I have always loved Romance novels. I read my first romance novel (I can’t remember the name of the author) at age 9 or 10 and got hooked forever. Romance novels are about the only genres I read. Occasionally, I’ll pick up another genre, but trust me, but it’ll just need to have some romance to it, or else, I’m not reading.
So why African romance novels, you may ask?
Well, for starters, for many many years (I tend to exagerate sometimes, so bear with me), Africans ( me included) have fed tenaciously on romance novels with characters coming from either Europe or America. I cannot exactly remember ever reading romance novels with black african men (multimillionaires) falling in love with African belles. It was always Lords, knights, dukes etcetera falling in love with the blondes, brunettes and redheads. It almost seemed like the message passed across was that you’d have to be caucasian to fall in love, find romance and live happily ever after.
Then, I grew up and met the love of my life. Since he was no white man, and since I was no blonde, brunette or redhed, I slowly began to realize that the color of romance didn’t have to be limited to a particular race. Nor Continent. Certainly there are novels out there that feature African Americans. However the reality is that the culture inherent to African Americans is very different from that of those living in Africa. Africans tend to be more conservative in their approach, and I found it important to write romance novels that true Africans could relate to, yet be enjoyed by readers from other cultures. And that was how African Romance was born – with characters coming only from Africa and living within the continent of Africa.
Lara Daniels 