Every great love story has a bit of conflict. You know? That moment of angst when you want everything to work out so they can live happily ever after. Life, not just romance fiction of course, has a chapter or two of conflict as well. But luckily, August 25 is “Kiss and Make Up” Day.
Here are the 50 Greatest Love Stories Ever Told (in a book) to inspire you to do just that. Start reading and get ready to pucker up!
1. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen • 2. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell • 3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë • 4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy • 5. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare • 6. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen • 7. Emma by Jane Austen • 8. Atonement by Ian McEwan • 9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte • 10. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier • 11. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen • 12. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Márquez • 13. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden • 14. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald • 15. Cold Mountain by Charles Fraizer • 16. Bridges of Madison County by Robert James • 17. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss • 18. The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mashima • 19. Possession by A.S. Byatt • 20. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough • 21. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel • 22. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak • 23. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje • 24. Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer • 25. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres • 26. The Odyssey by Homer • 27. The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andia • 28. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett • 29. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles • 30. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green • 31. Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding • 32. The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory • 33. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene • 34. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger • 35. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins • 36. The Princess Bride by William Goldman • 37. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen • 38. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt • 39. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion • 40. Ask the Passengers by A.S. King • 41. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell • 42. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta • 43. P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern • 44. The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver • 45. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson • 46. Love Story by Erich Segal • 47. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon • 48. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh • 49. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks • 50. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
What’s your favorite love story (in a book)? Your #greatestlove?