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 — 6,033,996 ratings
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2

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4.31 avg rating — 1,264,781 ratings
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3

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3.88 avg rating — 1,024,205 ratings
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4

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3.96 avg rating — 283,779 ratings
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5

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4.33 avg rating — 1,052,628 ratings
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6

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4.17 avg rating — 2,503,980 ratings
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7

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3.80 avg rating — 885,395 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 — 373,088 ratings
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10

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,317,191 ratings
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11

by
3.94 avg rating — 586,115 ratings
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12

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4.02 avg rating — 221,936 ratings
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13

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3.97 avg rating — 168,707 ratings
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14

by
4.35 avg rating — 10,104,029 ratings
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15

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4.16 avg rating — 2,371,495 ratings
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16

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3.70 avg rating — 159,638 ratings
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17

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4.45 avg rating — 672,881 ratings
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18

by
4.06 avg rating — 92,043 ratings
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19

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4.18 avg rating — 3,490,343 ratings
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20

by
3.71 avg rating — 382,670 ratings
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21

by
3.81 avg rating — 134,088 ratings
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22

by
3.96 avg rating — 196,861 ratings
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23

by
3.78 avg rating — 82,651 ratings
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24

by
4.16 avg rating — 62,430 ratings
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25

by
3.88 avg rating — 56,052 ratings
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26

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4.21 avg rating — 853,900 ratings
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27

by
3.89 avg rating — 2,232,191 ratings
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28

by
3.62 avg rating — 2,156,434 ratings
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29

by
3.73 avg rating — 182,370 ratings
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30

by
4.36 avg rating — 4,250,090 ratings
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31

by
3.94 avg rating — 554,477 ratings
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32

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,802,488 ratings
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33

by
4.05 avg rating — 1,004,364 ratings
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34

by
4.11 avg rating — 72,126 ratings
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35

by
4.59 avg rating — 261,767 ratings
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36

by
4.04 avg rating — 183,065 ratings
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37

by
3.98 avg rating — 117,199 ratings
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38

by
4.06 avg rating — 65,098 ratings
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39

by
3.87 avg rating — 79,252 ratings
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39

by
3.91 avg rating — 310,691 ratings
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41

by
3.99 avg rating — 751,121 ratings
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42

by
3.69 avg rating — 62,423 ratings
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43

by
4.10 avg rating — 556,588 ratings
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44

by
3.37 avg rating — 38,659 ratings
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45

by
3.97 avg rating — 98,682 ratings
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46

by
4.39 avg rating — 401,403 ratings
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47

by
4.19 avg rating — 19,989 ratings
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48

by
4.14 avg rating — 401,473 ratings
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49

by
4.57 avg rating — 4,276,370 ratings
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50

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4.15 avg rating — 794,779 ratings
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51

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3.84 avg rating — 59,857 ratings
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52

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4.13 avg rating — 63,914 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 763,575 ratings
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54

by
4.58 avg rating — 3,719,277 ratings
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55

by
3.85 avg rating — 463,668 ratings
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56

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4.16 avg rating — 131,719 ratings
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57

by
3.98 avg rating — 52,778 ratings
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58

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4.08 avg rating — 36,510 ratings
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59

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,859,153 ratings
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60

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,506,705 ratings
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61

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3.78 avg rating — 17,667 ratings
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62

by
3.85 avg rating — 885,189 ratings
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63

by
3.82 avg rating — 15,099 ratings
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64

by
3.91 avg rating — 324 ratings
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65

by
3.57 avg rating — 60,502 ratings
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66

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,543,116 ratings
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67

by
4.27 avg rating — 956,587 ratings
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68

by
4.13 avg rating — 51,214 ratings
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69

by
3.94 avg rating — 157,245 ratings
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70

by
3.89 avg rating — 573,736 ratings
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71

by
3.88 avg rating — 2,967 ratings
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71

by
3.76 avg rating — 26,674 ratings
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73

by
3.57 avg rating — 72,733 ratings
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74

by
4.06 avg rating — 452,780 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 660,186 ratings
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76

by
3.86 avg rating — 385,202 ratings
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77

by
3.83 avg rating — 26,634 ratings
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77

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,642 ratings
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79

by
3.83 avg rating — 22,308 ratings
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80

by
3.98 avg rating — 107,698 ratings
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81

by
4.05 avg rating — 60,024 ratings
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82

by
3.64 avg rating — 166,468 ratings
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83

by
3.73 avg rating — 1,223 ratings
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84

by
3.89 avg rating — 33,210 ratings
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85

by
4.24 avg rating — 62,642 ratings
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86

by
3.79 avg rating — 177,831 ratings
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87

by
4.13 avg rating — 5,909 ratings
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88

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,470 ratings
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88

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,130,716 ratings
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88

by
3.69 avg rating — 180,808 ratings
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91

by
3.69 avg rating — 36,312 ratings
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92

by
3.91 avg rating — 110,009 ratings
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93

by
3.72 avg rating — 8,488 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 — 17,544 ratings
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98

by
4.19 avg rating — 55,026 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 5898 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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