Genevieve Novak

When do you stop starting over? The sparkling new novel from the author of No Hard Feelings. Getting over someone is not that difficult. All you have to do is focus on every negative thing about them for the rest of your life until you forget to stop actively hoping for their slow and painful death, then get a haircut ... Serial monogamist Marnie is running late to her own identity crisis. After a decade of twisting herself into different versions of the ideal girlfriend, she's swearing off relationships for good. Forever. Done. No more, no thank you. Pretty inconvenient time to meet Isaac: certified dreamboat and the only man who has ever truly got her. It's cool, though, they're just friends, he's got someone else, and she has more important things to worry about. Like who she is, what she wants, and what the hell she ever saw in the love(s) of her life in the first place. Flanked by overwhelmed new mum Nicola, terminally single Claud, and eternal pessimist Kit, Marnie reckons with the question: who are we when we're on our own? 'Crushing stings with truth and aches with hope. I loved it.' Jessica Dettmann 'A sharp, funny and biting exploration of a classic millennial existential crisis ... with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments' Books+Publishing 'A sexy, complex, bittersweet dark chocolate souffle of a book: airily paced, tartly funny, and with a romantic centre that's just gooey enough' Clare Fletcher 'Bingeable, sharply written, and hilarious, Crushing had me hooked from the first page. This book is filled with love, rage, and wisdom, and reading it felt like having a wine with a best friend.' Victoria Brookman, author of Burnt Out Praise for No Hard Feelings: 'Funny, biting, vulnerable and unflinching, Novak's novel is like an ocean dip: a bit salty, very refreshing' Lauren Sams 'No Hard Feelings is clever, funny and surprisingly sweet, and Penny captured my heart' Toni Jordan 'Wry and witty' Saturday Age

Crushing

Cara 🤍

It was just embarrassing. To find out too late that it wasn't safe to let your guard down. To know that someone had made a list and found your cons column was infinitely longer than your pros. To have tried your hardest and come second place without any competition. 

The single most underrated quality in a person was silliness. 

There was nothing more tiresome than a man who used his quirky sock collection to fill the space where a personality should have been.

I used music to understand the world around me, windows into people’s heads, characters to become and lives to live for three and a half minutes at a time. 

The only way to beat the loneliness out of your bones was to connect with people and make peace with your alone time. You couldn’t feel at ease in an empty room if you were too clouded with anger and shame to notice your breath. 

Crushing quotes

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