Obsessive, dark Books

Lose yourself in shadows, where love and madness intertwine.

For those who crave stories that burrow deep into the psyche, these books offer a melancholic descent. Expect rich, lyrical prose that unpacks intense character studies, where every obsession and dark impulse is meticulously explored. These are not fast-paced thrillers, but slow-burning psychological dramas that linger long after the final page. Books in this category are defined by dark and atmospheric and grounded, real-feeling settings, with a steadily paced quality that keeps readers engaged from first page to last.

This list is for readers who know exactly what they want: engrossing stories with a dark and atmospheric edge, told with steadily paced momentum. If you search for dark atmospheric literary fiction, obsessive and melancholic, these are the books consistently recommended by readers who've found their niche.

Standout titles include Perfume The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind and Perfect Days by Montes. Alongside them you'll find Death in Venice by Mann, You by Caroline Kepnes. All 30 books on this list have been matched to the Obsessive, dark archetype by analyzing their pacing, tone, prose style, and worldbuilding — not just genre tags.

30 books
Perfume The Story of a Murderer 📖
1. Perfume The Story of a Murderer
Patrick Suskind
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Set in eighteenth-century France, the classic novel that provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man’s indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of smell—leads to murder. In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift—an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille’s genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the “ultimate perfume”—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.
literary fiction psychological thriller obsessive macabre melancholic
Pacing
20
Tone
15
World
40
Prose
85
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Perfect Days 📖
2. Perfect Days
Montes, Raphael
A twisted young medical student kidnaps the girl of his dreams and embarks on a dark and delirious road trip across Brazil in the English-language debut of one of Brazil's most celebrated young crime writers. Teo Avelar is a loner. He lives with his paraplegic mother and her dog in Rio de Janeiro, he doesn't have many friends, and the only time he feels honest human emotion is in the presence of his medical school cadaver--that is, until he meets Clarice. She's almost his exact opposite: exotic, spontaneous, unafraid to speak her mind. An aspiring screenwriter, she's working on a screenplay called Perfect Days about three friends who go on a road trip across Brazil in search of romance. Teo is obsessed. He begins to stalk her, first following to her university, then to her home, and when she ultimately rejects him, Teo kidnaps her and they embark upon their very own twisted odyssey across Brazil, tracing the same route outlined in her screenplay. Through it all, Teo is certain that time is all he needs to prove to Clarice that they are made for each other, that time is all he needs to make her fall in love with him. But as the journey progresses, he keeps digging himself deeper and deeper into a pit that he can't get out of, stopping at nothing to ensure that no one gets in the way of their life together. Both tense and lurid, and brimming with suspense from the very first page, Perfect Days is a psychological thriller in the vein of [Patricia Highsmith](/authors/OL28577A)'s [The Talented Mr. Ripley](/works/OL15845435W)--a chilling journey in the passenger seat with a psychopath. It marks the English language debut of one of Brazil's most deliciously dark young writers.
literary fiction psychological thriller psychological horror obsessive melancholic
Pacing
40
Tone
20
World
10
Prose
85
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Death in Venice 📖
3. Death in Venice
Mann, Thomas
Celebrated novella of a middle-aged German writer℗s tormented passion for a Polish youth met on holiday in Venice, and its tragic consequences. Powerful evocation of the mysterious forces of death and disintegration in the midst of existence, and the isolation of the artist in 20th-century life. This edition provides an excellent new translation and extensive commentary on many facets of the story.
literary fiction psychological drama melancholic obsessive decadent
Pacing
20
Tone
35
World
15
Prose
92
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You 📖
4. You
Caroline Kepnes
"Love hurts... When aspiring writer Guinevere Beck strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe works, he's instantly smitten. Beck is everything Joe has ever wanted: She's gorgeous, tough, razor-smart, and as sexy as his wildest dreams. Beck doesn't know it yet, but she's perfect for him, and soon she can't resist her feelings for a guy who seems custom made for her. But there's more to Joe than Beck realizes, and much more to Beck than her oh-so-perfect facade. Their mutual obsession quickly spirals into a whirlwind of deadly consequences. A chilling account of unrelenting passion, Caroline Kepnes's You is a perversely romantic thriller that's more dangerously clever than any you've read before"--
literary fiction psychological thriller obsessive manic unreliable
Pacing
90
Tone
20
World
10
Prose
85
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Dom Casmurro 📖
5. Dom Casmurro
Joaquim de Assis Machado Maria
**Dom Casmurro**, publicado pela primeira vez em 1899, é um dos romances realistas mais importantes de Machado de Assis, considerado por alguns sua obra-prima. O livro narra a história de Bento Gonçalves desde sua juventude, abordando temas como religião, adultério e ambiguidade moral.
literary fiction psychological realism melancholic obsessive ambiguous
Pacing
20
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
85
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 📖
6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
This is Christopher's murder mystery story. There are no lies in this story because Christopher can't tell lies. Christopher does not like strangers or the colours yellow or brown or being touched. On the other hand, he knows all the countries in the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7507. When Christohper decides to find out who killed the neighbour's dog, his mystery story becomes more complicated than he could ever have predicted.
contemporary fiction psychological thriller / mystery obsessive logical melancholic
Pacing
60
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
45
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Somewhere In Time 📖
7. Somewhere In Time
Richard Matheson
*Somewhere in Time* is the powerful story of a love that transcends time and space, written by one of the Grand Masters of modern fantasy. Matheson's classic novel tells the moving, romantic story of a modern man whose love for a woman he has never met draws him back in time to a luxury hotel in San Diego in 1896, where he finds his soul mate in the form of a celebrated actress of the previous century. *Somewhere in Time* won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and the 1980 movie version, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, remains a cult classic whose fans continue to hold yearly conventions to this day.
literary fiction time travel romance melancholic obsessive romantic
Pacing
40
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
75
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Sentimental Education 📖
8. Sentimental Education
Flaubert, Gustave
Le 15 septembre 1840, vers six heures du matin, la Ville-de-Montereau , pres de partir, fumait a gros tourbillons devant le quai Saint-Bernard. Des gens arrivaient hors d'haleine ; des barriques, des cables, des corbeilles de linge genaient la circulation ; les matelots ne repondaient a personne ; on se heurtait ; les colis montaient entre les deux tambours, et le tapage s'absorbait dans le bruissement de la vapeur, qui, s'echappant par des plaques de tole, enveloppait tout d'une nuee blanchatre, tandis que la cloche, a l'avant, tintait sans discontinuer. Enfin le navire partit ; et les deux berges, peuplees de magasins, de chantiers et d'usines, filerent comme deux larges rubans que l'on deroule. Un jeune homme de dix-huit ans, a longs cheveux et qui tenait un album sous son bras, restait aupres du gouvernail, immobile. A travers le brouillard, il contemplait des clochers, des edifices dont il ne savait pas les noms ; puis il embrassa, dans un dernier coup d'oeil, l'ile Saint-Louis, la Cite, Notre-Dame ; et bientot, Paris disparaissant, il poussa un grand soupir.
literary fiction psychological drama melancholic obsessive passionate
Pacing
20
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
85
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The rise of Theodore Roosevelt 📖
9. The rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Morris, Edmund
Biography of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, detailing his life from birth (1858) to his ascendancy to the Presidency (1901). This is the first book in Edmund Morris's trilogy on Roosevelt (followed by *Theodore Rex* and *Colonel Roosevelt*). It won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Bibliography or Autobiography and the 1980 National Book Award in Biography.
historical fiction biographical historical fiction intense obsessive volatile
Pacing
40
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
75
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My Cousin Rachel 📖
10. My Cousin Rachel
Du Maurier, Daphne
Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home as much as he does himself. But the cosy world the two construct is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries - and there he dies suddenly. In almost no time at all, the new widow - Philip's cousin Rachel - turns up in England. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious woman like a moth to the flame. And yet ...might she have had a hand in Ambrose's death?
literary fiction psychological drama melancholic obsessive gothic
Pacing
30
Tone
40
World
10
Prose
75
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Lust for Life 📖
11. Lust for Life
Irving Stone
About the life of the painter Vincent Van Gogh
literary fiction biographical fiction tragic obsessive melancholic
Pacing
40
Tone
20
World
10
Prose
85
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Hidden Bodies 📖
12. Hidden Bodies
Caroline Kepnes
literary fiction psychological thriller obsessive manic psychological thriller
Pacing
90
Tone
20
World
10
Prose
85
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The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings 📖
13. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings
Perkins Gilman Charlotte
Specially printed limited edition release for the Miskatonic Literary Society.
literary fiction psychological horror psychological horror gothic obsessive
Pacing
40
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
75
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Eleanor's House 📖
14. Eleanor's House
Willa Cather
In 1851 French Bishop Latour and his friend Father Valliant are dispatched to New Mexico to reawaken its slumbering Catholicism. Moving along the endless prairies, Latour spreads his faith the only way he knows-- gently, although he must contend with the unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Over nearly 40 years, they leave converts and enemies, crosses, and occasionally ecstasy in their wake. But it takes a death for them to make their mark on the landscape forever.
literary fiction psychological drama melancholic lyrical obsessive
Pacing
20
Tone
15
World
10
Prose
78
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The Day That Went Missing 📖
15. The Day That Went Missing
Beard, Richard
Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times writes: “The poems in Mr. Vuong’s new collection, Night Sky With Exit Wounds…possess a tensile precision reminiscent of Emily Dickinson’s work, combined with a Gerard Manley Hopkins-like appreciation for the sound and rhythms of words. Mr. Vuong can create startling images (a black piano in a field, a wedding-cake couple preserved under glass, a shepherd stepping out of a Caravaggio painting) and make the silences and elisions in his verse speak as potently as his words…There is a powerful emotional undertow to these poems that springs from Mr. Vuong’s sincerity and candor, and from his ability to capture specific moments in time with both photographic clarity and a sense of the evanescence of all earthly things.”
literary fiction memoir melancholic obsessive bleak
Pacing
40
Tone
20
World
10
Prose
75
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The Andy Warhol Diaries 📖
16. The Andy Warhol Diaries
Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat
Now in trade paperback, the sensational national bestseller that turns the spotlight on one of the most influential and controversial figures of our time. These pages are filled with previously undisclosed facts about the lives and loves of the irch and famous--from royalty to movie and music stars to renowned artists.
contemporary fiction memoir camp exhausted obsessive
Pacing
40
Tone
30
World
5
Prose
15
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The Awakening and Selected Short Stories 📖
17. The Awakening and Selected Short Stories
Kate Chopin
The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism, generating a mixed reaction from contemporary readers and critics.
literary fiction psychological drama melancholic lyrical obsessive
Pacing
20
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
85
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A stranger in the mirror 📖
18. A stranger in the mirror
Sheldon, Sidney
literary fiction satirical dark comedy dark obsessive melancholic
Pacing
40
Tone
20
World
10
Prose
75
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Hide and Seek 📖
19. Hide and Seek
Patterson, James
literary fiction psychological thriller psychological thriller obsessive chaotic
Pacing
40
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
75
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Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass 📖
20. Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass
Del Rey Lana
Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass is the debut book by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. A poetry collection featuring over thirty original poems and photography,[2] including "13 longer poems" and several short pieces, the collection is Del Rey's first published work and was released by Simon & Schuster on September 29, 2020.[1]
literary fiction contemporary poetry lyrical obsessive fragmented
Pacing
20
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
85
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Skin of a Sinner 📖
21. Skin of a Sinner
Avina St. Graves
No one tells you what to do when the boy who shattered your heart comes back to steal it. Roman Riviera was my everything once upon a time. I found my knight in shining armor in the form of a fellow foster kid. He protected me and promised to stand by my side forever. But Roman Riviera is a liar. He left me with monsters. Three years later, I found him in the middle of the night, soaked in my family’s blood and carving his initials into my foster brother’s skin. He tied me up and dragged me away from the life I had made without him. I tried to run, but he chased me. I wanted to scream, but the sound never came out. He says that I’m never getting away from him. He says he’s back for good. I don’t believe him.
contemporary fiction dark romance / thriller obsessive violent dark
Pacing
60
Tone
20
World
10
Prose
75
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Madame Bovary 📖
22. Madame Bovary
Gustave Davis Lydia t Flaubert
Charles Bovary, médecin de campagne, veuf d'une mégère, fait lors d'une tournée la rencontre du père Rouault et de sa fille, Emma. Après leur mariage, Emma reste insatisfaite et rêve d'une nouvelle vie. Son premier amant lui donne le goût du luxe et fait miroiter un avenir à deux avant de l'abandonner. Une fois remise, Emma continue à faire de folles dépenses, qui peu à peu la mènent à la ruine et au déshonneur. (Résumé par Nadine) ---------- See also: - [Madame Bovary: 1/2](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL29255465W/Madame_Bovary_1_2) - [Madame Bovary: 2/2](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL29255459W/Madame_Bovary_2_2) ---------- Also contained in: - [The Best Known Works of Gustave Flaubert][1] - [Pages choisies des grands écrivains](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15580389W) [1]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL893933W/The_best_known_works_of_Gustave_Flaubert
literary fiction psychological drama melancholic romantic obsessive
Pacing
20
Tone
15
World
10
Prose
85
Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop
Reflected in You 📖
23. Reflected in You
Day, Sylvia
The sensual saga of Eva and Gideon continues ... Gideon Cross. As beautiful and flawless on the outside as he was damaged and tormented on the inside. He was a bright, scorching flame that singed me with the darkest pleasures. I couldn't stay away. My past was as violent as his, and I was just as broken. We were bound by our need. And our passion would take us beyond our limits to the sweetest, sharpest edge of obsession. (Bestseller).
contemporary fiction romantic suspense obsessive passionate dramatic
Pacing
60
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
75
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Bared to You 📖
24. Bared to You
Sylvia Day
Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness... He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily... Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private worlds...and desires. The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart...
contemporary fiction erotic romance passionate obsessive volatile
Pacing
60
Tone
45
World
10
Prose
75
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The Idiot 📖
25. The Idiot
Elif Batuman
Embarking on her freshman year at Harvard in the early tech days of the 1990s, a young artist and daughter of Turkish immigrants begins a correspondence with an older mathematics student from Hungary while struggling with her changing sense of self, first love and a daunting career prospect.
contemporary fiction literary fiction melancholic obsessive alienated
Pacing
40
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
65
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Fifty Shades Trilogy Bundle Fifty Shades of Grey Fifty Shade 📖
26. Fifty Shades Trilogy Bundle Fifty Shades of Grey Fifty Shade
E L James
When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms. Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires. Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever. This book is intended for mature audiences.
contemporary fiction erotic romance intense passionate obsessive
Pacing
60
Tone
45
World
10
Prose
75
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Beloved Vagabond 📖
27. Beloved Vagabond
Hampson, Anne
She soon regretted her careless words In anger, Lynn had called the dark Gypsy stranger "one of the dregs of society." Much to her horror, this had provoked him to bodily kidnap her. The final blow had come after their Gypsy wedding. But she was powerless to escape: the Gypsies watched her by day, and Rad kept her imprisoned in his arms by night. He told her nothing of himself or his life, but Lynn began to understand his enigmatic, almost dual personality and the gentle, aristocratic half attracted her very much ....
literary fiction psychological thriller tense passionate obsessive
Pacing
60
Tone
30
World
20
Prose
75
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My Dark Vanessa 📖
28. My Dark Vanessa
Elizabeth Russell Kate
"2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager--and who professed to worship only her--may be far different from what she has always believed? Alternating between Vanessa's present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself."--Amazon. 2000: Bright, ambitious fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 2017: Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa. Now Vanessa finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? -- adapted from jacket
literary fiction psychological drama obsessive oppressive melancholic
Pacing
40
Tone
20
World
10
Prose
85
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Susanna's Seven Husbands 📖
29. Susanna's Seven Husbands
Bond, Ruskin
Since his childhood; Arun has secretly been in love with Susanna; his dangerously alluring neighbour; who becomes his friend despite the wide difference in their ages. But Susanna has a weakness for falling in love with the wrong men. Over the years; Arun watches as Susanna becomes notorious as the merry widow who flits from one marriage to another; leaving behind a trail of dead husbands. It is only a matter of time before he too begins to wonder if there is any truth to the slanderous gossip surrounding the woman he is in love with. In this gripping new novella of love and death; Bond revisits his previously published short story of the same name; included here in an appendix. This edition also features the screenplay Saat Khoon Maaf; based on this novella and written by award-winning film-maker Vishal Bhardwaj and Matthew Robbins.
mystery crime thriller macabre obsessive gothic
Pacing
60
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
45
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Darkness into Light 📖
30. Darkness into Light
Mortimer, Carole
Nothing could stop her from loving him! Danny breached the complex security system at the Sutherland estate and sent the new owner into a tailspin. Yet once she got to know the deeply passionate man behind the wall of suspicion, she realized that to Pierce Sutherland, seclusion was more than a haven. It had become a self-imposed prison. "Only a fool takes chances;" Pierce warned. But no matter what forces had shaped him, Danny's heart refused to be ruled by threats. She knew that falling in love held risks. She'd never been fainthearted before--and wasn't about to start now!
romance contemporary romance tense passionate obsessive
Pacing
60
Tone
30
World
10
Prose
45
Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop