Parade's 125 Best Romance Books of All Time

Some say a romance novel must end with the lovers embracing as fireworks go off behind them. A Guaranteed Happy Ending. Others say a good cry can be very romantic too. Isn't the film Casablanca romantic, even though Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman go their separate ways? At Parade, we enjoy them all; if it makes you swoon, it's a romance.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. Few genres have expanded so much in recent decades and fewer still have adherents who lift each other up so readily. You'll find plenty of familiar classics. You'll also find a lot of recent titles, not to mention love that comes in every imaginable form. And what could be more romantic than that; a vision of romance that includes everyone? Enjoy, but bring a hanky.