I loved this book, there ate two stories being told about Emily, one with her husband and two children, where her life seems perfect,but is it? She doesn’t seem to smile a lot. The second story is Emily’s past relationship as a teenager with her girlfriend Gen,
Emily’s life with her husband is full of tension, she is constantly trying to please him and avoid his anger, he is manipulative and controlling. Emily hasn’t worked during their marriage as he likes her to be the perfect housewife, he controls all their finances. It is a huge step for Emily to leave her husband but she finds the courage, this is not the first time she has left him but with the help and encouragement of her friends she is determined to start afresh.
Emily finds herself thinking of Gen often, they were young teenagers who fell in love ,from different backgrounds and then heading to different colleges which led to them falling apart.
When their paths do cross again Emily feels the pull towards Gen strong as before, They try to navigate a tentative friendship, which becomes more, once again though they face challenges and choices.
The story is told beautifully, I was rooting for Gen and Emily to find their way back to one another amidst pain, heartache, abuse, anxiety, sacrifice, bravery, friendships, hope and love.
This is my first book by this author, will definitely be reading more.
Many thanks to Net Galley and Little Brown Book Group UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review

Emily is living a seemingly perfect life, with a rich husband and two children. Before she met him she had been in love with Gennifer Hall, now an Olympic athlete. When Emily’s marriage ends, and she and Gen meet again, will they get their chance at love?
Rutkoski is an excellent writer. I think her depiction of Emily’s marriage to Jack, which is abusive, and shows how he charms her and drives her friends away, is really convincing. Her love for Gen and the challenges it raises within her own family, and for Gen’s public image are heartbreakingly portrayed. Love through friendships is depicted in a beautiful way, showing another facet of this ordinary love Emily seeks.
The perfect read for Pride month, but also a lovely depiction of what it means to find the right person and how messy and complicated life can be.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Ordinary Love is a story of a first love between school friends Emily and Gen who form a deep bond. Emily helps to nurture Gen’s dream of getting a Sports Scholarship, while Emily herself pushes herself to get accepted into Harvard. The way their friendship deepens and becomes something much more is exquisitely told. As is often the case with young love the couple’s relationship does not go the distance because of a lack of communication and misunderstanding.
Emily marries Jack, an older wealthy man who pursues her when she is at college and overwhelms her with his romantic gestures. Emily graduates with a Classics degree but gives everything up to be a wife to Jack. Their son, Connor arrives shortly after the marriage followed later by a daughter, Stella.
However, Jack is extremely possessive of Emily and although there are good times in the marriage and Emily appears to have it all, behind closed doors, Jack is emotionally abusive. Emily feels trapped but having no independent means or a career and being cut off from friends and family what is she to do? The final straw is an incident between Jack and Connor which makes Emily realise that she must leave the marriage. A quote from the book sums up Emily’s feelings about motherhood and is really powerful. “Nothing changed the essential fact of her motherhood. It didn’t matter how old her children grew up. She would always carry them inside her, the joy of them a brutal tragedy: their devotion,their rejection, their need, their indifference. Their inevitable departure. What else in life do you love without reason or limit, only to surrender it. What else, except life itself.” This is why Emily had to leave Jack.
Of course, Emily has no means of her own and has to rely on a friend to help provide her with a home for her and the children. Jack thinks that it’s inevitable that Emily will eventually have to return.
And then she meets Gen at a benefit dinner. Gen, now a world famous Olympic athlete and celebrity. Will this be a second chance for them or has too much happened in their lives since their split?
This story is told with such poignancy as Emily and Gen, at first wary because of their past, tentatively reconnect. Both Emily and Gen have other people in their lives who form part of this enthralling story. Gen’s grandmother who brought her up after her mother’s death is a great character. Emily’s mother has been out of her life for many years because of their strained relationship but in the end Emily realises that she is still her mother. She understood her relationship with Gen and is unconditionally there for her when she needs her.
I came so close to giving this book 5 stars because of the quality of writing but I felt let down that the book ended quite abruptly without an answer as to what happened in the divorce proceedings. An epilogue moving forward in time would have been a good way to end the story in my opinion. Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for an advanced reading copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This is a breathtaking queer romance that explores themes of class, ambition, and bisexuality. The story follows Emily, who appears to have a perfect life with a townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side, two healthy children, and a doting husband. However, beneath the surface, Emily's marriage is troubled, her relationship with her parents is strained, and she is haunted by a heartbreak from her past. When Emily unexpectedly reunites with her high school best friend, Gen Hall, at a cocktail party, old feelings resurface. Gen, now a prominent Olympic athlete, and Emily cautiously navigate their magnetic attraction and shared history. As they confront their past mistakes and the powerful love they discovered in their youth, Emily must decide whether to risk her family and privacy for a second chance at love.

Marie Rutkoski's "Ordinary Love" is a beautifully written and emotionally charged novel that captivates from start to finish. The characters are richly developed, and their journey is both poignant and relatable. Rutkoski's prose is elegant and evocative, making the reader feel deeply connected to Emily and Gen's story. The exploration of complex relationships and the courage to pursue love despite fear and uncertainty is truly inspiring. This novel is a must-read for anyone who enjoys heartfelt and thought-provoking romance. 🌟✨

This is a moving love story and an uplifting tale of escaping a dangerous marriage. I can't remember the last time I was so invested in a wife escaping her husband - maybe not since 'Liars' last year, and that's high praise. I found the love story moving and convincing, and for a book in which not a lot happens, I was gripped the whole way through. My only gripe is with the ending, which I found really quick and, as the marriage ended, quite unsatisfying. If that had been more developed, it would have been an easy five stars from me.

A romance read that’s so much more . This is such a beautiful novel which tells the story of a newly separated mother trying to heal from an abusive marriage but then using flashbacks we have a poignant coming of age story .
The romance isn’t fluffy at all and it’s definitely more of a ‘ literary romance’ with a lot of themes explored such as race, queerness, family relations and abuse . It feels raw in some places yet a bit sexy and hot in others ! It’s the perfect holiday read and it’s left me wanting more!

A story with true depth of emotions and a timespan to allow the characters to respond to those opportunities lost along the way.
The characters are appealing, and you are happy to spend time with them as they work their way through life. The difficult choices provided by the possibility of a second chance are explored well.
An engaging read with a satisfying conclusion.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

Really enjoyed this one. Good characters, great story line and a real page turner. It was an emotional read, full of feeling.

this was such a powerful book. i love books that span time. how we come to really learn about people. from the moment you meet these two character you are drawn in. the plot points throughout the book and the feelings they bought were just 10 out of 10. i could feel myself getting all sorts of emotions. all of them powerful. not all good and not all bad. and i just felt, i felt so much for our two characters. both in equal measure had me mesmerised by their tale of who they were and who they became and just how they fit together and got to where they are now. both past and present telling had me hooked in fast.
the telling of abuse was just superb. that level of constant unease, fear, uncertainty you go through. you never know whats coming or whats right. and turns out you should know that nothing you do is right. from one moment or time to the next the tables are turned on you. so you live in that constant fight flight fawn mode. and i felt that. and it hit hard and true.
i wanted to scoop Emily up. and i wanted more and more to shout from the rooftops just what we NEED to make ourselves aware of in this horrifying topic. watching her be isolated and filled with such untrust of herself was so hard but a perfect depiction of it. watching her trying to predict and do the next right thing was awful. but so dam true.
and then you have the love story. of our two who met as girl and then were pulled apart by that usual suspect of communication misfiring.
but this is so easily the case for so many thing in relationships. time and time again we see it, do it ourselves. and it so easy from the outside to want to shake the people its happening to. but on the inside living it as our two woman were, well you can see how it all unfolded so easily as it did.
i was aching for these two to be ok. they did belong, i truly felt that. and that made the stroy and any outcome all the more compelling.
just wow what a book. just blooming wow.

Perfectly acceptable romance but the sheer saintliness of the lovers was slightly too saccharine for my taste.
I’d have liked a bit more bite or edge and the ending felt overly sentimental.

Absolutely adored this one. Wonderful lyrical prose, captures Gen and Emily's attraction, whilst dealing with how Emily can escape the abusive marriage.

👭 REVIEW 👭

Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski
Release Date: 12th June 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thanks @netgalley and @littlebrownbookgroup_uk for the e-ARC!

📝 - Emily has, by all appearances, a beautiful 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. As Emily’s marriage begins to crumble, she finds her first love from high school unexpectedly back in her life. But Gen is now a prominent Olympic athlete with sponsorship deals and a string of high-profile ex-girlfriends. Their reunion is anything but simple, as Emily navigates separation from her husband, and Gen is in the midst of training for the Olympics. Can they forgive each other for mistakes they made in their youth? Can Emily risk her children, her privacy, and the fragile peace she has found with her family just to be with a woman she loved long ago?

💭 - I sometimes find it hard to separate out my level of enjoyment for a book and a rating of how good the book is. I did enjoy this one - it was frustrating watching Emily struggle through these decisions but I felt a lot of sympathy for her. I don’t think the writing is outstanding, there were some random metaphors and symbolism that felt unnecessary, but I do think the difficulties of a queer relationship, especially during high school, were shown well. The characters and their responses were also very realistic and consistent throughout in terms of their personalities, and the arcs didn’t feel sudden or overly tropey, which are usually off putting for me. Overall, a good but not brilliant read.

#ordinarylove #marierutkoski #bookreview #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #bookreviewer #advancereaderscopy #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #queerfiction #lgbtqiafiction #diversereads

In Ordinary Love, you follow the life of Emily : her first love, their break-up, her marriage and subsequent abuse, her two children, and her rekindling of that first relationship.

The characters here are so well-rounded, I really feel like I got to know them through the pages. Truly a highlight of this book.

It also offers a great portrayal of an abusive relationship. You truly understand why Emily got together with Jack and why she stayed with him as he grew more and more manipulative, and how she finally reached a breaking point.

Finally, Emily and Gen's relationship was wonderful. It was simultaneously cute, sexy, sometimes sad and oftentimes frustrating, but I was ROOTING for them. Though sometimes their conflict were based on misunderstandings (like their initial break-up), so if that's a trope you don't like be aware.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Books for providing with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a story of love—tender, fragile, and fierce—between two girls who find each other young and fall deeply in their restless teens. But time, like tide, pulls them apart as college leads them down separate shores. In the slow drift of years, we witness how once-shared hearts can be shaped by different winds: Emily, caught in the quiet ache of a marriage laced with psychological bruises; Gen, soaring into the light of athletic glory and public acclaim. They become reflections in contrast—one bound, one breaking free. Yet even as their lives unfold in opposite directions, told in echoes of the past and pulses of the present, a truth persists: they are twin stars in orbit, incomplete without the other, each carrying a piece of the other's soul.

Marie Rutkoski’s Ordinary Love is a poignant exploration of identity, desire, and the complexities of human relationships. The narrative follows Emily, a woman who, despite a seemingly perfect life with her affluent husband Jack and their two children, grapples with the emotional void left by a past love. When Emily unexpectedly reunites with Gen, her high school girlfriend now turned Olympic athlete, long-suppressed feelings resurface, prompting a reevaluation of her life choices.

Rutkoski masterfully weaves between past and present, illustrating the evolution of Emily and Gen’s relationship from teenage infatuation to mature connection. The contrast between Emily’s emotionally manipulative marriage and the rekindled authenticity with Gen underscores the novel’s central themes of self-discovery and the courage to pursue genuine happiness.

The prose is lyrical and introspective, capturing the nuances of love and the internal conflicts that arise when confronting one’s true desires. While the pacing is deliberate, it allows for deep character development and emotional resonance.

Ordinary Love is a beautifully written narrative that delves into the intricacies of love, identity, and personal growth. It’s a compelling read for those who appreciate character-driven stories that challenge societal norms and explore the depths of human emotion.

What a gorgeous unconventional love story!! Emily had spent her childhood trying to people please - in particular her father who seemed to love a particular idea of her rather than trying to look behind that to the real her; her mother who often found it hard to communicate her feelings and made Emily feel unwanted, to her dazzling and rich husband who emotionally and financially abuses her in subtle but effective ways as he wants the world to see his "perfect" life. Emily and Gen have history as they spent their formative school years together in Ohio but it is only when they meet again after Emily's marriage starts to fall apart that they get the chance to truly embrace who they are and what they mean to each other. This is a searingly tender and emotional love story - a love triangle in many ways but as the book progresses we see Emily blossom into the woman she was always meant to be.... I absolutely loved it!!

I overall enjoyed this book a lot. I thought the way Jack was subtly abusive was very well done, and the kids were also convincing. I liked the relationship between Gen and Emily, and could understand why Emily made some of the (bad) decisions she made.

(4.5 stars)
Genre: literary fiction / contemporary fiction / romance / lgbtq+ fiction / queer romance / women’s fiction

Release Date: 12 June 2025

I was fortunate to receive an ARC copy of Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski, thank you NetGalley and Virago for the opportunity.

I adored this and found it to be a very moving and poignant story about reconnection, identity, and the unshakeable hold of first love. The writing is lyrical, powerful, and emotionally intelligent with moments that made me feel deeply uncomfortable, not because of the writing, but because of how sharply it captures the ache of lost chances, the destruction of abuse, and the fragility of desire. It felt raw and beautifully honest.

Set in the heart of Manhattan, Ordinary Love follows Emily, a woman whose seemingly perfect life; successful husband, two children, and a polished existence, takes a sharp turn when she unexpectedly reconnects with Gen Hall, her high school girlfriend.
What begins as a jolt from the past slowly unfolds into something deeper, more confronting, and impossibly tender. As Emily’s marriage begins to unravel, she is forced to reckon with the desires she’s buried, the heartbreak she never fully processed, and the love that never truly faded.

So why not 5 stars? At times, the pacing lagged, and I found the back and forth between Emily and Gen a tad frustrating at times BUT, those are minor critiques in what is otherwise a gorgeous, intimate novel that stayed with me long after I turned the final page.

If you’re a fan of character-driven stories with emotional depth, complex relationships, and beautifully queer love stories, add this to your list.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected.

The book opens with Emily and her husband Jack away at their holiday home, when Jack does something unexpected and Emily finally snaps and threatens to leave him.

The book then jumps back and forth, throughout Emily and Jack’s marriage - from their meeting and courtship to marriage and children.

It’s such a good, if depressing portrait of an abusive relationship. Never physical, never really verbal, just hundreds of micro-aggressions, a death by a thousand cuts.

Contrasting with this is Emily’s relationship with Gen, her high school friend and later girlfriend, with whom Emily has lost touch. Gen and Emily cross paths again later in life, while Emily is miserable in her marriage and Gen is a famous athlete.

I loved this and devoured it. Usually in these kinds of split narratives I prefer one over the other, but in this case I actually really enjoyed both stories.

A story of women and love and friendship and marriages and wealth and happiness and abuse and entrapment. A beautiful story.

A compelling story about a woman’s journey of self-discovery, second chances at first love, and the courage to break free from the toxic cycles of life.

The pacing was a bit slow but I'm glad I kept reading. I really felt Emily’s emotional journey. It was super relatable, especially if you’ve been through something similar. Her fear of being alone and unwanted really hit hard. It takes so much courage to break out of a cycle and be yourself again, and the story showed that perfectly. I also love how Gen has always been truthful and so kind—such a comforting presence. The way they resolved the issues felt so real and believable. The ending was beautiful, the writing was easy to follow, and I loved how Emily and Jack met. The conflict was written so well too. Such a great read.


Thank you little brown group/Virago and netgalley for this early copy, All opinions are my own.