“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
“A gorgeous queer literary romance….The connection Gen and Emily share is real…and maybe, just maybe, worth fighting to keep.”
—Elle, “The Best Books of Summer 2025”
“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”
“Richly written… Ordinary Love never sags. Rutkoski has written a page-turner….Some of the best sex scenes I’ve read this year.”
—The Guardian
“In vivid, evocative prose, Rutkoski explores the idea that coming of age is a continual process and that the best love stories—the kind that endure, that grip us when we’re young and refuse to let go—are anything but ordinary.”
—MUTHA Magazine
“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
“I’m obsessed with this novel. It demands obsession because it is so rich with feeling and nuance; you fall into a vat of emotion as you read, the way its heroine falls into her desire. A must for lovers of Sally Rooney, extremely sexy love stories, and characters that feel so real you see them in your dreams. A must for lovers, full stop.”
—Holly Brickley, author of Deep Cuts
“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
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