A STYLIST BEST NEW RELEASE OF 2025
‘An exquisitely tender portrayal of enduring love’ OBSERVER
‘A sweeping, decades-spanning tale of queer desire’ MARIE CLAIRE
‘Profoundly moving’ EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL, bestselling author of STATION ELEVEN
‘Almost unbearably beautiful’ EMILIA HART, bestselling author of WEYWARD
‘Had me hooked from the first page’ JENNIE GODFREY, bestselling author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS
_________________________________________________________________________
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?
A sweeping love story about desire, friendship, mistakes and the possibility of second chances, for fans of The Paper Palace and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
_________________________________________________________________________
‘I’m obsessed with this novel. It demands obsession’ HOLLY BRICKLEY, author of DEEP CUTS
‘Funny and moving and sexy’ J. COURTNEY SULLIVAN, bestselling author of THE CLIFFS
‘A gorgeously written love story’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
‘I loved this moving, tender story about lost love and second chances’ RED
‘Immersive and insightful’ LISA OWENS, author of NOT WORKING
‘[A] raw, gorgeous debut’ THE i PAPER
‘A tender romance’ WOMAN & HOME
‘Shining with rare clarity’ SAINSBURY’S MAGAZINE
READERS ARE RAVING:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘So raw and so real . . . If there’s one book you read this year, it should be this one’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I absolutely devoured this . . . Clear your afternoon to read this one straight through’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘The characters were so real that I miss them now the book’s over. This novel is one for the ages’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Boy did this pack a punch, have a box of tissues by your side – you will need these’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Sexy and sensual . . . I found myself not wanting to stop reading’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘So emotionally wrecked by this book [that I’m] still thinking about it obsessively months later’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I fell in love with this story and these characters right from the beginning’
‘An exquisitely tender portrayal of enduring love’ OBSERVER
‘A sweeping, decades-spanning tale of queer desire’ MARIE CLAIRE
‘Profoundly moving’ EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL, bestselling author of STATION ELEVEN
‘Almost unbearably beautiful’ EMILIA HART, bestselling author of WEYWARD
‘Had me hooked from the first page’ JENNIE GODFREY, bestselling author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS
_________________________________________________________________________
There’s no such thing as an ordinary love story
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?
A sweeping love story about desire, friendship, mistakes and the possibility of second chances, for fans of The Paper Palace and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
_________________________________________________________________________
‘I’m obsessed with this novel. It demands obsession’ HOLLY BRICKLEY, author of DEEP CUTS
‘Funny and moving and sexy’ J. COURTNEY SULLIVAN, bestselling author of THE CLIFFS
‘A gorgeously written love story’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
‘I loved this moving, tender story about lost love and second chances’ RED
‘Immersive and insightful’ LISA OWENS, author of NOT WORKING
‘[A] raw, gorgeous debut’ THE i PAPER
‘A tender romance’ WOMAN & HOME
‘Shining with rare clarity’ SAINSBURY’S MAGAZINE
READERS ARE RAVING:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘So raw and so real . . . If there’s one book you read this year, it should be this one’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I absolutely devoured this . . . Clear your afternoon to read this one straight through’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘The characters were so real that I miss them now the book’s over. This novel is one for the ages’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Boy did this pack a punch, have a box of tissues by your side – you will need these’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Sexy and sensual . . . I found myself not wanting to stop reading’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘So emotionally wrecked by this book [that I’m] still thinking about it obsessively months later’
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I fell in love with this story and these characters right from the beginning’
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Reviews
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.
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 who feel so real you see them in your dreams. A must for lovers, full stop
A sweeping tale. Tender, truthful and gorgeously written, I devoured it in a few days.
Shining with rare clarity
This novel is remarkable and profoundly moving. A beautifully written, intelligent, quietly hopeful story about being lost and found.
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
Vivid . . . A sweeping, decades-spanning tale of queer desire and thwarted ambition . . . Beautifully rendered and touchingly told, this is one for romance fans everywhere
This summer's smart beach read, with shades of Pineapple Street and The Paper Palace
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.
Once in a while one of those truly brilliant books comes along that takes over your life - and, for 2025, Ordinary Love is the book hitting the spot
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
An exquisitely tender and beautifully written portrayal of enduring love
Ordinary Love sparkles with the excitement, danger and wonder of love in all its forms
[A] raw, gorgeous debut