Thursday 25 April 2013

Favourite Five: Lara Daniels


Lara Daniels is a a published author of African romance suspense novels The Officer's Bride and Thorns with Roses. She is a registered nurse by day and an avid romance writer by night.  Lara lives with her family – a husband and three precious children in Texas where she remains true to her passion of all time: writing.  Read an excerpt of her upcoming book Lessons in Love


Intuition by Allegra Goodman
A page turner that had me reeling as the drama unfolded, the story is thought provoking – a clash of ethics and science, and how much scientists sometimes need to let go and let intuition guide them. I loved this book for so many reasons. As a nurse working in a country where I am daily bombarded with ethical issues, I strongly related with the story. 


Daughters Who Walk this Path by Yejide Kilanko
Let me start by saying I love this book. This book is more than the story of young girl's sexual abuse. For me, it exposes two huge cultural flaws: one, the lack of communication within Yoruba families; two, denial as a form of coping mechanism when faced with challenges. Both flaws are detrimental not only to adults, but to the children. 

The Glass Case by Kristin Hannah
The Glass Case is a short story of a woman who grew up, got married and had a child-- all in the same small town. She feels stuck and even worse, feels that she hasn’t lived up to her mother’s expectations. One day, something tragic happens that helps her to understand that she already has what really matters in life: a family that loves her. As a working mother with three young children, this story helped me re-prioritize, taught me one lesson: I may not be where I want to be in life, but I have every reason to be grateful for where I am. 

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
My Sister’s Keeper is an emotional book that narrates the story of a family who brought another human child (Anna) into the world for the sole purpose of becoming a bone marrow match for her older sister, Kate who has leukaemia   This is another book that deals with ethics in medicine, but beyond that, it took me on a journey of deep reflection as I examined what it meant to be a good parent: Is it right to save your child’s life even if it means sacrificing another child? 

Fifty Shades Trilogy by EL James
And now to the romance genre. Many would describe the series as erotica, but I’d say that underneath Fifty Shades is a beautiful love story of two flawed people dealing with self-esteem issues. These two fell in love and found a way to make their relationship work. I love this book so much, it truly destroyed my ability to enjoy any other romantic fiction. I’m bad with reading reviews so when I bought it, I never knew what I was in for until I’d reached the fiftieth page or so. The downside was the choice of expletives used by Anna, the heroine, but even then, it was a page turner. Yes, it could have used some more editing because of its repetitive use of certain words; yet, in my opinion, no other romance book - because of its unique story- tops this. 

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