“Half the time when brothers wrestle, it’s just an excuse to hug each other.” ~ James Patterson

Hello !

Apparently, today is Siblings Day. I found out from a promo email that featured sibling cats and dogs—not from my sister or brother wishing me a Happy Big Sister Day. Once brats, always brats. All you first borns know what I mean, right?

If you've read any of my books, it should be clear that family—and sibling relationships in particular—is a theme that is close to my heart. In the stories in The Mixed Six-Pack, there are six men who consider themselves brothers, but don't all share the same genetic backgrounds.

I was inspired to write about these relationships by my own sweet son (the one I wrote about last week). After a man I'd been dating dumped me, my then 10-year-old comforted me with a pat on my arm and this admission:

"I'm sorry you're sad and I hate to be rude, but do you think the next man you date could have a son because I've always wanted a brother."

He knew that he was a miracle child since, when I was 29-years-old after a handful of miscarriages, doctors declared my uterus unfit to carry any fetus to term. But that egg/sperm combination, the one telling me he was a 'Lonely Only,' was a fighter who defied the odds.

When I was ready to date again, and with Sweet Son's words in my heart, I met a man for lunch. This man had a 5-year-old son. Mine was still ten. After just a month, we took deep breaths and decided to meet each other's kids and to let the boys met each other.

After only three months of dating, the four of us piled into a minivan and drove from Vancouver to DisneyLand. We knew we were moving fast but we wanted to test all the limits with the boys since we needed to know they'd get along and that we could all live together in harmony before things got too serious.

Mr. Bloom and I have been together for 15 years and our sons have called each other brother since virtually the day they met. Not step-brother. Just brother.

My Sweet Son's bio-dad remarried a woman 15 years younger than me—a woman in prime baby-making age. And she gave my son two more brothers. He never calls them half-brothers. They are brothers, pure and simple.

I'm blessed that I'm close with my sister and brother. As adults, the three of us have lived together in all the different permutations—in my life, siblings are the family that can always be counted on. And even though my womb was only ever available to one child, nothing brings me more joy than knowing my son has that love and acceptance that comes from being able to wrap your arm around another human and claim him as a brother—or her as a sister.

My paternal grandmother was the second of thirteen children. She, too wanted a big family but that wasn't in her cards. I was a teenager before I learned that my dad's younger sister was adopted because in my family that just didn't matter. And nothing made my grandmother happier than having all five grandkids over at the same time. Nana, from Third Party, was modelled in part on my own Nonnie.

Do you have a story about siblings—by blood or by choice? A sister from another mister? A brother from another mother? Are you like me, a typical first-born? Or like my sister, the overlooked middle child? Or my brother, the baby of the family? What's your sibling story?

And, have you called your brother(s) and/or sister(s) to say you appreciate them today?

Free books this week

All of these covers lead you to promos that have dozens of books in them. These are the ones that caught my eye because they all feature—you guessed it—Brothers!

Firefighter brothers, motorcycle club brothers, blood brothers, billionaire brothers, and a couple of falling for your brother's best friend romances. Click one... click 'em all!

The beauty of these promos is that all the books are free, so if you don't love the hero within the first few pages, you can thank him for his time, kick his butt right off your e-reader and move on to the next story!

And of course, it would be silly of me not to mention my own stories that are very much focused on brothers. In fact, here's a link to one scene from Second Breath, where Nick the firefighter (from First In) and Josh the video game developer (from Third Party) take their brother Dylan to the gym to knock some sense into him after he breaks up with the love of his life, Kama.

Thanks for being here.

love & siblingrivalrystuff,

Danika

xo

PS —After you've called your sibs to tell them you appreciate them, tell me your favorite sibling story—the one that still makes you laugh years later!