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After

Twisted Loyalties

Cora Reilly2018

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still mafia romance

1 more ↓

  • The Mafia and His Angel: Part 2

    Lylah James2017

    A mafia heir protects a woman who has escaped a traumatic past. This volume continues their relationship as her secrets are revealed.

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

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.

    Same tense register

    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.

    tense → epic

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

  • An Echo in the Bone

    Diana Gabaldon2009

    A time-traveling doctor and her husband navigate the American Revolution. The story follows multiple family branches across two centuries.

    tense → earnest

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

tense → playful

3 more ↓

  • Body Movers

    Stephanie Bond2006

    A department store employee joins a body-transport service for a trip to Florida that involves a missing socialite and a loan shark.

    tense → playful, still opposites attract

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Alec

    L.A. Casey

    A young woman navigates a relationship with her brother's best friend in Dublin. It follows their transition from childhood friction to romance.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Brutal Prince

    Sophie Lark2020

    The heirs of two rival Chicago mafia families are forced into an arranged marriage to prevent a gang war.

    tense → sardonic

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive, still dark romance

    pace+1·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.

    tense → propulsive, still dark romance

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • Chased

    Clarissa Wild2018

    A wealthy man buys a blind woman and keeps her captive to satisfy his desires. The story follows his obsession and her forced isolation.

    tense → dark, still dark romance

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

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.

    tense → 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.

    tense → 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.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    tense → bleak

    pace-1·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.

    tense → 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.

    tense → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2