Review: Keeping Secrets by Kiru Taye

Tags

betrayal, dynasty, Finance, Forgiveness, Keeping Secrets, Kiru Taye, love, Nigeria

 

Title:    Keeping Secrets (Essien Trilogy Book 1)

Author: Kiru Taye

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Edition: Kindle

Publisher: Decadent Publishing Company

Pages:    294

Publication date:  May 2014

Reasons for reading: Received this as free ebook from the author.

 

Blurb

Have you ever loved someone and didn’t even know it? That’s the dilemma facing Felix Essien when he wakes from a coma to find he is married to the most beautiful and sensual woman he’s ever known. He cannot remember her or their wedding; he who had sworn never to get married or to give his heart to another. Yet, he feels an intense bond with her that he intends to explore fully.

Ebony can’t believe her good fortune when her paper husband wakes not remembering the temporary marriage arrangement with no intimacies he’d proposed, and is now the adoring husband she’s always dreamt of. She plans to make the most of the passion blossoming between them. However, would he still feel that way when he regains his memory and realises she’s been keeping secrets and their marriage is not what he thinks it is?

My Thoughts

I must admit that while this is not the first of Kiru’s books I’ve read, Keeping Secrets is the first of her books to hook me from the word go. Well that is not entirely true. Her other books I read hooked me but Keeping Secrets did so in a forceful way. The book actually forced you to take a big note of it.! It is that very well written, with rich and poetic settings in Lagos, Nigeria. Maybe that was one factor that got to me; I mean Ghana and Nigerian are sisters so to speak but hei, we are no where near the grandeur and opulence of the nouveux riche in Nigeria! 🙂 And this was well displayed in Keeping Secrets with the opulence understated!

The Essiens are the kings of African finance. A close-knit family, their father is the patriarch of a finance dynasty that ranges from retail to investment banking spanning the African continent. Yet all is not as it seems.
.

The story of Ebony and Felix, one of the Essien sons, is so gripping and fast paced, unfolding as you read along in flashback, thus the suspense and intrigue very well maintained till the end. As we all know, keeping secrets in any relationship especially marriage might be a big recipe for disaster and both Felix and Ebony have secrets that threaten their new marriage. Felix’ memory loss works to Ebony’s advantage but she is never at ease for fear that her husband would regain his memory. Nevertheless, she takes advantage of his obvious concern and passion for her.

The characters are flawed, but naturally and humanely so and therein lies the beauty of the characterization. I love them for the passion and love they show towards each other. The chemistry between them is so palpable, even with Felix’ memory loss. Perhaps, because of his deep love for her,  he is able to see that things just do not seem to add up. Both characters are strong and stubborn; Felix, hot, masterful and always in control; Ebony sexy, elegant and independent. In the end, secrets, betrayals and manipulations gave way to love and forgiveness.

I don’t think I have really done justice to this book, honestly. You need to read it and see what I mean. 🙂 Kiru Taye is an expert storyteller in the romance genre; throwing in Igbo words here and there with doses of of Igbo culture and tradition to give the novel an authentic but contemporary African feel.

Keeping Secrets comes highly recommended to all lovers of romance and even more. I’m actually looking forward to reading the Books 2 and 3 in the series, Making Scandal and Riding Rebel respectively. 🙂

About Kiru

A lover of books, as a teenager Kiru Taye used to read novels under the blanket during lights-outs in boarding school. These days, with a young family to take care of, she’s still sacrificing sleep for the pleasures of a good book. During the day though, she transforms her wildly vivid imagination into sensual, atmospheric romance stories with passionate characters.

When she’s not writing or reading, she’d hanging out with family and friends or traveling. Born in Nigeria, she currently lives in the UK with husband and children.

You reach her via her blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest
Follow her blog for latest news and giveaways: http://kirutayewrites.blogspot.com

Read book excerpts and free short stories on her website: http://www.kirutaye.com

 

 

Poet At Play: Faithless

Tags

betrayal, Faithless, love, Nonet

Today, I try my hands on a Nonet. This poetic form has nine lines. The first line has nine syllables, the second line eight syllables, the third line seven syllables, right until the last line, a single syllable. I hope you like it.

Faithless

open the door to his bleeding heart

 you’ll find her indelible mark

the hard rain of yesternight

makes it more glittering

a stone-like relic

of betrayal

pervading

wanton

breath

Copyright © Celestine Nudanu

18/09/13

I appreciate your patience with me as I catch up on your blogs. Thanks a million! Shalom

Poet At Play: Dream On

Tags

betrayal, dreams, love

Dream On

Let me dream on, yes let me dream on

the lights goes off in my heart

darkness descends

with the speed of an avalanche,

all I have to do is to dream on

 

Muddled shapes, misshapen forms

take on the skin of alabaster

inside a body of rocks

with blood that boils

a concoction of obsolete passion

in a cauldron

for in my dreams

I saw you branded

with the hot breath of a wanton witch

 

In my dreams

I am but a disappointed soul

shattered and jaded

waiting for your searing kiss

to send me into oblivion

In that state I will only know bliss

 

 

 * Muse in overdrive, please 🙂

 

 

Copyright © Celestine Nudanu

01/08/13

 

I appreciate your patience with me as I catch up on your blogs. Thanks a million! Shalom

Ligo Haibun Challenge – Eve

Tags

betrayal, Eve, Haibun

Today, I am joining the Ligo Haibun Challenge hosted by Managua of Cabin Fever. This is an excellent writing challenge that offers writers an opportunity to improve and hone their written skills. I encourage you to give this one a try for after following the writing trail for a while now, I have come to believe that it is worth the try.  For me also, this challenge offers me the opportunity to develop further love of fiction and haiku combined 🙂

The judges of this challenge, Penny included, look at originality, style, emotional resonance, lexical balance, relationship between haiku and prose and select an entry to award the prestigious Circle of Appreciation every week.

The haībun format  is as follows:

• A paragraph (more than one paragraph is fine, or just a few sentences) in prose form and
• the haiku/collection of haiku related to the text to close. The haiku should be as authentic as possible, with therefore no syllable count, no capitals or full stop, all ideally making 220 word max, all-inclusive
• each week there is a choice of two prompt words or phrases, or two visuals. Please choose one for our theme
• wear the Ligo badge with pride on your blog! And pin the Circle of Appreciation to your blog too if it is in the haibun Honourably Mentioned in Despatches each week!
• prizes are given on sporadic occasions – earrings, scarves etc..
• submit a haibun for Haibun Today online magazine by going here

  So, here we go: I hope you find this enjoyable 🙂

Apples have an exquisite enticing quality. The roundness give the impression of succulent juiciness and the redness means only one thing; allure. Together they give the illusion of irresistible sex. Now, would Adam have had sex with Eve if the snake had not charmed and deceived her with the apple?  What if the snake had sex with Eve? Blasphemous thoughts, I know, but sometimes I simply wonder.

Looking back now, I realised the signs had been there all along but I was blind. You see, my sister loved the creepy slithering things to a fault. And I found that odd.  

The day we found a snake moving silently down the tree in our backyard garden, the glitter in her eyes had unnerved me so. ‘Do you have a destiny with these things?’ I had asked her in a rather shaky voice. She made no answer then but she had prevented the garden boy from killing it and we had watched as it crawled away, disappearing into the hedges. That night, my dreams were of scorpions, snakes and crabs and I had woken up shivering.

From then on I started to fear her, irrational, maybe. But too late, I noticed the attraction between my sister and my fiance.

 

saccharine smile so bright

she slithers ever suggestively

a stab in my heart

Haiku Heights Prompt: Betrayal

Tags

betrayal

The prompt from Haiku Heights today is Betrayal, rather a deep one. I have three offerings. Hope your find them interesting.

(1) Betrayal

Furious winds sweep through

dredges of your betrayal

leaving me with calm

 

(2) Betrayal

His dagger-like words

Pierce through my weak arteries

And oh! How I bleed

 

(3) Betrayal

Your love betrays me

To gladly die by your hands

In Caesar-like style

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © Celestine Nudanu

21/05/13

 

I appreciate your patience with me as I catch up on your blogs. Thanks a million! Shalom

Poet At Play: Casanova

Tags

betrayal, Infidelity

Having been challenged by Susan to write a poem about the Faithless Husband, and in reaction to various comments on …

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Poet At Play: The Other Woman

Tags

betrayal, Infidelity

The Other Woman

Like a nymph on heat

She stole kisses

That were not hers

 

Like a Herodias

She mocked him

Who was not hers

 

Like a glass shattering

Into splinters

She broke a heart

That was not hers

 

And caused the tears

Of the wee ones

To flow copiously

From bewildered eyes

 

And with ugly

Unfeeling hands

She caused the death

Of the exquisitely tendered

Hibiscus

Because they were not hers

 

Faithless, thy name is woman

You who is the other woman

In a faithless marriage

(This is my muse at work, and not a castigation against women who might otherwise find themselves as the Other Woman)

Copyright © Celestine Nudanu

4/1/13

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I appreciate your patience with me as I catch up on your blogs. Thanks a million! Shalom

Nana Awere Damoah’s Tales from Different Tails – A Review

Tags

adults, betrayal, campus love, compassion, friendship, Ghanaian culture, love, Nana Awere Damoah, trust, young adults

Hmm! Nana Awere Damoah – the man to watch. His Tales  from Different Tails is a-must read for both the young adult and adult. I spent the whole of Saturday reading this wonderful collections of short stories in between tidying up the house, cooking for the week and attending  to the kids’ homework and what a read!

To simply say that Awere Damoah’s collection is campus based love stories intended to send the reader through nostalgic journeys, or intended to make the reader wish that he had been in the university to taste of the experiences described would be an injustice to the author, because the stories are more than that. More often than not, couples who meet on university campuses and fall in love end up marrying after they leave campus and it is only fair to conclude that, Awere is justified in basing his love stories on the university campus

However, Awere’s collections also touch on compassion, hurt, betrayal, loyalty, trust, friendship poverty, evil and courage; these are traits or characteristics that drive the human will and actions.  Beautifully lacing all these together is humour and fun.

Awere’s use of language relaxes the reader, taking him to familiar sites where they meet your everyday kind of person. The narrative is straightforward, yet deep, interspersed with rich proverbs and anecdotes reflecting the author’s deep insight and knowledge of the Ghanaian culture and traditions. Again, bits of the local dialects Twi and Ga,  sprinkled in the narrative with the English language creates in the reader an identifiable connection with the plots/themes.  The campus lingua in the narrative of the campus scenes is a bonus that had me reeling.

In October Rush, I had a lot of fun reliving campus days at Legon.  I can recall the ‘inte’ and ‘exte’ dating, and the adrenalin charged young men trooping to Volta hall to swim in the lake. However, one cannot help but admire Awere for bringing up the hypocrisy of some ‘chrife’ students and how they sometimes misinterpret God’s directive’s and messages for their own ends.

“Brother, God bless you for your prayers. May I ask what you were praying about?”

 Bazook smiled at the stranger, wondering; perhaps he wants to tap into my passion for souls? “Well I was            interceding for souls.”

The stranger responded, “Brother, the Spirit intercedes for us with groans we cannot understand, and He knows our real heart’s desires.  I can interpret tongues and all I heard you say for two hours I have been here at Paa Joe was ‘Lord Give me a wife!…..’ 

I actually felt sorry for Bazook.

In Truth Floats, Kwaku Ananse (as his name depicts his cunning and evil nature) betrays his best friend from campus days, Akoto in the most cruel and underhanded manner imaginable by manipulating, wooing and finally marrying Akoto’s fiancee.  This story goes beyond mere campus love story. It captures for us betrayal of trust and friendship and exposes the baseness of human nature. But Awere assures us that love conquers all when Akoto and Adoma come together in the end.

Dribble De Zagidibogidi is also a tale of betrayal which started from the university campus. I love this story  because it brings out the forgiving side of God in the person of Robbie, the born-again Christian whom Randy had treated badly on campus and whom Randy had taught raped his girlfriend.

“Randy let bygones be bygones O.K.?

Hardened (Randy’s nickname) softened. His tongue was not used  to this exercise. “Can you forgive me, Robbie?”

“Of course, I can.” “I must.”

“But why? How can you?”

Robbie smiled, The Jesus Way, remember?”

What else can be so beautiful and inspiring?

Kojo Nkrabea is a tale of woe and courage. Yes, courage for, Nkrabea found the courage to go back home to Moseaso, to face the music he played by running away to the city. He had the courage to run away from a life of robbery back home to his roots in Moseaso where he will ‘caress memories and take life from there.” 

In Guardian of the Rented Well, we meet Akosua Atiemo whose husband is away on peace keeping duties in Rwanda. Akosua indulges in an affair with Mr. Benson Stephen, a publisher who ended up not even publishing the manuscript Akosua had taken to him to see if it had possibilities. The affair becomes so hot that Stephen loses track and rides on the waves of pure ecstasy to his downfall. He is nearly killed by the army officer, Patrick Atiemo  when he returns unannounced to find his wife in another’s arms. The tragedy is that Patrick shoots and kills his wife after which he turns the gun on himself and ‘blows his head off.‘

This is a story of faithlessness and betrayal. Patrick needn’t have committed suicide. That was an easy way out. I see him as an army officer without courage. Akosua is just not worth it.

But Stephens is redeemed after being given a second chance by his Maker. He becomes an ambassador for Christ. Our elders say that it is only experience that changes a person, and not talk or advice.

Nana Awere Damoah has written a piece that challenges us a people to rethink our values as Christians and as human beings who value relationships with others. At the end of the day when all is said and done, it is love that surpasses all the virtues, love for mankind.

I highly recommend Nana Awere Damoah’s Tales from Different Tails. Well done!