After
Malibu Rising
Taylor Jenkins Reid2021
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Brood
Devney Perry2023
A science teacher in Montana reluctantly hosts his friend's younger sister for two months. She is no longer the quiet child he remembers.
Same warm register, still contemporary
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Morbidly Yours
Ivy Fairbanks2023
An introverted Irish undertaker must marry to inherit his family business. His American neighbor helps him date before they develop feelings.
Same warm register, still contemporary
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
First Season
RJ Scott2017
A career-focused man meets an extroverted professional hockey player. They navigate their different backgrounds and family expectations.
Same warm register, still contemporary
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Hello Beautiful
Ann Napolitano2023
A man with a traumatic childhood marries into a large, close-knit family of four sisters. The story follows their interconnected lives over decades.
warm → tender, still contemporary
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
In Her Shoes
Jennifer Weiner2002
Two estranged sisters with nothing in common but their shoe size deal with personal failures before discovering a grandmother they never knew.
Same warm register, still contemporary
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
warm → tense
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
A middle-aged professor documents his obsession with his twelve-year-old stepdaughter. He uses complex prose to justify his crimes.
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert1856
A doctor's wife in provincial France seeks escape from her mundane life through expensive tastes and extramarital affairs.
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
warm → elegiac
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
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.
warm → epic
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan1989
Four Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters navigate cultural gaps through shared stories of their pasts in San Francisco.
warm → elegiac, still family saga
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
Faster
warm → propulsive
- pace+1prose-1bleak+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.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
Paper Princess
Erin Watt2016
An orphaned girl is taken in by a wealthy family with five hostile sons. She must navigate high school bullying and mansion politics.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
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·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
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.
warm → tense
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak+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·bleak+1
Slower
- pace-2prose+1bleak0
Chemistry
Theodore L. Brown1977
A textbook covering the fundamental principles of matter, atomic structure, and chemical bonding. It includes practice problems and diagrams.
warm → educational
pace-2·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-2prose+1bleak+1
History of the Rain
Niall Williams2014
A bedridden girl in Ireland tells the story of her family and her father's obsession with finding a specific book. It is a history of a lineage.
warm → elegiac, still family saga
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Hello Beautiful
Ann Napolitano2023
A man with a traumatic childhood marries into a large, close-knit family of four sisters. The story follows their interconnected lives over decades.
warm → tender, still contemporary
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
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.
warm → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
warm → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
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.
warm → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose0bleak+3
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.
warm → elegiac
pace-1·prose0·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
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.
warm → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
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.
warm → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace0prose0bleak+3
Bright Side
Kim Holden2014
An optimistic college student moves to Minnesota for a fresh start while hiding a terminal diagnosis from her best friend.
warm → tender
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
