Claiming the Courtesan (Avon Romantic Treasures)

The duke with the dragon tattoo

Kerrigan Byrne2018

An amnesiac man wakes in a grave and is rescued by a woman with a physical disability. He tries to recover his identity while they fall in love.

pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert1856

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

Same tense register

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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.

tense → epic

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Delicious

Sherry Thomas2008

A politician hires a renowned chef, only to realize she is the woman he shared a single night of passion with ten years earlier.

tense → tender, still historical romance

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Velvet Angel

Jude Deveraux1983

During a medieval family feud, a woman is kidnapped and given to her enemy as a gift. They live in close quarters while their families are at war.

tense → earnest, still historical romance

pace0·prose0·bleak-2

The Professional: Part 2 (The Game Maker, #1b)

Kresley Cole

A Russian enforcer continues his pursuit of a graduate student across Europe. The focus is on their sexual power dynamic and his mafia duties.

Same tense register

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Truce

R.L. Mathewson

Two neighbors who have feuded since childhood are forced to interact during a house party. Their long-standing prank war turns into a romance.

tense → playful, still historical romance

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Savage Prince

Meghan March2018

A powerful man in the New Orleans underworld becomes obsessed with a woman and pursues her despite the danger of his lifestyle.

tense → propulsive, still enemies to lovers

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

The Professional: Part 2 (The Game Maker, #1b)

Kresley Cole

A Russian enforcer continues his pursuit of a graduate student across Europe. The focus is on their sexual power dynamic and his mafia duties.

Same tense register

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Victory at Prescott High

C.M. Stunich

A high school girl seeks revenge against the boys who bullied her while navigating a complex relationship with all of them at once.

tense → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

tense → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner1936

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

tense → elegiac

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Either/Or

Søren Kierkegaard1992

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

tense → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

A Farewell to Arms

Ernest Hemingway1929

An American ambulance driver and a British nurse conduct a love affair during the Italian campaign of World War I.

tense → elegiac

pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

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.

tense → elegiac

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

tense → elegiac

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