Are you searching for a love story that keeps you on your toes and takes you into a world of romantic endeavors? Whether you are a hopeless romantic, a sucker for the enemies-to-lovers trope, or a fan of slow burns with a little drama, these books will hit the spot.
That is why we have put together a list of the 15 best romance books of all time that are sure to make you swoon and convince you that love is, indeed, magical with a sprinkle of emotions.
Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
Year: 1813
In a world where everyone expects women to be quiet, demure, and happy with the bare minimum, Elizabeth Bennet is the complete opposite. She is observant, straightforward, and passionately independent.
Walking through doors and estates with an opinionated mind, she makes heads turn as she objects to and questions the stereotypes that govern societal rules, class, love, and a woman’s place.
Her world turns upside down when she meets the reserved and haughty Mr. Darcy, as there are immediate sparks, and not the kind that makes one fall in love but the kind that could burn the world down.
Pride and Prejudice is one of the most acclaimed works of Jane Austen, set in the early 1800s. It is a love story that channels wit, humor, and social critique into a slowly unfolding romance that remains unforgettable.
Jane Austen effortlessly converts misunderstanding and arguments into tension and pride and arrogance into vulnerability, delivering a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers story that feels as sharp as it is tender.
If you enjoy romances set in period settings, rich with intelligence, dignity, and sparkling dialogue, this classic will reward you every step of the way.
The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Year: 2012
When a cancer support group meeting brings Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters together, fate quickly decides to turn their bond into something increasingly complicated by borrowed time and unspoken fears.
What started off as a friendship through deep conversations, dark humor, and moments of vulnerability quickly became a love story that feels so fragile and so heartbreakingly real that it gives you a lump in your throat.
The Fault in Our Stars, published in 2012, is John Green’s most notable work to date and revolves around the lives of two teenagers, one fighting cancer and the other a cancer survivor entangled in a profound bond of love.
This book balances pain with warmth and grief with happiness and allows the black and white to coexist, creating a harsh yet beautiful narrative.
If you’re drawn to romance that doesn’t shy away from pain and leaves a lasting imprint long after the final page, this novel will break you gently and stay with you.
The Notebook
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Year: 1996
If you are a fan of romances set in nostalgia and love that never fades, no matter how much time has passed, The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks is the one you should be reading.
The story, set against the passage of decades, follows Noah Calhoun, who believes that true love is timeless.
It started off as a soft summer romance in 1940s North Carolina and slowly turned into a forever love driven by sacrifices, separation, and unconditional devotion.
Noah and Allie were separated due to differences in class and life’s unfortunate circumstances, but their connection turned out to be stronger than that, and it persisted through letters and fate.
Several years later in the quiet room of a nursing home, Noah reads their history to Allie, who has lost her memory, with a hopeful heart.
Equal parts of softness and pain, The Notebook is for those readers who are into a whirlwind of emotional romance where love is patient, long-lasting, and powerful enough to outweigh time itself.
Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Year: 2012
Contained in a small and organized life, Louisa Clark is satisfied with her routines, familiar faces, and dreams that she never even spoke of. Her world turns upside down when she is employed as a caregiver for Will Traynor.
Will’s life came crashing down when his adventurous spirit and life were shattered by an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
This book is the literal embodiment of “right people, wrong time,” telling the story of two people who are perfect for each other but meet at the most unfortunate moment.
Louisa Clark enters Will’s life with the hope that her chirpy and bright personality will fix his mood, but she steps into a moral fault line instead.
Me Before You is one of the best love stories to date because it denies the comfort of escape and because love does not heal Will; optimism does not always triumph. This novel asks a deeper and harsher question of whether loving someone is enough even if they cannot adjust to your version of life.
Jojo Moyes did a brilliant job of letting you sit and feel the discomfort, the ache, the softness, and the respect of honoring a choice that will shatter you.
If you are into reading novels that are bound with a sharp twist of reality and characters that are not hellbent on rewriting fate, this is the book for you because this will haunt you forever.
Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Brontë
Year: 1847
Jane Eyre is undoubtedly one of the best romance books to ever exist because it is not all rainbows and unicorns but because it redefines love completely.
It is a romance that is built on equality at a time when it was considered revolutionary and deeply upsetting for a man and woman to be on the same level.
Jane and Rochester do not fall in love because of shallow factors like beauty, wealth, or status, but they find a deep and profound connection through conversation, intellect and emotional honesty.
In a world embedded in patriarchy, Jane desires to be put on the same level as Rochester intellectually and spiritually. Jane Eyre is a novel that denies rewarding love that places the woman beneath a man and this love story does not separate self-love.
Jane strongly sticks by her principles and does not compromise on her values to be with Rochester, no matter the cost. This strong opinionated nature of Jane makes the romance more intense and their reunion only happens after circumstances allow their relationship to exist without imbalance or secrecy. Love here is earned through growth and accountability.
If you believe the best romances are the ones where love and dignity walk hand in hand, Jane Eyre earns its place as a classic not just of literature, but of romance itself.
Romeo and Juliet
Author: William Shakespeare
Year: 1597
Shakespeare specializes in making you feel things, and Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly the type that will make you fall in love with love. Set in a city filled with violence and pride, Romeo and Juliet fall in love with each other at the speed of light.
Adults around them negotiate honor, marriages, and power like business deals, while the kids choose impulse, feelings, and emotions so deep they can drown you.
Therefore, every decision they take is in a hurry, every message arrives late, and every mistake is irreversible. What truly makes it hurt in this one is that everyone is in a hurry and no one ever pauses to truly listen to each other.
It is not just a story of forbidden love but of how ingrained hatred is merciless and how it can cost more than you can fathom. If you are into deep, tragic love stories and observe it as pride passed down with unspoken words, Romeo and Juliet is for you.
Love in the Time of Cholera
Author: Gabriel García Márquez
Year: 1985
The love between Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza is not clean or heroic like typical love stories. This is a story where obsession meets imagination and selfishness meets tenderness, a story where devotion outweighs rejection, marriage, and old age but exists side by side with contradiction.
He waits for her for over five decades while filling the void with multiple affairs that help us acknowledge an unavoidable truth of longing and desire are not always loyal.
Fermina is a firm believer in being real and not living in a world of romantic expectations. She believes in stability over fantasy, logic over poetry and spends forever discovering what true love is once illusion is over.
She married Juvenal Urbino, and it is anything but a mistake as she lived the reality she wanted that is filled with sacrifices, regrets, compromise, endurance, and intimacy.
Florentino’s and Fermina’s reunion is a big deal because by the time they come together, they are no longer who they were once and have greatly changed as humans.
Love in the time of cholera is one of the greatest novels ever because it does not show you romantic delusion but the obsession of youth, a daily marital routine, betrayal, hope, vanity, and companionship.
If you are into stories that tell you the reality of love while showing the sides that nobody talks about, this is the novel for you as it will break and rebuild your faith in love.
Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Brontë
Year: 1847
Wuthering Heights, the only novel by Emily Brontë is about a love that does not behave. The love story of Catherine and Heathcliff is in no way healing, redeeming or soft.
It is a feral and obsessive kind of bond that is deeply based in identity and not in affection. Catherine says she is more herself than she is instead of saying she loves Heathcliff.
This difference plays a huge role because what follows is romance as fracture, ruin and possession, not comfort and softness.
The story was deliberately set in the moors to mirror the traits of the characters, no moral order, indifferent, untamed and harsh.
Love in this landscape does not soften people; instead, it sharpens them and Heathcliff converts grief into revenge.
On the other hand, Catherine turns desire into self-sabotage, and the trauma follows the next generation where it is inherited like property.
Wuthering Heights is one of the most fiery and controversial romance novels as it refuses to romanticize love itself. It is the exact embodiment of how passion can become cruelty when it is stripped of empathy and control.
At the same time, it is hellbent on convincing us that a love like that leaves such a deep impact that it can outlive death itself.
If you are someone who is into soft, fairy tale romance, this is not the book for you, but if you want raw, intense, unsettling and a story where love is pain comes true, then this is the one for you.
Wuthering Heights is more than just a novel, it is a roller coaster of emotions that you will feel thoroughly.
The Love Hypothesis
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Year: 2021
The Love Hypothesis tells a story of when ambition meets vulnerability.
A brilliant and burnt-out woman, Olive Smith does not seem to be sure of the position she holds in the world. She frequently questions whether confidence is rewarded more than competence.
On the other hand, Adam Carlsen is the personification of someone who has closed all the doors around him. He is silent, intimidating and often misunderstood.
What begins as a strategically planned fake relationship quickly transforms into something more real, like being heard or seen.
Romance in this novel is used as a weapon to delve deeper into impostor syndrome, power dynamics and the loneliness that creeps in with academic success.
This is a love story that is based on little efforts of trust, shared lab spaces, deep conversations and someone who believes in you and your work when no one else does.
If you are someone who is into deeply intellectual stories that are filled with banter, super ambitious women and the “he is mean to the world but soft only for her” trope, The Love Hypothesis is the book for you.
Gone With The Wind
Author: Margaret Mitchell
Year: 1936
Even though Gone With The Wind is one of the most iconic romance novels out there, it is a story of endurance at its heart. The story features Scarlett O’Hara who is a spoiled oldest daughter and believes that the world revolves around her.
She loses everything in the blink of an eye due to war and is stripped of her comfort, delusions and riches. This experience slowly transforms her into a tough young woman who refuses to lose to life’s challenges and is hellbent on overcoming them.
Scarlett views love as pride, and as a thread to cling onto for dear life. It is a messy and unresolved romance where Scarlett refuses to let go of her past and Rhett portrays a future she denies to accept.
If you love drama and the rawest form of emotions, Gone With the Wind tells a story of endurance and embodies truth that is uncomfortably wonderful.
Heartstopper
Author: Alice Oseman
Year: 2016
Heartstopper will stop your heart with a seating chart instead of a dramatic declaration. When two boys are seated next to each other in class, a small bubble of their own quickly forms around them.
Nick is a happy-go-lucky guy who smiles at the tiniest of things and Charlie seems to overthink everything.
One is already aware of who he is, and the other is still figuring it out and what follows is not a rush of romance but a careful unfolding of trust built on shared lunches, late-night texts and courageous act of being honest when you’re scared.
What makes Heartstopper one of the best romance books of all time is not just the chemistry or tension but the relief it brings with it.
A queer coming-of age story where happiness exists side by side with fear, softness exists with confusion and first love is not treated as a problem to solve but something to be protective of.
Even when the drama gets intense and focuses on several mental health issues, identity crises, it is met with empathy instead of theatrics.
If you are someone who loves reading BL and is into something that feels hopeful and real, Heartstopper is the one for you.
Cecilia
Author: Frances Burney
Year: 1782
A young, wealthy, and idealistic Cecilia Beverley enters London society with the belief that common-sense and good intentions will be enough to guide her through.
Contrary to that, she finds herself being surrounded by people who use her for her fortune, temptation, or entitlement.
Every relationship she had whether romantic, familial, or social, came with a price tag attached to it and love for her was never just love, it has always been transactional attached to inheritance, names, pride and public reputation.
Cecilia is one of the best romance stories not because of the romance alone but because of how slowly the female protagonist’s emotional and financial security disappears.
Burney proves how virtue can be easily exploited and how generosity can become a trap and how women are always punished for trusting people.
Cecilia’s eventual breakdown isn’t melodrama, it’s the logical consequence of a society that demands self-sacrifice while offering no protection in return.
If you’re a reader who enjoys classic novels where romance is inseparable from social critique, and where a heroine’s greatest struggle isn’t choosing whom to love but learning how to survive with integrity intact, Cecilia offers something richer than a love story. It’s a sharp, unsettling look at what independence costs, and why it’s worth fighting for anyway.
Jewels of the Sun
Author: Nora Roberts
Year: 1999
Jude Murray arrives in Ireland searching for solitude after being burned out, emotionally exhausted and running on obligation instead of happiness.
She arrives in a village that exists somewhere between reality and legend and Ireland lets her move at her pace surrounding her with folklore, old myths that feel true, and people who believe that the past always exists with you.
Aidan Gallagher enters her life burning like a turf fire with a personality that is completely opposite to Jude’s. They build an in-depth bond by spending a lot of time together and having heartfelt conversations while realizing that peace can be just as chaotic.
Jewels of the Sun is one of the best romance novels ever because the setting is beautiful where Nora Roberts successfully blends folklore and feeling without separating the magic from romance, the magic is romance.
If you’re a reader who loves love stories that feel immersive, restorative, and quietly transformative, this book doesn’t just tell a story, it pulls you into a place you won’t want to leave.
Anna Karenina
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Year: 1878
Anna Karenina stands out as one of the best romance novels because the novel shows love as a force colliding with reality, In this story, love has consequences and not everything is sunshine and rainbow.
Tolstoy did an amazing job of placing love under the radar and helping us see through a different lens where Anna is the embodiment of electric passion, a love that consumes and liberates until it costs her more than she could afford to lose.
The novel talks about different forms of love instead of idolizing any single version and every choice is followed by a sacrifice.
The emotional intelligence and honestly stands out as Anna’s longing is shown as something greyish instead of being absolutely immoral or heroic. It’s human and it gets as real as possible.
Tolstoy doesn’t simplify any tension or sugarcoat the darkness, this book will make you ache.
If you are someone who strongly believes romance is raw and real and it is a balance of every human emotion including desire, joy, guilt, hope and regret, this is the book for you.
Outlander (Book Series)
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Year: 1991-Ongoing
Claire Randall suddenly finds herself in 18th century Scotland where she is forced to live in a world full of danger, war and loyalty.
The male lead, Jamie Fraser is far from perfect and he is a man of honor, made up of hardships and his homeland.
When love finds this pair, it is not a fairytale romance, it is a choice of choosing each other over and over again even when history tries separating them.
Outlander is an outstanding romance novel because it will pull you in such a way that is impossible to escape and romance is showcased in the form of partnership, endurance, compromises and sacrifices.
If you are into immersive romances blended with history and time traveling and characters that does not wither under pressure, Outlander is the one for you.
