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 — 6,032,950 ratings
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2

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4.31 avg rating — 1,264,711 ratings
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3

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3.88 avg rating — 1,024,084 ratings
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4

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3.96 avg rating — 283,721 ratings
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5

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4.33 avg rating — 1,052,336 ratings
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6

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4.17 avg rating — 2,503,646 ratings
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7

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3.80 avg rating — 885,275 ratings
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8

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3.98 avg rating — 30,785 ratings
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9

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4.14 avg rating — 372,951 ratings
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10

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,317,028 ratings
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11

by
3.94 avg rating — 586,059 ratings
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12

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4.02 avg rating — 221,912 ratings
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13

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3.97 avg rating — 168,684 ratings
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14

by
4.35 avg rating — 10,102,335 ratings
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15

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4.16 avg rating — 2,371,112 ratings
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16

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3.70 avg rating — 159,614 ratings
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17

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4.45 avg rating — 672,465 ratings
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18

by
4.06 avg rating — 92,031 ratings
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19

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4.18 avg rating — 3,489,938 ratings
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20

by
3.71 avg rating — 382,607 ratings
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21

by
3.81 avg rating — 134,077 ratings
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22

by
3.96 avg rating — 196,835 ratings
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23

by
3.78 avg rating — 82,637 ratings
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24

by
4.16 avg rating — 62,424 ratings
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25

by
3.88 avg rating — 56,043 ratings
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26

by
4.21 avg rating — 853,805 ratings
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27

by
3.89 avg rating — 2,231,523 ratings
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28

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3.62 avg rating — 2,156,193 ratings
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29

by
3.73 avg rating — 182,358 ratings
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30

by
4.36 avg rating — 4,249,328 ratings
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31

by
3.94 avg rating — 554,412 ratings
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32

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,801,855 ratings
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33

by
4.05 avg rating — 1,004,203 ratings
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34

by
4.11 avg rating — 72,116 ratings
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35

by
4.59 avg rating — 261,526 ratings
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36

by
4.04 avg rating — 183,030 ratings
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37

by
3.98 avg rating — 117,179 ratings
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38

by
4.06 avg rating — 65,089 ratings
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39

by
3.87 avg rating — 79,239 ratings
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39

by
3.91 avg rating — 310,634 ratings
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41

by
3.99 avg rating — 750,908 ratings
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42

by
3.69 avg rating — 62,406 ratings
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43

by
4.10 avg rating — 556,477 ratings
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44

by
3.37 avg rating — 38,657 ratings
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45

by
3.97 avg rating — 98,641 ratings
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46

by
4.39 avg rating — 401,276 ratings
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47

by
4.19 avg rating — 19,988 ratings
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48

by
4.14 avg rating — 401,419 ratings
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49

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4.57 avg rating — 4,275,689 ratings
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50

by
4.15 avg rating — 794,625 ratings
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51

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3.84 avg rating — 59,847 ratings
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52

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4.13 avg rating — 63,886 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 763,496 ratings
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54

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4.58 avg rating — 3,718,735 ratings
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55

by
3.85 avg rating — 463,609 ratings
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56

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4.16 avg rating — 131,680 ratings
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57

by
3.98 avg rating — 52,772 ratings
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58

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4.08 avg rating — 36,503 ratings
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59

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,858,823 ratings
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60

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,506,574 ratings
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61

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3.78 avg rating — 17,665 ratings
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62

by
3.85 avg rating — 884,925 ratings
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63

by
3.82 avg rating — 15,095 ratings
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64

by
3.91 avg rating — 324 ratings
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65

by
3.57 avg rating — 60,495 ratings
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66

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,542,603 ratings
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67

by
4.27 avg rating — 956,519 ratings
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68

by
4.13 avg rating — 51,208 ratings
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69

by
3.94 avg rating — 157,226 ratings
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70

by
3.89 avg rating — 573,669 ratings
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71

by
3.88 avg rating — 2,967 ratings
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71

by
3.76 avg rating — 26,657 ratings
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73

by
3.57 avg rating — 72,729 ratings
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74

by
4.06 avg rating — 452,711 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 660,088 ratings
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76

by
3.86 avg rating — 385,160 ratings
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77

by
3.83 avg rating — 26,631 ratings
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77

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,642 ratings
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79

by
3.83 avg rating — 22,302 ratings
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80

by
3.98 avg rating — 107,679 ratings
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81

by
4.05 avg rating — 60,014 ratings
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82

by
3.64 avg rating — 166,448 ratings
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83

by
3.73 avg rating — 1,223 ratings
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84

by
3.89 avg rating — 33,176 ratings
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85

by
4.24 avg rating — 62,639 ratings
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86

by
3.79 avg rating — 177,800 ratings
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87

by
4.13 avg rating — 5,907 ratings
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88

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,469 ratings
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88

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,130,479 ratings
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88

by
3.69 avg rating — 180,774 ratings
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91

by
3.69 avg rating — 36,311 ratings
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92

by
3.91 avg rating — 110,004 ratings
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93

by
3.72 avg rating — 8,484 ratings
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94

by
4.11 avg rating — 4,458 ratings
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95

by
3.53 avg rating — 449 ratings
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96

by
3.95 avg rating — 93 ratings
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97

by
3.86 avg rating — 35 ratings
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98

by
3.30 avg rating — 17,538 ratings
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98

by
4.19 avg rating — 55,013 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 974 books
36 friends
Thom 6022 books
293 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3388 books
851 friends
Erin 7878 books
2560 friends
Janet 1847 books
18 friends
Harold 318 books
45 friends
Lobstergirl 5897 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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