5 Romance Books That Make You Ugly Cry

Do you like books that make you cry? Romance books come with a guaranteed happy ending but that doesn’t keep some from ripping your heart out along the way.

In today’s episode of the She Reads Romance Books Podcast, I’m sharing my top 5 romance books that made me ugly cry and I can guarantee that you’re going to want to read each and every one. Just be sure to have a box of tissues nearby when you do!

Ready to take a listen? Tune in for Episode #1: Romance Books That Make You Ugly Cry:

*Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Books Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Check out my book review of Say You Swear by Meagan Brandy.

Check out my book review of Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover.

Hey readers, we all know that one of the best things about reading romance is the guaranteed happily ever after. But have you ever read a book that had you cleaning out an entire box of Kleenex before you ever got to the happy ending because your heart was totally ripped out before it was eventually patched up again?

Well, those are the books I’m talking about in today’s episode, and I’m giving you my top five favorite romance books that made me ugly cry.

If you’re not afraid to drop some serious tears, then you’re going to want to read these books.

Now, before I jump into my list, I should probably state that I wouldn’t describe myself as a crier by nature. 

I would say I’m an empath or I can totally sense someone’s feeling or sense their vibe, but I wouldn’t say that I want to cry easily. I mean, of course, put me in front of a really heartwarming Hallmark card commercial, then I’ve been known to shed a tear or two, but that’s pretty unusual.

So for these romance books to make me full-on ugly cry is really saying something. But again, if you’re not afraid to drop a few tears, then listen up to these books, let’s get to it.

Book one actually inspired this list. 

I was really just looking for a new football romance book and this one caught my eye. But man, did it pack a punch and really become more, and that is Say You Swear by Megan Brandy.

It’s definitely a football romance, but also a college romance. But it involves a story between Ari and Noah.

So Ari is 18. She just graduated high school and she is excited to spend the summer before college with her friend group that includes her twin brother, his best friend, her best friend and another guy to round out their group.

So they’re all going to spend the summer together and she is determined that she is going to finally make a move on her brother’s best friend, Chase, because she’s been in love with the guys since they were probably tweens. So she does, she makes her move, but unfortunately it doesn’t sort of have the result that she was hoping for.

She goes off to college with a broken heart and really tries to distance herself as much as she can from that friend group. She ends up hanging out with Noah, the college football quarterback of the team, and let me tell you, if there’s no other reason to read this book, it’s to meet Noah. 

This guy totally catapulted himself up to my list of favorite book boyfriends because he’s just amazing. I mean, he definitely has a lot riding on his shoulders, but the man proved to be just the most patient and best friend that Ari needed and I absolutely adored him.

But this book definitely cued my waterworks because, man, it’s definitely a love triangle love story as well, and how that all transpires just absolutely broke my heart in more ways than one.

As I was reading this book on my couch like totally ugly crying I mean the nose stopping up, the red face and my daughter came over and she’s like Mom, are you okay, do you need a hug? And she gave me a really sweet hug, but then, of course, whispered in my ear so now tell me what the book’s all about.

I loved this book. It definitely made me ugly cry, not once, not twice, but at least three times. But it was totally worth it and I highly recommend Say you Swear by Megan Brandy. 

Now book two romance book that made me ugly cry is A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tilly Cole, and I know it really is a good book.

For a fact, I know that I’m not the only one who would agree that this book is going to make you go through multiple boxes of Kleenex. Man, this book just packs a punch and hits you with all the feels.

It is a young adult romance in a super sweet, friends to lovers romance about Poppy and Roon.

Roon’s family moves to the States from Norway, right next door to Poppy, when I think they’re about age five or so, and right then in there Poppy declares we are going to be best friends and that’s exactly what they became.

They’re best friends and then best friends who become more by the time they’re in high school. But these two were truly soulmates, honestly.

But then Roon’s family quickly and unexpectedly moves back to Norway, ripping these two young lovers apart, and Poppy essentially ghosts Roon for like two whole years. But then his family moves back and you find out why she ghosted him and you’re just devastated and your heart breaks. And it’s awful.

And at one point I was like I seriously don’t know how Tilly Cole is going to make this a romance with a guaranteed happy ending, because I just don’t see it happening. But she does, and it’s awesome and beautiful and definitely made it all worth it. But my heart was super raw after reading this book. 

Now, book three of romance books that made me ugly cry is an oldie but goodie, definitely one of my all-time favorite romance books, and that is The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

If you haven’t read this book or even watched the movie, which I mean, I still cry every single time I watch that movie.

But it is a story about Allie and Noah. They meet as teens one summer but because Noah is from the opposite side of the tracks, Allie’s parents don’t approve of their relationship and they end up leaving early from the summer.

Noah goes off to fight in the war. Allie ends up meeting another guy and getting engaged. Noah comes back and ends up fulfilling this promise that he had made to Allie, which then prompts their reunion.

And again at that point cue the waterworks from just the amazing conversations they have at that point. It’s it’s one of the most beautiful second chance romance books that I’ve ever read.

If you haven’t read this classic or even watched the movie, then it’s definitely a must-read, but get ready for your heart to hurt just a little bit while reading it. 

Book four on my list of romance books that make you ugly cry is Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover, and I’m kind of curious if any other readers would actually add this to their own list of books that made them ugly cry.

Maybe not, but I put it on this list mainly because of the heroine, Kenna. I mean, this woman, she was broken, but yet she is one of the strongest heroines that I’ve read in romance books.

I absolutely loved her. I would say this is a one-sided enemies to lovers story, but truly it’s about Kenna, who we meet as she is getting out of prison after a five-year sentence that she was in there because of an accident that took the life of her boyfriend.

In getting out of prison, she’s set to return to the town where he is from, because that’s where her daughter is, the daughter that she gave birth to in prison and has never seen before.

I mean, if just hearing that alone doesn’t cue the waterworks, I don’t know what will, and I think that’s why this book hit me in such a deep place, maybe because I’m a mom and I could only imagine what she was going through.

But I mean, she was not well received, right, and she just persevered because of her child in this book. I mean even reading the journal entries that she wrote, it just broke my heart on more than one occasion, but I thought it was one of Colleen Hoover’s best and highly recommended. 

So the final book, book five of my list of romance books that make you ugly cry, is The Gravity of Us by Brittany Cherry, and if you’ve read any of Brittany Cherry’s books, you probably would agree with me that many of her titles could fit on a book list like this, because the woman just makes your heart feel all the feelings and I have shed tears on more than one occasion for many of her books, especially the books and the elements series, of which The Gravity of Us is a part of.

But you can easily read this as a standalone and it too is one of my all-time favorite romance books, because I absolutely loved Lucille and Graham.

I would characterize this as a opposite to attract romance and even forbidden romance, because Lucille is this just sort of hippie happy-go-lucky heroine and Graham is the complete opposite.

He’s this curmudgeon, a man who really doesn’t feel anything at all. And yet they’re thrown together for reasons I won’t get into for spoilers, but they are forced to be together and deal with the situation and just the feelings that they manage and go through and shared together just was beautiful, but again, just made me totally cry on more than one occasion.

But it was beautiful and definitely a book that I highly recommend.

But if you check out one of these romance books that made the ugly cry and need a palate cleanser after, I’ll leave you with one more romance book that I just read recently which I think would be just a great different book to read after one of these books that totally makes your heart super raw after. 

And, as I said, if you need a palette cleanser, and that is Liar by Fiona Cole, I honestly was just in the mood for something quick to read.

I had one of those moments where I’m just scrolling through my Kindle library thing looking at what’s going to spark my interest in Liar did and it stayed it right here at the beginning.

It’s a steamy erotic romance, so if that doesn’t interest you at all, then you’re not going to want to read this book but it totally interests me and I loved it and actually found that I liked it more than I thought I would.

Because it is an age gap and forbidden romance where Olivia, who is 18, ends up having a one-night stand with her uncle’s best friend one night at an adult club and I think he probably at that time was like 36.

So they have that one night and then two years later they reconnect at a family dinner and she ends up doing an internship at his business.

Little force proximity action where they’re constantly seeing each other succumb to their attraction and just end up getting it on anytime and every time that they can.

But it kind of became a little bit more and I really liked it because Kent, the hero, surprised me in terms of his reaction to it and the feelings he had about their relationship.

I was actually impressed and really liked it, and he’s also one incredible dirty talker. So again, if you’re looking for just a really quick palette cleanser after reading one of these romance books that makes you ugly cry, then you can check out Liar by Fiona Cole. 

I hope you enjoyed this list and, as always, happy reading.

That’s all for this episode of the She Reads Romance Books podcast. I hope you enjoyed it and found some new books to add to your TBR list.

If you did, please subscribe, rate and review the show on your favorite podcast app. It really helps me reach more romance book lovers like you and I appreciate your support.

If you’re a book boyfriend collector like me, then you’ll want to join my email list so you never miss a podcast episode or a new book list. Sign up today as a thank you, I’ll instantly send you my list of top 10 book boyfriends that will make you swoon. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this lift.

Thank you for listening and until next time, happy reading. 

Related Book Lists:

• Best Love Triangle Books

Pin This: