,

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 — 5,903,325 ratings
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2

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4.31 avg rating — 1,255,951 ratings
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3

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3.88 avg rating — 1,011,490 ratings
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4

by
3.96 avg rating — 276,780 ratings
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5

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4.32 avg rating — 1,021,382 ratings
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6

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4.17 avg rating — 2,455,457 ratings
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7

by
3.80 avg rating — 872,860 ratings
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8

by
3.98 avg rating — 30,341 ratings
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9

by
4.14 avg rating — 358,897 ratings
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10

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,294,096 ratings
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11

by
3.94 avg rating — 577,843 ratings
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12

by
4.02 avg rating — 218,005 ratings
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13

by
3.97 avg rating — 166,063 ratings
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14

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,887,008 ratings
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15

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,318,984 ratings
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16

by
3.69 avg rating — 154,797 ratings
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17

by
4.44 avg rating — 635,729 ratings
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18

by
4.06 avg rating — 90,823 ratings
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19

by
4.18 avg rating — 3,442,456 ratings
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20

by
3.71 avg rating — 374,219 ratings
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21

by
3.81 avg rating — 133,089 ratings
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22

by
3.96 avg rating — 194,366 ratings
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23

by
3.78 avg rating — 80,477 ratings
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24

by
4.16 avg rating — 61,490 ratings
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25

by
3.88 avg rating — 55,510 ratings
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26

by
4.21 avg rating — 842,868 ratings
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27

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,041,655 ratings
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28

by
3.62 avg rating — 2,124,582 ratings
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29

by
3.74 avg rating — 180,416 ratings
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30

by
4.36 avg rating — 4,144,170 ratings
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31

by
3.94 avg rating — 546,197 ratings
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32

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,710,282 ratings
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33

by
4.05 avg rating — 981,144 ratings
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34

by
4.10 avg rating — 70,726 ratings
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35

by
4.58 avg rating — 239,303 ratings
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36

by
4.04 avg rating — 178,984 ratings
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37

by
3.99 avg rating — 115,202 ratings
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38

by
3.86 avg rating — 77,287 ratings
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38

by
3.91 avg rating — 304,788 ratings
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40

by
3.99 avg rating — 727,189 ratings
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41

by
3.70 avg rating — 61,008 ratings
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42

by
4.06 avg rating — 64,381 ratings
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43

by
3.37 avg rating — 37,864 ratings
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44

by
3.97 avg rating — 93,532 ratings
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45

by
4.39 avg rating — 385,269 ratings
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46

by
4.11 avg rating — 542,801 ratings
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47

by
4.19 avg rating — 19,841 ratings
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48

by
4.14 avg rating — 394,988 ratings
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49

by
4.57 avg rating — 4,184,576 ratings
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50

by
4.15 avg rating — 775,474 ratings
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51

by
3.83 avg rating — 59,035 ratings
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52

by
4.13 avg rating — 61,460 ratings
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53

by
4.28 avg rating — 751,225 ratings
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54

by
4.58 avg rating — 3,650,211 ratings
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55

by
3.85 avg rating — 452,884 ratings
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56

by
4.16 avg rating — 127,317 ratings
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57

by
3.98 avg rating — 51,642 ratings
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58

by
4.08 avg rating — 35,683 ratings
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59

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,818,836 ratings
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60

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,489,450 ratings
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61

by
3.78 avg rating — 17,516 ratings
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62

by
3.85 avg rating — 851,461 ratings
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63

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,722 ratings
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64

by
3.91 avg rating — 324 ratings
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65

by
3.57 avg rating — 59,586 ratings
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66

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,470,397 ratings
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67

by
4.27 avg rating — 947,200 ratings
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68

by
4.13 avg rating — 50,694 ratings
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69

by
3.94 avg rating — 154,707 ratings
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70

by
3.89 avg rating — 564,437 ratings
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71

by
3.88 avg rating — 2,938 ratings
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71

by
3.77 avg rating — 24,935 ratings
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73

by
3.57 avg rating — 72,160 ratings
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74

by
4.06 avg rating — 444,241 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 649,218 ratings
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76

by
3.86 avg rating — 379,296 ratings
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77

by
3.83 avg rating — 26,421 ratings
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77

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,620 ratings
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79

by
3.84 avg rating — 21,487 ratings
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80

by
3.98 avg rating — 105,748 ratings
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81

by
4.05 avg rating — 58,809 ratings
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82

by
3.64 avg rating — 163,925 ratings
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83

by
3.75 avg rating — 1,190 ratings
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84

by
3.90 avg rating — 29,669 ratings
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85

by
4.24 avg rating — 62,050 ratings
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86

by
3.79 avg rating — 174,694 ratings
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87

by
4.13 avg rating — 5,790 ratings
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88

by
3.82 avg rating — 13,884 ratings
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88

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,103,502 ratings
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88

by
3.68 avg rating — 176,342 ratings
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91

by
3.69 avg rating — 36,042 ratings
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92

by
3.91 avg rating — 109,443 ratings
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93

by
3.72 avg rating — 8,180 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 — 16,888 ratings
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98

by
4.20 avg rating — 53,811 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) 7691 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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