The Greatest Love Story Ever Told #SundaySalon

Happy Sunday! Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at ReaderBuzz. Check out her post and the links to see what other bloggers have been up to in the last week.

For Valentine’s Day with my fellow book-lovers, I want to discuss what we believe to be The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.

In my opinion, the greatest love story does not include the death of one or both young protagonists. This rule disqualifies Romeo and Juliet (and the related West Side Story), Wuthering Heights, Anna Karenina, Love Story, and Titanic. So many!

Another knock against Love Story is the very bad advice in the tagline about never saying you’re sorry.

The greatest love story lasts for decades, not days or weeks. There’s another strike against Romeo and Juliet. This rule also eliminates Casablanca and Bridges of Madison County.

Sorry to the Brontë fans, I’m also going to eliminate Jane Eyre. We’re not going to have a hero who only accepts love when he puts himself beyond the pale of his own social caste.

I don’t go for unforgivably arrogant heroes, either. There goes Pride and Prejudice and Emma. For the Austen fans, I think we can keep Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion in the running. Both Scarlett and Rhett are too arrogant, so we can take Gone with the Wind off the list, too.

I don’t accept that 50+ year-old men should have any feelings for teenagers that go beyond the avuncular, so Twilight isn’t on my list. I couldn’t even get through the first book.

I’m noticing that part of my problem here is the difference between what makes a good life and good fiction. There’s a reason that so many tales end with “…and they lived happily ever after.” The part that makes a good story happens before that. The part that makes it a good life is the ever after.

So, I guess I’ll go with a very personal choice and name my marriage as the greatest love story ever told. Thanks, Rick! We came into this knowing that relationships require work and we did the work when we were younger. The reward is that it gets easier over time! We celebrated our 35th anniversary in December.

How about you? What is your greatest love story to tell on Valentine’s Day?

Comments

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told #SundaySalon — 13 Comments

Lesley on February 14, 2026 at 4:12 pm said:

Awww, I love this! And I agree with your analysis of what makes (or doesn’t make) a great love story. So, I have to say that my marriage is a great love story. Celebrated 37 years last November. Twu Wuv!

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Sarah on February 15, 2026 at 6:35 am said:

Awww! This is lovely! Happy Belated Anniversary!

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Harvee on February 15, 2026 at 7:57 am said:

I’ve read Gone with the Wind several times, and never get tired of it.

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Deb Nance at Readerbuzz on February 15, 2026 at 9:44 am said:

I agree with you, Joy! The greatest love stories last for a long time and have their ups and downs and require sacrifice and compromise and discussion and change.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

(Here’s my post about love stories that would make it in the real world from 2012—https://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2012/08/top-ten-book-romances-that-you-think.html)

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Tina on February 15, 2026 at 9:52 am said:

I guess we are lucky in that we never thought of our developing and current relationship as ever needing work. Maybe because we started off with zero expectations other than a night out, later on realizing we had much in common and moving on from there.

Our son called my husband a few months after he was married and wanted to know if the first year was hard and if we had to work at it. Doug told me he was tempted to say yes because he felt bad for our son, clearly he was unhappy.
But he told him honestly that we never felt like our relationship was “work”.

Married 42 years now and have spent 90% of the time together, working at the same place, riding in together and eating lunch together. It’s gone by so fast and I will never have enough years with my guy.

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Jodie | That Happy Reader on February 15, 2026 at 5:07 pm said:

What a lovely sentiment! You make some very valid comments about films from the past.

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JoAnn @ Gulfside Musing on February 15, 2026 at 6:56 pm said:

What a great post! Belated anniversary wishes… we celebrated 40 years in November.

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Anne@HeadFullofBooks on February 16, 2026 at 12:28 am said:

Oh, such a sweet post to honor your own love story. I really enjoyed this.

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Olivia on February 16, 2026 at 1:52 am said:

Awwww…., I love your conclusion about the greatest love story. For me, it would be my own marriage. 🥰

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Marianne @ Let's Read on February 17, 2026 at 7:45 am said:

I think I totally agree with you though I never thought about it that way. Yes, I love most of the stories you talk about but the only ones that might have survived in real life are the ones where one of the partners dies (like Love Story) but, of course, we will never know. And I think never saying sorry is different from never having to say it. And I think, of the Austen stories, Sense & Sensibility is definitely the best because none of the lovers swayed from their conviction.
Well, anyway, my own story is definitely great. We have been married for 42 years last summer, lived in four different countries which is an achievement in itself and never had any doubts in the marriage.

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Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out on February 17, 2026 at 7:52 am said:

What a lovely tribute to your husband!

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Erin @ Cracker Crumb Life on February 17, 2026 at 9:41 am said:

Aww your conclusion is so cute!! I love it.

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hena on February 17, 2026 at 8:44 pm said:

This is just the sweetest post ever.

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