Woman on the Verge Book Cover Woman on the Verge
Kim Hooper
Psychological Fiction; Women's Domestic Life Fiction; Family Life Fiction
Lake Union Publishing
July 1, 2025
E-book, Paperback, Hardcover
354

A sexy, propulsive meditation on modern motherhood, tracking the lives of three women as they struggle to define themselves in the face of new obligations and heightened expectations.

Some women, with their perfect children and pricey athleisure, make motherhood look easy. But not Nicole. She never wanted to be a stay-at-home parent―losing her job left her no choice. Now, between her toddlers’ demands, husband’s distance, and father’s deteriorating health, she’s pulled in every direction except her own.

Something has to give.

Katrina’s in the same dissatisfied boat. After flirting with a handsome stranger at a bar, she’s ready to choose pleasure over responsibility. But when her impulse goes surprisingly awry, she must reconcile her reawakened desires with the realities of home.

Housewife Rose battles the constraints of motherhood in the ’80s. Venting her growing restlessness into a diary of secret ambitions, she wonders whether it’s all worth it. Is an unhappy mother really better than a selfish one?

In a shocking twist, the women find their lives intertwined. But as they face their longings head-on, it’s unclear whether they’re destined for a breakthrough…or breakdown.

Woman on the Verge by Kim Hooper had me in a chokehold of emotions.

I laughed at its sharp wit. I harumphed in knowing agreement. I gasped, held my breath, and wept quietly in the fetal position on the couch. This book hit.

Let’s give you more context: Nicole, a stay-at-home mom, is consumed by maternal ambivalence — a concept I hadn’t encountered before reading this novel, but one that hit deeply when I read this quote:

“My children cause me the most exquisite suffering of which I have any experience. It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness.”

Photo by Kate Trifo on Pexels

Nicole is exhausted and unraveling. She questions her worth and resents the life she’s found herself in. On top of this, she becomes a full-time caregiver for her father, recently diagnosed with a terminal brain disease. Hooper handles this with nuance, capturing the grief and complexity of watching a parent fade away while still trying to hold yourself together. As a reader, I watched Nicole curl both around her father and into herself.

Nicole isn’t alone in her spiraling. The novel also follows Katrina, who is caught in an affair with a younger man, and Rose, who quietly considers walking away from her family to pursue her long-abandoned academic dreams. Each woman is “on the verge” — of breaking down, breaking free, or possibly breaking through.

Hooper threads their stories together with stunning emotional precision and delivers some gasp-worthy plot twists along the way. (Seriously, I did NOT see them coming!) The result is a raw and resonant look at identity, longing, and what it means to want more from life.

This is one of those novels that stays with you. I highlighted so many passages in my Kindle that I lost count. If you’re looking for a thought-provoking, gut-punching read about motherhood, womanhood, and everything in between, Woman on the Verge is it.

“I am a woman on the verge—of madness or bliss? I am willing to risk the madness for a chance at bliss.”

A Powerful Portrait of Maternal Ambivalence
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