LitQueuelitqueue

After

Come Love a Stranger

Kathleen E. Woodiwiss1984

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same earnest register, still historical romance

1 more ↓

  • The Chief

    Monica McCarty2010

    A Highland warrior is recruited to lead a secret guard for Robert the Bruce. He enters a marriage of convenience to protect his clan's interests.

    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.

    earnest → tense

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Voyager

    Diana Gabaldon1994

    Twenty years after returning to the 1940s, Claire discovers Jamie survived the Battle of Culloden and travels back to the 1760s to find him.

    Same earnest register, still historical romance

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • These Old Shades

    Georgette Heyer1926

    The Duke of Avon buys a young person in boy's clothing to use in a revenge plot. He soon discovers his new servant is a girl in disguise.

    earnest → wry, still historical romance

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Accidental Werewolf

    Dakota Cassidy2008

    A cosmetics saleswoman is bitten by a werewolf and must navigate her physical transformation while being pursued by kidnappers.

    earnest → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Love in the Time of Dragons

    Katie MacAlister2010

    A mother wakes up in a world of dragon-shifters who believe she is a historical figure and sentence her to death for her past crimes.

    earnest → playful, still mistaken identity

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Gentle Rogue

    Johanna Lindsey1990

    An American woman disguises herself as a cabin boy to get home, only to be discovered by the ship's captain.

    earnest → playful, still historical romance

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Faster

earnest → propulsive

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Professional: Part 2 (The Game Maker, #1b)

    Kresley Cole

    A Russian enforcer continues his pursuit of a graduate student across Europe. The focus is on their sexual power dynamic and his mafia duties.

    earnest → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    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.

    earnest → 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.

    earnest → 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.

    earnest → 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.

    earnest → 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.

    earnest → 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.

    earnest → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2