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Stand Your Ground  By  cover art

Stand Your Ground

By: Victoria Christopher Murray
Narrated by: Suzzanne Douglas, Madeleine Maby, James Colby
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Publisher's summary

In number-one Essence-best-selling author Victoria Christopher Murray's new novel, three women must grapple with their faith and belief in justice when they become caught up in a highly charged murder trial involving the death of an African American teenage boy whose shooter maintains a "stand your ground" defense.

Stand Your Ground is the story of three women who find themselves thrown together because of the most horrible of situations. Janice Johnson suffers through every mother's nightmare when she finds out that her 16-year-old son, Marquis, was murdered in the parking lot of a convenience store. But she and her husband's horror becomes greater when they find out that the shooter has not been arrested. The Johnsons begin a quest to get justice for their son - though the Johnsons want to take different roads to justice.

Janice wants to work with the police while her husband calls on his brother who is a member of the Brown Guardians, a militant group who've been accused of being nothing more than street vigilantes. This struggle drives a wedge between Janice and her husband at a time when they should be drawing closer together. It doesn't help that there's been infidelity in their marriage in the past that is rearing its head again.

Shelly Vance cannot believe that she is in the middle of this nightmare. Her husband, Wyatt, has killed a teenager who he says attacked him. And now that tragedy has been magnified by the racial divide that it's created in the city. Matters are made worse when her husband is finally arrested and put on trial. And by extension Shelly finds herself being judged by everyone, from her employer to her friends. But no matter what, Shelly is going to stand by her husband, even though she has a secret that could blow this case wide open.

©2015 Victoria Christopher Murray (P)2015 Recorded Books

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What listeners say about Stand Your Ground

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Spell bounding

What did you love best about Stand Your Ground?

The characters were so well developed. I could see this story in my mind's eye.This was such a painful emotional story that I had to stop listening several times when it became to much. I felt the pain of Janice and I understood the emotional upheaval of Meredith in knowing her husband is guilty and the fear of him knowing she saw him.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Stand Your Ground?

Janice insisting that her son was not shot. Looking in his bedroom under the bed and telling her husband the police were lying. Their son was not dead.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. Forever an Ex. She had the characters jumping off the pages. It was hilarious. In this book her performance was moving. Her portrayal of Janice's emotional upheaval was spot on. Her handling of other characters were excellent as well.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too difficult subject for me to do that.

Any additional comments?

I think everyone listening to thus book will feel the emotions of a parent loosing their child.The presentation and performance of this book was off the chart.
The ending was masterful .

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2 people found this helpful

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Passionately Written - Great READ! POWERFUL!

I hope a spoiler alert need not be placed on my review. I tried to hold back a lot. This book was well written and well thought out. I was enlightened.

At first I was about to get a refund because the 1st narrator was monotone. I also have ADHD (not really) when it comes to beginnings of novels, because if it doesn’t grab me soon, I lose interest fast. I listened about 30 minutes in and was hooked. Give it sometime it gets jucilicious.

I had no idea that this book would be a similar depiction of the Trayvon Martin Murder (NOT THE SAME). What I liked most about this book is the focus being placed on two mothers of boys. VCM (author) chose to concentrate on the mother of the murdered boy and the wife of the murder. The story takes you through the parent’s realization of the boy’s murder; additionally the story gives the emotion of the wife of the murder, who had compassion for the murdered boy’s mother (with good reason). The story was weaved to give you a great back story of the important characters.

Another reason why I liked this story was the murdered boy’s girlfriend. The boy’s mom did not like this girl at all. We as humans judge as a self-defense or ignorance (actual ignorance, lack of knowledge). The moms dislike was unwarranted just as much as the murder’s dislike.

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Beautiful novel, it changed me

Where does Stand Your Ground rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I rarely take the time to write reviews but this book was one of the best I've read in a long time.

What did you like best about this story?

This novel made me totally reconsider the stories you hear about in the media. I never considered that the media could be reporting false stories with a grain of truth to manipulate potential jury pools. I will never take a media story at face value again. What happened in the novel has happened in the media accounts after all of the race related shootings in the US.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

I liked the switching between narrators to give you the feeling you are really in the mind of that person.

If you could rename Stand Your Ground, what would you call it?

I think the novel is appropriately named, I hope they do repeal that terrible law. I never considered that people could intentionally provoke a deadly encounter simple to kill someone of a race they dislike. There is too much hate in this country, you can't have laws that allow that hate to become legalized murder.

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Amazing!

I listen to A LOT of books and seldom does one evoke the type of emotion of Stand Your Ground. The raw emotion of this book made me want to put it down (it's a bit inconvenient to go into work with mascara running down your face), but it was so compelling that I couldn't. Victoria, this novel is simply amazing! Thank you.

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Changed my Life

I was transported by this story , and the narration was like listening to the best acting I’ve heard. I’ve been wanting to become a compassionate listener to others’ struggles, but sometimes I just feel depressed. This story not only made me understand the perspective and the pain of the victims of racism, but I admired their integrity and deep love for their families. The narration of each voice was so believable and well-paced that I felt like my best friend was talking to me. The characters were well-rounded and passionate about life and complex. Every character, even the murderer, was complex like all people truly are. This book made me want to love my fellow humans better, and to speak out for justice more. It also had a compelling story line and interesting ending that made me eager to hear more. Thank you for creating such a great work of art!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Justice

Amazing novel that speaks its truth. Great read that opens our eyes to understand that there is always a price we pay for injustice.

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Loved every minute of this book!

Took my time with the dishes so i could squeeze in as much as possible!

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Excellent

I loved this book. It was wonderful to hear Suzanne Douglas's voice as one of the narrators. Ms. Douglas died in 2021. Ms. Murray did a good job of telling both sides of the story. (Spoiler Alert) I do wish that the ending had clearly told us who attacked Wyatt. We are left to wonder if it was the vigilante group, and we don't know if the woman in high heels was Janice or Meredith.

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  • MJ
  • 10-13-22

Must read

Gripping and informative story about humanity, our frailties and our tragedies centered on race relations in the US. Beautifully written and the character development is superb.

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Captivating

I loved everything about this story. The narrators really kept my interest. I was probably in Chapter 20 before I realized this was not a true story. Must admit this was one of my fastest reads ever and I did not want it to end.

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