The Secrets & Lies of Military Wives

by Jenna Lumb

Behind the perfectly staged family photos, the matching holiday pajamas, and the 'Bless This Mess' porch signs, there’s another side to military life—one full of secrets, scandals, and enough drama to fill a dozen deployments.

The Secrets and Lies of Military Wives isn’t fiction. These stories? They’re real. The names? Oh, they’ve been changed, because trust me—some of these wives are still out there. From cheating scandals to friendships held together by gossip and sarcasm, this book delivers the messy truth, told by a narrator who’s seen it all and isn’t afraid to spill.

It’s raw, it’s ridiculous, and sometimes it’s downright heartbreaking. But above all, it’s real. So grab a cup of tea, settle in, and brace yourself—because if this sounds like someone you know… it probably is.

93 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 6, 2025

Reviews

[Kenzey · Rating 1 out of 5]

AI doesn’t belong in the book community.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I purchased "The Secrets & Lies of Military Wives" by Jenna Lumb with the intention of supporting a fellow military spouse. As someone who loves to read, I often seek out new books, especially those authored by individuals in the same community. Unfortunately, this book fell short of my expectations.

It reads as though the author merely extracted stories from a Facebook page dedicated to military spouses and then ran them through some AI program for enhancement. The writing is subpar, and I found the endings of each story to be alarmingly repetitive. I pride myself on finishing every book I start, but this one was the exception—I had to put it down.

While I appreciate the desire to become an author, it’s crucial to put in genuine effort rather than relying on AI to do the heavy lifting and claiming the work as your own. It feels like this book was crafted to capitalize on the support military spouses are known to offer each other, rather than as a heartfelt contribution to our community. A disappointing experience overall.

[Kelsey Richards · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had really high hopes. I love being a military spouse, I've had my fair share of Murphys visits. but 1/2 this book came off gossipy and bitchy, 1/4 was repetitive ( like did there need to be that many cheating stories?) and the last 1/4 was raw, and real. I felt it in my bones and it spoke to me. I was eating up the honestly and laughing through the misery along with the author. I will, say I won't purchase the next one, but I wish her all the best. If I wasn't a happy military spouse and this had been handed to me (not really me but maybe a younger military spouse) it would make me crazy. I would run so fast from any military community and never look back. I hope the next book makes the reader fall in love with military spouses.

[Sahara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to stop supporting people just because they’re a military spouse.

[Ashley Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Drama for your late teens / early 20s. 🙄

Me reading it as a military spouse in my 40s? Such a waste of time.

[LizNReads · Rating 1 out of 5]

The hyped of this book was too much. I love supporting military spouses, but this is just not something that’s worth my money. If you’re into reading old stories and laughing at military wives, then this book is for you. Jenna straight out belittles the targets of her book. But when I had had enough was when she started talking about the kids and what they had to say. It came across to me as though she was also making fun of these kids. Like, Why? Why can’t you just let kids be? I understand kids can sometimes say funny things, but why write about them in your book? And she wants us to share stories with her about our life, for what? So she can write about us in her next book and also belittle us? No thank you.

[Allison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to love it. Being a mil spouse I have seen my fair share of drama and I was hoping for some new juicy gossip. This was like a watered down version narrated by the lady from bridgerton.

Some of the stories I have heard before from Facebook and literally from the news (the wife poisoning her husband with bleach in his coffee pot)

The only story the author claims as her own is the mold story, I don’t believe her and her husband had to stay up in shifts to clean the mold. Yes the mold in housing is bad but come on.

It seems she is going to compile a second book. I hope she gets better material. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Trigger warnings: abuse, lots of people cheating on their spouse

The author deserves some credit because a book like this is a great idea. She just fell short on the execution. Hopefully she takes some constructive criticism and makes her second book better.

[Makayla · Rating 1 out of 5]

umm I had higher hopes and that's my fault.

I love military spouse drama and I buddy-read this with a friend in hopes of raving over the craziness of military life. But honestly the writing was kinda cliche and very Great Value Lady Whistledown. It simply was a bunch of elongated stories you'd find in Facebook comments on a Mil Spouse page. Some of the stories are wild and jaw dropping but so so repetitive. Drama dump in some areas and unbelievable chaos in others. I also question the stories themselves. Particularly the story about Gemma living in ✨️JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA✨️ and apparently this poor woman was stuck trying to leave her abusive husband in the snow... a quick Google search tells me it hasn't snowed there since 1988 and I have family there to validate this. Soooo like, where'd you pull this story from?

More importantly, ever story ended the same way. Where are they now?! Who knows! Why even bring the question up if you ain't gonna fuckin tell me? Oh and I'm being ironic because 90% of the "book" was question and answer format. Please write a full sentence and stop answering your own questions.

While this sounds mean so far, there's tons of debates whether this was written or enhanced by AI. Personal take: fuck you if you did use AI to make money off a book you claim as your own work. But hey, bold move Cotton. Moreover, there are a terrible number of spelling errors and formatting issues. You couldn't take the time to look at a real published book and use its formatting?

[Meghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea. The writing style is very conversational, which may be better consumed in an audio format than written word. As it was, the style of asking a question and immediately answering it as well as switching between first and third person between some stories did not flow well for me. A few stories stuck out as interesting insights into some base drama or a description of a general military archetype or description of a shared experience (Cynthia as deployment's relationship with Murphy's Law would be good insight for a civilian to understand something all military families deal with on some level and is easy to commiserate with as a milspo). Some stories were weak tea. It felt a lot like someone casually filling you in on posts from the base spouse's page that have since been removed by admin... Which I suppose is what it is meant to be like. I did love the cover art and saw the author's in-progress sketches and development of her interpretation of the Dependapotomus.

[Logan Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, 2 stars is pretty generous. I finished this in about 20 minutes and I wish I could get those 20 minutes back.

[Curstie · Rating 1 out of 5]

AI Garbage that she’s passing off as her own and hurting real authors. Why support someone who openly admitted to using AI?

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in one sitting. Hilarious and unfortunately, familiar.

[Allysa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I mean...where do I start? The horrific grammar, the realllyyy bad spelling errors, or the obvious plot holes ? Please fire your editor lol

How is homegirl chasing her dog around in the ice and snow in JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA?

How is this USS Bataan mentioned numerous times but apparently has different homeports?

...I can't.

Also, it's so annoying that every story ends "where are they now? The world will never know" like...can we just leave that out?

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan. The writing was subpar at best. There was no shock value to any of the stories. Just your usual stereotypical stories wrapped up in a pretty cover.

[Path.Through.Pages · Rating 1 out of 5]

this whole thing is Ai from the cover to the writing.

Plus it's still illegal to steal stories even if you change names.

[Lainey · Rating 2 out of 5]

super gossipy and pretentious, which makes it mildly entertaining, but not much else

[Jessie Watterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t like AI either but yall are full on bullying this girl and I think it’s a weird joint “groupthink” barrage. I’ve seen her original sketches. She doesn’t color block very well from her own admission. So she used color suggestions from AI. Y’all are reaching wayyyyyyy out by not acknowledging the different levels of AI. Coloring on HER WORK? Give me a break. The artist community is the worst enemy of other artists. I swear it’s almost like politics. “Hey, I don’t like Donald trump so I’m going to win everyone over by telling them how ignorant they are and how superior I am on my high horse”. Yeah, no. Bringing people to your side by acting like a snob has never worked. Not once in history. There are kinder ways to help and guide someone. Don’t be the reason someone stops making art totally. Big mean girl energy moods in these reviews.

Don’t defend yourself anymore, girl. You’ve spoke your piece, you’ve explained and there are some people the see the everything so one dimensionally that they can’t offer constructive criticism . Instead they want to tear you down. Keep writing. Don’t use an ounce of AI next time so people can’t hyperfocus on something to tear you down. Keep on writing and keep on improving and don’t let Debbie downers discourage you.

[Jacque Herndon · Rating 1 out of 5]

- [ ] Grammatical errors and poor sentence structure. I hate how the paragraphs are set up. What happened to a traditional indent for a new paragraph.
- [ ] Stories weren’t even as juicy as she made it sound like they would be.
- [ ] I’ve been stationed at the largest military bases in the US and have heard way juicier gossip.
- [ ] Some of these stories just seem like page fillers. For instance “Nina.” We got more details of him jerking off in the living room than the actual affair.
- [ ] Random preemptive chapters weren’t necessary. Ie: early gray, jasmine tea. They’re just page fillers with nonsense.
- [ ] I’m happy I was able to support a military spouse but I’m not happy about the time I wasted on this book. The potential was there, but it was an epic fail. I’m not even talking about the accusation or suspected use of AI, it was just off the writing and the rip off of stories. How are you going to essentially ask people for stories which would write the book for you?

[Courtney Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️THE FORT ___ SPOUSE PAGE BUT HARD COPY⭐️ This book is filled with “IYKYK” stories! It’s short, it’s entertaining and I literally laughed out loud and cringed on many occasions. The tea was so good I actually went back and read aloud different stories to my husband! He loved it! We both can’t wait for all the tea on deployments etc 🫣 The best part about this book is it is written by a MILSPOUSE!

[Krista Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’d probably give this more of a 1.5 star. I purchased this book to support a fellow milso and honestly this book fell flat. I know the author is wanting to write another and changes some things. Others have said the author posted using ai to help her write the book which was apparently posted by the author. For me the writing switches first person and third person pretty sporadically as well as very repetitive in some forms. There was probably 3 stories that were good in the book but honestly it’s just giving the worst of military spouses and services members. It’s not really funny it’s more sad. Maybe if the author doesn’t use ai and really puts more thought in the stories and phrasing the sequel will be better. I hope she doesn’t give up writing but instead tries to improve on consistency of pov, flow of the story, ending for the story, and eithe have one tsh line for the book rather than overworking the same one in awkward spots.

[Laura Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was such a fun read! It reminded me so much of the local spouse page—I could instantly recognize so many of these characters just from living in base housing. It’s a quick, entertaining read that perfectly captures the humor and chaos of military spouse life. If you’ve ever been part of a military community, you’ll definitely relate! Plus, it’s a great way to support a fellow military spouse. Highly recommend!

[A Cuppa Cosy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really know what to really say about this one- I either already knew the story OR it was a story that we've all heard a variation for. However, I knew going into this book that that would be the case. There wasn't enough beyond just the stories (whether humor, good intentions, tips or otherwise) to really do much with.

[Bailey Schneider · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had better expectations for this book. It was extremely repetitive in the stories and words/phrases used and there were so many grammatical errors it was frustrating. The stories were also so boring. No depth to them and very surface level. I feel like I’ve read more interesting things on Facebook groups.

[Megan Shively · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to support a fellow milspouse but this book was not great. These are stories that you hear about all the time. It’s nothing original or shocking. She mentioned it took her 3 years to compile and write this book. I could easily write this in a day.

[Alexandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

The stories in this book were funny enough but unfortunately I found out that ai was used in the creative process.

[Halie Trepus · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a quick and light read. Some parts had me laughing, others had me in tears. And many times, someone popped into my head who reminded me of the person I was reading about. I hope she turns this into a whole series. And I might even submit some stories over my time of being a military SO and growing up with a dad in the army. I’m glad someone is finally putting the stories out there. Definitely going to recommend to all my follow MILSO friends.

[Shanay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious and relatable, been around the military my whole life and have heard many of these kinds of stories a time or two. Reading about them was hilarious this was a perfect "in-between other reads/ palate cleanser" because it was fast, funny and like I said, personally relatable.

[Cheryl Chrisman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious look at the life of military spouses. Hubby retired over 20 years ago, but I still recall the characters of Lorna, Diane, Dana, and Carol in my own life. Fellow wives who were cocktail waitresses who married Soldiers for an ID card, a daughter of a rich Colombian who married an Army Specialist, the lesbian married to a soldier so he could move out of the barracks, and all the “normal” folks that I have kept as friends for 40 years. I truly enjoyed the book and can’t wait for a sequel.

[Natatia Grubb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is part hilarious, part heartbreaking, part salacious, and all things military spouse life.
Move over, Lady Whistledown! Jenna is the new tea spiller on the block.

Hannah’s chapter killed me, partly because we’ve all been flies on the walls of those Facebook comment sections. 👀

If you are a MilSpouse, want to be a MilSpouse, know a MilSpouse, or love a MilSpouse, (or maybe you just want some gossip) read this book.

Side note: the acronym glossary at the front? Chefs kiss.

[Irma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had me turning pages reading by flash light! Yes, you read that correctly by flash light! I just couldn’t put it down until I finished it.

I gasped and giggled, and even said ‘Yep, been there, saw that!’

I do not recommend buying just one copy, you have to buy multiple copies to share with friends - they don’t have to be military spouse friends either.