LitQueuelitqueue

After

Satan's Affair

H. D. Carlton2021

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • 365 days

    Blanka Lipinska2018

    A Sicilian mafia boss kidnaps a woman and gives her one year to fall in love with him. He keeps her captive in his estate during this time.

    Same propulsive register, still dark romance

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

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.

    propulsive → tense

    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.

    propulsive → epic

    pace0·prose+3·bleak0

  • 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.

    propulsive → dark

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Blood and Roses Series

    Callie Hart2015

    A trauma surgeon enters the Seattle criminal underworld to find her missing sister with the help of a violent debt collector.

    propulsive → tense, still dark romance

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

  • The Princess Bride

    William Goldman1973

    A farm boy seeks to rescue his true love from a prince. The story is presented as an abridged version of a fictional historical text.

    propulsive → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

  • These Old Shades

    Georgette Heyer1926

    The Duke of Avon buys a young person in boy's clothing to use in a revenge plot. He soon discovers his new servant is a girl in disguise.

    propulsive → wry

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    Same propulsive register, still dark romance

    pace+1·prose0·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.

    Same propulsive register, still dark romance

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    propulsive → dark, still dark romance

    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.

    propulsive → 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.

    propulsive → elegiac, still unreliable narrator

    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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Darkest Descent

    Hazel Black2024

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

    propulsive → haunted, still dark romance

    pace+1·prose+2·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.

    propulsive → bleak, still unreliable narrator

    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.

    propulsive → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1