,

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 — 5,899,177 ratings
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2

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4.31 avg rating — 1,255,738 ratings
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3

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3.88 avg rating — 1,011,158 ratings
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4

by
3.96 avg rating — 276,610 ratings
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5

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4.32 avg rating — 1,021,195 ratings
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6

by
4.17 avg rating — 2,453,950 ratings
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7

by
3.80 avg rating — 872,543 ratings
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8

by
3.98 avg rating — 30,329 ratings
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9

by
4.14 avg rating — 358,649 ratings
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10

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,293,510 ratings
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11

by
3.94 avg rating — 577,672 ratings
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12

by
4.02 avg rating — 217,897 ratings
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13

by
3.97 avg rating — 166,007 ratings
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14

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,879,809 ratings
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15

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,317,730 ratings
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16

by
3.69 avg rating — 154,718 ratings
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17

by
4.44 avg rating — 635,049 ratings
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18

by
4.06 avg rating — 90,787 ratings
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19

by
4.18 avg rating — 3,441,015 ratings
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20

by
3.71 avg rating — 374,048 ratings
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21

by
3.81 avg rating — 133,074 ratings
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22

by
3.96 avg rating — 194,294 ratings
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23

by
3.78 avg rating — 80,442 ratings
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24

by
4.16 avg rating — 61,467 ratings
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25

by
3.88 avg rating — 55,494 ratings
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26

by
4.21 avg rating — 842,583 ratings
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27

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,039,376 ratings
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28

by
3.62 avg rating — 2,123,612 ratings
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29

by
3.74 avg rating — 180,380 ratings
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30

by
4.36 avg rating — 4,141,228 ratings
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31

by
3.94 avg rating — 546,013 ratings
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32

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,707,666 ratings
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33

by
4.05 avg rating — 980,542 ratings
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34

by
4.10 avg rating — 70,692 ratings
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35

by
4.57 avg rating — 238,848 ratings
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36

by
4.04 avg rating — 178,915 ratings
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37

by
3.99 avg rating — 115,179 ratings
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38

by
3.86 avg rating — 77,248 ratings
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38

by
3.91 avg rating — 304,634 ratings
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40

by
3.99 avg rating — 726,686 ratings
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41

by
3.70 avg rating — 60,986 ratings
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42

by
4.06 avg rating — 64,360 ratings
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43

by
3.37 avg rating — 37,845 ratings
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44

by
3.97 avg rating — 93,451 ratings
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45

by
4.39 avg rating — 385,002 ratings
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46

by
4.11 avg rating — 542,499 ratings
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47

by
4.19 avg rating — 19,840 ratings
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48

by
4.14 avg rating — 394,850 ratings
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49

by
4.57 avg rating — 4,182,167 ratings
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50

by
4.15 avg rating — 775,024 ratings
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51

by
3.83 avg rating — 59,022 ratings
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52

by
4.13 avg rating — 61,421 ratings
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53

by
4.28 avg rating — 750,984 ratings
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54

by
4.58 avg rating — 3,648,386 ratings
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55

by
3.85 avg rating — 452,670 ratings
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56

by
4.16 avg rating — 127,242 ratings
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57

by
3.98 avg rating — 51,621 ratings
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58

by
4.08 avg rating — 35,664 ratings
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59

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,817,675 ratings
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60

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,488,844 ratings
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61

by
3.78 avg rating — 17,515 ratings
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62

by
3.85 avg rating — 850,718 ratings
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63

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,714 ratings
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64

by
3.91 avg rating — 324 ratings
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65

by
3.57 avg rating — 59,564 ratings
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66

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,468,298 ratings
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67

by
4.27 avg rating — 946,960 ratings
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68

by
4.13 avg rating — 50,687 ratings
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69

by
3.94 avg rating — 154,671 ratings
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70

by
3.89 avg rating — 564,221 ratings
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71

by
3.88 avg rating — 2,938 ratings
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71

by
3.77 avg rating — 24,896 ratings
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73

by
3.57 avg rating — 72,157 ratings
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74

by
4.06 avg rating — 444,040 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 648,924 ratings
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76

by
3.86 avg rating — 379,174 ratings
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77

by
3.83 avg rating — 26,416 ratings
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77

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,619 ratings
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79

by
3.84 avg rating — 21,473 ratings
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80

by
3.98 avg rating — 105,721 ratings
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81

by
4.05 avg rating — 58,780 ratings
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82

by
3.64 avg rating — 163,885 ratings
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83

by
3.74 avg rating — 1,189 ratings
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84

by
3.90 avg rating — 29,613 ratings
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85

by
4.24 avg rating — 62,035 ratings
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86

by
3.79 avg rating — 174,630 ratings
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87

by
4.13 avg rating — 5,787 ratings
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88

by
3.82 avg rating — 13,875 ratings
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88

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,102,759 ratings
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88

by
3.68 avg rating — 176,212 ratings
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91

by
3.69 avg rating — 36,038 ratings
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92

by
3.91 avg rating — 109,422 ratings
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93

by
3.72 avg rating — 8,175 ratings
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94

by
4.11 avg rating — 4,425 ratings
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95

by
3.54 avg rating — 446 ratings
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96

by
3.95 avg rating — 92 ratings
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97

by
3.82 avg rating — 34 ratings
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98

by
3.31 avg rating — 16,880 ratings
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98

by
4.20 avg rating — 53,790 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 977 books
36 friends
Thom 6022 books
294 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3386 books
851 friends
Erin (Historical Fiction Reader) 7684 books
2564 friends
Janet 1848 books
18 friends
Harold 318 books
45 friends
Lobstergirl 5785 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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