125 Best Romance Books of All Time

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Parade, 127 Books

"We spoke to best-selling authors—everyone from Jojo Moyes to Nicholas Sparks to Julia Quinn to Taylor Jenkins Reid—and passionate people at indie bookstores all over the country to create this list".

Who voted and how many people?
Since they don't list an exact amount of authors they asked or how many bookstores they talked to, I am going to go with 20.

This list was originally published in 2024 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
8266 A Caribbean Heiress In Paris Adriana Herrera 2022 American English
7183 The Perils Of Pleasure Julie Anne Long 2008 American English
4547 Forever Amber Kathleen Winsor 1944 American English
166 Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez 1985 Colombian Spanish
3600 Daisy Jones & The Six Taylor Jenkins Reid 2019 American English
4190 Flowers From The Storm Laura Kinsale 1992 American English
59 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier 1938 British English
8690 Amberlough Lara Elena Donnelly 2017 American English
8546 Forbidden Beverly Jenkins 2016 American English
9284 It’s Been A Pleasure, Noni Blake Claire Christian 2020 Australian English
1231 Patience And Sarah Isabel Miller 1969 American English
3486 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English
9076 The Prince Of Broadway Joanna Shupe 2019 American English
4307 It Ends With Us Colleen Hoover 2016 American English
7760 Butterfly Swords Jeannie Lin 2010 Unknown English
6167 Mrs. Miracle Debbie Macomber 1996 American English
4547 Frederica Georgette Heyer 1965 British English
3430 Get A Life, Chloe Brown Talia Hibbert 2019 British English
842 Outlander Diana Gabaldon 1991 American English
3051 Red, White & Royal Blue Casey McQuiston 2019 American English
890 High Fidelity Nick Hornby 1995 British English
4547 Restoree Anne McCaffrey 1967 American English
3608 Virgin River Robyn Carr 2007 American English
15 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë 1847 British English
5645 The Prize Julie Garwood 1991 American English
6705 Maggie The Mechanic Jaime Hernandez 2003 American English
5276 Heartbreak Soup Gilbert Hernandez 1985 American English
1510 The Duke and I Julia Quinn 2000 American English
8254 The Kraken King Meljean Brook 2014 American English
2010 The Notebook Nicholas Sparks 1996 American English
7858 Phantom Evil Heather Graham Pozzessere 2011 American English
6093 True Betrayals Nora Roberts 1995 American English
4832 Entwined Destinies Rosalind Welles 1979 American English
5580 This Is How You Lose The Time War Amal El Mohtar, Max Gladstone 2019 Multiple English
5017 Me Before You Jojo Moyes 2012 British English
7191 Heartstopper Alice Oseman 2018 British English
5330 Through A Glass Darkly Karleen Koen 1986 American English
8266 Honey And Spice Bolu Babalola 2022 British English
188 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 1859 British English
1211 Normal People Sally Rooney 2018 Irish English
5931 A Promise Of Fire Amanda Bouchet 2016 American English
3317 The Kiss Quotient Helen Hoang 2018 Vietnamese English
4547 Bride Of The Mac Hugh Jan Cox Speas 1954 American English
3251 Endless Love Scott Spencer 1979 American English
9076 Wolf Gone Wild Juliette Cross 2019 Unknown English
8868 Becoming Mrs. Lewis Patti Callahan Henry 2018 American English
9572 The Queer Principles Of Kit Webb Cat Sebastian 2021 American English
1367 Like Water For Chocolate Laura Esquivel 1989 Mexican Spanish
7636 Angels' Blood Nalini Singh 2009 New Zealander English
1203 Nine Coaches Waiting Mary Stewart 1958 British English
9780 The Romantic Agenda Claire Kann 2022 Unknown English
9076 Polaris Rising Jessie Mihalik 2019 American English
130 The Tale of Genji Murasaki Shikibu 1001 Japanese Classical japanese
1009 Love Story Eric Segal 1970 American English
4995 The Sun Is Also A Star Nicola Yoon 2016 American English
9780 Kiss Her Once For Me Alison Cochrun 2022 Unknown English
1863 Katherine Anya Seton 1954 American English
8266 The Dead Romantics Ashley Poston 2022 American English
1056 Maurice E. M. Forster 1971 British English
6987 Just Listen Sarah Dessen 2006 American English
9572 Happy Endings Thien-Kim Lam 2021 Unknown English
6402 Dark Prince Christine Feehan 1999 American English
641 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding 1996 British English
9076 Brazen And The Beast Sarah MacLean 2019 American English
8266 That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Demon Kimberly Lemming 2022 American English
3911 Water For Elephants Sara Gruen 2006 American English
9076 Bloom Kevin Panetta 2019 Unknown English
3843 An Extraordinary Union Alyssa Cole 2017 American English
9780 Partners In Crime Alisha Rai 2022 Unknown English
6987 Lord Perfect Loretta Chase 2006 American English
9284 Cemetery Boys Aiden Thomas 2020 American English
765 The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough 1977 Australian English
5035 Highland Velvet Jude Deveraux 1982 American English
8266 You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty Akwaeke Emezi 2022 Nigerian English
1330 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
8546 The Hunter Kerrigan Byrne 2016 Unknown English
9995 Mistakes Were Made Meryl Wilsner 2023 Unknown English
92 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 1920 American English
5316 Eleanor And Park Rainbow Rowell 2012 American English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
676 The Princess Bride William Goldman 1973 American English
8546 Coffee Boy Austin Chant 2016 Unknown English
62 The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway 1926 American English
67 A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 American English
8382 A Seditious Affair KJ Charles 2015 British English
8266 The Bodyguard Katherine Center 2022 American English
4547 The Wolf And The Dove Kathleen E. Woodiwiss 1974 American English
9284 The Lost And Found Bookshop Susan Wiggs 2020 American English
1675 The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger 2003 American English
9780 Chef’s Kiss TJ Alexander 2022 Unknown English
786 The Far Pavilions Mary Margaret Kaye 1978 British English
8266 Before I Let Go Kennedy Ryan 2022 American English
1413 All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr 2014 American English
7636 Soulless Gail Carriger 2009 American English
4547 Mistress Of Mellyn Victoria Holt 1960 British English
9780 Next To You Hannah Bonam-Young 2022 Unknown English
8868 When Katie Met Cassidy Camille Perri 2018 American English
439 North and South Elizabeth Gaskell 1855 British English
3581 Call Me By Your Name André Aciman 2007 Italian English
5462 Gift Of Gold Jayne Ann Krentz 1988 American English
5505 Seven Days In June Tia Williams 2021 American English
7183 The Winter Rose Jennifer Donnelly 2008 American English
2211 Swordspoint Ellen Kushner 1987 American English
4737 When A Scot Ties The Knot Tessa Dare 2015 American English
4144 Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe Benjamin Alire Sáenz 2012 American English
2329 Whitney, My Love Judith McNaught 1985 American English
9284 Spoiler Alert Olivia Dade 2020 American English
811 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 1909 French French
9780 Dead Collections Isaac Fellman 2022 Unknown English
6093 Tonight And Forever Brenda Jackson 1995 American English
10 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy 1877 Russian Russian
9572 The Ex Hex Erin Sterling 2021 American English
6901 Raymond And Hannah Stephen Marche 2005 Canadian English
8052 Neon Gods Katee Robert 2021 American English
9780 D'vaughn And Kris Plan A Wedding Chencia C. Higgins 2022 Unknown English
2594 Bid Time Return Richard Matheson 1975 American English
5634 Book Lovers Emily Henry 2021 American English
1128 The Price Of Salt Patricia Highsmith 1952 American English
7858 The Scorpio Races Maggie Stiefvater 2011 American English
9284 Brutal Prince Sophie Lark 2020 Unknown English