Top Ten Tuesday #5: Books That Broke My Heart

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish with a different topic for a top-ten list each week. You can find out more about it here.


The links will take you to my reviews (if available).


This week's topic is:


 Top Ten Books That Broke My Heart

1. Hold Still by Nina LaCour

The emotion in Hold Still is incredibly raw. There's no holding back, and that really made me feel both Caitlin's grief and Ingrid's hopelessness.




2. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult


This is the kind of book where you're just crying the entire time. And that ending - I must have cried for half an hour after finishing My Sister's Keeper. It's just so sad and beautiful!




3. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma


This book almost killed me. It's incredible how the author manages to make me want Lochan and Maya to end up together, despite the fact that incest is so widely seen as wrong. I bawled while reading the ending. Such a powerful book!


4. The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson


Unlike the last two, The Sky Is Everywhere doesn't have an ending that broke my heart; in this one, every single word broke my heart. Lennie's grief is so real, you can't help but feel it too.

5. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr


The atmosphere in Sweethearts is so well-done. Even though the plot isn't the saddest one I've read, the writing makes this one a really emotional read. That counts for Story of a Girl and Once Was Lost, too, but I decided to go with Sweethearts because I liked it a little better than the other two Sara Zarr books I've read.


6. Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks (or any other Nicholas Sparks book)


Nicholas Sparks's books are pure evil. They break my heart every time. I don't think he knows how to write a happy ending - someone always dies. The ending of Message in a Bottle is especially heartbreaking.


7. Dear Bully


What makes this book so sad is that every single story is true. Thinking about how real people had to go through all of this makes Dear Bully one of the most emotional books I've ever read.


8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky


This book broke my heart over and over and over again. What Charlie has to go through is terrible, and his feelings are so real. 

9. Positively by Courtey Sheinmel


The whole story of Positively is heartbreaking and beautiful - a twelve-year-old girl whose mother died of AIDS and who's struggling with HIV herself. The strong, innocent MC makes this a tragic but hopeful novel.


10. Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles


The story of Jumping Off Swings isn't all that heartbreaking - just another teenage pregnancy - but the writing... wow. One of the saddest, most beautiful atmospheres I've ever read. 


So these are the top ten books that broke my heart. If you've read them too, what did you think? What are the top ten books that broke your heart?