Olubunmi Akindebe: Queen Of Hearts

Written By: Lola K.—In a few short years, registered nurse by day, fiction author by night, and full-time wife and mother Olubunmi Akindebe has created a niche for herself writing African romance novels under the pen name Lara Daniels. Olubunmi, who grew up in Nigeria, began writing in high school where she wrote short fictional stories. In college, which she attended in the United States, Olubunmi honed in on her craft, and published her first work in the United States, Love in Paradise (available at www.Amazon.com), in the summer of 2009. (I can't help but like Love in Paradise because the female protagonist is named Mimi.) This summer, Olubunmi followed up with her second novel, Love at Dawn (available at www.Amazon.com), which picks up where Love in Paradise left off. Olubunmi says about the novel:

"Love at Dawn is a romance-suspense novel set in a fictional African country called Zamzudan (based on my experiences in living in several hilly cities in Western Africa). It is a country that also incoporates the Swahilian language and at times, rests on the culture of Swahili speaking countries. The novel features a major beloved character from Love in Paradise, Tory Da-Silva. Many readers, after reading Love in Paradise wanted to read a love story of Tory, and it took approximately a year for me to figure out her own happilly-ever-after. While I hope readers will love the story of Tory Da-Silva and enjoy the suspense I worked so thoroughly hard to achieve in the novel, I still will enjoy this moment, realizing that it is mine to cherish and savor after a year long of work."

For more about Olubunmi (or as she's better known to her readers, Lara Daniels), visit www.laradaniels.com.

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