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After

Renegade

Diana Palmer2004

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same earnest register, still contemporary romance

1 more ↓

  • Lead Me Home

    A.L. Jackson2018

    A man returns to his hometown to protect his best friend's sister from a dangerous threat while confronting his own past.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

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.

    earnest → tense

    pace0·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.

    earnest → epic

    pace0·prose+3·bleak+1

  • 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.

    earnest → tender, still contemporary romance

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Safe Haven

    Nicholas Sparks2010

    A woman with a dark secret arrives in a small North Carolina town and cautiously begins a relationship with a widowed store owner.

    Same earnest register, still contemporary romance

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Hunt the Stars

    Jessie Mihalik2022

    A female bounty hunter and her crew are hired by their former enemy, a telepathic general, for a secret mission. It is a romance set in deep space.

    earnest → propulsive, still romantic suspense

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Fallen Jester

    Devney Perry2021

    A former motorcycle club member and a graduate student deal with an unplanned pregnancy after a one-night stand in a small town.

    earnest → warm, still contemporary romance

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    earnest → propulsive, still romantic suspense

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    earnest → propulsive, still romantic suspense

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    earnest → propulsive, still romantic suspense

    pace+1·prose0·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.

    earnest → playful

    pace-2·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.

    earnest → elegiac

    pace-2·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.

    earnest → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    earnest → bleak

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    earnest → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+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.

    earnest → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2