Let's Hear it for the Mom Tattoos: Stretch Marks!

-
If you've ever given birth, there's a decent chance you now have stretch marks. There's also a decent chance you're not thrilled about this. But I'm here to say we need to try to think a new way about our stretch marks. I have so many stretch marks. My babies were large — my son weighed 10 pounds even! Ouch! 

For many years, I was too upset about my stretch marks to show them to anyone. I felt embarrassed by them and always wore a one-piece bathing suit. The thought of any man but my husband seeing them was terrifying to me! Part of what made me so embarrassed was the way he spoke about my stretch marks. When he decided he wanted a divorce, he told me my stretch marks looked so bad that if I were dead on the side of the road, a vulture wouldn't touch my stomach. He had a few other choice things to say about my stretch marks, too. 

In time, I dated plenty of other men who didn't have a problem with my stretch marks. They knew I was a mom and they knew that lots of moms have stretch marks. It was normal and nothing they hadn't seen before. In time, I relaxed and learned to see them as "mom tattoos."

People often get a body modification, like a tattoo, to mark a significant experience. Soldiers often get a tat commemorating their service. Some people get tats having to do with their careers or hobbies. Well, I have mom tats that commemorate and celebrate the times I made — with very minimal help from their dad — actual human beings. That's an achievement, my fellow moms. We made humans. Pretty awesome, huh? 

So, what do stretch marks have to do with romance novels?

I am working on a new series of romance novels. It will still be set in the mythical town of Fairview, just like the Small-Town Secrets, but these books will all center on couples who first face a surprise pregnancy and then have to decide whether they want to have a relationship. You may know these as secret baby or accidental pregnancy tropes.

I'm excited about this series, which will allow me to indulge my enthusiasm about pregnancy, babies, birth and breastfeeding! If you have read Kiss and Tell, you may remember the epic surprise birth scene. If you read Perfect Fit, you know that Julie is a doula training to become a midwife. Well, in this series, Julie is a full-fledged midwife and she's ready to deliver some babies! Get ready for a baby boom in Fairview. 

I'm calling the new series Babies and Brides. Haley's wedding planner business is about to take off. The first book is Claiming Haley. If you read Crazy Little Thing, you may remember Haley working at The Clipper. Well, she helps plan a wedding for Hazel and Dee in Laws of Attraction, and in Claiming Haley you're going to find out she has an unplanned encounter with a gorgeous guy she's been drooling over for weeks ... and guess what happens next? Bring on the accidental pregnancy and fake relationship tropes! 

I'm not going to sugarcoat the pregnancies in these books. These aren't crazy fantasy love stories; they're very much like real life. They're realistic. Haley has to deal with morning sickness and stretch marks and all the rest of the things most of us who have given birth have dealt with. But she's also going to have a Happily Ever After ending — and that is realistic as well! 

That ex of mine who delighted in telling me nobody would ever want me again? Ha, I just celebrated 15 years of marriage with the most amazing man EVER. He loves me, stretch marks and all. Love is real. Happily Ever Afters are real. Good men are real. Good sex is real. I hope you'll enjoy the new series. At this point, I'm waiting for my very busy cover designer to have time to finish the cover. When she does, I'll make an announcement! I can't wait to introduce these new books to you. 

Love, Sophia 

P.S.: If you haven't joined my mailing list, please do! Here is the link: http://eepurl.com/hcE4nb
I'll send you a free copy of Happily Ever After All just for joining.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Have You Ever Faked It?

-
Image
Let's get real about fake marriages! There are so many great books about fake relationships/fake marriages out there. There's something extra angsty about reading the story of two people pretending to be a couple while each of them is secretly pining for the other, but trying so hard to stay cool and not let on. There is a whole romance subgenre devoted to this trope. Here's a quick look at a few currently popular titles: Faking Ms. Right by Claire Kingsley,  Unexpected Gift from R.S. Elliot, Fake Marriage by Ajme Williams, Backup Bride by Melinda Mink, A Cowboy and his Fake Marriage by Emmy Eugene, The Billionaire's Fake Wife by L. Steele ... and there are many more. Add in the secret baby or accidental pregnancy trope, and you've really got a hard-to-put-down read. Claiming Haley in my new series,  Babies and Brides , is in this tradition. Here's the blurb:  I’m a pregnant wedding planner who has less than two weeks to throw together a real wedding for
Read more

Beagles and books!

-
Image
Lots of news in the Sophia Sinclair world, but here are the two I want to talk about today. First of all, I'd like everyone to meet Cashew! She is a three-legged senior beagle mix I adopted from my local animal shelter recently. She's very, very sweet and hangs out with me on the futon in my office while I write. She thinks the dog in Worth the Wait should have been a larger part of the story. Everyone's a critic. Second, I'm still giving away free prequels (click here to download!) to the Small-Town Secrets series. This is Happily Ever After All, and it's about an older lady from the early days in Fairview, reminiscing about her life. Here's a line or two from Carol Ann's remembrance of her first time, just to whet your appetite. This part of the story takes place about a week before her wedding, when she and her soon-to-be husband were painting the house they would move into after returning from their honeymoon: She had always imagined her first tim
Read more

Better Than the Real World

-
Image
When I was a child, adults accused me of always being in my own little world because I was always daydreaming. Was that supposed to be an insult? I didn't take it as one. Now I have a little world where others can join me: the little town of Fairview, the setting of the Small-Town Secrets series. A collection of unforgettable characters fills these small-town romance novels. Each book builds on the previous one. We meet new characters in every book, but we always go back and revisit past characters and catch up on what's been happening in their lives. The whole series can be experienced as the world's longest romantic movie. We start with Worth the Wait, where we first meet Molly. She's a single mother who is raising her three children alone on a librarian's salary when one day a man whose relatives were murdered decades ago shows up, intending to take up residence and solve the murder. He just happens to be gorgeous, charming and smitten with Molly. In Kiss and Tel
Read more