Getting Back Review — Is It Worth Reading?

Verdict: A thoughtful, well-researched second-chance romance between a guarded publishing CEO and the college girlfriend who left her thirty years ago to marry the man her father chose — rich in history and emotion, but slow, heavy on backstory, and divisive about its heroine.

Best for: Readers who want heroines in their fifties, dual-timeline storytelling, Jewish and historical themes, and a cautious, grown-up reunion rather than a whirlwind.

Heat level: Not rated (romance.io has no steam rating)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.6/5 — a 3.76 Goodreads average across 161 ratings)

Tropes: Second chance, first love, college reunion, dual timeline, forced marriage in the past, older heroines, historical backdrop.

Getting Back is Cindy Rizzo’s 2015 contemporary lesbian romance from Ylva Publishing. Elizabeth Morrison runs one of the most successful publishing companies in the US, and in three decades she has never got over Ruth Abramson — the brilliant, beautiful college girlfriend who gave in to her father, a famous Russian dissident, and married the young man chosen for her. Now, as their 30th college reunion approaches, Ruth is divorced, living openly as a lesbian, and the class luncheon speaker.

It holds a 3.76 average across 161 Goodreads ratings, with 60% of them four or five stars. Its reviews split sharply between readers who found it deep and moving and readers who found it lecturing and slow.

What Is Getting Back About?

This is a second-chance romance told across two timelines. The present is 2008, as Elizabeth and Ruth circle each other after the reunion and try to work out, in the blurb’s words, the difference between getting back together and just getting back. The past is the late 1970s at a women’s college, where their first love blossomed and broke.

Rizzo wraps the romance in a lot of history: the experience of Soviet Jewish émigrés, Ruth’s dissident father, the world of trade publishing, the aftermath of 9/11 and, in the 2008 timeline, the fight over marriage equality in California. For some readers that context is the book’s great strength; for others it crowds out the love story.

What Makes This Second-Chance Romance Work

A believable, cautious reunion: Readers praise the realism of two adults approaching each other warily, with none of the impulsive reversals that spoil many romances.
Research and history: The Soviet Jewish subplot, the 1970s setting and the publishing world are widely described as well researched and fascinating.
Dual timeline done well: Several readers who normally dislike flashbacks said the movement between decades was smooth and easy to follow.
Older heroines: Readers welcome two women in their fifties with complicated histories.
Emotion: Supporters say it grips the heart, with tears along the way and a sweet ending.

Book Synopsis

Elizabeth Morrison has risen to the top of her industry and now runs one of the most successful publishing companies in the US. But even after three decades, she has never got past the devastating end of her relationship with Ruth Abramson.

As her 30th college reunion approaches, she must face the woman who long ago gave in to the demands of her father, a famous Russian dissident, and married the man chosen for her. It does not help that Ruth, now divorced and living openly as a lesbian, is the class luncheon speaker.

As the two women try to reconcile their past, Elizabeth has to confront issues she has long avoided — and decide whether she distrusts Ruth or herself more. Is she headed for another fall, or does she want to get close again so that this time she can be the one to walk away?

My Review

What I admire most here is the ambition. Rizzo is not content with a reunion romance; she wants to show how history shaped these two women — Ruth’s family’s escape from the Soviet Union, the constraints of the 1970s, the long road to marriage equality. When it works, it gives the romance real weight, and readers who loved the book loved exactly this. One reader, married during the brief window before Proposition 8, said the ending spoke directly to her own life.

The structure deserves credit too. The flashbacks are not only about the love affair: they range across Elizabeth’s years in Europe after the break-up, her rise in the family publishing house, and the day of 9/11, when not knowing whether people you love are alive becomes suddenly, horribly real. One reviewer singled those passages out as especially powerful. Another, who grew up in the era, enjoyed revisiting the 1970s through the characters and praised the accuracy of the book’s picture of trade publishing. Ruth, meanwhile, is written as someone who paid a real price for obeying her father — a marriage, a son, decades of hiding — and her decision to live openly in her fifties gives the reunion its stakes. Readers who connected with the book say the slow, careful rapprochement between two people with that much history is exactly what made it believable.

Elizabeth is the sticking point. She is arrogant and commanding — she sometimes calls herself “Queen Elizabeth” — and even sympathetic reviewers say they had to get past an initial aversion. Several readers found her years-long scrapbooking of Ruth’s life creepy rather than romantic, and others found it hard to believe a college relationship could hold both women for thirty years. Both leads are very wealthy, and one reader noted there is almost no physical description of either.

The other criticism is balance. A number of reviewers felt the history became a lecture, that the romance was stilted and formal, or that the book branched into too many other stories; one wished the ending had focused on the relationship rather than on political events. A detail that bothered at least one reader was a therapist who refuses to treat Elizabeth on ethical grounds and then agrees to give her cooking lessons at home.

My honest note: If you enjoy historical depth and a slow, adult reunion, this is a rewarding read. If you want the romance front and centre, you may find it drifts.

Element	In Getting Back
Central relationship	Elizabeth Morrison & Ruth Abramson — publishing CEO and her college first love, reunited after thirty years
Core tropes	Second chance, first love, college reunion, dual timeline, family pressure
Setting	2008 and a women’s college in the late 1970s
Heat level	Not rated — romance.io has no steam rating
Series	Standalone — happy resolution
Content notes	Family pressure into marriage, Soviet persecution in backstory, 9/11, homophobia

How Spicy Is Getting Back?

We have not scored the heat, because romance.io has no steam rating for Getting Back — only four readers have rated it there. One reviewer described the couple reconnecting to the “steamy chemistry” of their past, but most reviews focus on history and emotion rather than heat. Treat it as a character-driven romance first.

The content worth knowing about includes Ruth’s family forcing her into marriage, the persecution of Soviet Jews in the backstory, and passages about 9/11.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want heroines in their fifties, you enjoy dual timelines and historical depth, and you like a slow, realistic reunion. It is on our mature lesbian romance and women over 40 lists.

You may want to skip it if: you want a romance-focused, fast-moving plot, you dislike prickly heroines, or long historical asides frustrate you.

In short: A thoughtful, history-rich reunion romance that rewards patience.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)

This is a 2015 Ylva title with a modest readership, much of it from advance copies, and a web search surfaced no Reddit threads. On Goodreads the split is 26% five stars, 34% four, 31% three and 7% two or one. StoryGraph shows 3.58 across 15 reviews. I found only a paperback listing on Amazon.com when I checked, and no audiobook on Libro.fm.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The realistic, adult reunion first. Second, the research and historical detail. Third, the smooth dual timeline. Fourth, the emotional ending.

What readers argue about and complain about: Elizabeth’s arrogance and her scrapbook, above everything. Second, history that some felt became a lecture. Third, the implausibility of a thirty-year torch. Fourth, a slow pace and a finale focused on politics.

The standalone question worth asking first: Getting Back is a standalone. If you want more second-chance romance with older heroines, Gold Star Chance is another reunion of first loves three decades on.

Frequently Asked Questions

How old are Elizabeth and Ruth in Getting Back?

Both are in their early fifties in the 2008 timeline, attending their 30th college reunion. The flashbacks show them as students at a women’s college in the late 1970s.

Is Getting Back a second-chance romance?

Yes. Elizabeth and Ruth were college lovers until Ruth bowed to her father’s wishes and married the man chosen for her. Thirty years later Ruth is divorced and out, and the two meet again at their reunion.

How spicy is Getting Back?

romance.io has no steam rating for it, so we have not scored it. Readers describe it as an adult, character-driven romance rather than a steamy one, with the emphasis on history and emotion.

Does Getting Back have a happy ending?

Readers describe the ending as sweet and satisfying for the couple, though one felt the final chapters focus more on outside political events than on the relationship. The ending sits against the backdrop of the 2008 marriage-equality fight in California.

Is there an audiobook of Getting Back?

I could not find one. Libro.fm has no listing.

If You Loved Getting Back, Read These Next

For another first-love reunion after thirty years, try Gold Star Chance. For a lighter second chance between estranged wives in their fifties, see I Love You Again, and All This Time is another mature romance from our reviews. For more, browse our mature lesbian romance hub, the women over 40 list, second-chance romance, or the full Book Reviews archive.

The Bottom Line

Getting Back sets out to tell a thirty-year love story against the history that shaped it, and it largely succeeds in depth: the reunion is believable, the research is strong and the emotion lands for many readers. What holds it back is a heroine some readers cannot warm to, a romance that can feel stilted, and history that sometimes overwhelms the love story. For readers who want a thoughtful, adult second-chance romance, it is worth it. Check Getting Back on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, Getting Back ranks as a good, ambitious mature second-chance romance — rich in history and realistic in its reunion, held back by a divisive heroine and a love story that competes with its context.