Author: Lara Daniels
Title: Love at Dawn
Publisher: Lulu Press, 2013
Lara Daniels is a registered nurse by day an avid romance writer by night. Born and raised in Nigeria, she created a niche for herself by authoring African based romance suspense novels. Lara lives with her family- a husband and three children in Texas where she remains true to her passion of writing.
Love at Dawn
Love at Dawn is a sequel of Love in Paradise. A compelling story of love against all odds, Lara Daniels takes you for a roller coaster ride of a love story which starts from an unconventional first meeting many years ago to the complex present times.
There is a tense mix of suspense and intrigue to draw readers’ attention to a un-solicitated wish to hope for a lasting love after the two lovers overcome roadblocks. The plot is full of twists and turns and surprises that appear so sudden, especially towards the end when a maniac serial killer comes on to the scene and Tori seem to be his next target.
Just like the romance novels authored by Americans and the British, Lara Daniels brings back home the romance only achievable in the world of the white man.
A romance most people would think unachievable, is what Daniels displayed in her book. Reading through Love at Dawn, one floats through a world only attainable in our imagination; and the tension that builds as one tries to unravel the next love scene escalates into an urgent need to get to the end.
“He hurt as always watching her from a distance unable to touch her, unable to speak to her. The one woman who had forever worked his heart into pieces.”
Tori Da-Silva and Rashad Macaulay are two different people who fell in love, coming together with some very astounding results. Tori is a bubbly fiery energetic woman who has been nicknamed the Hatshesput by her family for her rambunctious, assertive attitude and Rashad a young handsome man who believes that there is nothing good in him until he met Tori the love of his life .
However, behind all that carefree life and happy beginning is a dark secret, one that grieves her to the point of intense hopelessness. Rashad is a man who redefines the world. A hugely successful lawyer and publicist like every other person, he is not perfect and the choices he made in the past eventually haunt him such that he enjoys when others are hurting. And behind the scene is a mad man who knows the secretes they keep. Rashad is a man who believes that there is nothing good in him because of where he comes from and a young woman who seems to have everything.
The tumult of everyday life, for Tori it is a time of love, for her brother, for her best friend and for herself. A beautiful young woman born to a privilege family in Zamzudan, a fictional country in East Africa but two obstacle stands in her way, the giant yoke born in agony, poverty and silence (broody Rashad) who is also the forbidden man she yearns for and the stalking terrorizing unidentified slasher who wants to end her beautiful world.
Her union with Rashad is anything but smooth. A self made giant who has risen from a childhood in the brothels of Gutterpark to the high position Da-Silva corporate counsel.
He strikes readers to be a man of his word without denying the love of his life. From happy newlyweds to a sinister serial killer, heartaches and violence crashes into Tori and Rashad’s life thus shattering their expected love fantasy.
Before the novel draws to a close, bullets and blades fly, tears and bloodshed, and truth and love teeter on the recipe of disaster.
Furthermore, Love at Dawn is a tale of love, power, danger and friendship that tests the bounds of the African romantic experience, sometimes even questioning the authenticity of its characters. The author describes it as a story of “forgiveness and redemption.” Lara Daniels is sensual and captivating.
There is not a single dull moment because just when you think you have her figured out, she turns it up on you. The pages flip very easily and each plot has been designed to keep the reader wondering what happens next. I can only hope that Ms. Daniels seriously considers having her books translated into film.
Tory Da-Silva is a spoiled, rich teenage girl with a crush on Rashad Macaulay, a man who is also her oldest brother’s best friend and the Da-Silva Corporation’s attorney.
Rashad is as brusque and rude as they come, and yet Tory sees something in him that keeps drawing her closer to him even as he tries harder to distance himself from her. Rashad believes he is protecting Tory from potential hurt. Tory sees no reason why they cannot act on their attraction to each other. Between the two of them, they share a love-hate relationship that gets tiring and frustrating at times.
Rashad’s reasons for trying to distance himself often times seem valid. Tory is young and innocent, and she could potentially get hurt if her heart gets too involved with a man who thinks he has nothing emotional to offer her in return. If only she knew that she and Rashad were of a different breed, maybe she would understand him. Or would she?
The Da-Silvas are one of the wealthiest families in the African nation of Zamzuda. The Macaulay family is the complete opposite. Rashad’s father was a thief and a liar, his mother a prostitute. In a country where the rich and poor don’t mix, Tory’s crush on Rashad would seem forbidden, except that Rashad has done well for himself and hidden his past deep inside him – a past that threatens to destroy him and the one he loves.
But, Rashad is not the only one hiding a past! When Tory’s brother Tony gets married, strange things begin to happen. First, Tory meets a young self-righteous missionary at the wedding and suspects nothing of him besides the fact that he thinks he has been called by God to judge the unrighteous.
She would soon find out that he has an agenda that is more insane than she could have ever imagined. Then, Tory is almost run off the road by crazed > driver intent on killing her. She escapes unharmed, but Rashad finds a note in her bedroom and a dead carcass on her bed – he hides this from her. All these events lead up to one thing – Tory’s life is in danger, and she needs someone to protect her. The problem is that there is no one better suited to do that than Rashad Macaulay whether he wants to or not.
Love at Dawn is Lara Daniels’ second novel.
With a story line that is so dramatic and powerful, Love at Dawn is a page-turner and that’s not to be disputed. Lara Daniels is obviously a writer with an imagination that wows. Her narrative skill is flawless. With little tweaks to her prose, she could very easily become the Danielle Steele of African suspense/romance novels; for hers are not simple tales of love. With Lara Daniels, you get a suspense thriller and a romance novel all wrapped up in one spectacular read!