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As a military wife of 13 years, Jenna Lumb has seen and heard a lot of unbelievable stories, so many that she was inspired to write a “tea-filled” book about the goings on behind closed doors.

“The Secrets & Lies of Military Wives,” written by Lumb, is a collection of stories from military spouses ranging from cheating scandals to the horrors of military housing. The book includes stories submitted by Lumb’s friends and complete strangers. Lumb has even disguised some of her own stories within the pages.

To celebrate the release and success of the book, Lumb had a book signing at Pressed Cafe in Suffolk. 

Jessica Plummer, who came to Lumb’s book signing, said she hadn’t read it, but was excited to get a signed copy at the book signing.

Although Plummer said she doesn’t have any interesting military wife stories of her own, she’s sure she’ll be able to relate to the book, and she’s looking forward to laughing while reading them.

Lumb self-published the book on Amazon, and in a month, it sold over 1,260 copies. That number continues to climb every day, she said.

“I expected, like, maybe 20 sales,” Lumb said. “I did not expect it, I’m still shocked.”

Lakota Wood is a close friend of Lumb’s and has also lived the military wife life.

She said she’s “super proud” of her friend and can confirm that the stories are real and she’s witnessed similar ones herself.

Since she first started asking for submissions through her @S.A.L.O.M.W. Instagram account, Lumb said she’s gathered over 100 stories. She always makes sure to change people’s names and change any defining characteristics to try and protect their real identities.

Both Lumb and Wood said their favorite story so far is Nina’s, one of the many military cheating scandals. 

Because she’s received so many submissions and is still getting more, Lumb is committed to writing a second book in the “Secrets & Lies of Military Wives” series.

Lumb included about 20 individual stories in the first book, as well as other snippets that detail military life, including common military acronyms, comical statements made by military kids, and what a “dependapotomus” is.

“‘Dependa’ is an ongoing inside joke between most military wives,” Lumb explained. “There’s some people that find it poor humor, but a ‘dependapotomus’ is what they call military wives.”

In her book, Lumb goes into more detail about the different kinds of “dependas”: a rank dropper, who believes her husband’s rank is also hers; the financial assassin, a wife who spends her husband’s paycheck on unnecessary items; drama’s best friend, the one who stirs the pot; and the social media warrior, a wife who shares a bit too much on socials.

The paperback version of Lumb’s book features a stereotypical “dependapotomus” wearing a cropped top, army jacket, large sunglasses, and a messy bun. She’s also holding a steaming cup of coffee in her freshly manicured hand.

“I think that’s kind of why people are taking to it, is because that inside joke is, like, public,” Lumb said.

Despite the negative stereotypes, Lumb was also quick to say that most military spouses are “hardworking, supportive, and doing their best to hold it all down.”

Since the book became more popular than Lumb expected, she’s considering the idea of working with a larger publishing group for her future books.

“I want to, very, very bad, I just don’t know how,” she said. “I know I need to do certain things to get my foot in the door … But I’m so new to this, and I feel like I need my hand held with it.”

For now, she plans to continue self-publishing, hoping that a larger company might notice it and show some interest.

In addition to the second “Secrets & Lies” book, Lumb is also working on collecting stories for another book, “Salty Sailors & Sea Stories,” which will be all about what happens during a deployment. 

“I feel like the people that support me are just like, we’re all just one big military family trying to help each other,” Lumb said.