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"There is nothing ordinary about Gwyn Hyman Rubio’s expertly crafted and articulated Love and Ordinary Creatures. It has been suggested that the more we know the richer our lives become, and here Rubio provides a whole new perspective on love and loving, as well as jealousy, ownership, and control. This stunningly imaginative work explores the psychological and emotional boundaries of the human condition with grace and power. Rubio writes with the passion and attention to detail we have come to expect of her, and her fully drawn characters are with us long after we reluctantly bid them goodbye. In the end we know these people, we know their sense of place, and we care about their lives and their prospects. At the center of any good book is a good story, and this story is nothing short of splendid."

"Love & Ordinary Creatures tells of the powerful and often surprising human-animal connections, transcending species, and explores the way we connect with our environment, its creatures, and one another...a gripping tale of the human condition and the deeper meanings of love, life and sacrifice."

"...a story that’s rich with insights about love, belonging, the power of nature, and the complex connections between humans and other species."

"Rubio captures the strong bond between humans and other living creatures and provides provocative ideas on love and the meaning of life."

New York Times bestselling author Gwyn Hyman Rubio’s highly anticipated new novel...

Love and Ordinary Creatures is told through the eyes of a cockatoo in love with his very human caretaker. Snatched in a net from his Australian homeland as a young parrot, Caruso has adapted to captivity and has learned all he knows of love from his previous owner, who was obsessively fixated on his childhood sweetheart. Now in his new home with the beautiful and talented Clarissa, Caruso has found both love and happiness—until a handsome stranger arrives in town and sets his sights on Clarissa.

Smart, passionate, and wildly inventive, Caruso strives to put his human rival in his place before he loses Clarissa for good. And when a hurricane descends upon the coast, Caruso’s love for Clarissa and his memories of freedom are tested as the storm threatens all that he holds dear.

Set in the early 1990s in a quaint North Carolina seashore town, Love and Ordinary Creatures is an exquisite tale of the ways in which love and hope transcend species.

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"The beautifully written book Love & Ordinary Creatures speaks of family and love…It tells of the powerful and often surprising human-animal connections, transcending species, and explores the way we connect with our environment, its creatures, and one another…a gripping tale of the human condition and the deeper meanings of love, life and sacrifice.”

"In this interesting cross-species love story, Rubio does a good job of expressing the mind-set of another creature and gives spot-on descriptions of the local landscape."

"The whimsical pace of this love story is made possible because of the exquisite prose and thought-provoking viewpoints. The deep love between a bird and a human is so realistic that Rubio makes you forget the nature of the two characters. It also is a story of loyalty and sacrifice, and the creativity of the author makes the reader root for a happy outcome. Caruso’s story progresses from his beginning in the rainforest through the development of his challenging interactions with humans. Rubio captures the strong bond between humans and other living creatures and provides provocative ideas on love and the meaning of life."

"Rubio is a writer of uncommonly warm and tender vision, often comic, brimming with love and hope ..."

"Rubio…is not only a gifted storyteller; her use of the language is invariably just right."

"Here is an exquisitely written, completely original, and deeply moving meditation on true love. A literary page-turner, Love and Ordinary Creatures is Rubio's best book, populated by a memorable cast of characters we come to count as friends and a vivid sense of place that allows us to escape into a lush sensory world. I couldn't put it down, and when I did turn the last page I shed the best kind of tears, ones that come when we have encountered a book that manages to articulate the most mysterious and wonderful chambers of the heart."