recs of stories featuring the latter plot welcome

[ojuzu]

Hello, everyone! I am not sure you know this (though if I have known you for any length of time it is likely), but

• strong yet nice lady meets morally ambiguous dude
• lady befriends dude, with understandable reservations
• dude develops interest in her
• dude begins controlling her life

is a very problematic narrative! And this is sad for me, because I love

Comments

Cool!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I like this distinction.

I've done the thoughtful version of the plot a few times, but not a lot. My strong, smart female characters rarely seem inclined to fall for morally ambiguous dudes. There are nice strong ladies and morally ambiguous dudes in my poetic series "Path of the Paladins" but nobody there is much interested in romance on account of the world falling apart all around them.