T. B. Markinson

This is a little slice from the life of Cori, the protagonist/narrator. The story picks up three years into her relationship with Kat, with whom she has been living for around two years. (The first book in the series, btw, was about their early days together.) Kat is a painter who apparently isn't doing much painting, but she sure as heck knows how to go shopping... So in addition to teaching British lit, Cori has had to take a part time gig in the local coffee shop to help pay down her show more partner's crushing credit card debt.

We read about Cori's shop co-workers, especially Harold the geeky probably-a-virgin guy with a nice brain and 10,000 Twitter followers; of course he gets set up on a date. There is also an old high-school chum and ex-cheerleader (Samantha) who shows up again in Cori's life va-voom. But Sam has problems, too, and Kat is kind of jealous. Cori's mother is a successful novelist, but Cori can't quite finish her own first novel and is spinning her wheels while teaching and pulling espresso.

There is a lot of family discussion with some drama, some family dinners, and some art discussion, with observations about being an author here in the 2010s. I found much of this quite amusing: Cori doesn't have any social media presence, not even on Facebook or a blog; and she ruminates on all of that. So there's some meta-literature going on here. (Sometimes I think Markinson is poking fun at herself a bit.)

As always, I find Markinson's writing smooth and enjoyable. She's an indie, as I've said before. Her books that I've read are well-edited: this book seems to be 100% typo-free. (She's totally on my List.) Oh, yes, full disclosure: I looked back and found that I actually obtained the whole Confessions series of three books via Amazon freebie events. If I can figure out how to use the espresso maker, next time she swings through Santa Banana I'll totally maker her some fancy coffee thing and probably throw in a muffin. show less

This was a delight. I love a fake dating romance. I love actress/hollywood characters, I love Lori Prince as a narrator, and the writing duo of these two authors nearly always hits for me. Overall I had a great time. I Caroline had me of my favorite voices in Lori Prince’s repertoire (it’s just so dreamy) and I really enjoyed the dynamic between her and Margot.

My ONLY minor qualms were that I really wanted to get into Caroline’s pov too! And I was bummed we didn’t, and the nickname show more Go and Gogo were… rotted lol. But this was super fun and one I would absolutely reread/listen to. show less

This show—sorry I meant book—lives somewhere in the vast exotic jungle between Romance and Erotica. You never know when you'll stumble into a "love scene". There's romance, slight comedy, introspection, passion, and self-questioning at every turn.

The book is presented in division of "seasons" with "episodes". (Apparently they were first published separately? I'm not sure. Whatever.) Five stars because I cried at least twice.

One could imagine this novel entirely re-worked into a set of show more screen plays for a one-hour video format TV show, including twenty minutes of commercial interruptions of course, and two scoops of product placement internally. The narrator especially likes to mention clothing and food brands, and to drop in the occasionally celebrity name—most of which zipped by over my head. OK, I understood a reference to MASH, which kind of date-stamps me. For good measure, this volume even ends with a light "season cliff-hanger" so when I finished it I immediately cracked open the next season to peek at the outcome.

The T and G of the sub-title are Tegan, who narrates, and her girlfriend Gemma. Criminy, they can't be more than nineteen, if that. Gemma has known she's lesbian for yonks and had a girlfriend once before (who left her for a guy, yuck), but Tegan has just discovered that she's not as hetero as she's been telling herself all these years. That doesn't mean she's 100% lesbian, either, so there's some angst over self-labelling throughout.

As this book opens, the two women are dorm-mates, sharing one room, in their first year of college, just falling in love, so you know how that is. Tegan is a blue-eyed blonde nursing student who is vocally proud of her double-Ds (and slips in mention of the girls once in a while so we don't forget). Gemma is a slim emerald-eyed redhead, whom I imagined as sort of a real-life Merida, but her part in the TV show could probably be played by Lou Broadbent with green contact lenses. (Look her up, yes.) The volume runs through the year up to the beginning of summer.

Overall, this is sort of an X-Rated college-gal sitrom—that's like a sitcom only romantic. If you're asexual, homo-phobic, or lez-offended, I can probably list sixty-nine reasons for you to avoid this book, but otherwise it's good clean fun and has a definite good vibe and nice messages, including plugs for various products we all know and love. With all the brand-name and pop-culture references, I'm sure Andy Warhol would have given his imprimatur as well. (Oh, wait, uh huh, I just got a message from beyond, and yes, Andy says two thumbs up.)

The writing is good and very clear; and this indie-published book gets a Golden Rodent award for editorial excellence: I didn't spot any typos. I obtained this for free during a 'Zon promo, but happily would have paid, in retrospect. So that means the author now has a standing invitation for a fabulous fancy coffee drink at [product place holder] next time she's in California. show less

"Those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." This famous quote kind of sums up Lizzie's life in A Woman Lost, or so she thinks.

Lizzie hasn't changed much since A Clueless Woman. She's still in self-sabotage mode and has several insecurities. This story does focus more on her relationship with her family or lack thereof. From Lizzie’s interactions with them and what is told, she did not have the type of loving upbringing children deserve, and as an adult, it shows in show more her relationship with Sarah. Her trust issues and need to hide (or lie about) all weaknesses and shortcomings are the major conflicts in this story.

About 4% into the book, it was hard for me not to hate Lizzie. As a doctoral student, you'd think she would be smarter and wiser; however, that's not the case when she used her "Lizzie Logic." When a person makes statements like "I despise my own girlfriend" and "My brother's girlfriend is a goddess who should be fed grapes while reclining on satin sheets," all respect for that person takes a nose dive into asshole zone. Leading up to the climax, that asshole zone is exactly where my respect for Lizzie eventually landed.

Lizzie’s actions infuriated me, and at one point, I almost believed that Lizzie and Maddie made a better couple than Lizzie and Sarah until I remembered just how unreliable Lizzie is as a narrator. My “Arghhh!” almost made this book became my first DNF. However, I stuck with it, and I'm somewhat glad I did 'cause Lizzie got a slap of reality that brought a smile to my face. The jolt of reality forced her to think about another old saying, "You never miss the water till the well runs dry."

Lizzie spends time alone analyzing what she wants most in life and the choices she's made. Ethan, Lizzie’s sounding board, mentioned she needs to "grow up...and take responsibility for [her] own life." Can she? I guess I'm about to find out in the next book of this series A Woman Ignored. show less