With Valentines Day fast approaching, most people tend to focus on celebrating their relationships but did you know that a lot of people also break up on Valentines Day too? It is a truth universally acknowledged that break ups suck whether or not you are the dumper or the dumpee. With this in mind, I thought I would do three different types of book lists that reflect different stages of relationships. Today's list, Love Will Tear Us Apart (which is inspired by my favorite Joy Division song, comprises of books where the main characters have gone through a serious break up and/or their love has gone unrequited.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte- A beautiful, dark, and heart wrenching book of love, brutality, and betrayal. Catherine Earnshaw must choose between the good and socially acceptable Edgar Linton or her childhood best friend and soul mate Heathcliff. Cathy's final decision, which may surprise you, and the revenge that follows will tear both the Lintons and Earnshaws apart for generations.

 The Boyfriend list : (15 guys, 11 shrink appointments, 4 ceramic frogs and me, Ruby Oliver) by E. Lockhart- Ruby, aka Roo, Oliver was a moderately popular at her high school until she quickly become a social pariah. In order to figure out what is causing her panic attacks, Roo begins seeing a psychiatrist and makes a list of all her past boyfriends in an attempt to understand where her life went wrong. Ruby is a loveable character. Her dialogue and introspection are right on target, which makes this book painfully real and quite addictive to read.

The Breakup Bible by Melissa Kantor- Jen Lewis is having a great junior year.  She is the features editor of the school paper, and she's dating Max Brown, the paper's editor-in-chief. Everything is perfect until Max gives her the "maybe we should be friends" speech. Jen is shell shocked and wonders how she is going to deal with her breakup. Her misery only intensifies when her grandmother gives her a book that she heard about on the radio. Dr. Emerson's The Breakup Bible claims that "there's no reason a woman can't get over a breakup very quickly if she'll just follow a few basic commandments." Jen is doubtful. What does Dr. Emerson know about her and Max? The Breakup Bible tackles the aftermath of a high school romance with honesty, humor, and wit.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green- Can you calculate how long your relationship will last? Colin Singleton likes to think so. After being dumped by a series of girlfriends (19 to be exact) who all share the first name of Katherine, Colin is on a mission to prove his theorem: The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which will predict the future of all relationships. Green's signature of smart characters, witty dialogue, and thought provoking subjects shine through giving dumpees everywhere hope after going through a horrible break up.

Audrey Wait! by Robin Benway- What happens when you break up with your boyfriend who is in a band? Why, he writes a song about the break up of course! Welcome to Audrey Cuttler's world. After dumping her self-involved Evan, the lead singer of a little band called The Do-Gooders, he writes, “Audrey, Wait!,” a break-up song that’s now the number one song in the country. Suddenly Audrey is  a famous celebrity. Will she ride the fickle wave of her fifteen minutes of fame or will she put it behind her? Audrey Wait! is a must read for those who love romance and music.

 Song of Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell-

A retelling of Lord Tennyson's popular poem The Lady of Shallot. Elaine, the Lady of Shalott, is hopelessly in love with Lancelot, who has his sights on another woman.

 

Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception

by Maggie Stiefvater- Deirdre Monaghan is a timid but incredibly gifted musician. She's about to discover that she is not quite human either. Deirdre is a cloverhand,  one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy named Luke, who suddenly enters her ordinary suburban life. Luke is hiding a secret: he is a gallowglass, a soulless faerie assassin on a mission to kill. Is Deirdre his next target? Lament is a beautifully written dark faerie fantasy that features authentic Celtic faerie lore and a had an ending that made my jaw drop.

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan- Naomi and Ely are best friends. Naomi loves Ely and Ely loves Naomi, but prefers to be in love with boys. In order to compromise and keep their sanity, they both create a "No Kiss List" of people neither of them is allowed to kiss, which works out fine until Bruce shows up. Bruce is Naomi's boyfriend, so there's no reason to put him on the List., but on a whim Ely kissed Bruce, who is now questioning his own sexuality. The result? A rift of universal proportions and the potential end of "Naomi and Ely: the institution." Can these best friends come back together again? A YA book with college bound students that explore the different shades and complexities of love.

If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson- Sometimes your relationship suffers from outside forces that force you to break apart. After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with peoples' reactions.

Atonement by Ian McEwan- On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment's flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia's childhood friend. Briony's desire to be center stage, her inability to understand adult motives, and her wild imagination brings about a crime that will change all their lives. An eloquent novel on love, war, loss of innocence, class, guilt and forgiveness that engages the engages the reader on every conceivable level. It is a book that I wish I had written.

There are tons of books out there that fit in today's category, but these are the ones that stood out to me.  What books would you put on this list? Please let me know in the comments. I hope you stay tuned to tomorrow's list: Bizarre Love Triangle.