,

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 — 5,886,575 ratings
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2

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4.31 avg rating — 1,255,163 ratings
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3

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3.88 avg rating — 1,010,289 ratings
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4

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3.96 avg rating — 276,229 ratings
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5

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4.32 avg rating — 1,019,478 ratings
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6

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4.17 avg rating — 2,449,641 ratings
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7

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3.80 avg rating — 871,664 ratings
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8

by
3.98 avg rating — 30,311 ratings
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9

by
4.14 avg rating — 358,020 ratings
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10

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,291,955 ratings
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11

by
3.94 avg rating — 577,227 ratings
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12

by
4.02 avg rating — 217,658 ratings
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13

by
3.97 avg rating — 165,865 ratings
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14

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,858,021 ratings
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15

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,314,152 ratings
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16

by
3.69 avg rating — 154,462 ratings
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17

by
4.44 avg rating — 633,329 ratings
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18

by
4.06 avg rating — 90,733 ratings
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19

by
4.18 avg rating — 3,436,615 ratings
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20

by
3.71 avg rating — 373,533 ratings
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21

by
3.81 avg rating — 133,021 ratings
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22

by
3.96 avg rating — 194,135 ratings
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23

by
3.78 avg rating — 80,363 ratings
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24

by
4.16 avg rating — 61,425 ratings
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25

by
3.88 avg rating — 55,469 ratings
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26

by
4.21 avg rating — 841,854 ratings
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27

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,033,737 ratings
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28

by
3.62 avg rating — 2,121,031 ratings
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29

by
3.74 avg rating — 180,296 ratings
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30

by
4.36 avg rating — 4,132,975 ratings
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31

by
3.94 avg rating — 545,444 ratings
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32

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,700,537 ratings
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33

by
4.05 avg rating — 978,937 ratings
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34

by
4.10 avg rating — 70,628 ratings
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35

by
4.57 avg rating — 237,991 ratings
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36

by
4.04 avg rating — 178,758 ratings
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37

by
3.99 avg rating — 115,109 ratings
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38

by
3.86 avg rating — 77,167 ratings
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38

by
3.91 avg rating — 304,338 ratings
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40

by
3.99 avg rating — 725,166 ratings
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41

by
3.70 avg rating — 60,938 ratings
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42

by
4.06 avg rating — 64,332 ratings
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43

by
3.37 avg rating — 37,815 ratings
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44

by
3.97 avg rating — 93,233 ratings
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45

by
4.39 avg rating — 384,270 ratings
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46

by
4.11 avg rating — 541,620 ratings
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47

by
4.19 avg rating — 19,835 ratings
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48

by
4.14 avg rating — 394,475 ratings
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49

by
4.57 avg rating — 4,175,493 ratings
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50

by
4.15 avg rating — 773,755 ratings
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51

by
3.83 avg rating — 58,983 ratings
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52

by
4.13 avg rating — 61,286 ratings
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53

by
4.28 avg rating — 750,291 ratings
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54

by
4.58 avg rating — 3,643,445 ratings
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55

by
3.85 avg rating — 452,030 ratings
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56

by
4.16 avg rating — 127,120 ratings
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57

by
3.98 avg rating — 51,573 ratings
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58

by
4.08 avg rating — 35,622 ratings
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59

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,814,289 ratings
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60

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,486,802 ratings
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61

by
3.78 avg rating — 17,514 ratings
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62

by
3.85 avg rating — 848,921 ratings
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63

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,699 ratings
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64

by
3.91 avg rating — 324 ratings
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65

by
3.57 avg rating — 59,541 ratings
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66

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,461,890 ratings
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67

by
4.27 avg rating — 946,458 ratings
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68

by
4.13 avg rating — 50,658 ratings
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69

by
3.94 avg rating — 154,531 ratings
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70

by
3.89 avg rating — 563,651 ratings
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71

by
3.88 avg rating — 2,938 ratings
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71

by
3.77 avg rating — 24,807 ratings
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73

by
3.57 avg rating — 72,129 ratings
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74

by
4.06 avg rating — 443,544 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 648,199 ratings
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76

by
3.86 avg rating — 378,863 ratings
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77

by
3.83 avg rating — 26,408 ratings
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77

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,617 ratings
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79

by
3.84 avg rating — 21,434 ratings
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80

by
3.98 avg rating — 105,629 ratings
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81

by
4.05 avg rating — 58,731 ratings
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82

by
3.64 avg rating — 163,755 ratings
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83

by
3.74 avg rating — 1,187 ratings
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84

by
3.90 avg rating — 29,415 ratings
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85

by
4.24 avg rating — 61,996 ratings
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86

by
3.79 avg rating — 174,483 ratings
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87

by
4.13 avg rating — 5,773 ratings
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88

by
3.82 avg rating — 13,852 ratings
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88

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,100,483 ratings
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88

by
3.68 avg rating — 175,988 ratings
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91

by
3.69 avg rating — 36,017 ratings
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92

by
3.91 avg rating — 109,394 ratings
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93

by
3.72 avg rating — 8,164 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 — 16,852 ratings
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98

by
4.20 avg rating — 53,753 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 976 books
36 friends
Thom 6022 books
294 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3386 books
851 friends
Erin (Historical Fiction Reader) 7671 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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