An Ode to Fabio, Romance Novel King

The 2018 crop of male models is an attractive bunch, but they’ve got nothing on the original male model, Fabio. The mononymous model and sex-god is so universally adored that he even held an until recently complete monopoly on romance novel covers. Fabio appears on no less than 466 romance novel covers, including a few of his own! But what was it that made Fabio so well known, so quickly? According to him: 

 

I think I was the first really muscular model. When I started modelling, [clothes] were a 40-inch regular; here I am coming in with a 56-inch chest. I couldn’t fit my arm into a suit.

 

He was physically incapable of wearing designer sleeves. Yup, that’ll do it. So! In honor of one of my favorite hunk of men, here are ten of my favorite Fabio romance novel covers. 

 

1. First up, Lovestorm by Judith E. French. The pair of hotties have clearly just washed up on the beach but neither of them are wet, which is suspicious, nor are they sunburned, but you can see some butt crack, so there’s that. 

 

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2. My biggest problem with the cover of Warrior’s Woman by Johanna Lindsey is that according to Fabio’s hair, he’s descending into this tender embrace with an obviously astral queen – she’s in purple with Ariana Grande hair pre-Ariana Grande, so she’s clearly futuristic – but according to the physics of her hair, she’s ascending. A quick google search revealed the novel is set in 2139.

 

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3. I really don’t see any glaring artistic issues with the cover of Wild Scottish Embrace by Rebecca Sinclair, other than that swan isn’t attacking Fabio and his Scottish babe. 

 

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4. Technically, this is a video game and not a book, but Fabio has some serious Conan the Barbarian vibes going on and I don’t hate it. 

 

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5. The cover of Eden by Cordia Byers is anything but subtle. Fabio and this dark-haired maiden are about to knock one out in a pile of hay, which can’t be too comfortable.

 

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6. Scandalous Love by Brenda Joyce is the rare cover where Fabio’s face gets the attention, not his luscious body.

 

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7. Not too hyped on Fabio holding this chick down like that re: her arm, because that arm is not supported and could break suuuuuper easily. Shannon Drake’s Bride of the Wind hopefully has good health insurance.

 

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8. A few things make me laugh about Heather Graham’s Golden Surrender  – first, that it was written by a Heather Graham who didn’t appear in Austin Power’s The Spy Who Shagged Me, and second, that Fabio looks a little bit like a turtle in this one.

 

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9. Sylvie F. Sommerfield’s Fires of Surrender (there’s a lot of surrendering going on, apparently) is another one of those not-so-subtle covers. Unless Fabio’s particularly sleepy, or she’s asking him to listen to her growling stomach, there’s some shenanigans afoot. 

 

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10. And last but not least, Defy Not the Heart by Johanna Lindsey, which features a Fabio in tights. Thanks, Johanna!

 

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Featured Image via The Guardian.