The details…
- Title: A Woman in Hiding
- Author: T.B. Markinson
- Publisher: T.B. Markinson
- Publication date: March 1, 2023
- Available formats: ebook, paperback
- Digital file size: 1112 KB
- Print length: 145 pages
- Genre: contemporary romance
- Themes: family, friends, community, education, teaching, marriage, parenting, children, women loving women
- Tropes: neurotic nerd
The blurb from the publisher…
Lizzie Petrie doesn’t know how people manage parenting, friendship, or life.
Watching four children is hard work. This is something Lizzie’s wife, Sarah, knows about. She’s been doing it for six years.
As the kids grow older, Sarah is reaching her breaking point and pleads with Lizzie to do more to pitch in. Lizzie is certain she can do it on her own.
Lizzie is wrong.
When Sarah goes back to work full-time, Lizzie reaches the end of her rope. Her solution? Installing a secret bunker in the basement. The only problem is preventing Sarah from finding out when the construction project turns out to be just as hard as everything else in Lizzie’s life.
Can Lizzie hold it together or will everything crumble down around her, including her marriage?
A Woman in Hiding is the hilarious and heartfelt tenth installment of A Woman Lost, a series of contemporary sapphic romances. If you like quirky characters, complicated family dynamics, and well-crafted prose, then you’ll love following Lizzie’s continuing saga.
My thoughts…
A Woman in Hiding by T.B. Markinson is the tenth book in the A Woman Lost series. The first book in the series was published nearly ten years ago. Over the course of its lifetime, the main character of the series has become adored by its readers. This adoration has inspired fans to collectively write nearly 3,000 Amazon reviews for the books. Almost all of these reviews gush about Lizzie’s undeniable likability and uncanny charm. When Markinson recently announced she intended to end the series, Lizzie fans were crushed.
The disappointment from fans was predictable, but Markinson seemed surprised by their emotional outcry. She received countless emails detailing just how important Lizzie had become to them, and it gobsmacked her. She was amazed by their attachment to Lizzie, a nerdy, awkward fictional character. She stated that she “had no idea the impact Lizzie [had] on so many.”
Once Markinson realized how special Lizzie was to her fans, she was forced to reconsider the future of the series. Markinson now says that Lizzie will live beyond A Woman in Hiding. She reports that new story ideas are already percolating in her head. However, she wants readers to know these ideas will need time to sit before she can shape them into workable stories. It’s paramount to her that she not mess up Lizzie’s arc and disappoint her fans.
Markinson’s A Woman Lost series is an “evolving” series. She regularly incorporates world and U.S. events into its narrative. It all works to facilitate a journey for Lizzie and her nearest and dearest. It’s one that’s sometimes fraught with potholes and patchy pavement, but fans wouldn’t want it any other way. And, much like her Lizzie character, Markinson is a detail-oriented person, so it’s understandable that she would want time to formulate new plot points and character developments. The Petrie clan always seems to have a lot going on; Markinson wants to get it right. After all of the blood, sweat and tears (Lizzie’s, not Markinson’s 😂), Markinson is entitled!
If you are unfamiliar with Lizzie and her clan, I’d strongly suggest getting to know them. They are an endearing, affable group well worth knowing. This especially holds true for Lizzie. She’s an exceptionally well-written and well-developed character. Markinson manages to craft character growth and inspire change with each new narrative, making Lizzie more compelling and dimensional each time. Readers are ready and willing to embrace not only her journey, but the trajectory of it. It stands to reason; it’s always proven itself to be relatable, convincing and honest.
Since plotting and planning is important to Markinson, she has A Woman in Hiding picking up the threads of A Woman Unhinged (book nine) and marching it forward nicely. The Petries are settling into their new home in Massachusetts nicely after the move from Colorado, and Lizzie is growing comfortable in her new position at Wellesley College. Even though change has been a major theme in the Petrie family as of late, it isn’t something Lizzie relishes. However, it’s served her life well. She’s morphed from a single and unattached grad student from Colorado into a happily married college professor raising four kids in an upscale Massachusetts suburb. Readers can count on this though: At a fundamental level Lizzie will always remain a bumbling, socially awkward nerd.
Knowing that Markinson never likes to keep Lizzie’s life comfortable and drama free for too long, readers need to prepare for big changes in this newest novel. With the twins now in school, Sarah wants to return to work, requiring the couple to split the childcare and housework. As the demands of the family begin to overwhelm Lizzie, she feels vulnerable and exposed. She fears she—and her marriage—are at their breaking point. Lizzie’s struggle to achieve some kind of balance is written with believable, relatable passion. Readers see this in the wonderful, well-crafted scenes between Sarah and Lizzie. Genuine, heartfelt emotion is revealed in hi-def resolution, exposing some hard truths about their relationship. Readers will delight in the paces that A Woman in Hiding puts the Petries through. It’s entertaining, insightful and well-done.
Final remarks…
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: The Woman Lost series is fantastic. Though Lizzie remains central to the series, the whole cast works to make it memorable and entertaining. All the books are fresh, original and engaging. A Woman in Hiding is a nice addition and puzzles into the series arc beautifully. Markinson once again crafts a piece readers will find hard to resist.
Strengths…
- Well-written, well-constructed
- Fantastic main characters
- Engaging supporting characters
- Relatable and honest narrative
- Charming and delightful storytelling
This book is available from…
A bit about the author…
TB Markinson is a best selling author who currently lives in New England. When she isn’t writing, she’s visiting pubs in New England, reading, traveling the world or watching sports on the telly—not necessarily in that order.
Since pushing the publish button in 2013, she’s published over twenty-five novels. Even though her novels consistently hit Amazon’s bestseller lists for lesbian fiction and lesbian romance, she still finds it amazing that people read her stories.
Besides being a writer, she is an advocate and proud promoter of sapphic fiction. For the past several years, she and Clare Lydon, fellow author and friend, have run a weekly podcast called Lesbians Who Write. The podcast provides a place for the duo to dish about the good, the bad, and the ugly of writing—or other random topics that may interest them.
In addition to Lesbians Who Write, TB also gets the word out about sapphic fiction via a website she runs with another longtime friend of hers. She and Miranda MacLeod co-own and operate I Heart SapphFic, a place for authors and fans of lesfic to come together, celebrate and chat about lesbian fiction.
Interested in knowing more about T.B. Markinson? Check out her website and social media.
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