Meet Me at the Ghana International Book Fair!

Tags

Authors, Book Events, Bookish things, Ghana, Ghana International Book Fair, Publishing, reading

Hello, lovely people lovers of African stories.

If you’re in Accra, Ghana this week, have I got a treat for you! I and a group of Ghanaian authors (we’re calling ourselves 11 Authors (from) Ghana) have a stand at the Ghana International Book Fair, taking place from 30 August – 2 September, 2018 at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC). Time is 9am to 7pm daily. This event will bring together, publishers, authors, book marketers, editors; you name it, from all over the globe. There will be seminars, master classes, book readings etc. Exciting, isn’t it? 🙂

Here are some of the great books you can get:

As you can see, we’re catering to a whole array of reading taste buds. Bring your whole family and meet new authors! 🙂 Sure, it will be fun! 🙂

Book Release: Path To Passion By Nana Prah

Tags

Ghana, Harlequin, Nana Prah, New release, Path To Passion, romance

My friend and fellow Ghanaian, Nana Prah, a multi cultural romance writer who also blogs at http://nanaprah.blogspot.com/ has just released her eighth book. Did you read that? Eighth book. Yeah, Nana is really making Ghana proud. And guess what I had the privilege of having lunch with her and another romance writer friend Empi right opposite my workplace. A possible Romance Writers of Ghana (RWOG) in the making? 🙂 Just make sure you get yourself a copy of this fabulous Path To Passion I will be reviewing soon. 🙂

Title: Path To Passion

Author: Nana Prah

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Print Length: 224 pages

Publisher: Harlequin Kimani Romance; Original edition (August 1, 2018)

Publication Date: August 1, 2018

 BLURB

The man who broke her heart . . .Is the man she now needs more than ever!

Heir to his family’s global empire, branding genius Miguel Astacio turns everything into marketing gold. Only his best friend’s sister seems immune to his magic touch. Until Tanya Carrington comes to him to save her floundering nightclub. Miguel is ready to rectify past mistakes. But will his supreme sacrifice win the heart of the woman he loves?

Add to Goodreads: https://goo.gl/hbCASz

BUY LINKS

Amazon US: https://goo.gl/nbTvYU

Amazon UK: https://goo.gl/jkwRjj

Barnes and Noble: https://goo.gl/5gx7Mx

iBooks: https://goo.gl/cLpN6p

Kobo: https://goo.gl/YwVpWN

EXCERPT

Miguel’s blood heated as she gave him a wavering smile. She was just too beautiful, with clear skin marked only by a dark mole at the corner of her nose, angled dark eyes and full lickable lips.

“I mean,” Tanya continued, “I won’t even be able to recognize the place when it’s completed. Everything sounds incredible, but I may have to draw the line at the cages for dancers.”

He thought she might. “Trust me, if we charge people to dance in them, they will pay. The one rule is that they have to keep their clothes on.”

 “We’ll see.” She stared at the screen again with her eyes unblinking “Um…” She rubbed the back of her neck and a light sheen of sweat broke out on her forehead. “How much will this cost?”

Now for the heavy convincing. He got up and stood beside her to point at the CCTV screen showing the dance area, which had filled up a little more in the hour they’d been going over his ideas. “I can see this place packed, people waiting all the way up the street trying to get in. VIP area filled with actors, musicians and pro athletes flying in to experience it.”

Unable to resist, he leaned close so they were almost cheek to cheek. Her heat and honeysuckle perfume floated into him, and he turned his head so his starving lips could caress her one more time. He kissed along her jaw until he met the sensitive area of her neck, where he teased her with gentle nips until she moaned. She sprang as far away from him as the room would allow.

What had he been thinking? Why did she affect him this way? She took away his willpower like no other woman had ever done. Thinking became almost impossible when she was around. The desire to smooth his hands over her incredibly silky soft skin drove him to get closer, but he stayed rooted to the spot, watching her rub the goose pimples from her arms.

“Answer the question, Miguel.” He was pleased to hear her voice quiver. “How much will it cost?”

He’d rather discuss the turbulent heat swirling between them, but if she wanted to ignore it then he should, too. “You’ve heard the saying that you have to spend money to make money, right?”

Her slow nod brought her hair forward. He watched as she brushed back the strand she wanted to filter his fingers through, bringing her close so they could fall into the attraction drawing them together.

CONNECT WITH NANA

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NanaPrah.Author/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NanaPrah

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nanaprahauthor/

Website: https://www.nanaprah.com/

 

Whispers of Dawn Now Available in Kindle

Tags

Amazon, Celestine Nudanu, Cherita, Ghana, Kindle, Whispers of Dawn

Good News to all my friends out there! Whispers of Dawn, (A book of Cherita) is now live and available for purchase in Kindle Format on Amazon. Yay. 🙂 Please download your copies and kindly leave a review on Amazon for me after reading. Thank you all so very much for your lovely support over the years. 🙂 God richly bless you. 🙂

Amazon

Amazon Kindle

Amazon.co.uk

Barnes & Noble

Whispers of Dawn Gets Another Top Review

Tags

Cherita, Ghana, Gillena Cox, Publication, review, Whispers of Dawn

Here is a wonderful review of my book Whispers of Dawn from my blogging friend in Trinidad & Tobago, Gillena Cox.

Yes she has done it again! Celestine Nudanu has dipped into her conscious yin and yang pulling out some trinkets for us; some sparkly as fine-cut diamonds, some dark as somber onyx. She has spilled across pages more than 50 poems called cherita. Telling her personal stories and sharing her cultural essence.

Choosing this concise genre to detail issues such as love, longing, despair, gratitude, death and self-realization, is no easy task, yet this is the holy grail that this poet embarks on, and succeeds in her attainment, as ‘Whispers of Dawn’

The cherita is a 6 line poem which tells a story, in fact it is a Malay word meaning story and is a form created by Ai Li.

Ai Li, in her foreword of this collection remarks, “The cherita genre could almost have been created just for Celestine, for her to gift to us her stories”

Best wishes with your outreach pursuits for a fine collection of poems, dear Celestine. Certainly, this is not a book you can read only once.

THANKS FOR AGREEING TO BOOK SWAP Celestine [ i have sent her a copy of my ‘Pink Crush’.
much love
gillena

Purchasing Links for Whispers of Dawn (A Book of Cherita)

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Barnes & Noble

Purchasing Links for Haiku Rhapsodies:

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Goodreads

Barnes & Noble

Review: Forest Girl by Empi Baryeh

Tags

Africa, customs, Empi Baryeh, Forest Girl, Ghana, romance, tradition

Title:      Forest Girl
Author:  Empi Baryeh
Binding: Paperback
Genre:    Contemporary Romance
Pages:    242
Publication Date: May 6,2018

Publishers: Independent Publishing with Createspace

Reasons for Reading: Advanced Review Copy for a candid review

Blurb

Esi Afriyie has been in love with Michael Yaw Badu since childhood. When he receives a scholarship to study in America, all hope seems lost … until he returns to Ghana ten years later. An arranged marriage contracted by their families makes her dreams come true, but does the reality of being Mrs. Michael Badu live up to the fantasy? Michael may have married Esi, but he is in love with someone else—Forest Girl, a mystery woman he encountered just once in the forest. His heart belongs to her, and he doesn’t need his beautiful wife awakening his carnal desires. He is even willing to sacrifice his marriage for another encounter with Forest Girl. Reality is not what either Esi or Michael imagined. Esi is disillusioned; Michael feels trapped. Will Michael give in and allow his heart to discover a love that was always meant to be, before it’s too late?

My Thoughts

Forest Girl is Empi Baryeh’s third romance book to be set in Ghana, and it can only get better and better. Empi knows her characters well, perhaps because she is from Ghana herself and she knows our lore and tradition, which are generously woven into the beautiful story that is Michael and Esi’s arranged marriage. I mean which man would agree to an arranged marriage even in a traditional setting? And a modern, US educated man at that. And yet Michael yields to pressure from the ghost of his father whose dying wish was for his son to marry a suitable girl chosen by him. Never mind that he has a ‘modern liberated’ girl friend, never mind that he hates the whole arrangement. Never mind that he had fallen for a mysterious Forest Girl, despite the very loud existence of his girlfriend. And never mind that Esi has been in love with him for a long time.

The beauty of this book is that the author managed to maneuver the ups and downs, surprises, twists and turns of this unusual relationship, keeping the reader in suspense till the end.

To be honest, both characters got on my nerves; Michael, for not willing or being able to make up his mind as to whom he wanted; Esi for being too sweet and trusting. But as the story developed, Esi, an educated girl from the village, proved that she could stand her own ground, especially when it became clear that she might be sharing her husband with Lena, Michael’s girlfriend. She refused to be treated like a doormat.

One significant feature about Forest Girl, among many, is that the reader is made aware that marriage is never a bed perfect, more so an arranged one. The author does a very good job here; dealing with infidelity in marriage and the presence of an imaginary woman, ingredients that no new wife should contend with in her marriage. Both characters grow to confront their limitations and Michael especially grows into the man he is supposed to be.

Forest Girl is well researched, the diction and editing, flawless. The flavour of Ghana and for that matter, Africa, permeates it. Rich customs and traditions, local foods, snippets of local dialect, well imbibed local drinks, lush and harsh scenery of village life are a fine blend that set the tone in this novel, Forest Girl.

The only problem I have with Forest Girl is that I would have loved to know the outcome of the job interview Esi attended. This however did not detract from the story or the development of the plot in any way.

Forest Girl  is a truly lovely romance journey into Ghana that I urge all lovers of romance to take. 🙂

About the Author

Empi Baryeh is the award-winning author of Most Eligible Bachelor (winner: Book of the year in the 2017 Ufere Awards). She writes sweet and sensual African, multicultural and interracial romance, which happens to be her favourite genres of romance to read. Her interest in writing started around the age of thirteen after she stumbled upon a YA story her sister had started and abandoned. The story fascinated her so much that, when she discovered it was unfinished, she knew she had to complete it. Somehow the rest of the story began to take shape in her mind and she’s been writing ever since. She lives in Accra, Ghana, with her husband and their two lovely kids.

Buy Links

Amazon US | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Smashwords

Haiku My Heart: Storm Window

Tags

Cherita, Ghana, love, Nature, Publication, Whispers of Dawn

Hurray! My second poetry collection and first book of Cherita is now available in Paperback on Amazon. 🙂

(linked to Recuerda Mi Corazon.)

Storm Window

storm window

between the shadows

a little bird seeks comfort

(Haiku Windows – The Haiku Foundation, May  2018)

© Celestine Nudanu
01/05/18

Purchasing Links for Whispers of Dawn (A Book of Cherita)

 

 

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

 

Purchasing Links for Haiku Rhapsodies:

 

 

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Goodreads

Whispers of Dawn

Tags

Africa, ai li, Celestine Nudanu, Cherita, Ghana, Publication, Trailblazer, Whispers of Dawn

Exactly two years ago, my haiku collection, Haiku Rhapsodies, (Verses from Ghana) debuted in grand style to popular acclaim. To the glory of God, It sold beyond my dreams and won the enviable Atukwei Okine Award for Best Poetry Book under the auspices of the Ghana Literary Awards in 2017.

Two years on precisely, my second poetry collection, Whisper of Dawn ( A book of Cherita) the first of its kind in Africa, has hit the stands, arousing much wonderful interest home and abroad.

when all is done

life is a but a mystery
hazy

and yet the ink
writing our stories
drip, drip and drip…

Whispers of Dawn, my book of Cherita, of six lines that tell the story of love, disappointments, the joys of death and the joys of a life in Christ.

Whispers of Dawn. Soon to be on Amazon 🙂 Prepare to order copies for your reading pleasure. 🙂

 

Links for Haiku Rhapsodies:

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Goodreads

Haiku Rhapsodies – Yet Another Review

Tags

Afriku, Celestine Nudanu, Ghana, Haiku, Haiku Rhapsodies, Reviews

Hello my friends. It’s been awhile I know. 🙂  I’m so busy lately and this gives me little or no time for blogging. Just to let you know that I’m still around, I bring you a short but lovely review of my book Haiku Rhapsodies, by a satisfied customer on Amazon, Ama Wale. Thanks, Ama. 🙂 I am taking this opportunity to urge all of my friends who have purchased my book and yet to write a review on Amazon or elsewhere to please kindly do so. 🙂 You know how we authors lap up reviews. Those who haven’t bought copies should please do so also through Amazon. You won’t ever regret your decision.  🙂 Thanks you. 🙂

REVIEW

This is a refreshing read for any poetry lover! The author’s choice of words are at once spot on, and engaging- leaving the reader wanting more. This ought to be a must-read for literature students.

Links for Haiku Rhapsodies:

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Goodreads

 

 

Felicitations!

Tags

Awards, Christ, Christmas, Felicitations, Ghana

Sweet Felicitations of the Season to all my lovely friends, home and abroad and all  May the Season bring you good cheer and all that you wish for.

I take this opportunity to thank all of you for downloading copies of my Award Winning Book, Haiku Rhapsodies from Amazon; God bless you abundantly. To my numerous customers who bought my Award Winning Book, Haiku Rhapsodies and who continue to buy copies even now, I say God richly bless you. I appreciate you all.

It’s been lovely blogging all year round, visiting and reading your wonderful works. I got so much fulfillment and joy from that. God bless you all.

Please, make someone, or your loved one happy this Season by giving him or her a copy of my Award Winning Book, Haiku Rhapsodies as a Christmas gift. Copies are available at the EPP Bookshop, Legon Mall, Accra, Ghana. You can also download or order copies from Amazon.

Wishing you all a wonderful Yuletide. God bless you.

 

 

Links for Haiku Rhapsodies:

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Goodreads

 

 

Super Awards!

Tags

Atukwei Okine, Awards, Best Blogger, Ghana, Ghana Association of Writers, Haiku Rhapsodies, Independence, Reading Pleasure

Hello lovely folks,

To the glory of God. 🙂

On 11th November 2017, my book Haiku Rhapsodies, Verses from Ghana won the Atukwei Okine Award for Best Poetry Book under the Poetry Category at the 2017 Ghana Association of Writers Literary Awards as part of Ghana’s 60th Anniversary Celebrations. 🙂

On 28th October 2017, my blog, Reading Pleasure won the Best Blogger Award 2017 under the Literature Blog Category at the Ghana Writers Award.

The Awards! The Book! 🙂

Atukwei Okine Award for Best Poetry Book

Best Blogger Award 2017

Haiku Rhapsodies, Verses from Ghana

© Celestine Nudanu

14/11/17

 

Links for Haiku Rhapsodies:

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Goodreads