What happens when you run into the love of your life at a party? Emily had thought that her marriage to Jack and the birth of their two children had solidified her life, what more did she need.? Jack's behaviour is beginning to become erratic however and when she runs into Gennifer Hall all the memories of their shared love come flooding back.

Gennifer now an Olympic runner seems to have it all but something has always evaded her, Emily.

Friendship and desire all wrapped up with nostalgia threaten Emily's marriage but what if Gennifer is her happy ever after, after all?

Evocative and sensitive.

The characters are deeply relatable, with complexities that feel authentic and true. The pacing is gentle, allowing the emotional layers to unfold naturally, making it a quietly powerful read about connection, growth, and the beauty found in the ordinary.

Marie Rutkoski’s Ordinary Love is anything but ordinary. This emotionally layered novel delicately explores the complexities of love, identity, and the ache of missed chances.

Rutkoski handles the themes of rekindled love and personal rediscovery with empathy and depth. The chemistry between Emily and Gen is palpable, and their history feels lived-in rather than romanticised. Their reconnection is not just about passion, it is about the rediscovery of self in a world that encourages women to erase parts of themselves to maintain appearances. Emily’s journey, in particular, is a moving portrait of a woman reclaiming her voice after years of emotional suppression.

The narrative excels in the quiet moments: a glance across a crowded room, a memory sparked by a song, the heaviness of a word left unsaid. Rutkoski’s prose is elegant and understated, balancing raw emotion with restraint. At times, the pacing slows and leans heavily into introspection, which may not appeal to readers looking for a more plot-driven arc. However, for those drawn to intimate character studies, this is a compelling read.

Recommended for readers who love: slow-burn emotional tension, complicated female relationships, and second-chance love stories with literary flair.

I stuck with this book till the end but didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped and almost gave up. I found the flitting from past to present confusing and the pace seemed quite slow. The writing was good so I’ve upped this from a 2 star to 3. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the early copy.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from this book, it was certainly different to what I thought it might be about.

This book covers love and relationships on so many different levels. From first loves, to coercive relationships, friendships and how they are tested over time and the resilience of true friendships.

Quite raw and emotional in parts, with some spicy scenes.

This book is an investment you make with characters, from their teenage years to adulthood.

A great read. Some of the passages between Emily and Jack had me feeling incredibly tense, it was very well written and I enjoyed this exploration of families, wealth and class whilst simultaneously examining long-lost romances and possible missed chances.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

Emily meets her teenage love Gen, just as her marriage to wealthy Jack falls apart.

The blurb says ‘…almost unbearably beautiful…‘ I found this book almost unbearable in 2 different ways and didn‘t want to pick it up, but that‘s the quality of the writing in both cases. Jack‘s controlling and gaslighting behaviour was very difficult to read. The sex scenes…well! 😳 Very blush-inducing (but not cringe-worthy at all). 🫠

A definite pick!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital ARC of this one! I had no idea what to expect of this, I have no experience with Rutkoski’s previous YA romance/dystopians, I just saw queer desire on Netgalley and clicked Request! I don’t read enough bisexual fiction, and for me this book ticked all of the boxes. Emily is a great character, well rounded and with 400 pages, I felt connected to her and (crucially) not annoyed by her decisions. She faces some really tough choices and a rough marriage with an emotionally abusive husband. The depiction of teenage first loves rekindling later in life was fab, it wasn’t easy or straightforward because Emily and Gen are completely different people now.

Honestly the author killed it with all the characters here, and their relationships feel so real. Jack is one of the most reprehensible, manipulative men I’ve come across in fiction. Meanwhile Gen, besides her gorgeous relationship with Emily, has such a beautiful relationship with her grandmother; that was the one that had me closest to tears 😭

Just a lovely, emotional rollercoaster of a book with plenty of depth, and one for lovers of layered, dynamics-focused fiction.

Emily appears to have a perfect family life, but not at all as it seems as her apparently perfect husband insidiously drives a wedge between both her and her friends and her ambitions. When she eventually finds the strength to leave him she remeets Gen who she knew in her teens, and who was the love of her life. A slow burning novel full of well-rounded characters who you either love or hate. A novel that exposes the power of the patriarchy and the strength that women need in order to succeed. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will be very interested to see what the author writes next. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the A.R.C in return for an honest review.

A beautiful poetic but heartbreaking love story. The writing was beautiful and really captured love in all it's forms.

This is not always the easiest story to read as it will pull your emotions in so many directions. It is very thought provoking, sensitive and tenderly written however you also feel the toxicity of a relationship that is in trouble. I had many a tear come to my eyes when reading this.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

Strong contender for my favourite book of 2025. My only fault is that I could have read 100 more pages of this story. I was rooting so hard for the central couple that it was difficult to watch them go through all the ups and downs at times. But more than anything, I was gripped with the desire for Emily to rid herself of Jack. This book taught me a lot about what control could look like in a relationship and really made me reflect on the behaviour of some of the men in my family. It's the sign of a good book if it makes you think about your own life, right?

There was a lot of brilliance and beauty in the storytelling and writing of this book, but I did find it quite repetitive and slow paced. The different relationships in the book were fascinating; husband and wife, lovers, parents and children, family.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an ARC of this book.

I didn't expect this book to break me but I spent the last few pages unable to stop crying.

It was a beautiful and at the same time an incredibly hard book to read. The story focuses both on Emily's relationship with her emotionally abusive husband and her first and only girlfriend from high-school.

There are multiple parts of the story focused on Emily's marriage that are extremely hard to read. The cycle of abuse that she just cannot escape, all the tricks her husband uses to make her fall in line. It's tough.

At the same time this book is filled with so many beautiful moments between Emily and Gen. Their relationship isn't easy and isn't perfect but I love how the author managed to paint such a beautiful portrayal of how their relationship develeoped when they were kids. It was so easy to see how that love would survive so much between them. Aside from that I loved all the relationships between the characters and their friends, and how true friendship isn't temporary.

Beautiful writing, beautiful story, it all makes for a book that is worth reaching out for.

Emily had plans to be a lawyer but then she met Jack. His ability to sweep her off her feet and his conviction that his wealth meant she would never have to work meant she never fulfilled her dreams. As their marriage wears on, and their children are born, his controlling, manipulative behaviour surfaces more and more often and Emily finds herself adjusting herself in order to anticipate his moods.

At a party one evening, she sees Gennifer Hall. Now an Olympic runner, Gen Hall is a powerhouse. But to Emily, she is still the girl she fell in love with all those years ago.

As they rekindle their friendship and Emily navigates her broken marriage, she begins to find herself again and in doing so, gains the confidence she needs to live authentically.

Ordinary Love is a sensual story about second chance love. The book moves between past and present, allowing us to gain a full understanding of where Emily has come from and who both she and Gen were before they meet again at a mutual friend’s house. The narration was beautiful and introspective, allowing us to see a depth to Emily that perhaps those around her may not have ever known. The characters are so well written that I felt like I knew them all personally. Jack is awful. Obvs. And the scenes that he was written in always made me feel quite tense which shows just how skilled Marie Rutkoski is at creating the baddie. The love between Emily and Gen is tender and supportive and the maturity with which it evolves to feels even more satisfying as we know their history and what it’s taken to get where they end up.

A gorgeous, summer read that sizzles just as much as it confronts.

Ordinary Love is a quiet, emotional story about Emily, a woman whose life gets shaken up when her first love suddenly reappears just as her relationship with her controlling husband breaks up. It’s all about second chances, old regrets, and how the past never fully lets go.

Marie Rutkoski’s writing is beautiful and introspective, and she captures the tension of rekindled love really well. That said, the pacing can be a bit slow and there is a lot of back and forth between past and present which can be confusing.

Still, it’s a thoughtful, heartfelt read if you’re in the mood for something tender and reflective.

3.5 stars

Ordinary love tells the story of many loves, one of first love, love of family, falling out of love including a toxic form of love and the love of a rekindled relationship.

The story is sent around Emily from her youth with her first love in Ohio to battling a toxic relationship from her husband at 32 in New York. We have Gen, the first love who will always be unashamedly herself from being outed at a family dinner to just wanting to be a run. This is a first love that’s rekindles through years lost where they know they cannot be just friends.

During the story we also have Jack, the toxic money boy husband that plays various manipulations to their relationship and that of their children that finally Emily breaks and sets her sights on freedom away from him.

The love is gentle and kind, the story goes back and forth from a broken relationship to something new blossoming between the two women. A healing touch for both of them. This is very well written and does hook you in but the story in places does feel a bit too long.

Would highly recommend, I was given an opportunity to ready this via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was so different from what I was expecting, it's beautifully written and on one hand an emotional, convincing love story between two old lovers. On the other it's a painful and confronting story of an emotionally coercive relationship, one that I was so invested in it was difficult to read at points. I couldn't stop reading it, and the structure made it especially compelling.

This is the first book that I have read by Marie Rutkoski, it is a very well written story about Emily's life and loves.
Emily met Gen at school, Gen was tall, lanky and angular, she looked underfed, Emily only ever had peanut butter sandwiches but she started making two, one for Gen and the friendship grew.
Emily had never had a relationship and even though she fell for her straight talking, honest best friend, the friend who taught her how to love, she didn't class herself as gay.
When Emily went to Harvard, she and Gen parted ways and not amicably.
When Emily met Jack she was smitten, all her friends liked him, Jack was generous, Jack was kind, Jack was thoughtful...........Jack was controlling and manipulative.
Emily and Jack were married and went on to have two children, Stella who adored Jack and Connor who clung to Emily and was a little scared of him.
In his own insidious way, Jack separated Emily from her friends one by one, Jack twisted everything that Emily said, he laid the blame for everything that was wrong with their relationship at her doorstep in such a way that Emily began to believe him until.........quietly she left him.
Jack raged, Jack pleaded, Jack threatened, Jack made promises. promises that Emily knew he wouldn't keep, would she give him another one last chance ?
Emily never forgot Gen, her first love and when they met up again she knew that she never would but Gen wasn't the awkward schoolgirl who licked the inside of milk cartons, Gen was now a much lauded Olympic athlete with a string of famous lovers, would she ever look at Emily again ?
This story covers all manner of emotive subjects sensitively but I must admit that I couldn't invest in any of the characters and I thought that the book could have been condensed quite a bit.
I received a free copy of this book and my review is voluntary.

When Emily catches sight of Gennifer Hall at a party, she is transported back to the moment they fell in love as teenagers. Their connection was electric, and they thought it was forever.

Twenty years later, Gen is an Olympic runner, the career she strived for, while Emily is living a picture-perfect Manhattan townhouse, two young children and a wealthy husband, Jack. But Jack's controlling behaviour is spiralling, and Emily has lost sight of who she once was.

Now, despite Emily's fracturing marriage and the pressures of Gen's career, they are drawn back together by a magnetic attraction. After years of heartbreak, missed chances and misunderstandings, will they finally get a second chance at first love?