The Mess We're In

by Carolyn Lawrence

Overview

The Mess We're In is a compelling story, focused on how blood isn't always thicker than water. In the small town of Dacre, Georgia, where everyone knows each other and their business, the arrival of a television production cast and crew stir up bad memories for Lily Shaw, local historian and guardian to her nephew.

When Dutch Sturgess, the lead actor for the series, decides to help the nephew with his acting, Lily and Dutch strike a deal to learn how to tolerate each other, only to find they have more in common than they thought. Both are burdened with past family traumas and through their eventual romance, they learn that family is what you make, not always what you are born into. The only thing standing in their way is Eli Bradley and his brothers, who have a long-standing feud with the Shaw family and vow to make good on the blood they believe the Shaws have spilled.

The Mess We're In wrestles with the notion of what makes a family and what family can do to each other, in the name of love. The novel examines the ideas of motherhood, family and life in a small Southern town. It dares to ask the question: what does it take to be a parent? The answer can be somewhat surprising.

A strong first novel, The Mess We're In is an engrossing tale of love, family and the tangled mess we can find ourselves in when worlds collide.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940161469033
Publisher:	Carolyn Lawrence
Publication date:	12/01/2018
Series:	The Dacre Generations , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

THE MESS WE'RE IN is Carolyn Lawrence's debut novel. It evokes the Southern heritage she grew up with, as well as the curiosity she has about how people attract each other. While researching her own ancestry and digging deep into the Southern Scottish lineage in Georgia, she became interested in the moonshining elements of the Appalachians. From that, the town of Dacre emerged. On a trip to West Georiga, she started thinking about the surge of major Hollywood productions in the area, and then the rest of the story appeared. That November, for National Novel Writing Month, she began writing. The first instinct was to explore the heritage of her ancestors, but then the lure of how humans connect on an emotional and intellectual level became too enticing. As the story developed, Carolyn looked at how people can be broken by family and healed by others through the simple act of understanding.

The result is THE MESS WE'RE IN.

What was once thought to be a single story has developed into an anthology of town tales, examining the different generations of Dacre, going back to the original Shaw ancestor who started the small town with his notions of hiding his moonshining business in the deep woods of the Chattahoochee National Forest.

When she isn't writing, she is surrounded by a glaring of cats and is addicted to true crime programs. She also likes to sew and may cosplay from time to time.

She started writing when she was six, when she received a typewriter for Christmas. Though she wanted a Barbie, eventually the typewriter became her best friend. She eventually went on to win a poetry contest in third grade and several essay contests in high school, which solidified her love of writing. It has been a rocky road, but with writing, it's always been worth it to her.

She strongly supports National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and has written many drafts throughout the years because of the temptation which is NaNoWriMo.

Carolyn Lawrence is also an instructor in Georgia. She holds a BS in Communications, a Masters in Humanities and a Doctorate in Education. She teaches Humanities, American Literature, Perspectives in Humanities and Film Studies.

Her website is www.carolyn-lawrence.com. Her twitter handle is @carolynlawrence and Instagram, @author_lawrence.