Reading Is a Research-Based Relaxation Technique
Why a Therapist Writes Novels
Loriann Oberlin, veteran non-fiction writer for decades prior to entering the counseling field, had this bucket list item to explore writing fiction. After attending fiction workshops at a 2013 writer's conference, she got inspired. Note, she never intended to rival favorite novelists like Nora Roberts, a Maryland best-selling author, or Elin Hilderbrand, who bases her stories on Nantucket. Writing fiction focused her brain on fun after the intensity of client work. Perhaps a therapist is perfectly poised to invent characters, what with human behavior they've studied and guided in others.
Wanting to keep her fiction separate from her more serious non-fiction topics, she developed a pen name Lauren Monroe, because she's always liked that first name, and the last name is a nod to Monroeville, where she grew as a magazine and book author.
The Maryland Shores series is a contemporary, women's fiction novel series set predominately around the Chesapeake Bay, yet readers will identify with other sites and geographic areas characters visit.
You'll find purchase links here and at the bottom of the page. Each novel spans 100,000+ words and the e-Book price is a literal steal given that page count. Letting Go: Book One of The Maryland Shores begins in 2002, an anxious era post-9/11 and with other regional stressors. Read below for details and/or online, where you'll even find an affordable large print edition since older readers like a little spice and fun in their fiction, too!
Second Chances: Book Two of The Maryland Shores picks up the story with a new hero/heroine yet the beloved characters from book one surface in the subplot. Again, there's a bargain of an e-Book as well as a large print edition.
Believe it or not, Book Three is in the works, but updating a non-fiction title, a global pandemic which spread most mental health clinicians too thin, unexpected life happenings, moving and settling into a new community are all too real reasons for its delay.
Laugh, cry and escape. When Maren lost Mark, she felt adrift in choppy waters. Never one to act quickly and always one to worry, she must adjust course, adapting as a single mom, now with the DC sniper ramping up even more fear. Not exactly the time for change, more risk…or is it?
Steve has that full-of-himself yet charming way, cornering Maren’s curiosity with his compassion, sailing graces and hot distraction.
Scarred by betrayal, his recent relationships have been the casual kind. He thrives on the intensity of life and death. Will a left-brained, logical man and a creative, cautious woman get tangled in their differences and past hurts, or surrender what they must to live fuller lives and forge a future together…or apart?
If you enjoy watching Hallmark’s Chesapeake Shores and reading novels by authors such as Nora Roberts, Barbara Delinsky, Sherryl Woods or others, give this contemporary series a try!
Maren and Steve’s story continued in Second Chances, the sequel.
Readers wanted Book Two of The Maryland Shores so the story continues. Paul Romano once spent most waking hours fantasizing about Liz. More than 15 years later, he needs her again only as a lifeline as he grieves a loss too unexpected to bear.
When Liz’s idyllic Chesapeake life takes a plunge, she needs Paul’s friendship more than any fantasy. She must manage two children, a conniving, passive-aggressor, two exacting bosses, and Paul’s Italian Pittsburgh mother who shares the same name as a brewing hurricane. Fitting, as both head straight at Liz while a friend of Paul’s heaps more hurt onto Steve, jeopardizing his future with Maren.
Reading this Chesapeake series lets you experience true Maryland scenery and traditions from our blue crabs and Blackeyed Susan flora to delicious Smith Island cake and boating on the Bay. Experience the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, 4.3 miles long with two individual spans. Yes, The Maryland Shores series has its wounded, lovable characters determined to prevail over crushing blows that might otherwise topple their resolve if they didn't learn how to change, how to be strong, find hope, and love again.
Book Three in this series is definitely long overdue; it's in the works with a main and subplot to keep the pages turning. Stay tuned!
Enjoy the first two. Ebooks CAN be gifted with one click to your recipient, and they can be read without actually owning a Kindle device. Download the FREE Kindle App from the App Store or Google Play and relax with these stories on any iPad, tablet, phone or computer.
Use Amazon digital credits — you know, when you choose slower shipping over one-day PRIME — these add up for e-Book savings.
So in six minutes, lose yourself into another world...
Click on the images below to find the e-Book, paperback or large print edition. e-Books can be read on a Kindle OR on your own iPhone/Android phone, iPad or tablet, laptop or computer with the FREE Kindle App.
