LitQueuelitqueue

After

Tempest Rising

Nicole Peeler

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same playful register, still urban fantasy

1 more ↓

  • Full Moon Rising

    Keri Arthur2006

    A rare werewolf-vampire hybrid works for a supernatural intelligence agency to track down a scientist and her kidnapped brother.

    playful → propulsive, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose0·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.

    playful → tense

    pace0·prose+2·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.

    playful → epic

    pace0·prose+2·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.

    playful → dark

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

Same playful register, still urban fantasy

3 more ↓

  • Sex and the single vampire

    Katie MacAlister2004

    A woman who accidentally summons a vampire while trying to contact her dead mother navigates a supernatural romance in London.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • My Roommate Is a Vampire

    Jenna Levine2023

    An artist moves in with a man who sleeps all day and speaks in an archaic style. She eventually discovers he is a vampire from the 1800s.

    Same playful register, still paranormal romance

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Walk on the Wild Side

    Christine Warren2008

    A woman discovers she is a were-lion and travels to Las Vegas to meet her father. She encounters his second-in-command and enters his pride.

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Faster

playful → propulsive, still urban fantasy

3 more ↓

  • Wicked All Night

    Jeaniene Frost2021

    A vampire and a siren enter a marriage of convenience to protect her from a supernatural threat. They hunt a dark god across the globe.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • Hounded

    Kevin Hearne2011

    A two-thousand-year-old Druid lives in modern Arizona and runs an occult bookshop. He must fight a vengeful Irish god who wants his sword.

    playful → wry, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • The Killing Dance

    Laurell K. Hamilton1997

    A necromancer with a bounty on her head seeks help from a professional hitman. She navigates a love triangle with a werewolf and a vampire.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

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.

    Same playful register

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    playful → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    playful → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    playful → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    playful → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    playful → tender

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2