Release Blitz + Review + Excerpt - DIAMONDS IN THE DUST by Charmaine Pauls

Diamonds in the Dust by Charmaine Pauls

Series: Diamonds are Forever Trilogy #1
Genre: Dark Romance
Release Date: May 19, 2020

Synopsis

Men like us, we see things.
We do things, things that make us unfeeling.

That’s the price of power and money, of living la belle vie and running the French mafia. Then she came along like a pretty wildflower pushing through the cracks on a dirty pavement—fragile yet resilient, a breath of beauty among the filth. She was supposed to be just another job, a nameless person I was to pluck from her life and hand to my brother, nothing but a pawn in the gamble of our diamond business.

There’s a psychological label for men like us.
We lack empathy and guilt.
We do things to have what we want, things that make flowers wilt.

(Diamonds in the Dust is Book 1 of the Diamonds are Forever Trilogy and ends on a cliffhanger. Diamonds in the Rough (Book 2) releases on 14 July 2020 and Diamonds are Forever (Book 3) on 15 September 2020.)

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diamonds in the dust

This being my first Charmaine read, I have to say I am absolutely blown away. I wasn’t even expecting 10% of anything that happened. I am both pleasantly surprised and thoroughly scared.

I really really like Zoe. She has a spine and her spirit just makes you want to cheer endlessly for her. Though, I think her anger gets the best of her and she makes mistakes, but I was definitely rooting for her. I seriously hope that she kicks some mafia butt in the next book because I need it to happen.

Maxime is a very intriguing, very dangerous and an insanely complex man. I was always on the edge trying to figure out what his next step will be. His cruelty and his softness are both at war and I don’t know which one I want to see win.

This book is definitely one I’ve never read like before. I am trying to process all that I read because holy mother did I learn a few things about myself!!!! This book is scorching hot and at times so heart wrenching that you just want to lie down and cry about it.

I am super excited to see what happens next because that cliffhanger hurt like a mother.

4 Stars!

*This story contains triggers that might be upsetting to readers.

~Sonal

Excerpt

His tone is gentle, one you’d use trying to coax the truth out of someone. “Why were you still a virgin?”

“I was waiting for the right man,” I say like it doesn’t matter.

He nods, a silent acknowledgment of understanding. There’s no remorse in his voice when he says, “No man can be more wrong than me.”

I’m shaking violently when he picks me up, sheltering me against his chest. He carries me inside and easily closes the door balancing me in one arm. He goes to the bathroom and lowers me onto the rug next to the bath. I wrap my arms around myself, shivering as I watch him open the tap to let the water run warm. The petals and candles are gone. The bath has been cleaned. Housekeeping came in while we were having dinner.

The bath is only a quarter full when he slips his palms under the jacket and brushes it off my shoulders, carelessly disregarding the expensive garment crumpled on the floor. He picks me up and puts me on my feet in the bath. Taking a jar of bath salts from the edge, he empties the whole jar in the bath and scoops water into the jar that he empties over my shoulder.

The warmth dispels the cold. My skin contracts with goosebumps. He refills the jar and drains it over my other shoulder. He does the same with my front and back, and then he crouches down to soap a sponge. He starts at my waist, dragging the sponge from my hip to my thigh before squeezing out the sponge and letting the soapy water run down my calf. Meticulously, he washes me, stroke by gentle stroke removing the blood and the cold.

The bathroom is warm, but I’m still shivering. When the bath is half-full, he turns off the water and guides me to lie down. Twisting my hair in a knot, he trails it over the edge of the bath. The water stings between my legs, but heat envelopes me, melting the last of the bitter frost under my skin and calming my shivers. All the while, he continues to bathe me, washing away the remnants of our coupling in a strangely humble way as if I’m the princess and he the servant.

When my skin starts to wrinkle, he pulls the plug and takes my hand to help me out of the bath. Draping a fluffy towel around me, he dries my body. When not a patch of wetness is left on my skin, he leads me back to the room and makes me sit on the loveseat while he strips the sheets off the bed, leaving the duvet. Folding it back, he looks at me in silent command.

I’m spent. My fight is cold. I get up without arguing, dropping the towel at the side of the bed before getting in. Turning on my side, I face the wall. He gets in beside me, flicks off the lamp, and spoons me from behind with an arm he throws over my stomach to anchor me to him.

Our breathing is quiet. We’re both awake, but neither of us speaks. Light from the streetlamps falls through the window into the room. It plays over the walls, creating a shadowed reflection of the free world outside.

After a long while, he says into the darkness, “If I had the time, I would’ve made you fall in love with me first.”

At the words, I stop breathing.

They’re meant to be a consolation, but they’re stunningly cruel.

Coming Soon

About the Author

Charmaine Pauls was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. She obtained a degree in Communication at the University of Potchestroom, and followed a diverse career path in journalism, public relations, advertising, communications, photography, graphic design, and brand marketing. Her writing has always been an integral part of her professions.

After relocating to Chile with her French husband, she fulfilled her passion to write creatively full-time. Charmaine has published over twenty novels since 2011, as well as several short stories and articles. Two of her shorts have been selected by the International Literary Society for an anthology from across the African continent.

When she is not writing, she likes to travel, read, and rescue cats. Charmaine currently lives in France with her husband and children. Their household is a linguistic mélange of Afrikaans, English, French and Spanish.