Saving Dallas

Hunter

Tracy Lorraine2021

A college student is targeted and harassed by a cruel athlete who blames her for his past misfortunes.

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

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+2·bleak-1

Fixed on You

Laurelin Paige2013

A woman with a history of stalking behavior is hired by a billionaire to pose as his girlfriend. Their mutual fixations complicate the ruse.

Same tense register, still contemporary romance

pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

Breath

James Nestor2020

A journalist investigates the history and science of human respiration, testing ancient techniques and modern medical findings.

tense → earnest

pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

Gabriel's Inferno

Sylvain Reynard2011

A Dante professor begins a relationship with his graduate student. He struggles with his past while she navigates his academic authority.

tense → earnest, still contemporary romance

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

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·prose0·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.

tense → propulsive, still dark romance

pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

The Professional: Part 2 (The Game Maker, #1b)

Kresley Cole

A Russian enforcer continues his pursuit of a graduate student across Europe. The focus is on their sexual power dynamic and his mafia duties.

Same tense register, still contemporary romance

pace+1·prose0·bleak-2

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

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.

tense → elegiac, still contemporary romance

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

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+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.

tense → bleak

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1