,

I think most of us agree that when a character we like loves someone, and their love is not corresponded, we feel sympathetically sad. However, some stories are worth sharing even if they are not always the happiest. And from time to time the character ends up with someone better for them anyways ;). Therefore, let's see how many books we can compile in this list showing unrequited love!
1

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3.93 avg rating — 5,956,675 ratings
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2

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4.31 avg rating — 1,259,410 ratings
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3

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3.88 avg rating — 1,016,479 ratings
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4

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3.96 avg rating — 279,631 ratings
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5

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4.33 avg rating — 1,032,384 ratings
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6

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4.17 avg rating — 2,476,272 ratings
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7

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3.80 avg rating — 877,963 ratings
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8

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3.98 avg rating — 30,520 ratings
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9

by
4.14 avg rating — 363,928 ratings
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10

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,303,486 ratings
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11

by
3.94 avg rating — 581,062 ratings
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12

by
4.02 avg rating — 220,131 ratings
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13

by
3.97 avg rating — 167,084 ratings
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14

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,978,216 ratings
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15

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,339,054 ratings
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16

by
3.69 avg rating — 156,732 ratings
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17

by
4.44 avg rating — 648,730 ratings
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18

by
4.06 avg rating — 91,337 ratings
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19

by
4.18 avg rating — 3,462,473 ratings
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20

by
3.71 avg rating — 377,458 ratings
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21

by
3.81 avg rating — 133,445 ratings
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22

by
3.96 avg rating — 195,428 ratings
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23

by
3.78 avg rating — 81,178 ratings
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24

by
4.16 avg rating — 61,820 ratings
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25

by
3.88 avg rating — 55,708 ratings
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26

by
4.21 avg rating — 846,971 ratings
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27

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,136,401 ratings
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28

by
3.62 avg rating — 2,137,992 ratings
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29

by
3.73 avg rating — 181,165 ratings
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30

by
4.36 avg rating — 4,187,626 ratings
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31

by
3.94 avg rating — 549,458 ratings
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32

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,748,046 ratings
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33

by
4.05 avg rating — 990,297 ratings
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34

by
4.10 avg rating — 71,293 ratings
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35

by
4.58 avg rating — 246,900 ratings
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36

by
4.04 avg rating — 180,206 ratings
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37

by
3.98 avg rating — 115,891 ratings
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38

by
3.86 avg rating — 78,107 ratings
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38

by
3.91 avg rating — 307,151 ratings
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40

by
3.99 avg rating — 736,542 ratings
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41

by
3.69 avg rating — 61,512 ratings
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42

by
4.06 avg rating — 64,671 ratings
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43

by
3.37 avg rating — 38,204 ratings
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44

by
3.97 avg rating — 95,280 ratings
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45

by
4.39 avg rating — 390,992 ratings
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46

by
4.11 avg rating — 548,284 ratings
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47

by
4.19 avg rating — 19,896 ratings
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48

by
4.14 avg rating — 397,427 ratings
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49

by
4.57 avg rating — 4,221,661 ratings
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50

by
4.15 avg rating — 783,042 ratings
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51

by
3.84 avg rating — 59,354 ratings
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52

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4.13 avg rating — 62,341 ratings
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53

by
4.28 avg rating — 756,180 ratings
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54

by
4.58 avg rating — 3,677,542 ratings
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55

by
3.85 avg rating — 457,238 ratings
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56

by
4.16 avg rating — 128,684 ratings
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57

by
3.98 avg rating — 52,056 ratings
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58

by
4.08 avg rating — 36,032 ratings
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59

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,834,649 ratings
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60

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,496,881 ratings
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61

by
3.78 avg rating — 17,578 ratings
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62

by
3.85 avg rating — 863,932 ratings
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63

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,859 ratings
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64

by
3.92 avg rating — 322 ratings
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65

by
3.57 avg rating — 59,958 ratings
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66

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,501,642 ratings
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67

by
4.27 avg rating — 950,707 ratings
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68

by
4.13 avg rating — 50,874 ratings
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69

by
3.94 avg rating — 155,603 ratings
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70

by
3.89 avg rating — 568,028 ratings
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71

by
3.88 avg rating — 2,946 ratings
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71

by
3.76 avg rating — 25,600 ratings
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73

by
3.57 avg rating — 72,347 ratings
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74

by
4.06 avg rating — 447,812 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 653,424 ratings
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76

by
3.86 avg rating — 381,585 ratings
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77

by
3.83 avg rating — 26,498 ratings
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77

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,629 ratings
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79

by
3.84 avg rating — 21,794 ratings
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80

by
3.98 avg rating — 106,443 ratings
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81

by
4.05 avg rating — 59,312 ratings
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82

by
3.64 avg rating — 164,894 ratings
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83

by
3.75 avg rating — 1,199 ratings
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84

by
3.89 avg rating — 31,017 ratings
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85

by
4.24 avg rating — 62,254 ratings
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86

by
3.79 avg rating — 175,892 ratings
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87

by
4.13 avg rating — 5,835 ratings
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88

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,111 ratings
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88

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,114,658 ratings
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88

by
3.69 avg rating — 178,213 ratings
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91

by
3.69 avg rating — 36,141 ratings
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92

by
3.91 avg rating — 109,635 ratings
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93

by
3.72 avg rating — 8,294 ratings
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94

by
4.11 avg rating — 4,439 ratings
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95

by
3.53 avg rating — 447 ratings
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96

by
3.95 avg rating — 93 ratings
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97

by
3.82 avg rating — 34 ratings
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98

by
3.30 avg rating — 17,148 ratings
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98

by
4.20 avg rating — 54,219 ratings
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100

by
3.27 avg rating — 15 ratings
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366 books · 193 voters · list created July 6th, 2011 by Chio Duran (votes) .
66 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Chio 983 books
36 friends
Thom 6022 books
293 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3387 books
851 friends
Erin (Historical Fiction Reader) 7725 books
2561 friends
Janet 1848 books
18 friends
Harold 318 books
45 friends
Lobstergirl 5820 books
157 friends
Laura 341 books
26 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl I wish we could take out this part of the description: "Then they find their true love in a friend or another person." That eliminates a lot of really great novels.


message 2: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Thanks, Chio!


message 3: by Chio (last edited Jun 24, 2017 03:52PM) (new)

Chio Duran No, on the contrary, thank you for your opinion! =)


message 4: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl I'm tempted to add The Goshawk...


message 5: by Nente (new)

Nente Hooray for the list not dominated by Hunger Games!


message 6: by Rachel Adiyah (new)

Rachel Adiyah Someone needs to edit this list. In order for a love to be truly unrequited, there must be no union at the end between those two specific characters. In Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream the principle unrequited lovers end up in each other's arms. Similarly, all Austen novels have happy endings with the unrequited lovers then united. These books have no place on this list.

A perfect book for this list is The Great Gatsby, where two pairs of unrequited lovers remain disunited at the end of novel.


message 7: by BG (new)

BG "Gone With The Wind" and "The Sorrows of Young Werther" are perfect for this list.


message 8: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl BG wrote: ""Gone With The Wind" and "The Sorrows of Young Werther" are perfect for this list."

They're both on the list.


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