The 25 Best Books For Hopeless Romantics

Fans of The Shape Of Water will flip for this unconventional love story that unfolds slowly between Lucy, a woman fresh out of a break up and desperately trying to finish her dissertation, and a merman she meets swimming in Venice Beach. You'll be amazed at how true-to-life (and sexy) the romance between a mythical creature and a woman can be.

When someone asks me what my favorite book is, this is my go-to answer. Loosely based on the life of Laura Bush, the story of imperfect love unfolds over a long period of time and locks you in with its twists and turns.

Marianne and Connell are (secretly) friends first, as many love stories go. With large jumps in time and conversation unfettered by quotation marks (Rooney uses none, but it's somehow always clear who's speaking), you'll see an arching, true-to-life and sometimes dark picture of what it means to be a 20-something in love.

This book may be considered young adult fiction, but it appeals to any age group. Taking place in Omaha, Nebraska from 1986-1987 (nostalgia abounds) Eleanor and Park strike up an unlikely connection after sitting next to each other on the school bus.

A researched exploration of sexuality, gender, and parenthood and a deeply personal memoir of pregnancy while loving a person who is fluidly gender, this book is at once heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and joyful.

Even if you're already seen the movie, it's never too late to read this book. You'll be transported to an Italian villa in the summer of 1983 (which is reason enough for me to pick up the book). The relationship between Elio and Oliver is impactful and beautifully written.

Oh guys, this book is too good. Didion chronicles the year following the death of her husband, John Dunn, which she largely spends caring for her sick daughter and spending time "magically thinking" that John is coming home, that he will need his shoes.

“I did not always think he was right nor did he always think I was right but we were each the person the other trusted,” she writes along with countless other gems that perfectly encapsulate the complexity of loving someone.

Audra is Graham's second wife, and the pair have a 15-year age difference and an even bigger personality difference. Despite their different ways of seeing the world and the challenges they face in caring for an autistic son, the pair stay strong in a laugh-out-loud, NYC-centric story.

I'm always drawn to the magic and the mayhem of a late '60s New York City story. This memoir beautifully chronicles the friendship (and ultimately, the romance) between musician and poet, Patti Smith, and photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe.

Newlyweds, Celeste and Roy, have a bright future ahead until Roy is convicted of a crime he didn't commit. The love story unfolds surprisingly between the alternating perspectives of the couple and the letters they send while Roy is in jail.

Reading this book as an adult was vastly different than reading it in English class freshman year of high school, which is to say, I liked it the second time around. Every page you turn contains a love story (seriously there are at least seven different romances going on) but the story between Catherine and Heathcliff on the moors (remember the moors?) is what keep readers gripped 172 years after its publication.

This essay collection is a wonderful compilation of Patchett's works, many of which originally appeared in magazines.

"I want to learn to love people like this, the way I love my dog, with pride and enthusiasm and a complete amnesia for faults. In short, to love others the way my dog loves me,” she writes. Love is found in all its forms within the pages of this book, which I return to every year.

I went through a huge memoir phase in 2018, as you may have gathered already from this list. The book begins with a non-traditional courtship between author, Heather Harpham, and her partner, Greg. I won't spoil the details, but when their child is born with an illness, the couple needs to either rise to the occasion or risk falling apart. It's a story about love: the unconditional kind, the romantic kind, and how love and friendship sometimes mean the same thing.

A beautiful collection of short stories that follows the same central character, Yunior. The stories deal with grief, young love, and friendship and is filled with short quippy wisdom, like, "the half-life of love is forever."

I know you know this one, the Nicholas Sparks classic that turned into the 2004 movie by the same name. Have tissues close by when reading. You know the drill.

Margaret Mitchell wrote just one novel, and it was this one. After a broken ankle left her unable to move, Mitchell decided she'd write a book. And I'm so glad she did. If you've seen and loved the 1939, you'll love the book even more.

There is something so fun about seeing an office romance play out (hey Jim and Pam!) and this story is no exception. Set in the world of publishing, Lucy and Joshua are co-workers, total opposites, and competing for the same promotion, and still this leads to an unforgettable love story

I am currently in the middle of the book, so without giving too much away (to you or to myself), it deftly deals with the ways romantic love must shift and change in the face of tragedy.

Love Warrior is a memoir about marriage, trust, and forgiveness, but it also an exploration of loving ourselves without shame or judgment. Everyone should read this book at least once, I think, because it holds wisdom like that, "“Grief is love's souvenir. It's our proof that we once loved. Grief is the receipt we wave in the air that says to the world: Look! Love was once mine. I love well. Here is my proof that I paid the price.”

Falling in love doesn't always mean with the right person. This page-turner alternates between the perspective of Lucy, a Long Island transplant who finds herself at a small college in California where she meets sociopath Stephen, the one she just can't quit.

Told from the point of view of Toru Watanabe as he looks back on his college years in Tokyo with a mix of nostalgia, regret, and focus on an ill-fated love triangle.

A richly-imagined story that begins with the death of Dr. Urbino, the book follows his widow and her first love as he attempts to win her back.

Spanning almost 30 years, these collected letters between poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell offer a keenly observed world, and a love for each other that doesn't seem to veer into the sexual. In one letter, Lowell alludes to a time when he asked Bishop to marry him, and years later, he says, “I seem to spend my life missing you!” There is certainly some sort of love between the two, and plenty of musings on what it means to love.

From the author of The Fault In Our Stars (I want to cry just thinking about it) this book is is a unlikely romance story that takes place between to teenagers, Miles and Alaska, at boarding school.

This book follows protagonist, Cole, a closeted teenager in the south who loses himself in novels — but that all changes when he meets Nicky. The story is a relatable, heartbreaking and sometimes triumphant story about first love.

Many people don't realize that the Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal movie is actually based on a 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, which was initially published in The New Yorker. It's as moving as the moving — perhaps even more.