Some of my favorite books are those that break my heart. The ones that bring me to tears as I experience life with the main character and leave my heart aching and a little bruised, even after the story ends. Sometimes these stories are real, memoirs of someone who has gone through Hell. Usually though, they are fictional worlds that bring the human experience to life in a relatively safe way. These are some of my favorite heart-breaking books that I still think about long after reading them.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
And Every Morning They Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman
The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis
Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds

Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner
Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
A List of Cages by Robin Roe
Marley and Me by John Grogan

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Start Here by Trish Doller
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

The Voice in My Head by Dana L. Davis
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley
You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao

Covers link to Bookshop.org (*affiliate)