Elizabeth Lowell - A Woman Without Liars

If there isn’t a grovel, is it even a romance? This week, we’re getting to the bottom of one of our favorite moments in a romance novel — the grovel. Love it or hate it, some of the best loved books of the genre go all in on hero (because let’s face it, it’s almost always the hero) on his knees…and we are here. for. it. We talk about the hows and whys of the grovel, about the reasons we love it, about the difference between a grovel and a grand gesture, and about the books that installed this particular button for us.

This episode is sponsored by Janna MacGregor, author of Rules for Engaging the Earl, and Adriana Herrera, author of A Caribbean Heiress in Paris.

Our next read along is Virginia Henley’s The Dragon and the Jewel, a deep cut from Sarah’s childhood. Check your content warnings and remember this one is from 1991, so we don’t even know, honestly. We’re flying without a net here. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo or your local indie.

Show Notes

• We love a good grovel here at Fated Mates, and back in 2018, Jen wrote an essay on groveling for #RomBkLove
• Merriam Webster is the world’s greatest dictionary.
• We don’t come from chimpanzees, but we do have a common ancestor.
• If you think a character hasn’t suffered enough, you can leave them in cold storage. You have the power!
• Jen did the entire breakdown on Kiss an Angel with Erin & Clayton from Learning the Tropes
• We did a deep dive on Milla Vane's A Heart of Blood and Ashes because we love it so much. We also did episodes on Lothaire, Sweet Ruin and The Master. The first five seconds of the Sweet Ruin epsiode are a straight shot of Sarah's joy, if you are looking for that sort of thing.
• More about the problem of captive (and presumably lacking telepathic prowess) Tigers in America.
• Molly Bloom totally would love a good romance novel, btw.
• The American President is a pretty great movie, but it also came out back in 1995 when we some of us were still capable of positive feelings about politicians.
• Our next read along is The Dragon and the Jewel by Virginia Henley.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2022/5/30/s0437-groveling-in-romance-novels
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.