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 — 6,033,569 ratings
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2

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4.31 avg rating — 1,264,763 ratings
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3

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3.88 avg rating — 1,024,156 ratings
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4

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3.96 avg rating — 283,754 ratings
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5

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4.33 avg rating — 1,052,508 ratings
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6

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4.17 avg rating — 2,503,833 ratings
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7

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3.80 avg rating — 885,347 ratings
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8

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3.98 avg rating — 30,784 ratings
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9

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4.14 avg rating — 373,028 ratings
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10

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,317,129 ratings
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11

by
3.94 avg rating — 586,084 ratings
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12

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4.02 avg rating — 221,926 ratings
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13

by
3.97 avg rating — 168,704 ratings
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14

by
4.35 avg rating — 10,103,307 ratings
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15

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4.16 avg rating — 2,371,323 ratings
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16

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3.70 avg rating — 159,628 ratings
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17

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4.45 avg rating — 672,692 ratings
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18

by
4.06 avg rating — 92,039 ratings
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19

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4.18 avg rating — 3,490,177 ratings
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20

by
3.71 avg rating — 382,639 ratings
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21

by
3.81 avg rating — 134,084 ratings
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22

by
3.96 avg rating — 196,852 ratings
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23

by
3.78 avg rating — 82,647 ratings
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24

by
4.16 avg rating — 62,429 ratings
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25

by
3.88 avg rating — 56,047 ratings
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26

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4.21 avg rating — 853,859 ratings
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27

by
3.89 avg rating — 2,231,888 ratings
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28

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3.62 avg rating — 2,156,333 ratings
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29

by
3.73 avg rating — 182,360 ratings
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30

by
4.36 avg rating — 4,249,768 ratings
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31

by
3.94 avg rating — 554,445 ratings
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32

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,802,205 ratings
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33

by
4.05 avg rating — 1,004,292 ratings
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34

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4.11 avg rating — 72,123 ratings
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35

by
4.59 avg rating — 261,679 ratings
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36

by
4.04 avg rating — 183,050 ratings
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37

by
3.98 avg rating — 117,196 ratings
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38

by
4.06 avg rating — 65,094 ratings
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39

by
3.87 avg rating — 79,248 ratings
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39

by
3.91 avg rating — 310,669 ratings
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41

by
3.99 avg rating — 751,024 ratings
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42

by
3.69 avg rating — 62,412 ratings
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43

by
4.10 avg rating — 556,537 ratings
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44

by
3.37 avg rating — 38,658 ratings
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45

by
3.97 avg rating — 98,658 ratings
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46

by
4.39 avg rating — 401,344 ratings
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47

by
4.19 avg rating — 19,988 ratings
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48

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4.14 avg rating — 401,452 ratings
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49

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4.57 avg rating — 4,276,077 ratings
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50

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4.15 avg rating — 794,699 ratings
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51

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3.84 avg rating — 59,854 ratings
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52

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4.13 avg rating — 63,899 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 763,541 ratings
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54

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4.58 avg rating — 3,719,048 ratings
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55

by
3.85 avg rating — 463,636 ratings
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56

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4.16 avg rating — 131,705 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 — 36,505 ratings
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59

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,859,026 ratings
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60

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,506,636 ratings
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61

by
3.78 avg rating — 17,667 ratings
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62

by
3.85 avg rating — 885,072 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 — 60,499 ratings
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66

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,542,861 ratings
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67

by
4.27 avg rating — 956,562 ratings
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68

by
4.13 avg rating — 51,213 ratings
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69

by
3.94 avg rating — 157,237 ratings
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70

by
3.89 avg rating — 573,701 ratings
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71

by
3.88 avg rating — 2,967 ratings
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71

by
3.76 avg rating — 26,663 ratings
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73

by
3.57 avg rating — 72,731 ratings
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74

by
4.06 avg rating — 452,753 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 660,147 ratings
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76

by
3.86 avg rating — 385,176 ratings
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77

by
3.83 avg rating — 26,633 ratings
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77

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,642 ratings
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79

by
3.83 avg rating — 22,303 ratings
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80

by
3.98 avg rating — 107,689 ratings
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81

by
4.05 avg rating — 60,020 ratings
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82

by
3.64 avg rating — 166,458 ratings
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83

by
3.73 avg rating — 1,223 ratings
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84

by
3.89 avg rating — 33,192 ratings
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85

by
4.24 avg rating — 62,641 ratings
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86

by
3.79 avg rating — 177,813 ratings
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87

by
4.13 avg rating — 5,908 ratings
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88

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,469 ratings
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88

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,130,609 ratings
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88

by
3.69 avg rating — 180,787 ratings
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91

by
3.69 avg rating — 36,312 ratings
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92

by
3.91 avg rating — 110,006 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 — 17,540 ratings
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98

by
4.19 avg rating — 55,019 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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