Emotional Books
Emotional books are written to make you feel something real -- grief, joy, heartbreak, hope, or all of them at once. These stories prioritize raw emotional honesty and character vulnerability, and they tend to stay with you long after the final chapter.
171 books
Romance
All Your Perfects
Colleen Hoover
Young Adult
All the Bright Places
Jennifer Niven
Young Adult
Along for the Ride
Sarah Dessen
An American Marriage
Tayari Jones
Young Adult
Anna and the French Kiss
Stephanie Perkins
Anything Is Possible
Elizabeth Strout
Romance
Beautiful Disaster
Jamie McGuire
Young Adult
Because of Mr. Terupt
Rob Buyea
Romance
Before We Were Strangers
Renée Carlino
Romance
Bel Canto
Thriller
By a Thread
Marty Beaudet
Historical Fiction
Commonwealth
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Literary Fiction
Conversations with Friends
Sally Rooney
Literary Fiction
Dept. of Speculation
Romance
Eleanor & Park
Romance
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Romance
Everything for You
Chloe Liese
Horror
Expiration Dates
Romance
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James
Young Adult
Firefly Lane
Kristin Hannah
Five Feet Apart
Rachael Lippincott
Foster
Young Adult
Freak the Mighty
Rodman Philbrick
Young Adult
Girl in Pieces
Kathleen Glasgow
Romance
Gravity
Tal Bauer
Heart Bones
Romance
Hopeless
Colleen Hoover
Young Adult
How to Make Friends with the Dark
Kathleen Glasgow
Romance
It Ends with Us
Colleen Hoover
Literary Fiction
Like Water for Chocolate
Laura Esquivel
Literary Fiction
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
Love and Other Words
Christina Lauren
Fantasy
Maybe Someday
Colleen Hoover
Fantasy
Me Before You
Jojo Moyes
Literary Fiction
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Contemporary Fiction
Normal People
Sally Rooney
Literary Fiction
Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami
Romance
November 9
Colleen Hoover
Literary Fiction
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong
Young Adult
Rain Reign
Ann M. Martin
Non-Fiction
Ransom
David Malouf
Literary Fiction
Red at the Bone
Jacqueline Woodson
Refuge
Romance
Regretting You
Colleen Hoover
Romance
Release Me
J. Kenner
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Shelby Van Pelt
Contemporary Fiction
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Shelby Van Pelt
Romance
Reminders of Him
Colleen Hoover
Non-Fiction
Replay
Ken Grimwood
Romance
Run Posy Run
Cate C. Wells
Romance
Run Posy Run
Cate C. Wells
Literary Fiction
Salvage the Bones
Jesmyn Ward
Non-Fiction
Sarah's Key
Tatiana de Rosnay
Historical Fiction
Schindler's List
Thomas Keneally
Fantasy
Seven Days in June
Tia Williams
Literary Fiction
Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart
Slow Dance
Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan
Somewhere in Time
South of the Border, West of the Sun
Haruki Murakami
Memoir
Spare
Prince Harry
Young Adult
Stargirl
Jerry Spinelli
Literary Fiction
Stay with Me
Ayòbámi Adébáyò
Contemporary Fiction
Stoner
John Williams
Non-Fiction
Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang
Sula
Contemporary Fiction
Sula
Toni Morrison
Romance
Summer Island
Kristin Hannah
Contemporary Fiction
Summer Sisters
Judy Blume
Literary Fiction
Tar Baby
Romance
Tell Me Lies
Carola Lovering
Ten Tiny Breaths
Literary Fiction
Tenth of December
George Saunders
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy
Literary Fiction
That Kind of Mother
Rumaan Alam
Young Adult
That Was Then, This Is Now
S. E. Hinton
The 5 Love Languages
Gary Chapman
The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Trivion Books
Historical Fiction
The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton
Literary Fiction
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Trivion Books
Literary Fiction
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
The Aviator's Wife
Paula McLain
Literary Fiction
The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison
Historical Fiction
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
Historical Fiction
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Kim Michele Richardson
The Book of Lost Names
Kristina McMorris
Young Adult
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
John Boyne
Romance
The Bride Test
Helen Hoang
Literary Fiction
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Díaz
Literary Fiction
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Romance
The Castle
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Romance
The Choice
Nicholas Sparks
Literary Fiction
The Color Purple
Alice Walker
Non-Fiction
The Corrections
Jonathan Franzen
Literary Fiction
The Covenant of Water
Abraham Verghese
The Dark Forest
Literary Fiction
The Days of Abandonment
Elena Ferrante
The Dead Romantics
Ashley Poston
Literary Fiction
The Death of Vivek Oji
Akwaeke Emezi
Dystopian
The Dog Stars
Peter Heller
The Dollmaker
Harriette Simpson Arnow
Literary Fiction
The Dutch House
Ann Patchett
The Ex Vows
Fantasy
The Farm
Edwidge Danticat
Contemporary Fiction
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
Non-Fiction
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Mitch Albom
The Flamethrowers
Romance
The Flatshare
Beth O'Leary
Romance
The Flatshare
Young Adult
The Fortress of Solitude
Comedy
The Fortunes
William Makepeace Thackeray
Non-Fiction
The Four Winds
Kristin Hannah
Romance
The Friend Zone
Abby Jimenez
Historical Fiction
The Gamble
LaVyrle Spencer
Non-Fiction
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
Heidi W. Durrow
Literary Fiction
The Girl with the Louding Voice
Abi Daré
Historical Fiction
The Giver of Stars
Jojo Moyes
Literary Fiction
The God of Small Things
Arundhati Roy
Literary Fiction
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt
Non-Fiction
The Good Earth
Historical Fiction
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
Literary Fiction
The Great Believers
Rebecca Makkai
Literary Fiction
The Great Believers
Rebecca Makkai
Fantasy
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Literary Fiction
The Guest
Booth Tarkington
Literary Fiction
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers
Literary Fiction
The Heart Principle
Helen Hoang
Literary Fiction
The Help
Kathryn Stockett
Contemporary Fiction
The Hotel Nantucket
Elin Hilderbrand
Fantasy
The House in the Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune
Romance
The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
Literary Fiction
The House of the Spirits
Frederik Pohl
Literary Fiction
The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros
Thriller
The Identicals
Robert Ludlum
Fantasy
The Immortalists
Chloe Benjamin
Non-Fiction
The Interestings
John Maynard Keynes
Literary Fiction
The Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
Non-Fiction
The Island of Sea Women
Lisa See
The Italian
Non-Fiction
The Joke
Milan Kundera
Literary Fiction
The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
Romance
The Kiss Quotient
Helen Hoang
Non-Fiction
The Kitchen God's Wife
Amy Tan
Literary Fiction
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
Historical Fiction
The Known World
Edward P. Jones
Fantasy
The Language of Flowers
Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Romance
The Last Bookshop in London
The Light Between Oceans
M. L. Stedman
The Light of the World
Romance
The Love of My Life
Rosie Walsh
The Lowland
Jhumpa Lahiri
Non-Fiction
The Mothers
Bill Bryson
Science Fiction
The Namesake
Jhumpa Lahiri
Historical Fiction
The Nightingale
Kristin Hannah
Romance
The Notebook
Nicholas Sparks
Literary Fiction
The Outsiders
S.E. Hinton
The Oysterville Sewing Circle
Susan Wiggs
Non-Fiction
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
Ken Liu
Contemporary Fiction
The Paper Palace
Miranda Cowley Heller
Historical Fiction
The Paris Wife
Paula McLain
Literary Fiction
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Aimee Bender
Young Adult
The Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo
Young Adult
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Jenny Han
Contemporary Fiction
The Wedding People
Alison Espach
Romance
Ugly Love
Colleen Hoover
Young Adult
Walk Two Moons
Sharon Creech
Young Adult
We Were Liars
E. Lockhart
Young Adult
Wonder
R.J. Palacio