Today Delighted Reader is excited to have Ann Mayburn stop by to talk about her new book Adore and the heart break and love that goes into becoming a family.
Christmas and/or the holiday season in general is a time when we are encourage to be with our families, to spend time with our loved ones, and is an excuse to get together with friends you haven’t seen in forever. But the main image that sticks out in most people’s minds is sitting around the Christmas tree on Christmas morning opening presents with your nearest and dearest. For families that have been unsuccessfully trying to have a child this can be a rather sad time of year. You look around and see your friends posting cute pictures of their kids doing holiday stuff, are bombarded with toy commercials featuring amazingly cute toddlers, and you tend to get that meaningful look from your Mom silently asking when you are going to make her a grandmother. For couples that cannot physically have their own child, for whatever reason, there seems to be extra pressure from everyone to have a baby by Christmas.
I know when I was going through my fertility treatments I kept imagining what would happen if this time it finally worked, if this time I managed to carry to term. Inevitably my daydreams would wander to Christmas and how wonderful it would be to spend it with our child. All the things we would do together, all the ways we could celebrate it as a family.
And, for those years when nothing seemed to work and we started to consider adoption, I would start to picture children of all different ages, nationalities, and genders sitting around that tree with us. Fortunately through a friggin miracle I finally was able to get pregnant and carry to term, not once but three times, but I never forgot those days of praying with all my heart and soul for a baby.
In my M/M Holiday novella, ‘Adore’, I used my own personal experiences and those of my friends to write a story about not only the struggle of adoption, but also the reward at the end. In the book, Sam and Cody have the additional struggle of trying to adopt as a gay couple, but that wasn’t really the focus of it. I wanted to tell a short story that took the readers beyond the gender issue and made it more about two human beings trying desperately to have a child rather than make it all ‘OMG they are GAY and trying to have a KID and they’re GAY’. 
For those that have never had to go through the adoption process, it is long, rigorous, exhausting and has resulted in more than one marriage ending. Sam and Cody reach a point during their struggle to have a child where they come to that cross-roads, to either abandon any thoughts of having a family or try one more time at the possible cost of their marriage. Setting the story around Christmas was important to me because it is the season for miracles, something Sam and Cody will need in spades.
Adore by Ann Mayburn
Read Chapter One
BLURB
Sam and Cody have settled into married life, living in their dream home, and are more in love than ever. There is just one thing missing from their lives to make their home complete: A baby to share their love with. Adoption is difficult enough, but the struggles and hardship of trying to adopt as a gay couple may be too much for the men to handle. When a series of setbacks leaves both men with broken hearts and wounded souls, it will take a Christmas miracle to give Sam and Cody the strength to give adoption one more try.
About the Author
Ann is Queen of the Castle to her wonderful husband and three sons in the mountains of West Virginia. In her past lives she’s been an Import Broker, a Communications Specialist, a US Navy Civilian Contractor, a Bartender/Waitress, and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. She also spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead-though she will deny to her children that it ever happened. From a young age she’s been fascinated by myths and fairytales, and the romance that often was the center of the story. As Ann grew older and her hormones kicked in, she discovered trashy romance novels. Great at first, but she soon grew tired of the endless stories with a big wonderful emotional buildup to really short and crappy sex. Never a big fan of purple prose, throbbing spears of fleshy pleasure and wet honey pots make her giggle, she sought out books that gave the sex scenes in the story just as much detail and plot as everything else-without using cringe worthy euphemisms. This led her to the wonderful world of Erotic Romance, and she’s never looked back. Now Ann spends her days trying to tune out cartoons playing in the background to get into her ‘sexy space’ and has learned to type one handed while soothing a cranky baby.
Find the author on: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Shari
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Hi Shari! Thank you so much for having me on your blog, and thank you especially for giving Sam and Cody a chance to make you smile. I’m so glad that you were caught up in their story and it really warms my heart to know that it warmed yours. 😉
Hi Ann,
I so loved your post. It hit home with me since I too was struggling to have a child 13 years ago and on the brink of starting an adoption process when I got pregnant with my beautiful daughter. That seemed to open the flood gates of my fertility. My heart breaks for couples, both straight and gay, who cannot have children of their own. It is a money consuming process along with you life coming under scrutiny. Thank you for writing such a beautiful story of love.
Shari
Nice post. I like Christmas decorations.
Oh dang. This is one I just LOVED the cover but didn’t have time for. He sounds utterly lickable. Glad she was for the most part good even if a bit frustrating at times.
Oh yes, swoony hero who had it all going- sexy, fighter, sense of humor, loyal, and respected by the guys. She definitely had it good though it took forever for her to get with it.
I am so glad to see that someone is writing about this topic of adoption. We have several in my family so it is near and dear to my heart. And its just even better that you chose to make it a holiday story. Thanks for visiting today, Ann!
My cousin struggled with infertility for many years and eventually she and her husband adopted their son. The adoption process took years. It was difficult, lengthy and expensive, but she always says it was worth it. Her son is such a blessing in all of our lives. I look forward to reading this series. Thanks for the giveaway!
JYL22075 at gmail dot com
I come from a very fertile family, but my heart goes out to those with difficulties.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Thanks for sharing your personal experience in your posting. I guess my favorite Christmas gift when I was six and I received a small rhinestone heart necklace from them. It had special meaning to me at the time.
strive4bst(At) yahoo(Dot) com
My step-mom and my step-sister both have adopted kids. I really enjoyed your post.
sstrode at scrtc dot com