I’m from Mauritius, of Indian heritage, and proudly African. I remember reading my first chick-lit romance circa 2001, thinking Mauritius has everything—the drama, the over-the-top characters, love matches, exciting backdrops both physical & cultural—to create great rom-coms & uplifting fiction…but where were such stories? A decade later, I was helping other African authors showcase their feel-good books by creating an imprint dedicated to African romance with a US publisher. I’m an author who loves to write about her country & life experiences, and I have the perfect day job for a bookworm as an editor who specializes in editing romance stories for indie authors & publishers alike.
Falling in love and finding ‘the One’ is hard enough. What happens when two people come from different origins and cultures in a country hailed as a rainbow nation but where divisions still exist as invisible lines? Not only this, but my heroine, Lara, is also saddled with another society taboo—the label of ‘divorcee’ painted like a scarlet letter on her back.
Lara is of Indian heritage. Eric is a French-Mauritian (i.e., his family owned the plantations Indian indentured labour—Lara’s ancestors—came to work for!) You might think all this happened in the 1800s—what bearing does this have in today’s world? As it happens, quite a lot… Can love prevail?
I couldn’t read fast enough to find out who Zoe really was before her accident and how everything would be revealed. And Jo Watson delivered a rollicking ride filled with feelings–so much feels!–and it just kept getting better, coming together like a tapestry right until the end. It was a journey the heroine went on, and as a reader, I also went along with her, which was magical & so enthralling!
Set in Johannesburg mainly and the South African countryside, it showed normal people living normal lives amid extraordinary circumstances, all with a feel-good, rom-com vibe throughout.
She's starting over. And the real her is letting loose.
From the author of the 100,000+ copy-selling rom-com, Love to Hate You! No one makes you laugh like Jo Watson!
If you love by Mhairi McFarlane, Sophie Ranald, Sophie Kinsella and Paige Toon, you'll LOVE Jo Watson - readers are raving about her glorious rom-coms!
Readers are already WOWED by Just The Way I Am!
'Without a doubt Jo Watson's best book so far, and I've almost read all of them'
'I have read ALL of Jo Watson's previous books and this is quite possibly my new favourite'
I’m of Indian heritage, and when I see Indian-origin protagonists, I’m on it like white on rice! Add to it another trope: I love the marriage of convenience, and I was hooked.
Now, you can expect Indian protagonists to mean Indian families, usually big, often messy, and definitely loud. I just needed a Bollywood-style soundtrack in the background, and this one would’ve been a perfect blockbuster from Bollywood.
Vash Karuppa also knows how to write feelings, delve deep, and make you feel everything that’s roiling inside her main characters’ hearts. Definitely, a thrilling, colourful, boisterous ride where love is swept along whether it wants to or not!
All business-no-pleasure CEO of Hotel Empire, Keshavam Industries, Aariyan Ranjan, and successful Oncologist, Varini Iyengar, have known one another for sixteen years. When she last saw him Varini was left completely shattered as Aariyan walked away from their newfound love and out of her life. He was the first man she longed for, the first man she truly desired, and the first and only man she had ever loved. Aariyan had loved her back, but fuelled by uncontrollable demons he abandoned her, ending their love in devastating heartbreak.
In order to seal the deal of a lifetime Aariyan needs a…
Imagine if Bridget Jones had been African–Nigerian, to be more precise, and instead of just a nosy/meddling mother, she had a huge Yoruba family to contend with! I absolutely adored the POV of the heroine, Nifemi, in this tale! I could read her stream-of-consciousness chapter starts forever and not be bored.
Feyi Aina writes with humour and that special touch of "down to Earth" that makes her heroine resonate. Anyone with a big, traditional family–whether Nigerian, Indian, or even Irish–will totally get Nifemi and her struggle to find what love means and where it’s waiting for her.
I’m a sucker for all things Royal! Give me a prince and/or princess looking for love in today’s world, and I’m sold. This one has a princess and a prince!
Imagine you’re a princess bidden to enter a marriage of convenience with a neighbouring land’s prince. Then, on your wedding day, you get into an accident, your new husband dies, and when you wake from a coma, you find you’ve now been legally married off to the new Crown Prince, aka your late husband’s younger brother. And he’s hot as sin itself!
This one is more on the steamy side, but don’t let it deter you. Amidst all the heat is a treasure trove of feels and warring emotions and a seismic journey of falling for the "wrong" person who now happens to be exactly the right one!
India Saene, Princess of Bagumi, must enter a marriage alliance to save her kingdom from an economic crisis. Tragedy strikes when her husband of a few hours is killed in an accident on the way to their honeymoon. She recovers from a coma two weeks later to discover she has been inherited by her husband's younger brother! Sheikh Omar El Dansuri has never wanted to be king, nor does he desire a wife. However, when his older brother dies, he not only becomes the future king of Sudar, but he also inherits his brother’s bride through an age-old tradition. Falling…
Another one with the amnesia trope (I told you it’s a fave of mine!) Except in this one, the hero wakes up with amnesia, not recalling that his gorgeous wife is his on paper only…Kiru Taye can write angst! Feelings in general, but angst, turmoil, and passion that don’t just mean an opened bedroom door? She delivers.
I loved witnessing the romance brewing here and just waiting for the other shoe to drop. When it did, everything escalated, yet at no point did it feel like "too much." I also loved how it showed me a slice of Nigeria, in lifestyle, culture, and day-to-day living, that I’d never experienced before, opening my eyes to what life on the African continent is truly like when one looks beyond the trauma and misery overflowing in African literature.
When I joined the Peace Corps in the early nineties, I wasn’t allowed to take much luggage. I decided to bring a Tarot deck, figuring I’d finally have time to learn it while parked in an Estonian forest. That Tarot deck opened up a world of Renaissance mysticism and magic, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Tarot cards and readings feature prominently in many of my cozy mystery novels, not the least of which are the Tea and Tarot mysteries. Now my imaginary Tarot reader from that series, Hyperion Night, has recently written his own Tarot guidebook,The Mysteries of Tarot.
Seeker: As societies grow increasingly fragmented, hopelessness, nihilism, division, and despair are on the rise. But there is another way—a way of mystery and magic, of wholeness and transformation. Do you dare take the first step? Our path is not for the faint-hearted, but for seekers of ancient truths...
Legacy of the Witch is a spellbinding, interactive tale of a woman’s midlife quest to understand the complexities of her own heart. A paranormal women’s fiction murder mystery for anyone who’s wondered if there might be more to their own life than meets the eye…
Seeker: As societies grow increasingly fragmented, hopelessness, nihilism, division and despair are on the rise. But there is another way—a way of mystery and magic, of wholeness and transformation. Do you dare take the first step? Our path is not for the faint-hearted, but for seekers of ancient truths.
All April wants is to start over after her husband’s sudden death. She’s conjuring a new path—finally getting her degree and planning her new business in bucolic Pennsylvania Dutch country. Joining an online mystery school seems like harmless fun.
But when a murdered man leaves her a cryptic message, she catches…
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