Messy Love: Book Breakups

Heartbreak. It happens to the best of us. And what better day to talk about breakups than Valentine's Day?

Death in books is usually the main thing that will make me go all weepy. But a tragic romantic breakup between two characters I've grown to love is a close second. You see it coming like an impeding train wreck and there is nothing you can do to stop it; nothing you can do to prevent the pain. You suffer right along with the characters and damn, that's good fiction.

Alas, breaking up in fiction isn't something we see very often. Series books can easily pull off an emotional breakup because readers have spent years invested in the relationship. A stand alone book needs to do a fantastic job of making us care about this new to us relationship before it can devastate us with the breakup.

Have you ever been emotionally crushed by a book breakup? What are some of your favorite books featuring the ending of a relationship?