24 Jun Book Review: Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski

Marie Rutkoski, best known for her YA fantasy series The Winner’s Trilogy, steps into adult literary fiction with Ordinary Love, a quietly devastating and exquisitely written novel about what it means to look back on the life you’ve built—and realize you’re not sure it’s the one you wanted. This book doesn’t scream; it hums with emotional clarity, exploring bisexuality, motherhood, lost love, and the version of ourselves we abandon to survive.

What’s it about?

Emily has the kind of life that, from the outside, looks enviable. She lives in a beautiful Upper East Side brownstone, has two healthy kids, and a husband, Jack, who is doting, wealthy, and socially impressive. But Emily is not quite happy—something is missing. And she knows what it is the moment she runs into Gen Hall at a cocktail party.

Gen, Emily’s childhood best friend and teenage love, is now an Olympic gold medalist and minor celebrity. Their shared past is raw and unresolved. Once, they had been everything to each other. But after their relationship ended in pain, they never spoke again—until now.

The novel is divided between the past and the present, showing us how Emily and Gen fell in love in high school in their small Ohio town. Emily’s family was messy, working-class, and often in turmoil. Gen’s family was more affluent but cold and demanding. Their bond as teenagers gave them escape, safety, and intensity—but it was also unsustainable in the face of fear, social pressure, and internalized shame. A single act of betrayal ended everything.

In the present, Emily is floundering. Her marriage is eroding—Jack is controlling in ways that feel subtle at first but become impossible to ignore. He uses money as a leash, monitors her social interactions, and gaslights her into believing that her unhappiness is imagined. Gen’s reappearance in her life forces Emily to confront not only the possibility of rekindling an old flame but the truth of her own identity. She’s always known she was bisexual, but it was something she buried, choosing a life that felt safe and socially acceptable.

As Emily and Gen reconnect, the tension simmers—can they start again after so much damage? And even if they can, what would Emily have to give up to choose Gen? Her kids, her social status, her home? Is it too late to rewrite your own narrative?

What makes the story so rich is that it never promises a grand, sweeping romance. Instead, it’s about small, hard-won choices. It’s about the quiet bravery it takes to admit you were wrong, to choose yourself, and to move forward without any guarantees of happiness.

What This Chick Thinks

A Refreshingly Mature Look at Queer Desire

This is not a coming-out story—it’s something much rarer: a story about what happens after you’ve shelved a part of yourself for years. Emily’s bisexuality isn’t treated as a “twist” or a conflict. It’s just one of many truths about her identity that she’s avoided for too long. Marie Rutkoski writes about queerness with sensitivity, compassion, and a deep understanding of how love and shame can entangle themselves over time.

Beautiful, Understated Prose

Rutkoski’s writing is soft but unflinching. There’s a rhythmic elegance to the way she constructs emotional tension. You feel every nuance of Emily’s hesitation, every beat of her nostalgia, and every flash of clarity. Nothing is overwritten, and yet it feels incredibly full. I found myself pausing just to reread certain lines—not because they were flashy, but because they felt true.

A Complex Portrayal of Motherhood

One of the most compelling parts of the novel is Emily’s role as a mother. Her kids aren’t peripheral—they’re central to her decisions and her fears. She worries about how a divorce would affect them. She questions whether she has the right to pursue a different life if it risks their stability. These moments of maternal honesty are raw and relatable, adding depth to her internal conflict.

The Ex Isn’t Just “The Bad Guy”

Jack could have been a stock character—just another villainous husband. But Rutkoski makes him unsettling in realistic, plausible ways. His manipulation is subtle. His control is couched in charm and concern. Watching Emily start to see the cracks in their marriage, and then realize the extent of its emotional cost, is one of the novel’s most powerful arcs.

Final Thoughts

Ordinary Love is a quiet storm of a novel. It’s about how a single chance encounter can throw your entire life into question. It’s about yearning, regret, courage, and the long path toward authenticity. If you’re looking for a book that will sit with you for a while—not because it shouts, but because it whispers something true—you might want to give this one a go.

Rating: 9/10

Try it if you like:

• The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller – A deep dive into complicated love and a woman torn between two versions of herself.
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid – A sweeping look at love, identity, and public vs private selves, with a bisexual woman at its center.
• In at the Deep End by Kate Davies – A brash, funny, and deeply emotional exploration of a woman discovering her queerness in her 30s.