Suitors & Sweethearts: An African Romance Box Set


 
 
 
 
 
 
 Suitors & Sweethearts Box Set
 SIX CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE STORIES CELEBRATING AFRICAN JOY!
 
 
 Featuring
 Bound to Fate by Kiru Taye
 Vegas Nights by Unoma Nwankwor
 Love and Hiplife by Nana Prah
 Most Eligible Bachelor by Empi Baryeh
 The One That Got Away by Zee Monodee
 Bittersweet Beginning by Nkem Akin
 
 Bound to Fate by Kiru Taye
 
 
 
 
 
 
 First Published in Great Britain in 2019 by
 LOVE AFRICA PRESS
 103 Reaver House, 12 East Street, Epsom KT17 1HX
 www.loveafricapress.com
 
 All rights reserved.
 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
 
 The right of Kiru Taye to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988
 
 This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
 
 ISBN: 
 Also available as paperback and audiobook
 
 
 BLURB
 
 Lara Johnson is coping with the emotional scars of losing both parents in a tragic incident and facing the challenges of starting a new school. Getting involved in a relationship isn't on her priority list. Certainly not this illicit desire for a man, who demands the best from her, yet leaves her breathless in his presence. 
 All Ike Thomas wants to do is to keep out of trouble and get through the one year internship required for his degree program. But trouble finds him, in the form of an intelligent and brave girl who turns his world upside down. Falling in love is forbidden. So why does it feel so right?
 A love like theirs cannot be denied. But catastrophe lies in wait and one night changes their lives forever.
 
 Bound to Fate is a story about surviving tragedy, forgiveness, and the overwhelming love that pulls through against the odds. 
 
 Content warning: This book contains scenes that might be triggering for some readers.
 
 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
 Writing can be a lonely process but a group of fabulous beta readers make it a wonderful experience. This story wouldn't have turned out the way it did without the encouragement of Queenie, Henza, Kemi, Chinwe, Bimbo, Sola and Lara. I love you, ladies.
 I have to mention my fabulous editor, Zee, who helped me polish the story and make it shine. Every book needs a good editor and she is a fabulous one.
 And my family who have learned to be patient with me when I'm in the middle of writing a book and everything else takes a back seat. I love you all.
 And of course, I can't forget you the wonderful readers who kept faith with me and picked up a copy of this. You make it all worthwhile. Thank you!
 
 
 
 DEDICATION
 
 To my mother.
 
 ONE
 
 T
 his is the first day of the rest of your life.
 Lara Johnson chanted the words as she trudged down the stairs from her bedroom, her school bag slung across her shoulder. The phrase had been one her mother had taught her to use when the weight of her troubles threatened to crash down on her.
 Hollowness in her chest reminded her that her world had ended three months previously.
 The familiar crashing and smashing sounds of the Tom and Jerry cartoon coming from the television drew her into the living room. Lola, her younger sister by two years, reclined on a cream upholstered sofa, her school bag abandoned on the carpeted floor at her feet. In her hands, she held her Blackberry and tapped away at the keyboard with her thumbs. She appeared as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Lara sometimes wondered how they could be related, because just as she proved to be an introvert, Lola was the opposite.
 The tap, tap of footsteps in the hallway had Lara reaching for the remote control to switch off the television.
 “Are you girls ready to go?” Judy called out. As their mother’s younger sister, she had become their guardian after their parents died in a car crash.
 “Yes, Aunty,” Lara replied. “Come on, Lola.”
 Ignoring everything else, her sister carried on texting for a few more seconds as if whoever was on the other end of the virtual conversation proved more important at this moment. She wouldn’t move until the last second.
 Lara heaved a sigh and strode across the room. She grabbed Lola’s bag and dumped it on her lap. 
 Lola lifted her head and gave her the evil eye. “What?”
 “Aunty's waiting. Or do you want to walk to school on your first day?”
 “I don’t care. I don’t want to go to this school, anyway.”
 Despite the grumbling, her sister got off the sofa with her bag and headed outside.
 Lara shook her head as she followed, switching off the ceiling fan on the way. She had misgivings, too, about starting a new school, especially in her senior year when she needed to prepare for final exams. Neither of them had had any choice but to move after tragedy had befallen them.
 Outside, a breeze flapped the admiral-blue skirt around her knees and the rising sun reflected off the small pools of water on the concrete driveway from the rain that had fallen at dawn. She checked her bag for her small umbrella, not wanting to get soaked if it rained again later.
 For October, the temperature felt cooler and fresher than the humid heat she’d been used to in Lagos. From what she’d learnt in geography, Enugu lay over two hundred metres above sea level compared to Lagos’s eleven metres.
 The