5 Books That Will Lovingly Rip Your Heart Out

Women. We're all emotional what with all of our emotions and hormones. Reading a good book should make you feel emotions. Great books make those emotions overflow out of our eyeballs. Though not every great book will make your eyes tear and your heart constrict, these five books will reach into your soul, hold it tight, squeeeeeze, then put it back in your chest.

I've read each of these books through a veil of tears, leaving me with a wet shirt and tissues scattered around me. They've stuck with me for months after reading them.

I recently asked this question of my Smut Book Club fans: Which of these books tore your heart out, stomped on it, then put it back gently?

Presented in order of number of votes received are five highly emotional romance books I highly recommend.

The most popular and bestselling book in this set is Hopeless by Colleen Hoover. It's all of everything you wish for in a book: lovely, secretive, mysterious, heart-warming, and heart-wrenching.

Read this. Don't think about if you should, just get it, read it, and stay up past 2am like I did to finish. It is THAT good. Just make sure you have a box of tissues or wear a shirt you don't mind smearing with mascara. [read more of my 5-star review]

MY FAVORITE QUOTES

“I hate it. I absolutely, positively hate this beautiful, magical feeling.”

“You say that like you’ve been looking for me.” He furrows his brows together and places his hands on the sides of my head, tilting my face up to his. “I’ve been looking for you my whole damn life.”

PURCHASE

This book wrecked me deeply. But then again, I asked for it, and I'll do it again when the sequel, The Edge of Always, comes out in a few months.

Unexpected twists and turns keep you on your toes when you're reading The Edge of Never. It's brilliantly heart-crushing.

There were parts of this book when I was fully prepared to throw my Kindle against the wall, no matter the consequences of my actions. I had to take breaks from reading to center myself for fear that I was going to completely break down from the rush of emotions. The Edge of Never is incredible. [read more of my 5-star review]

MY FAVORITE QUOTES

“If you were to let me f*ck you, you would have to let me own you.”

“It’s like irresistible poison: I’m mesmerized by the way it’s making me feel though it has the potential to crush my soul and I drink it down anyway.”

PURCHASE

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You know after the first paragraph of this book that there will be a tragedy. Even knowing this and knowing your heart will ache, you must MUST read Falling Into You. Not only is it my favorite book of 2013 (so far), it is so thought-provoking and lovely that every reader of romance should put it on their to-read list.

Over and over, her words of struggle and of love and of friendship and of loss wrapped around my heart, forcing me to fall into the story. Books like The Sea of Tranquility, Hopeless, and The Edge of Never have taken me over the edge of emotion like Falling Into You, and like those Falling Into You will stick with me for a very long time. HIGHLY recommended. [read more of my 5-star review]

MY FAVORITE QUOTES

“What are we doing here, Nell?” he asks, his voice his voice a raspy whisper.
I shake my head and lift one shoulder. “I have no idea. But I like it.”
“Me too.” He pulls me closer, higher.

"He doesn’t fix me, doesn’t heal me. He just makes life worthwhile. He helps me remember to breathe, shows me how to smile again."

PURCHASE

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There is so much frustration in this book that when you finish, you feel like you've gone ten rounds in the wrestling ring. Which is apt when the lead character, Remy, is a world class MMA fighter. REAL is the top-Facebook-"liked" book on Smut Book Club out of the hundreds on the website, which is enough of a reason to be a must-read.

INTENSE. There's one word that can summarize this book in its entirety: intense. From the characters' histories to their workout regime to their sexual relationship, Brooke and Remy are intense. [read more of my 5-star review]

MY FAVORITE QUOTES

“When I take you, you’ll be mine.”

“Have you seen you? I can barely take my hands off you. Taking my eyes off is like asking me to deliberately drown, I just can’t do it.”

PURCHASE

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The Sea of Tranquility is undoubtedly one of my all-time favorite books. I've listed it as my favorite book of 2012 and as one of my top three books ever. Every single thing about this book screams EMOTION. One emotional up and down after another make you feel like you can't survive another page turn, but you have to keep going to fulfill your promise to the characters. If you never take any of my recommendations seriously, make this the one you read.

The Sea of Tranquility is the opposite of inconsequential nonsense; it is all heart, emotion, breaking down, growing up, love, and rebirth. Read this book. I can't say too much about it without spoiling even the smallest of mysteries, so the only thing I'll say is READ THIS BOOK. [read more of my 5-star review]

MY FAVORITE QUOTES

“I love you, Sunshine,” I tell her, before I lose my nerve. “And I don’t give a shit whether you want me to or not.”

“I don’t know if I’m okay. It shouldn’t be possible to be this close to another person. To let them crawl inside you.”

PURCHASE