Last Breath

Carter Reed

Tijan2015

A woman seeks protection from a cold-blooded mafia hitman who was her childhood best friend. She is fleeing her brother's dangerous employer.

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

pace0·prose+3·bleak0

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+3·bleak0

Scrap Metal

Harper Fox2013

A man fleeing a scandal takes a job on a remote Scottish island farm and falls for the local sheep farmer.

tense → tender, still contemporary romance

pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

Things We Hide from the Light

Lucy Score2023

A small-town police chief suffers from PTSD after a shooting. He forms a connection with a new neighbor while investigating a local mystery.

tense → warm, still contemporary romance

pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

Honeysuckle Summer

Sherryl Woods2010

A woman with severe anxiety and agoraphobia after an abusive marriage finds support from a local deputy. He helps her re-enter the world.

tense → warm, still contemporary romance

pace-1·prose0·bleak-2

Noble Prince

Devney Perry2020

A police chief takes a witness into his home to protect her from a motorcycle gang. She refuses to follow his rules despite the danger.

tense → earnest, still contemporary romance

pace0·prose0·bleak-2

Sidetracked (Mindf*ck #2)

S.T. Abby2016

As Lana continues her revenge killings, she is targeted by a new threat. Her boyfriend, an FBI profiler, tries to protect her from himself.

tense → propulsive, still romantic suspense

pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

Ruthless People

J.J. McAvoy2017

The heirs to the Irish and Italian mobs marry to end a war. They compete for dominance while eliminating shared enemies.

tense → propulsive, still romantic suspense

pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

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 romantic suspense

pace+1·prose0·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+3·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+3·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+3·bleak-1

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+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·prose+1·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+2·bleak+1