Still Standing

Lead Me Home

A.L. Jackson2018

A man returns to his hometown to protect his best friend's sister from a dangerous threat while confronting his own past.

pace+1·prose0·bleak0

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

pace+1·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.

earnest → epic

pace+1·prose+2·bleak+1

Scrap Metal

Harper Fox2013

A man fleeing a scandal takes a job on a remote Scottish island farm and falls for the local sheep farmer.

earnest → tender, still contemporary romance

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Fallen Jester

Devney Perry2021

A former motorcycle club member and a graduate student deal with an unplanned pregnancy after a one-night stand in a small town.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

And One Last Thing...

Molly Harper2010

After a public divorce, a woman moves to a small town to start over and finds herself pursued by a local deputy.

earnest → wry, still contemporary romance

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Perfection

R.L. Mathewson2011

A woman tries to ignore her neighbor, a man with a massive appetite who constantly steals her food. They bicker until a relationship forms.

earnest → playful, still contemporary romance

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

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, still contemporary romance

pace+2·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.

earnest → propulsive, still contemporary romance

pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

The Risk

S.T. Abby2016

A serial killer seeking revenge on her childhood tormentors falls for the FBI profiler hunting her. She kills while he investigates.

earnest → propulsive, still romantic suspense

pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

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-1·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-1·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-1·prose+2·bleak0

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.

earnest → bleak

pace0·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.

earnest → elegiac

pace0·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

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2