🏷️ Broken Hero
22 entries tagged with this trope
Ugly Love
Colleen Hoover · 2014
Miles doesn't do love. Tate doesn't do casual. They try anyway. The dual timeline slowly reveals why Miles is so broken and it will destroy you.
Things We Hide from the Light
Lucy Score · 2023
Nash Morgan got shot. He's the police chief dealing with PTSD and he does NOT need Lina — a gorgeous, stubborn woman hiding her own secrets — crashing into his recovery.
Final Offer
Lauren Asher · 2022
Cal and Lana have history — a painful one. Now he's back in her lake house trying to buy it, and she's not selling. Two broken people who never stopped loving each other fighting over a house and their feelings.
Out of the Dead Land
emilyenrose · 2014
Bucky keeps showing up at Steve's apartment, leaving weapons. He doesn't talk. He barely eats. Slowly, through patience and stubbornness, Steve brings him back. Recovery fic at its finest.
This, You Protect
owlet · 2014
The Winter Soldier starts following Steve around. Not as Bucky — as a confused, traumatized asset trying to understand kindness. The recovery is painfully slow and achingly real.
Your Blue-Eyed Boys
Feather · 2014
Bucky shows up at Steve's door. He's not okay. Steve takes him in. The recovery is raw and unflinching. One of the first great post-TWS fics and still one of the best.
The House of Wind
sunshinebooklover · 2020
Nesta and Cassian locked in the House of Wind. Written before ACOSF came out and honestly rivals it. The tension between these two could power a small city.
The Soldier and the Hurricane
galaxysoup · 2014
Bucky's recovery isn't linear. Steve doesn't push. The patience of Steve Rogers waiting for his best friend to come back to himself is the most devastating love story in the MCU fandom.
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara · 2015
Four college friends in New York. Jude's past slowly unfolds across 720 pages. This book will break you in ways you didn't know you could break. Reader discretion: everything.
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt · 2013
A boy survives a museum bombing and steals a painting. His life spirals through drugs, antique fraud, and grief for 771 magnificent pages. Pulitzer winner for a reason.
The Man Who Lived
sebastianL · 2017
Post-war. Harry is struggling with PTSD and Draco is quietly rebuilding his life. Their paths keep crossing at a Muggle café. Tender, real, and achingly slow.
This, You Protect
owlet · 2014
Bucky's recovery told through the mundane: grocery shopping, sleeping, learning to be human again. Steve is patient. It's quiet and devastating and perfect.
Things We Hide from the Light
Lucy Score · 2023
Nash Morgan, the police chief shot in the line of duty, is brooding and broken. Lina is sunshine in leather boots. She barges into his recovery and refuses to leave. Peak grumpy-sunshine energy.
This, You Protect
owlet · 2014
Bucky's recovery told through small moments. He adopts routines, befriends Avengers, and slowly remembers what it means to be a person. Steve watches and waits. The gentlest hurt/comfort you'll find.
Ain't No Grave
spitandvinegar · 2015
Bucky hides in a small town. There's a kid next door. He slowly becomes human again through kindness, routine, and the persistent memory of Steve. One of the definitive Stucky recovery fics.
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara · 2015
Four college friends navigate decades of ambition and heartbreak in New York. At the center is Jude, whose mysterious past slowly unravels in one of the most devastating character studies ever written.
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt · 2013
After his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum, thirteen-year-old Theo Decker steals a priceless painting. It defines his life for the next fourteen years.
The Soldier and the Hurricane
SuperDanganRonpa · 2015
From Brooklyn to the front lines to the fall. The tragedy of knowing how it ends doesn't diminish the beauty of watching them love each other in the moments they have.
Your Blue-Eyed Boys
laiqualaurelote · 2014
Post-TWS. Bucky shows up at Steve's door. He doesn't remember much, but he remembers enough. The fragility of recovery is rendered with painful honesty. Prose quality is literary fiction tier.
Cornerstone
Vendelin · 2014
Stiles is a vet dealing with anxiety and PTSD. Derek brings his dog in. The healing is slow, realistic, and beautifully written. Mental health representation that doesn't feel like an afterschool special.
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara · 2015
Four college friends navigate adulthood in New York. Jude carries scars — physical and emotional — that slowly reveal the darkest kind of childhood. Will make you sob for days.
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt · 2013
A boy survives a museum bombing that kills his mother and walks out with a priceless painting. The painting haunts the rest of his life. Pulitzer Prize winner for a reason.