Her Soul for Revenge

Rhapsodic

Laura Thalassa2016

A siren owes thousands of magical favors to a powerful entity known as the Bargainer. He returns after seven years to collect.

Same tense register, still dark romance

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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

pace0·prose+2·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.

tense → epic

pace0·prose+2·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.

tense → dark

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Night Pleasures

Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.

tense → playful, still paranormal romance

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Here Be Sexist Vampires

Suzanne Wright2013

A female vampire enters a male-dominated pack and challenges their hierarchy while being pursued by their leader.

tense → sardonic, still paranormal romance

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

After Dark

Jayne Castle

A para-archaeologist finds a body in a museum and hires a dangerous man to help her navigate a city on an alien planet.

tense → playful, still paranormal romance

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

I Dare You

Shantel Tessier2018

A high school student moves to a new town and becomes the target of a cruel secret society. She must complete dangerous dares to survive.

Same tense register, still dark romance

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

The Risk

S.T. Abby2016

A serial killer seeking revenge on her childhood tormentors falls for the FBI profiler hunting her. She kills while he investigates.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

Chased

Clarissa Wild2018

A wealthy man buys a blind woman and keeps her captive to satisfy his desires. The story follows his obsession and her forced isolation.

tense → dark, still dark romance

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·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.

tense → elegiac

pace-2·prose+2·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.

tense → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Darkest Descent

Hazel Black2024

A woman is kidnapped and subjected to psychological and physical abuse, discovering a dark attraction to her captor.

tense → haunted, still dark romance

pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë1846

Two families on the Yorkshire moors deal with the arrival and subsequent revenge of an adopted orphan. The story is told through nested narrators.

tense → bleak

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

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+2