After
Paper Princess
Erin Watt2016
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Fight or Flight
Samantha Young2018
After a series of travel delays and arguments, a woman agrees to a casual physical relationship with the man who stole her plane seat.
Same propulsive register, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Love Thy Neighbour
Belle Aurora
A woman and her rude neighbor engage in a prank war. The conflict shifts as they are forced to spend time together.
propulsive → playful, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Beautiful Disaster
Jamie McGuire2011
A college freshman attempts to escape her past by dating a student who participates in underground fight clubs.
Same propulsive register, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
The Mighty Storm
Samantha Towle2012
A music journalist interviews her rock-star ex-boyfriend after twelve years apart. They navigate their history while she is in a relationship.
Same propulsive register, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
How to End a Love Story
Yulin Kuang2024
Two screenwriters are forced to work together years after a shared tragedy. They navigate their mutual history while writing a television show.
propulsive → tender, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
Middlemarch
George Eliot1800
Interconnected families in a 1830s English town navigate marriage, debt, and political change. The focus is on social realism and internal life.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
A middle-aged professor documents his obsession with his twelve-year-old stepdaughter. He uses complex prose to justify his crimes.
propulsive → tense
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert1856
A doctor's wife in provincial France seeks escape from her mundane life through expensive tastes and extramarital affairs.
propulsive → tense
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → epic
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Long Island Compromise
Taffy Brodesser-Akner2021
A wealthy Jewish family on Long Island deals with the multi-generational psychological fallout of a 1980 kidnapping.
propulsive → sardonic
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
When I'm Gone
Abbi Glines2015
A Texas rancher visits Rosemary Beach and becomes involved with a local woman while navigating his family's rock star legacy.
propulsive → tender, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Her Russian Billionaire: 50 Loving States, Texas
Theodora Taylor
A woman reunites with a wealthy Russian man she once knew, leading to the revelation of a child he did not know existed.
propulsive → playful, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Terms and Conditions
Lauren Asher2022
To secure his inheritance, a businessman enters a marriage of convenience with his assistant.
propulsive → playful, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Daring to Dream
Nora Roberts1996
The daughter of a housekeeper grows up alongside the children of a wealthy hotel dynasty. She seeks her own fortune and identity in Europe.
propulsive → warm, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Just for the Summer
Abby Jimenez2024
Two people who believe their exes always find 'the one' after dumping them decide to date and break up to break their respective curses.
propulsive → warm, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-3prose+3bleak+1
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany1975
An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+1bleak+1
One Day
David Nicholls2009
The book visits two friends on July 15th every year for two decades. It tracks their separate lives, failures, and changing relationship.
propulsive → elegiac, still contemporary romance
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+3bleak-1
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak-1
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
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.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-3prose+3bleak+2
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+2
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
propulsive → tender, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
The Last Letter
Rebecca Yarros2019
A soldier returns from war to help his deceased friend's sister raise her twins in Colorado. The story is told through letters and prose.
propulsive → elegiac, still contemporary romance
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
propulsive → bleak
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+1bleak+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.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
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.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
