Bodice Rippers

10 Movies You Didn’t Realize Were Based on Romance Novels

You're going to want to read everything on this list.

December 5, 2019

Romance is a billion-dollar industry. In 2016 these novels made up 23% of the overall fiction market, and they consistently outperform all other genres. But while we’ve reclaimed the rom-com in film, these books are still often relegated to being “guilty pleasures” or considered “mommy porn.” This week we’re discussing these overlooked, often powerfully feminist books—that just so happen to have a happy ending.

Think back to some of the most romantic movies in recent memory. I'm sure a few titles come to mind: Me Before You, A Walk to Remember, Something Borrowed—the list goes on and on. And while these movies are different in terms of plot, they do have one commonality: They're all based on romance novels. Yup: Before Shane West and Mandy Moore made you swoon in AWTR, their characters were just in the pages of Nicholas Sparks's 2002 novel.

And there are more where these three came from. So many of your favorite rom-coms are actually based on these kind of books. The 10, below, are my personal favorites. Are they all traditional romance novels? No. But they all embody the core hallmarks of the genre: love, passion, and of course, sex.

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Christopher Rosa is the staff entertainment writer at Glamour. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrosa92.

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©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
1/10
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort star in this adaption of John Green's 2012 novel as Hazel and Gus, two teenagers who meet in a cancer support group and fall in love. I thought the 2014 movie was emotional, but then I read the source material. And I shed tears I didn't even know I had. Buy the book on Amazon here.
A24/Courtesy Everett Collection
2/10
The Spectacular Now (2013)
Woodley claims another spot on our list with her performance in The Spectacular Now, based on a book of the same name by Tim Tharp. In it she plays Aimee, a shy, unpopular teenager who begins a relationship with her high school's social king, Sutter (Miles Teller). Buy the book on Amazon here.

Alan Markfield/©New Line Cinema/courtesy Everett Collection
3/10
The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)
We first got this story in 2003 as a novel by Audrey Niffenegger, and then six years later the movie came out. It centers on Chicago librarian Henry De Tamble (Eric Bana), who has a genetic disorder that causes him to float uncontrollably between time periods. On one of his journeys he meets Claire (Rachel McAdams), whom he falls in love with. But their marriage is made all the more complicated by his inability to (literally) stay in one era. Buy the book on Amazon here.
©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection
4/10
One Day (2011)
This tearjerker tracks the love story of Dexter (Jim Sturgess) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) by seeing where they are on the same day, July 15, every year for 18 straight years. It's based on the novel by David Nicholls. Buy the book on Amazon here.
©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
5/10
Something Borrowed (2011)
This 2005 best-seller centers on Rachel, who begins an affair with her best friend Darcy's fiancé, Dex. It was adapted for the big screen in 2011 with Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, and Colin Egglesfield in the main roles. John Krasinski also starred as the group's mutual friend, Ethan. Buy the book on Amazon here.

Courtesy Everett Collection
6/10
Carol (2015)
Based on Patricia Highsmith's 1952 novel, The Price of Salt, Carol details the love affair between a young shopgirl named Therese (Rooney Mara) and Carol (Cate Blanchett), an older, glamorous woman who's going through a divorce. Buy the book on Amazon here.
© Sony Pictures Classics /Courtesy Everett Collection
7/10
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
This movie, about the relationship a 17-year-old boy and 24-year-old grad student experience one summer in Italy, turned Timothée Chalamet into a household name and gave Armie Hammer some long-overdue critical praise. But did you know it's based on a 2007 novel of the same name by André Aciman? Buy the book on Amazon here.
©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
8/10
A Walk to Remember (2002)
The Nicholas Sparks book-to-movie catalog is expansive, but my personal favorite is A Walk to Remember, which chronicles the romance between a high school bad boy (Shane West) and a preacher's daughter battling leukemia (Mandy Moore). Buy the book on Amazon here.

© New Line Cinema / courtesy Everett Collection
9/10
Me Before You (2016)
Jojo Moyes gifted the world with her novel Me Before You back in 2012. Then, four years later, a film adaptation starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin hit theaters. The story is incredibly heartwarming: Clarke plays 26-year-old Louisa, who's tasked with caring for a wealthy banker (Claflin) after an accident paralyzes him from the neck down. A romance, of course, blooms. Buy the book on Amazon here.
. © Miramax / courtesy Everett Collection
10/10
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
If you thought watching Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) navigate love, sex, and everything in between was fun, wait until you read it. Buy the book on Amazon here.