Gonna Lay Down My Burdens, Mary Monroe
Gonna Lay Down My Burdens, Mary Monroe
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Gonna Lay Down My Burdens

Author: Mary Monroe

Narrator: Lizan Mitchell

Unabridged: 10 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 10/24/2008

Categories: Fiction, Romance


Synopsis

Bestselling author Mary Monroe won rave reviews from critics and readers alike with her first two novels, God Don't Like Ugly and The Upper Room, both Main Selections of the Black Expressions Book Club. Now she returns with the masterful Gonna Lay Down My Burdens—that rare novel that inspires laughter, tears, and repeat readings.  In the sweltering little town of Belle Helene, Alabama, Carmen Taylor keeps her weaknesses, her frustrations, and her tears to herself. She's too busy shouldering the burdens of her troubled friends, like Desiree Lucienne, the petite, pampered daughter of a doctor who tries to beat the wildness out of her. But it doesn't stop Desiree from trawling for men whenever she can, and trying to drag Carmen along with her.  It's not that Carmen hasn't had her share of boozy pick-ups. She has, but they just can't compare to the one steamy night she spent with the man she's loved since they were both kids. Now a local cop, Chester Sheffield, with his Barry White voice and his all-too-fine body, keeps showing up in Carmen's life, wanting to do something about the feelings they obviously have for each other. But that would mean abandoning her "boyfriend" Burl Tupper and that's something Carmen just can't do.  Ever since Burl ended up in a wheelchair because of a foolish teenage prank she played on him, Carmen's promised herself that she'd spend the rest of her life making it up to him. When Carmen doesn't take her chance with Chester, Desiree does, and when she learns that she's pregnant with Chester's child, it's almost more than Carmen can bear. Still, her loyalty to Desiree goes back a long way, and she's not about to let a man get in the way of their friendship—even when Desiree starts stepping out on Chester.  Then, on a sultry, reckless moonlit night, Carmen commits a desperate crime of passion, and, with Desiree, hits the road running. But she can't run from the truth she's avoided for years—and in a seedy hotel in the middle of nowhere, she confronts her demons head-on. Now Carmen has two choices—a life on the lam, or a full circle return to Belle Helene, the place where it all began … and the only place in the world she can lay down her burdens and seize her one true chance at love and redemption.

About Mary Monroe

Mary Monroe is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of over twenty novels, with over one million books in print. She is a three-time AALBC bestseller and winner of the AAMBC Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award, the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and the J. California Cooper Memorial Award. The daughter of Alabama sharecroppers, she taught herself how to write before going on to become the first and only member of her family to finish high school. She lives in Oakland, California.


Reviews

all i can say is, I didnt want to put this book down. I never heard of anything or read anything like this. I wanted to know what was next every page. Good read.......more

This was the 3rd book continuing from God dont like ugly and God still dont like ugly. This book basically shows the ladies growing up and there lives as adults and how there child hoods from the past 2 books affected them.......more

Goodreads review by Khyrra

I've been a fan of Mary Monroe's sine I read The Upper Room. And this story didn't disappoint me. This was a love story with a serious twist. And I enjoyed every minute of trying to figure out where the story was headed next.......more

Goodreads review by Karina

I loved this book and hated it at the same time. It really brought emotions out of me. At times I wanted to jump into the book and knock some sense into the main character the way she let her guilt boggle her down and blamed other for it was incredibly frustrating. I don’t think she had true friends......more

Goodreads review by Tonia

This was a frustrating read for me. The main character appeared to have an omen on her. Everyone she encounter had some type of bad luck and on top of that she gives up her happiness because she refused to forgive herself. Too much foolishness in one read.......more