No Ordinary Love Stories

Language Arts x Hinge on modern love.

Every love story is an unlikely love story. The sheer number of factors that have to align to bring two emotionally available people in the same space at the same time is so mind-boggling, each time it happens is nothing short of a small miracle. 

That’s why Hinge partnered with Dazed to present No Ordinary Love: An Anthology of Love Stories Almost Never Told, partnering with six of our favorite writers: R.O. Kwon, Oisín McKenna, Brontez Purnell, Isle McElroy, Roxanne Gay, and John Paul Brammer to tell the stories of real Hinge couples. 

We wanted to write about the stories in No Ordinary Love because they’re exactly the kind of love stories we’re drawn to: tender, unlikely tales that are as much about falling in love as they are about the loneliness, doubt, and euphoria that accompanies the experience. What’s even better is that these are real love stories, the ones that inspire great novels — which we also recommend at the end of this newsletter :) 

(Btw, this is a paid sponsorship with Hinge.)

“Playing Tag” by R.O. Kwon
A love story for people who run from relationships.

“It was past ten p.m., eleven p.m. and they couldn’t see a thing, but they kept running, and chasing, finding each other again and again.” 

First loves are nothing short of intoxicating: electric highs, aching lows, comforting moments of understanding, and enough contemplation that you could easily mistake yourself for a philosopher. In “Playing Tag” by R.O. Kwon, Sivitha and Suraj ride the romance wave throughout England, from London pubs to Brighton beaches. Their ability to seek the other, over and over, through even the stickiest of conversations, is proof of the fortifying nature of real love.

“Nothing Serious” by Oisín McKenna
A love story for people who can’t always see what’s right in front of them.

“It was a completely wrong time, but they were each other’s right person.”

The beauty of love is its uncanny ability to sneak up on you. One day it’s casual, but the next? You’re head over heels. It’s an all-encompassing emotion, something so vivid and motivating that it feels like everything around you is in bloom. In “Nothing Serious” by Oisín McKenna, Rahul and George match on Hinge looking for something casual, only to open their hearts to the possibility — not to mention the total ecstasy — of wanting more. 

“Love Notes” by Brontez Purnell

A love story for people who want to get on the same page.

“The perilous matter of pairing is crazy-making at best, but we contend that gravity will set everything right, and every so often, the perishable notion of love will be victorious.”

Euan and Aliya were once simply beautiful strangers to each other. But that didn’t last long. The model and photographer were immediately in conversation with the other; both young and stylish and creative, their worlds melded together with ease. Even when it came to compromise and balancing each other out, the duo did it with flair, creating a love story about reconsidering what love can look like — from shifting expectations and moving through hurt toward something brighter in “Love Notes.” 

“Only One Rule” by Isle McElroy
A love story for people who make up their mind (and then change it).

“It continued this way, two dancers dancing with only their hands, creating a performance out of Bella’s palpable nerves that ended up calming her nerves, staging a dance that only they could perform.”

Breaking your own rules is better than breaking your own heart. In “Only One Rule,” Corinne, a dancer, has one requirement: They won’t date a dancer. Lo and behold they meet Bella, a dancer — though it doesn’t say so on her profile. But after an impossibly sensual date at a salsa venue, Corinne decides that rules are worth breaking.

“Work in Progress” by Roxanne Gay
A love story for people who are figuring it out together

“So long as you dont get away from me it's all good.” 

In Roxane Gay’s “Work In Progress,” Chanti and Najib navigate the pitfalls of modern dating — from Chanti’s bicoastal fashion job to Najib’s desire for solo time. In the end, they find what their own idea of romance looks like: cuddling up in the banquettes of dimly-lit jazz bars, bouquets of flowers made of LEGOs, and surprise airport pickups. When you first start dating someone, it’s easy to overlook… let’s call them quirks: running late, a lack of boundaries with a parent. But soon, these quirks can spread like a stain, morphing into liabilities. At its heart, “Work In Progress” is about people tenderly trying to figure out how to belong to each other. 

“You Again” by John Paul Brammer

A love story for people who are open to new (and old) possibilities.

“Maybe every love story is like that. Unlikely. Fragile. It can feel that way to those still looking for a love story on their own, can feel that love is elusive, easily snuffed out, that there is a great deal of luck involved, that one needs destiny on their side. Maybe love is more resilient than all that.”

We don’t talk enough about how much finding love hinges on luck. In “You Again” Jon and Maura nearly miss each other. Jon cancels on a date he accidentally scheduled for Valentine’s Day; Maura gets shingles soon after. A few months later, they meet up again. Only, this time, they never stop meeting up. “You Again” is about all the mundane minutiae that brings us closer to and draws us away from — and eventually towards — love: the restaurants you avoid, the dates you cancel, the blocks you walk down. All of it counts; all of it eventually leads to something.

And here are 6 unlikely love stories we thought of while reading No Ordinary Love…

Good Material by Dolly Alderton 

Dolly Alderton’s Good Material begins with a breakup. When Jen breaks up with Andy seemingly out of the blue, he has to trace back the moments of connections and misunderstandings that brought them together and apart. Was it Jen’s tendency to linger in museums? Or Andy’s urge to over explain what they were looking at? Every breakup has two stories, every relationship has two people trying their best. At its heart, Good Material is a book about people tenderly trying to figure out how to belong to each other. 

Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley

In this novel, 30-something Lola lives a modern New York nightmare: she’s constantly running into all her ex-boyfriends. She’s faced, again and again, with a deja vu carousel of her decisions — and whether or not they were the right ones. Cult Classic gives weight to the ill-defined relationships that shape you, casting light on the deceptive specter of “closure” better than anything we’ve read.

Perfume & Pain by Anna Dorn

A modern ode to the lesbian pulp novel, Anna Dorn’s Perfume & Pain is perhaps our most-recommended book. Dorn’s addictive novel follows mildly canceled author Astrid Dahl, who is supposed to be staying away from women and the Patricia Highsmith — her chosen drug cocktail — to focus on resurrecting her career. It seems impossible. But when she moves into a bungalow next to older painter Penelope, Astrid first judges and feels judged by her self-righteousness and patchouli scent — but can’t escape their undeniable connection. 

The Pisces by Melissa Broder

Melissa Broder’s The Pisces brings lovelorn graduate student Lucy to Venice, California where she meets — and becomes infatuated — with Theo, a mysterious nighttime swimmer who hangs around the beach rocks. He’s not like other guys. He’s gentle, pensive, and romantic. He’s also a merman. Broder’s novel is propulsive, erotic, and darkly funny for an exploration of how far obsessive love can take us.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

In what might be literature’s most pivotal tale of enemies-to-lovers, Jane Austen’s beloved novel brings plenty of misunderstandings, heated exchanges, and reconciliations that feel as true to our modern world as they did in Regency-era England. Let Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet help you sort out your own complicated crushes.

Normal People by Sally Rooney

In this intimate and sensual story about evolving relationships, protagonists Marianne and Connell weave in and out of each other’s lives, from secondary school to their matriculation at Trinity Dublin College. Their bond runs deep and Sally Rooney puts her protagonists through it — but what’s a little heartache when something as monumental as love is on the line? 

These recommendations are just our opinion. We have no affiliation with the books —only that they have spent time stacked on our night tables.