You gave me these pieces of you I know you haven’t given to anybody else, and they’re mine. Over the course of weeks he brings her a flower each day, tries so desperately to get her to open up to him again, but it takes time for her to forgive him. Meanwhile the MMC is just in agony because he misses her and he knows he screwed up and he’s so remorseful. He’s an asshole and says some really hurtful things to Luna, who is particularly triggered by it as her family was neglectful and abusive to her, and so she withdraws, trying to just act professional and carry on. He’d still been reeling over Hannah calling him a bully when she’d said, 'The last thing she needs is another dude making her feel like garbage,' and now something hot and dangerous was simmering in his belly.Īnd for a classic grovel - obviously, Luna and the Lie by Mariana Zapata. Something funny was stuck in his throat, and the appetite he’d left the house with had deserted him. It’s a short moment but the guilt is swift:īrendan was feeling shittier by the second. That instant pang of regret - like in It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey, when Brendan is yelling at Piper for almost setting her building on fire (accidentally) and Piper's sister comes to her rescue. I love when that instant pang of guilt and regret hits the MMC - I want my stomach to drop when we realize what a shitty thing the MMC did (and bonus if it’s by no fault of the FMC, she’s just innocently been screwed over / hurt by the MMC, and super bonus if it’s a dual POV so we can get into his brain and really feel it) and that character just feels torn up inside. And similarly, the little sister of the groveling trope: guilt & regret. I want to feel the character's suffering and angst over what they did. Groveling - it’s one of my all time favorite tropes and imo, there isn’t enough of it or too often it’s just not well executed and a character is too easily forgiven.

Reluctant Mate by Eden Cole