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 — 5,889,844 ratings
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2

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4.31 avg rating — 1,255,349 ratings
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3

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3.88 avg rating — 1,010,513 ratings
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4

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3.96 avg rating — 276,313 ratings
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5

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4.32 avg rating — 1,019,930 ratings
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6

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4.17 avg rating — 2,450,766 ratings
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7

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3.80 avg rating — 871,904 ratings
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8

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3.98 avg rating — 30,316 ratings
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9

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4.14 avg rating — 358,164 ratings
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10

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,292,340 ratings
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11

by
3.94 avg rating — 577,347 ratings
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12

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4.02 avg rating — 217,708 ratings
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13

by
3.97 avg rating — 165,897 ratings
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14

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,863,841 ratings
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15

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,315,087 ratings
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16

by
3.69 avg rating — 154,526 ratings
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17

by
4.44 avg rating — 633,737 ratings
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18

by
4.06 avg rating — 90,746 ratings
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19

by
4.18 avg rating — 3,437,836 ratings
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20

by
3.71 avg rating — 373,639 ratings
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21

by
3.81 avg rating — 133,037 ratings
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22

by
3.96 avg rating — 194,173 ratings
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23

by
3.78 avg rating — 80,386 ratings
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24

by
4.16 avg rating — 61,435 ratings
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25

by
3.88 avg rating — 55,479 ratings
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26

by
4.21 avg rating — 842,036 ratings
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27

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,035,051 ratings
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28

by
3.62 avg rating — 2,121,667 ratings
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29

by
3.74 avg rating — 180,313 ratings
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30

by
4.36 avg rating — 4,134,988 ratings
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31

by
3.94 avg rating — 545,597 ratings
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32

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,702,345 ratings
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33

by
4.05 avg rating — 979,343 ratings
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34

by
4.10 avg rating — 70,647 ratings
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35

by
4.57 avg rating — 238,182 ratings
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36

by
4.04 avg rating — 178,791 ratings
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37

by
3.99 avg rating — 115,128 ratings
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38

by
3.86 avg rating — 77,190 ratings
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38

by
3.91 avg rating — 304,402 ratings
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40

by
3.99 avg rating — 725,540 ratings
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41

by
3.70 avg rating — 60,950 ratings
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42

by
4.06 avg rating — 64,337 ratings
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43

by
3.37 avg rating — 37,822 ratings
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44

by
3.97 avg rating — 93,282 ratings
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45

by
4.39 avg rating — 384,449 ratings
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46

by
4.11 avg rating — 541,822 ratings
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47

by
4.19 avg rating — 19,836 ratings
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48

by
4.14 avg rating — 394,564 ratings
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49

by
4.57 avg rating — 4,177,109 ratings
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50

by
4.15 avg rating — 774,054 ratings
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51

by
3.83 avg rating — 58,993 ratings
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52

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4.13 avg rating — 61,317 ratings
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53

by
4.28 avg rating — 750,444 ratings
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54

by
4.58 avg rating — 3,644,617 ratings
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55

by
3.85 avg rating — 452,199 ratings
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56

by
4.16 avg rating — 127,149 ratings
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57

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3.98 avg rating — 51,585 ratings
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58

by
4.08 avg rating — 35,631 ratings
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59

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,815,214 ratings
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60

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,487,374 ratings
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61

by
3.78 avg rating — 17,515 ratings
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62

by
3.85 avg rating — 849,347 ratings
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63

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,703 ratings
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64

by
3.91 avg rating — 324 ratings
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65

by
3.57 avg rating — 59,545 ratings
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66

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,463,551 ratings
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67

by
4.27 avg rating — 946,600 ratings
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68

by
4.13 avg rating — 50,666 ratings
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69

by
3.94 avg rating — 154,559 ratings
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70

by
3.89 avg rating — 563,796 ratings
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71

by
3.88 avg rating — 2,938 ratings
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71

by
3.77 avg rating — 24,831 ratings
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73

by
3.57 avg rating — 72,137 ratings
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74

by
4.06 avg rating — 443,667 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 648,386 ratings
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76

by
3.86 avg rating — 378,944 ratings
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77

by
3.83 avg rating — 26,408 ratings
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77

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,618 ratings
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79

by
3.84 avg rating — 21,440 ratings
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80

by
3.98 avg rating — 105,647 ratings
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81

by
4.05 avg rating — 58,746 ratings
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82

by
3.64 avg rating — 163,788 ratings
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83

by
3.74 avg rating — 1,187 ratings
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84

by
3.90 avg rating — 29,462 ratings
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85

by
4.24 avg rating — 62,007 ratings
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86

by
3.79 avg rating — 174,519 ratings
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87

by
4.13 avg rating — 5,776 ratings
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88

by
3.82 avg rating — 13,861 ratings
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88

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,101,037 ratings
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88

by
3.68 avg rating — 176,032 ratings
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91

by
3.69 avg rating — 36,019 ratings
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92

by
3.91 avg rating — 109,396 ratings
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93

by
3.72 avg rating — 8,161 ratings
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94

by
4.11 avg rating — 4,422 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 — 16,859 ratings
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98

by
4.20 avg rating — 53,766 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) 7675 books
2563 friends
Janet 1848 books
18 friends
Harold 318 books
45 friends
Lobstergirl 5783 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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