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Title details for Gonna Lay Down My Burdens by Mary Monroe - Available

Gonna Lay Down My Burdens

by Mary Monroe
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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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 7, 2010

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780758259097

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780758259097
      • File size: 477 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 1, 2002
      Mary Monroe's Gonna Lay Down My Burdens opens with a bang, when Carmen Taylor intervenes in a violent lovers' quarrel between her friends Chester and Desiree, and Chester winds up dead. Most of the novel is told in flashback, following Carmen and Chester's ill-fated attraction to one another, which began when they were teenagers. It traces the friendship between Carmen and troubled Desiree, as well as Carmen's relationship with Burl, a boy she tried to use to make Chester jealous, with disastrous and long-lasting results. Monroe (God Don't Like Ugly) will surely return to the Blackboard bestseller list with this title, a standout among similar offerings. National advertising; 8-city author tour.

    • Booklist

      September 1, 2002
      At 30, Carmen has spent her whole life in Belle Helene, Alabama, shouldering enough sadness and guilt to make her feel like an old woman. There are friends who have been lost in accidents, friends in destructive relationships, and her fiance, Burl, who has ended up in a wheelchair. To top it all off, Carmen has been in love with the unattainable Chester since she was a little girl. Luck finally shines down on her, and she spends one magical night with the man of her dreams, but guilt forces her to accept that she must stand by Burl whether she loves him or not. Then everything comes to a climax on the eve of Carmen's marriage to Burl when she goes to help a friend in need and ends up on the run from the law. Monroe's remarkable romance delves both painfully and humorously into the lives of southernAfrican Americans, and her richly drawn characters will stay with readers long after the book is finished.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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