LitQueuelitqueue

After

Shadows

Kristen Proby2020

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • In the Dark of Dreams

    Marjorie M. Liu2010

    A marine biologist reunites with a supernatural man she met as a child. They face danger from her family's secretive corporation.

    Same tender register, still paranormal romance

    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.

    tender → 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.

    tender → epic

    pace0·prose+3·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tender → dark

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Ecstasy

    Jacquelyn Frank2009

    A leader of a subterranean race that cannot survive in the light encounters a human woman. He risks his society's safety to pursue her.

    tender → earnest, still paranormal romance

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Fantasy Lover

    Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

    A Spartan warrior cursed to be a love-slave inside a book is summoned by a modern woman. She takes him into the world to live as a man.

    tender → earnest, still paranormal romance

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

  • Beast Behaving Badly

    Shelly Laurenston2010

    A polar bear-lion shifter protects a wolf-dog hybrid from illegal fighting rings in a remote Maine town.

    tender → playful, still paranormal 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.

    tender → propulsive, still romantic suspense

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Ill Wind

    Rachel Caine2003

    A weather warden on the run from the law uses her ability to control storms to protect people from rogue elemental forces.

    tender → propulsive, still paranormal romance

    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.

    tender → propulsive, still romantic suspense

    pace+1·prose+1·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.

    tender → 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.

    tender → 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.

    tender → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tender → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Brokeback Mountain

    Annie Proulx1997

    Two ranch hands begin a secret sexual and emotional relationship in 1963 Wyoming. The story follows their occasional meetings over twenty years.

    tender → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+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.

    Same tender register

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2