I have just finished this book and it is very fresh in my mind. It was an easy read and a book that was not too taxing to read nor follow. I enjoyed the authors descriptions of place but found in some instances I wanted to hear more of the characters experiences in the places they were. In saying this though, I do echo other reviewers in that I found it a bit too long.

I did not feel a connection to either of the characters which was a loss in terms of being fully invested in their story.

The novel follows Emily as she attempts to rekindle a love she had as a teenager, that never truly went away. She loved and had a teenaged relationship with her friend Gen. They meet again as adults. Gen is a successful Olympian, wealthy and popular- some of her life is lived in the public eye, for instance her celebrity girlfriends of which there have been a few. Emily has a family, an ex-husband who controlled her and her life and was abusive to her. A bully, he held his wealth and affluence over her. The author very delicately laces this power/money/status dynamic throughout the book and it is very interesting. Mostly in terms of how Emily feels. She could have become a lawyer but hadn’t the opportunity Purdue her studies as she met her husband young, he swept her off her feet and then he took over in terms of influencing her future.

There is great warmth but also complication in rekindling a romance, especially with adulthoods responsibilities. There is great author fully captures these challenges.

All in all this was a good read. I do wonder if there is more to relate to and possibly more to connect to for an American reader. As a British person, I did enjoy reading the details about the American high school experience for instance and laying in the back of pick up trucks etc! I would still recommend this, it would be great for people looking for a well paced, page turner about the complications and realities of love.

Ordinary Love explores the emotional complexity of love, regret, and self-acceptance as Emily reconnects with her former lover, Gen, after years apart. Emily’s life has been marked by a difficult marriage to an abusive, narcissistic man, and now, as a mother navigating divorce, she faces the choice between the life she knows and the one she once dreamed of. The novel captures the tension between past love and present responsibilities, with deeply drawn characters that make you feel every step of Emily's journey. It’s a poignant and heartbreaking exploration of love's enduring power.

I really enjoyed Ordinary Love.

It’s not just another romance - it’s a thoughtful, well-written story that feels authentic. The characters are complex and fully developed, and their emotions come across as genuine.

What stood out to me was how naturally the book explores love and identity without feeling contrived. It’s a quiet, honest portrayal of relationships, with all their tenderness and complications.

Marie Rutkoski’s writing is graceful and engaging, drawing me in without being overly sentimental.

If you’re looking for a love story that feels real and nuanced, this one is worth reading.

CW for DV in the context of cohersive control.

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 life: 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?



Ordinary Love flips back and forth between the past and the present, between Emily as she was and Emily as she’s become, all the while reflecting on and striving for who she is, at her core.

I related to her experience of seeking to please those around her, shaping her life to fit others’ expectations. I related to her experience of feeling her queerness validated, simply because she learned to believe she belonged.

And it was hard to read about her relationship with Jack, not because I could relate, but because her self doubt was so real, and the gaslighting gaslit me sometimes.

I love second chance romance, but sometimes I wonder WHY the MCs are into each other. Not so with Ordinary Love! The chemistry between and Emily and Gen was palpable; the breadcrumbs of past and perspective that the author dropped were delicious; and the sex was really great.

I found the ending a little rushed, which might have been intentional, given the parallel piece of feedback within the text, but might also be, just, rushed. The END end was great. Hopeful. Happy for now. It felt honest. But the getting there lacked the depth of the previous 375 pages and I wanted more of the substance.

Overall, Marie Rutkoski’s writing is moody and melancholy, heartbreaking and hopeful. The MCs are great (not Jack, he’s an arsehole, but he’s a great arsehole in the story telling sense). The supporting cast are full bodied and I would very much like to be in Gen’s friendship group thanks.. Ordinary Love is insightful, informative and really, REALLY unputdownable.

Thank you NetGalley and Litte, Brown Book Group for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

A subtly devastating novel — it starts slowly (and I initially thought the characters felt a little flat) but give it time and it'll sink its claws into you

A riviting read with characters, who are realistic in the portraying the suffering of being in a loveless relationship whilst longing for a lost eternal love with all the hopes and frustrations endured to achieve just the freedom of a happy life.

I found novel, about teenage girlfriends who reconnect in their early 30s in very different circumstances, to be a really enoyable read. The characters are well drawn and the slow progress of one woman's perfect marriage towards coercive control is realistic and sympathetic. Recommended and thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A good story, but the book was much too long. I found myself getting bored with the main characters, and struggled with the second half of the book.

It took me a long time to get properly into this book, yet it kept me reading. It’s a long sweeping story of two women who met in their teens and their lives thereafter - together and apart. I didn’t particularly like either character, and yet there was something appealing and vulnerable about each. Book is perhaps a bit too long, but the pace is not slow, so the length just reflects a full story.
For me it’s a solid 3-3.5 stars out of 5.

A beautifully written second chance romance. This book tracks Em and Gen from teenagers through to their thirties, and handles parenting, careers and failed relationships with a delicate touch. I would recommend this to any romance lovers

I found this book over long. So many misunderstandings between the two main characters seemed rather contrived and unnecessary.

A clever, beautiful, compelling book. I loved the oscillation between past and present, the gradual unravelling of secrets. Each character is finely drawn, including the excruciatingly awful Jack!

I don't know if it's just me but the way it switches from past to present and back made it hard to follow sometimes at the start. 
I loved the chemistry between Emily and Gen and how close their relationship was when they were teens. I especially loved how Gen welcomed Emily's kids into her life like they're her own.
Overall I enjoyed this book alot and I am very grateful for the chance to arc read it!
This is a LGBTQ+ first love - second chance romance.

I didn't know what to expect when requesting Ordinary Love, only that I thoroughly enjoyed Marie Rutkoski's prose in her previous work The Winner's Trilogy. I definitely didn't expect to be so emotionally wrecked by this book to still be thinking about obsessively months later. There is nothing ordinary about this book.


Rutkoski's prose remains just as sharp and evocative as ever. The tenderness woven into each and every word is palpable. The novel explores anxiety, abuse, identity, etc. in a way that never feels over the top and, on multiple occasions, brought me to tears (would recommend checking the trigger warnings.)


This story is one about bravery, sacrifice, and trusting yourself even when it might feel easier not to. I am so excited for this book to be released, and really really hope it receives it's flowers. It is definitely deserving of the highest praise. 5 Stars. 


Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I found this book much more engaging than I anticipated from the first chapter. The story of Emily whose life from the outside looks picture perfect but in reality is characterised by lost love and a controlling husband. The characters are well fleshed out and although you don't always agree with Emily's choices they feel true to the way she is written. My only criticism would be that it is a little long and I found myself speed reading the last quarter. Despite this, I enjoyed it and would recommend. (Copy received from Netgalley in return for an honest review)

Is there such a thing as a love that is 'ordinary'?

In Ohio, in the late 90s, teenagers Emily and Gen fall in love, in a time and place that isn't the most friendly to a young gay couple. Ultimately, it falls apart. Later, when in university, Emily meets Jack - slightly older, from a rich family. They get married and have two children. Gen goes on to become a famous athlete. Their lives diverge and it seems unlikely they will ever meet again. But of course, they do, in the 2010s when Emily is divorcing Jack and Gen is preparing for the next Olympics.

This is a quiet, subtle romance. As with all romances, there are contrivances. There are times when you want to shout at the characters to just communicate. But in the real world, what we don't do can be more important than what we do. What we don't say can take on more significance than what we say. Rutkoski doesn't need to explicitly tell us that Emily and Gen are in love - she demonstrates it in every word. The longing that Emily and Gen have for each other permeates every page of the novel.

As I said in my review of 'Experienced' by Kate Young back in April, I am thrilled to see so many well-written novels about the lesbian experience coming out (pun not intended). I really appreciate that stories about same-sex relationships are no longer seen as niche, and are treated with the same respect as any other love story. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone.

Thank you so much to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for the ARC!

Emily meets and marries Jack, seemingly the perfect relationship.
But what goes on behind closed doors is anything but perfect, and a relationship from Emily’s past comes back.
Enter Gen: an athlete and ex-girlfriend of Emily’s, from whom she was estranged. .
I won’t give away too much more, except to say that the love is anything but ordinary - think: grand passion and lust - and this novel has a lot of fire in its belly.
Recommended: some strong themes and grand passion.

emily is reunited with her first love and girlfriend gen whilst she marries her husband jack.

the book perfectly showcases an abusive relationship as we look through emily’s relationship with her husband.

as a reader i personally enjoyed the flash backs to the first days of emily and gen’s relationship. they fit into the story perfectly.

the relationship between the two characters is really sweet and heartfelt and you can’t help but feel emotionally connected to each character.

this is the perfect queer second chance at love story

I thought this was a really well written and beautiful book. I loved how the past and the present were weaved together. Some parts are absolutely frustrating (see Jack) but I loved the second chance romance element.

Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski is anything but ordinary. This poignant, evocative story delves into the complexities of love, identity, and personal growth, capturing the delicate balance between the past and the present. The book follows Emily and Gennifer (Gen), two women whose teenage love affair burned bright and fierce, only for their lives to take vastly different paths.

The story opens with Emily spotting Gen at a party twenty years after they first met. This encounter sparks memories of their passionate connection as teenagers, when they believed their love was destined to last forever. At the time, Emily and Gen were inseparable, sharing an electric bond that seemed unbreakable. However, as life moved forward, their relationship fractured, and they drifted apart.

By the present day, Gen has achieved Olympic success, her career as a runner defining her life and identity, while Emily appears to have it all—a luxurious Manhattan townhouse, two young children, and a seemingly perfect husband, Jack. However, Jack’s controlling behaviour has started to unravel their marriage, and Emily has become a shadow of the woman she once was, struggling to rediscover her sense of self.

Despite the distance, both physical and emotional, between them, Emily and Gen are drawn back together. Their reunion is filled with tension and longing, as years of heartbreak, missed opportunities, and misunderstandings resurface. The magnetic attraction between them is undeniable, but it’s unclear whether they can overcome the ghosts of the past and the complications of their present lives. As they grapple with their individual struggles—Emily’s troubled marriage and Gen’s demanding career—Ordinary Love poses the central question: Can these two women finally seize their second chance at love, or will their differences pull them apart once again?

Rutkoski’s writing is nothing short of stunning. She skillfully weaves together the past and the present, exploring the evolution of Emily and Gen’s relationship against the backdrop of their individual growth. Emily’s marriage to Jack highlights the psychological abuse she has endured, providing a stark contrast to Gen’s athletic success and the fame that has come with it. The disparity between their lives underscores just how different the women have become, yet their deep connection remains, transcending time and circumstance.

What makes Ordinary Love so compelling is not just the romance between Emily and Gen, but the way Rutkoski explores themes of self-discovery, power dynamics, and the impact of past trauma on future relationships. Emily’s journey, particularly her struggle to reclaim her sense of self in a controlling marriage, adds a layer of emotional depth that elevates the story beyond a simple love story.

At its heart, Ordinary Love is a story about the complexities of love—how it can shape us, change us, and sometimes pull us apart. Rutkoski beautifully captures the idea that love is not always straightforward, and that the people we love can both help us become our best selves and challenge us to confront the darker parts of our lives.

The narrative alternates between the past and the present, giving readers a glimpse into Emily and Gen’s teenage years, when they were full of hope and possibility, and their present-day struggles as they attempt to navigate their complicated lives. The tension between the two timelines is palpable, and it creates a sense of longing that permeates the book.

Ultimately, Ordinary Love is a deeply moving exploration of the ways in which love endures, even when life takes us in different directions. Rutkoski's writing is lush and evocative, and she crafts a love story that is both heartbreaking and redemptive. It's a powerful reminder that love, while not always easy or without its challenges, is one of the most transformative forces in our lives.

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