Crush

Praise

“Her giddy new romance sets the stage for an exploration of marital constructs and what it means to seek desire at any age.”
—Bustle

“Crush (such a charged word) interrogates all that we think we know about love and soul mates, commitment and conviction, while tracking the long struggle to fully become oneself and do right…. [An] angsty, metaphysical, literature-besotted love story.”
—Booklist Starred Review

“Chock-full of great lines … [a]nything Ada Calhoun wants to write is well worth reading.”
—Kirkus Review

“Ada Calhoun writes with absolute clarity about the giddiest and most destabilizing feeling—the crush. This novel made me feel dizzy and I loved every second. Calhoun can seduce me any day of the week.”
—Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow

“The word ‘crush’ often conjures the innocence of adolescence—a time when your life story isn’t yet written and anything is possible. But what happens when that dormant feeling is awakened in middle age? Ada Calhoun’s Crush is a gripping fever dream of a book leading the reading into the beguiling depths of desire, ecstasy, and obsession.”
—Molly Ringwald

“Crush marks Ada Calhoun’s arrival as a novelist, and what an incredibly explosive arrival it is. This book is a sumptuous exploration of how desire takes us over without a shred of moral hedging. A vertiginous—yet somehow also clarifying—novel that will grab you by your shoulders and shake you until you feel alive.”
—Isaac Fitzgerald, New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts

“I didn’t just read Crush; I inhaled it like it would save my life. Calhoun captures the chaotic experience of a marriage’s dissolution and a new midlife romance with the insight and humor she brings to all her work. I loved this book. And I loved its honest depiction of what love can do to and for us.”
—Bethany Ball, author of The Pessimists

“Visceral, intelligent, funny, emotional, and layered. A revolutionary romance for ‘good girls’ among us.”
—Shauna Niequist, author of the New York Times bestseller I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet

In Crush, desire is an irresistible force. Ada Calhoun is a master at capturing the way we live now, and her propulsive, witty, dreamy debut novel made me feel like I was exchanging secrets with my smartest friend. A heady delight.
—Claire Dederer, national bestselling author of Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma