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After

Bound by Duty

Cora Reilly2015

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Down London Road

    Samantha Young2013

    A woman struggling with money meets a wealthy man who assumes she is a social climber. They navigate their mutual dislike in Edinburgh.

    Same tender register, still contemporary romance

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

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  • 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

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  • 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

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  • Beautifully Cruel

    J.T. Geissinger2020

    A law student is rescued from an attack by a mysterious mob boss who then becomes obsessed with her. He uses his influence to track and protect her.

    tender → propulsive, still mafia romance

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Domes of Fire

    David Eddings1992

    The knight Sparhawk travels to a distant empire to investigate a series of supernatural threats. He is accompanied by a group of diverse warriors.

    tender → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • All Rhodes Lead Here

    Mariana Zapata2021

    A woman moves back to her Colorado hometown after a breakup and rents a garage apartment from a grumpy single father.

    tender → warm, still contemporary romance

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

Faster

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  • The Professional: Part 3 (The Game Maker, #1c)

    Kresley Cole

    A Russian enforcer and a graduate student conclude their high-stakes sexual relationship. The story focuses on power dynamics and mafia danger.

    tender → propulsive, still mafia romance

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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

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  • Burn for Me

    Ilona Andrews2014

    A private investigator with the ability to tell truth from lies is hired to find a fire-user. She is forced to work with a dangerous billionaire.

    tender → propulsive

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Slower

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  • 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 ↓

  • 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+2·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·prose+1·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+2·bleak+2