Stumped on something novel to get Mom this Mother’s Day?
If you’ll forgive the pun, local author Lauren Monroe reports that while chocolates, a coffee mug or a bottle of wine are fun, the ability to lose oneself in someone else’s trials and triumphs coupled with a little Chesapeake fantasy may be the best ticket to hours of relaxation.
“Studies have shown that reading reduces stress,” reports Monroe. “Volunteers at the University of Sussex in the UK helped to carry out this research. Psychologists believed that reading forced the mind to concentrate and that distraction of being taken into a literary world eased muscle tension and helped heart rate, even in as little as six minutes. Of course, I’d recommend a little more, maybe 15 or 30 minutes,” she says with a chuckle.
In this study, reading worked best to reduce stress levels by 68 percent, followed by listening to music at 61 percent, having a cup of tea or coffee by 54 percent and taking a walk at 42 percent. Lauren Monroe reports that she, too, tries to read for pleasure and to unwind after a hectic work week. The most frequent line she hears at book signings and events is that women are too busy to engage in this type of self-care.
“My suggestion is two-fold, that children or men gift women novels they may enjoy and get a little lost in, and next that women put themselves first for a change. Remember: even six minutes, but hey, let’s try for half an hour,” she says. “That gets them started. My hunch is that once women see how relaxing reading can be, they’ll take it from there.”
Monroe formatted her novels into large print editions so that older ladies like grandma or a favorite aunt could indulge in some sheer fantasy, enjoy Chesapeake scenery, and get a taste of what the younger generation of hectic work lives and parenting is all about in the 2000s. “Age doesn’t mean there’s no fantasy, not at all,” she reports. Monroe will have a limited number of large print editions at the Queenstown signing May 11 as well as regular print.
Letting Go: Book One of The Maryland Shores begins in 2002, one year after 9/11 attacks and during a particularly stressful time of the sniper shootings in the DC area counties. Monroe created a fictitious town just south of Annapolis so that the action would take place mostly on the western shore, with anxious characters now even feeling more so.
Second Chances: Book Two of The Maryland Shores features a diehard Ravens fan living on Kent Island who suddenly realizes she doesn’t have the idyllic life she thought she had. Writing the Pittsburgh-Baltimore football rivalry into character’s lives stems from Pittsburgh being her hometown. “It was how I could incorporate two areas that I’ve loved into my series, and I learned so much about the trauma that happened when Baltimore lost the Colts,” she says. “I knew where I lived. I made Liz bleed purple and had fun creating her.”
What’s more Second Chances follows the story of the first hero and heroine, begins during a historic blizzard in 2003 and then offers up Hurricane Isabel before ending on the sandy beaches of Ocean City. “We love having Lauren Monroe in store because she really engages with readers,” says Liza Veloz, store manager. “Her novels accurately depict Kent Island, Annapolis and are peppered with authentic Maryland details. I bought the first for my own mother last Mother’s Day. She loved it and bought herself the next novel for its Italian family.”
If you cannot make it to the signing on Saturday, May 11, Monroe invites readers to follow her at www.facebook.com/lauren.monroe.novels and to check out www.laurenmonroenovels.com for links.
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~ Eastern Shore novelist Lauren Monroe & Book Warehouse in the Queenstown Outlets