LitQueuelitqueue

After

Anathema

Keri Lake

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Fantasy Lover

    Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

    A Spartan warrior cursed to be a love-slave inside a book is summoned by a modern woman. She takes him into the world to live as a man.

    elegiac → earnest, still paranormal romance

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Madame Bovary

    Gustave Flaubert1856

    A doctor's wife in provincial France seeks escape from her mundane life through expensive tastes and extramarital affairs.

    elegiac → tense

    pace+1·prose+3·bleak+1

  • Paradise Logic

    Sophie Kemp2025

    A young woman follows advice from a magazine to become a perfect partner. Her quest involves surreal jobs and messages from the beyond.

    elegiac → epic

    pace+1·prose+3·bleak+1

  • Mad Mabel

    Sally Hepworth2025

    An eighty-one-year-old woman with a history of killing people tries to hide her past when a curious young girl moves into the neighborhood.

    elegiac → dark

    pace0·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Face the Fire

    Nora Roberts2002

    A witch on a magical island must work with the man who broke her heart to stop a centuries-old curse. It is the final book in a trilogy.

    elegiac → warm, still paranormal romance

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Goddess of Light

    P.C. Cast2005

    The goddess Artemis sends her brother Apollo to modern-day Las Vegas to woo a mortal woman. The two must navigate their different worlds.

    elegiac → playful, still paranormal romance

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • No Rest for the Wicked

    Kresley Cole2006

    A suicidal vampire soldier regains his senses when he meets the Valkyrie assassin sent to kill him.

    elegiac → propulsive, still paranormal romance

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

Faster

elegiac → propulsive, still paranormal romance

3 more ↓

  • The Warlord Wants Forever

    Kresley Cole2011

    A vampire general hunts a valkyrie who stole his heart centuries ago. They are forced together during a magical competition.

    elegiac → playful, still paranormal romance

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Wicked All Night

    Jeaniene Frost2021

    A vampire and a siren enter a marriage of convenience to protect her from a supernatural threat. They hunt a dark god across the globe.

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak0

  • Hounded

    Kevin Hearne2011

    A two-thousand-year-old Druid lives in modern Arizona and runs an occult bookshop. He must fight a vengeful Irish god who wants his sword.

    elegiac → wry

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Ulysses

    James Joyce1914

    Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

    elegiac → playful

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak0

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    Same elegiac register

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    elegiac → meditative

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Tess of the D’Urbervilles

    Thomas Hardy

    A country girl is sent to claim kinship with wealthy relatives. Her life is derailed by a sequence of social betrayals and rigid moral standards.

    Same elegiac register

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Brokeback Mountain

    Annie Proulx1997

    Two ranch hands begin a secret sexual and emotional relationship in 1963 Wyoming. The story follows their occasional meetings over twenty years.

    Same elegiac register

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Bright Side

    Kim Holden2014

    An optimistic college student moves to Minnesota for a fresh start while hiding a terminal diagnosis from her best friend.

    elegiac → tender

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2