Stretch Marks is most certainly chick-lit, but chick-lit with a social conscience and a healthy dose of the reality of single pregnanthood, to coin a phrase.  Mia is a social worker who finds herself suddenly pregnant and her live-in significant other running, not walking, away when he learns the news.

As Mia tries to learn to cope with all the new challenges she faces, she grows both inside and out. Perhaps the hardest challenge of all is having her mother move into an apartment in her own building in Chicago. Mia and her mom, Babs, try to learn to get along despite their innate differences and opposite belief systems.  Mia is a vegetarian; Babs finds meat to be vital to life, as an example. The teen-age mom-to-be, Flor, whom Mia meets through work, is perhaps the best and most edgy character of all. She's well adjusted and, in her own way, sharper than Mia. Teen readers will enjoy her, and perhaps learn from her mistakes.

I liked this book because the author is not pretentious in trying to get her messages across, and the characters are interesting enough that I cared what happened to them.  I liked the "After Words" section, which includes excerpts from Bab's journal, a birth announcement and even a vegetarian burger recipe.  The layout is unique, the story well told, and I cannot find anything I did not like about the book.

That said—yes, I like the book...but somehow I wished for more.  Perhaps more depth? Perhaps more angst?  I can't put my finger on it, so I'll leave it there and say that for those who want a nice, interesting story, with mostly likeable characters, you won't go wrong buying this book.  The author has done a good job, and I'll be interested to read whatever she writes next!  My own suggestion—a sequel that dives a bit deeper!