My type in fictional men is unfortunately assholes; this goes hand in hand with my favourite trope “grovelling” and I don’t believe in gatekeeping.
There seems to be a scarcity of novels where men are on their knees begging for the love of their lives to take them back after they have massively fucked up. This is a petition for authors to write more novels with men who grovel because there really is nothing more satisfying.
But I have scoured the internet over the years to find some that I keep going back to whenever I am craving a fix. So here’s a list in no particular order.
1) KISS AN ANGEL BY SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS
I am gonna start of with an obvious one just to get it out of the way. Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Philips is really the blue print when it comes to this trope. Written in the late nineties I put reading this one off for a while because I am an extremely picky reader and was apprehensive about dated contemporary books. I don’t want to spend my time reading something I won’t enjoy unless I am really in the mood to torture myself. But I digress.
This book follows Daisy Devreaux who gets betrothed to circus manager Alex Markov in a marriage of convenience for the next six months. The grumpy and cold hero with a mysterious past would rather not spend any time with Daisy than necessary but also refuses Daisy’s plea for a divorce.
So now much to her dismay, poor little rich city girl is stuck in a circus for the duration of their marriage. Alex doesn’t plan to make circus life easy on Daisy but Daisy’s sheer determination to power through everything that is hurled at her takes Alex by surprise.
With the combination some daddy issues, a jealous ex and undeniable sexual tension brewing between the leads this is one of those books that won't let you put it down. You are going want to start it over a weekend you don’t have any other plans because otherwise you will inevitably not be able to get those things done. Anyways, if you couldn’t tell this one was a five-star read.
I went into it blind but please do look up trigger warnings before you read, they might contain some spoiler elements to them. Whilst there were somethings in this book I do not morally agree with it and will definitely not condemn in real life, I am going to give it the grace of being written two decades ago and I did really enjoy the relationship between the two leads and that’s why I felt the need to give this disclaimer when I recommend this.
2) BY A THREAD BY LUCY SCORE
Every once in a blue moon a reader comes across a book they reluctantly picked up after a book slump that leaves them in a book slump even worse. This was one of those books. This book was also where I discovered my love for alpha-cinnamon roll fictional men. The story follows Dominic and Ally who will perfectly fill your grumpy sunshine needs. Dominic gets Ally fired, at which point Dominic’s mother strong arms him into offering her a job at his magazine. Despite Dominic making her blood boil, buried under a fat stack of medical bills Ally is in no position to say no. This sets the scene for an excellent “will they won’t they” office romance, with amazing banter, some real good smut and even better grovelling. The angst and the sexual tension and the whole 'I really want to but I can't because of the x,y, & z reasons' it was so frustrating and good. Like it physically pained me reading this book because of how much tension there was and frankly if you don't have the patience to sit through about 600 pages of pining just don't read this. But I come from Mariana Zapata's library of reading so I fucking love a slow burn story. But this book wasn't the typical slow burn where nothing happens. You can literally feel the chemistry and the sexual tension seeping out of the pages. Ugh I loved this book. So so so much.
3) KULTI BY MARIANA ZAPATA
Speaking of Mariana Zapata of course I couldn't not include her on this list. This is probably my favourite book of hers. I can't even count how many times I have re-read this and I have messed up my sleep schedule to read this every single time even if I know exactly how it ends. I have said before that books which make my chest heavy before the main characters have even kissed are my favourites. When the chemistry and sexual tension is flying off of the pages, this is one of those books
Former football legend Reiner Kulti is now Sal's coach. The man she grew up idolising turns out is an absolute dick. You really should never meet your heroes, because she can't recognise the quiet recluse asshole that shows up to coach her team for the season who supposedly is the passionate player who used explosive on the field.
They immediately start off on the wrong foot. But this facilitates for a delicious slow burn enemies to friends to lovers romance that will take you extremely long to finish but will leave you still wanting more once you're done. Luckily for you there is a an extended epilogue set after the events of the main book you can read here!
4) BEFORE JAMAICA LANE BY SAMANTHA YOUNG
Friends with Benefits is my favourite movie ever. It is also a trope that is difficult to do right. But Samantha Young really came to our rescue with this one. I loved how the author penned the relationship between our leads in this book.
Confident yet sexually inexperienced Olivia seeks the help of her player but loyal friend Nate Sawyer to become sexually confident. When their feelings inevitably get in the way, Nate's commitment issues leave Olivia heartbroken. So when Nate realises the blunder he has made he must do everything in his power to fix his mistake.
And so ensues a delicious tale of gratifying grovel. I loved this book because of how grovelling is at the centre stage of it. I think this is probably the book that made me realise how much I love this trope.
Whilst part of a series, it can definitely be read and a stand alone but I also really enjoyed getting to see the other couples peppered through out the story. This was such a fun read.
5) THE FINISH LINE BY KATE STEWART
Okay now go into this one with caution. This is the final book of a trilogy which is if you don't read first two it will not have the same impact. The Ravenhood Trilogy begins with Flock which follows our main character Cecelia as she gets thrown into a new world that takes her on a journey neither her or the readers could've anticipated.
Cecelia moves to the sleepy town of Triple Falls for a year after graduation to intern at her father's company. The father in question has been absent for most of her life and her relationship with him can be described as non-existent. When our heroine starts mingling with the towns folk a pair of mysterious men peak her interest, lonely and unable to mind her own business it takes her and the readers on a confusing, frustration and suspenseful ride.
I know that wasn't a particularly informative blurb but the only way of reading these books is to go into them blind. I will be completely honest I didn’t enjoy the first book. This entire trilogy for all intents and purposes is extremely flawed. A lot of it maybe considered juvenile but I read it when I was in a really emotionally vulnerable place and it resonated with me. I haven’t gone back and reread it since maybe my views on the series would change.
But for the purposes of this recommendation I believe The Finish Line contained some excellent grovelling. If that’s what you’re after and are able to wait two whole books to get it then you will definitely be rewarded.
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