LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Seven Year Slip

Ashley Poston2023

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tender register, still contemporary romance

1 more ↓

  • There with You

    Samantha Young2021

    A woman moves to Scotland and takes a job as a nanny for a grumpy single father. She works to win over his children and his trust.

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

tender → tense

3 more ↓

  • Middlemarch

    George Eliot1800

    Interconnected families in a 1830s English town navigate marriage, debt, and political change. The focus is on social realism and internal life.

    tender → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    tender → epic

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

  • You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

    Akwaeke Emezi2022

    A widow five years into her grief begins a new romance, only to develop feelings for her partner's father.

    Same tender register, still contemporary romance

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Score

    Elle Kennedy2016

    A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.

    tender → playful, still contemporary romance

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Honey-Don't List

    Christina Lauren2020

    Two assistants for a famous home-improvement couple must keep their bosses' failing marriage a secret during a book tour.

    tender → playful, still contemporary romance

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Rock the Heart

    Michelle A. Valentine2013

    A marketing intern must secure a contract with her rock star ex-boyfriend during his concert tour.

    tender → warm, still contemporary romance

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

    tender → propulsive, still contemporary romance

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Quantum Radio

    A.G. Riddle2023

    A scientist at CERN discovers a signal from a parallel universe. He must flee a conspiracy while exploring the implications of the data.

    tender → propulsive

    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.

    tender → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

tender → meditative, still magical realism

3 more ↓

  • Among Others

    Jo Walton2011

    A teenage girl at a 1970s boarding school copes with her twin's death through books and subtle magic. It is written as a series of diary entries.

    Same tender register, still magical realism

    pace-2·prose0·bleak0

  • Chemistry

    Theodore L. Brown1977

    A textbook covering the fundamental principles of matter, atomic structure, and chemical bonding. It includes practice problems and diagrams.

    tender → educational

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Dhalgren

    Samuel R. Delany1975

    An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

    tender → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

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.

    tender → bleak

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    tender → elegiac

    pace-1·prose0·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.

    tender → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2