LitQueuelitqueue

After

Born of Fire

Sherrilyn Kenyon2009

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Ruthless Creatures

    J.T. Geissinger2021

    Five years after her fiancé vanishes, a woman becomes involved with a dangerous stranger who has ties to the local mafia.

    Same propulsive register, still romantic suspense

    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.

    propulsive → 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.

    propulsive → 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.

    propulsive → dark

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Hard To Handle

    Lori Foster2008

    A life coach is secretly hired to help an MMA fighter recover his career. They live together while she hides her employer's identity.

    propulsive → playful, still forced proximity

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Night Pleasures

    Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

    An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.

    propulsive → playful, still forced proximity

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Gamble

    Kristen Ashley

    An American woman traveling in the Colorado mountains ends up sharing a cabin with a local man. A mystery involving his past unfolds.

    propulsive → warm, still romantic suspense

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

Same propulsive register, still romantic suspense

3 more ↓

  • Breaking Point

    Pamela Clare2011

    A journalist and a deputy sheriff are targeted by a drug cartel in the Colorado mountains. They must survive the wilderness while being hunted.

    propulsive → tense, still romantic suspense

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • All Systems Red

    Martha Wells2017

    A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.

    propulsive → wry, still space opera

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    Same propulsive register

    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.

    propulsive → playful

    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.

    propulsive → 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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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·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.

    propulsive → 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.

    propulsive → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2