Overview
A page-turning, irresistible novel of class, ambition, and love, this is the breathtaking story of a woman risking everything for a second chance at the one who got away * "A brilliant examination of queerness, friendship, motherhood, longing and ambition. It's funny and moving and sexy. Above all, it's a stunning love story."--J. Courtney Sullivan, bestselling author of The Cliffs Emily has, by all appearances, a perfect life: a townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side, two healthy children, and a husband who showers her with attention. But the truth is more complicated: Emily's marriage is in trouble, her relationship with her parents is fraught, and she is still nursing a heartbreak from long ago. When Emily runs into her high school girlfriend at a cocktail party, that heartbreak comes roaring back. But Gen Hall is no longer the lanky, hungry kid with holes in her shoes who Emily loved in her youth. Instead, Gen is now a famous Olympic athlete with sponsorship deals and a string of high-profile ex-girlfriends. Emily and Gen circle one another cautiously, drawn together by a magnetic attraction and scarred by their shared history. Once upon a time, Gen knew everything about Emily. And yet, she still abandoned her. Can Emily trust Gen again? Can they forgive each other for the mistakes they made in their past? Should Emily risk her children, her privacy, and the fragile peace she has found to be with a woman she loved long ago? A sweeping romance, Ordinary Love is the beautiful, wrenching, completely seductive story of two people trying to forge a path toward hope, bound by a love they discovered when they were too young to understand its power.
Professional Reviews
"If you''re in the mood for a summer romance, you''ll be hard-pressed to find a love story that is sexier or more epic than Marie Rutkoski''s Ordinary Love.... Gen is a wholly original and charming character, magnetic....You will not be able to stop reading--or rooting for the queer heroines'' love to persevere. An emotionally complex, beautiful work of fiction that explores under-explored aspects of queerness such as coming out late in life, squaring a queer past with an apparently cishet present, and the pressures of athletic fame."
-- Lydi Conklin, Oprah Daily
"This novel is remarkable and profoundly moving. A beautifully written, intelligent, quietly hopeful story about being lost and found."
-- Emily St. John Mandel, New York Times best-selling author of Sea of Tranquility
"Rutkoski''s novel...makes its mark in the subtle ways it shows rekindled love as a physical pull and a social mess."
-- CT Jones , Rolling Stone''s
"The 20 Best Queer Romances of All Time"
"This is an almost unbearably beautiful love story. Emily and Gen feel completely real: on the rare occasion I managed to put this book down, I thought about them constantly. It broke my heart to let them go when I turned the final page. Ordinary Love is extraordinary."
-- Emilia Hart, New York Times bestselling author of Weyward
"I loved this novel. I didn''t want to stop reading it for anything. Ordinary Love is a riveting portrait of a woman taking control of her life. A brilliant examination of queerness, friendship, motherhood, longing and ambition. It''s funny and moving and sexy. Above all, it''s a stunning love story."
-- J. Courtney Sullivan, bestselling author of The Cliffs
"Ordinary Love is evocative and emotional, surprising and propulsive, the whole of it brimming with tenderness. Rutkowski''s prose is poetic and sharp, writing to be savored. Perhaps most unforgettable is the chemistry between Emily and Gen, which crackles and explodes on the page."
-- Carola Lovering, bestselling author of Tell Me Lies and Bye, Baby
"A sweeping tale. Tender, truthful and gorgeously written, I devoured it in a few days."
-- Samuel Burr, bestselling author of The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers
" Ordinary Love sparkles with the excitement, danger and wonder of love in all its forms."
-- Sophie Ward, Booker Prize longlisted author of The Schoolhouse
"I stayed up way too late to finish this beautifully written novel, which had me hooked from the first page. A truthful, hopeful look at navigating family, life and love."
-- Jennie Godfrey, Sunday Times bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things
"I raced through this immersive, insightful novel about love, family, duty, desire and the impossibility of perfectly inhabiting any given role."
-- Lisa Owens, author of Not Working
"A raw and moving second-chance love story that tenderly tracks a woman''s determined efforts to regain self-worth as she heals from an abusive marriage and reunites with a past love.... Rutkoski tracks their slow rekindling in stunning prose that skillfully weaves past and present. The result is a brutal yet beautiful story that captures what it means to genuinely support, cherish, and love another person."
-- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Tender and finely written. The women''s love for one another...is central, but Emily''s journey to rescue her autonomy and creativity, and protect her children, is just as stirring. This...novel burns slow, drawing the reader deep into the protagonist''s interiority and through the emotional turbulence that shakes Emily''s most important relationships.... By the end, readers will feel they know Emily and Gen backward and forward, and they will almost certainly miss spending time with them. A sexy, bittersweet novel with characters that peel off the page."
-- Kirkus
"An exquisitely tender and beautifully written portrayal of enduring love."
-- The Tablet
" Ordinary Love is a sweeping, emotional queer romance about the risks of vulnerability and the enduring power of first love....A breathtaking story of second chances."
-- Alex Faccibene, Geek Girl Authority
"A page-turning, irresistible novel of class, ambition, and bisexuality, this is the breathtaking story of a woman risking everything for a second chance at her first love."
-- BookBrowse
"Recommend[ed] to fans of complicated, emotional love stories."
-- Booklist
