Once in a while, you open a book and there’s just no way out. Before you know it, you’re immersed in an overwhelming feeling of love, pain, sorrow and joy. With romance books, it’s impossible not to. Here are some of the most captivating romantic novels that will surely capture the mellow hearts.

Me Before You

“I thought, briefly, that I would never feel as intensely connected to the world, to another human being, as I did at that moment.”

Will Traynor, a wealthy, active man used to be living on the edge of the world until paralyzed after a damaging motor accident, and Louisa Clark, a cheerful and ordinary, young woman looking for employment after losing her job at a café to support her family. These two were brought together in an unexpected twist that would change their whole lives forever. After being hired by Will’s mother to take care of his disabled son, Louisa is bound to attend to the bitter and bossy Will who no longer finds life worth living. Soon, they find themselves becoming the reason of their happiness— but will love be enough to make him live again? Jojo Moyes’ heart-wrenching “Me Before You” is a tale of love and purpose that would warm your heart and break it into pieces.

Pride and Prejudice

“We are all fools in love”

First published in 1813, Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” is a novel that still strongly captures the hearts of modern readers. Considered as one of the greatest romance novels in the English literature, the literary classic is declared as— “irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be” by American writer Eudora Welty. Even if romance is not your cup of tea, this timeless novella will effortlessly sweep you off by the entertainingly witty courtship between the outspoken and intelligent Elizabeth Bennet and the wealthy and proud Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy in a vintage, upper-class setting. Revolving around the concept of marriage, manners, education and love, Jane Austen’s lasting work of art is one to seize your heart, rather intensely.

The Remains of the Day

“After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished?”

Stevens, a loyal butler at the Darlington Hall, who holds dignity closely in his heart, has spent his life serving Lord Darlington devotedly. At his aging years, he begins to reflect on his life, his crushed dreams, his decades of unwavering service to Lord Darlington, his lost opportunities and most importantly, his unrealised love towards the housekeeper, Miss Kenton, whom he strived to bury and never dared to cross the line. A dazzling and realistic work by the award-winning British writer Kazuo Ishiguro, this powerful novel explores the realizations, regrets, loss, and disappointments of life’s revelations when people allow things to pass by and what’s left to hold of the remaining days in life.

The English Patient

“She entered the story knowing she would emerge from it feeling she had been immersed in the lives of others, in plots that stretched back twenty years, her body full of sentences and moments, as if awaking from sleep with a heaviness caused by unremembered dreams.”

A Canadian Army nurse, an unnamed burned man, a Canadian thief, and a Sikh British Army sapper— four damaged people entangled together at an Italian villa at the end of World War II forms a unique, ravishing story that stretches out on the themes of war, self-identity, and love. Centring on the revelations spoken by the English patient, the memories, the wounds, the awakening and the emotional effects that cling to each of the characters, Michael Ondaatje is at his brilliance when he was writing this illuminating novel.

The Thorn Birds

“When we press the thorn to our chest we know, we understand, and still we do it.”

Colleen McCullough’s best-selling novel is an epic family saga of three generations of the Cleary family that centres on the forbidden love story between the beautiful Meghann Cleary and her true love, Father Ralph de Bricassart, a Catholic priest. With realistic and interesting characters and a gripping plot that never fails to surprise readers, “The Thorn Birds” is undeniably a strikingly tragic novel of a love meant to happen but not to last.

Outlander

“For where all love is, the speaking is unnecessary”

Claire Fraser, an independent and kind-hearted former combat nurse, who is married to her history-professor husband, is just about to relish a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands in Inverness when she discovers herself in a war-torn Scotland in an accidental time travel, after stepping through the cleft stone on the hill of Craigh na Dun. Suddenly, back in the mid-18th century, the female protagonist is referred as a “Sassenach” or an ignorant 'Outlander'. A twist of fate leads her to meet the gallant, irresistible, and principled Jamie Fraser, a young Scots warrior who will show her the depths of love. Torn between her devoted 20th century husband and the dashing 18th century Scottish who unexpectedly fuels her heart’s most desires— Claire is bound for a choice of a lifetime. Wonderful prose and fantastically appealing characters plotted with pacing scenes of adventure and romance, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander is a no-ordinary-love story that will enticingly sweep you off your feet.

A Walk to Remember

“Love is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it.”

A beautifully poignant novel of pure, young love by the masterful romance novelist Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember is a book that will make you cry, smile, fall in love and take you on a rollercoaster-ride of lasting emotions. Wonderfully written and a sure tearjerker, it’s a tale that proves the uncertainty of love, that you don’t get to choose who you love but it’s love that gets to choose you. Here comes Jamie Sullivan, a sweet, religious and kind-hearted daughter of a church minister— everything seems to go well and perfect; Landon Carter, a bad boy who doesn’t care about the world and contented to have his friends around. A total ride of contraries; each unmindful of what’s there to become, then love happened. In this stunning and moving romance novel, you will find the real meaning of love and life itself, and you will find it as hard as every reader not to re-read and move on.