,

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 — 6,007,166 ratings
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2

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4.31 avg rating — 1,262,876 ratings
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3

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3.88 avg rating — 1,021,443 ratings
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4

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3.96 avg rating — 282,376 ratings
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5

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4.33 avg rating — 1,045,035 ratings
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6

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4.17 avg rating — 2,494,893 ratings
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7

by
3.80 avg rating — 882,715 ratings
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8

by
3.98 avg rating — 30,701 ratings
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9

by
4.14 avg rating — 369,951 ratings
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10

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,312,558 ratings
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11

by
3.94 avg rating — 584,338 ratings
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12

by
4.02 avg rating — 221,502 ratings
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13

by
3.97 avg rating — 168,135 ratings
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14

by
4.35 avg rating — 10,060,213 ratings
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15

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,360,382 ratings
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16

by
3.70 avg rating — 158,658 ratings
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17

by
4.44 avg rating — 663,581 ratings
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18

by
4.06 avg rating — 91,814 ratings
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19

by
4.18 avg rating — 3,480,675 ratings
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20

by
3.71 avg rating — 380,809 ratings
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21

by
3.81 avg rating — 133,830 ratings
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22

by
3.96 avg rating — 196,374 ratings
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23

by
3.78 avg rating — 82,086 ratings
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24

by
4.16 avg rating — 62,220 ratings
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25

by
3.88 avg rating — 55,942 ratings
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26

by
4.21 avg rating — 851,456 ratings
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27

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,213,135 ratings
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28

by
3.62 avg rating — 2,150,156 ratings
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29

by
3.73 avg rating — 181,961 ratings
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30

by
4.36 avg rating — 4,228,246 ratings
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31

by
3.94 avg rating — 552,719 ratings
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32

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,783,561 ratings
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33

by
4.05 avg rating — 999,670 ratings
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34

by
4.11 avg rating — 71,813 ratings
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35

by
4.59 avg rating — 256,084 ratings
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36

by
4.04 avg rating — 181,986 ratings
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37

by
3.98 avg rating — 116,738 ratings
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38

by
4.06 avg rating — 64,929 ratings
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39

by
3.87 avg rating — 78,845 ratings
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39

by
3.91 avg rating — 309,492 ratings
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41

by
3.99 avg rating — 745,978 ratings
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42

by
3.69 avg rating — 62,077 ratings
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43

by
4.10 avg rating — 553,721 ratings
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44

by
3.37 avg rating — 38,523 ratings
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45

by
3.97 avg rating — 97,763 ratings
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46

by
4.39 avg rating — 397,926 ratings
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47

by
4.19 avg rating — 19,955 ratings
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48

by
4.14 avg rating — 399,973 ratings
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49

by
4.57 avg rating — 4,258,576 ratings
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50

by
4.15 avg rating — 790,810 ratings
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51

by
3.84 avg rating — 59,668 ratings
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52

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4.13 avg rating — 63,405 ratings
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53

by
4.28 avg rating — 761,085 ratings
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54

by
4.58 avg rating — 3,704,409 ratings
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55

by
3.85 avg rating — 461,488 ratings
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56

by
4.16 avg rating — 130,767 ratings
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57

by
3.98 avg rating — 52,533 ratings
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58

by
4.08 avg rating — 36,367 ratings
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59

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,850,515 ratings
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60

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,503,212 ratings
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61

by
3.78 avg rating — 17,632 ratings
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62

by
3.85 avg rating — 878,056 ratings
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63

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,995 ratings
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64

by
3.92 avg rating — 323 ratings
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65

by
3.57 avg rating — 60,307 ratings
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66

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,529,034 ratings
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67

by
4.27 avg rating — 954,591 ratings
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68

by
4.13 avg rating — 51,086 ratings
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69

by
3.94 avg rating — 156,711 ratings
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70

by
3.89 avg rating — 571,771 ratings
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71

by
3.88 avg rating — 2,958 ratings
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71

by
3.77 avg rating — 26,295 ratings
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73

by
3.57 avg rating — 72,595 ratings
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74

by
4.06 avg rating — 451,137 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 657,730 ratings
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76

by
3.86 avg rating — 384,003 ratings
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77

by
3.83 avg rating — 26,578 ratings
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77

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,632 ratings
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79

by
3.83 avg rating — 22,148 ratings
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80

by
3.98 avg rating — 107,182 ratings
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81

by
4.05 avg rating — 59,784 ratings
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82

by
3.64 avg rating — 165,920 ratings
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83

by
3.74 avg rating — 1,213 ratings
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84

by
3.89 avg rating — 32,368 ratings
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85

by
4.24 avg rating — 62,529 ratings
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86

by
3.79 avg rating — 177,135 ratings
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87

by
4.13 avg rating — 5,881 ratings
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88

by
3.82 avg rating — 14,355 ratings
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88

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,125,184 ratings
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88

by
3.69 avg rating — 179,918 ratings
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91

by
3.69 avg rating — 36,265 ratings
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92

by
3.91 avg rating — 109,888 ratings
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93

by
3.72 avg rating — 8,432 ratings
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94

by
4.11 avg rating — 4,449 ratings
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95

by
3.53 avg rating — 447 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 — 17,413 ratings
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98

by
4.20 avg rating — 54,769 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 7869 books
2560 friends
Janet 1848 books
18 friends
Harold 318 books
45 friends
Lobstergirl 5882 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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