
- Tabloid Melodrama: British tabloids are fascinated by the romance between two women who will be competing against each other. Journalists accuse Diane and Katrien of sharing team secrets with each other, with one journalist comparing Katrien to Mata Hari. Journalists even harass Diane's parents, to her dismay.
- Waving Signs Around: Diane and Katrien decide to take a break from their relationship to avoid distraction in the last few games of the Olympics. When fans find out, they hold signs at their games urging them to get back together. They do, right before the finals.
