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Diamonds in the Dust: A Diamond Magnate Novel (Diamonds are Forever Trilogy) Paperback – May 11, 2020
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) will be released on 14 July 2020, and Diamonds are Forever (Book 3) on 15 September 2020.
Other novels in the Diamond Magnate collection:
Standalone Novel
Beauty in the Broken
Diamonds are Forever Trilogy
Diamonds in the Dust (Book 1) - 19 May 2020
Diamonds in the Rough (Book 2) - 14 July 2020
Diamonds are Forever (Book 3) - 15 September 2020
- Print length240 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMay 11, 2020
- Dimensions5 x 0.55 x 8 inches
- ISBN-13979-8635178751
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"A sensational story which races towards an explosive ending like a ride on a runaway train, where you can see the crash coming but can't close your eyes or get off. Violent & addictive, it's a pulse pounding marathon of pain & pleasure. Passionate love at war with passionate hate and you don't get to choose sides." - Book Bistro Blog
"This can't-put-it-down, beautifully crafted dark romance is intense with flawless and feel-worthy writing that pulled me to the edge, leaving me no choice but to surrender to this seductive and spellbinding story. I was a captive to this high-octane, hold-your-breath book. I lived and breathed this Beauty and the Beast-like story, which stole every breath, every thought, and every feel like a thief in the night. Pure addiction." - Bookalicious Babes Blog
"Charmaine beautifully captures the battle of wills between one who can't feel and one who feels deeply and relentlessly. Her storytelling is not just a sequence of intriguing events. It is a journey into the minds of two very thoroughly envisioned characters who defy type-casting. Maxime and Zoe's thoughts, feelings, and perceptions are vividly conjured even as they shift and grow and re-evaluate their positions. Her words are pure poetry." - Buffyanna, Goodreads
"Charmaine Pauls has written another breathtaking, mind-blowing, rip my heart out and leave me on the edge of my seat story! This trilogy takes place in the same Diamond Magnate world as Beauty in the Broken (which I recommend reading as a complement to this trilogy although it is not required). This world is a brutal one with many evil characters to go along with the anti-hero and heroine. The characters are so intricately developed that they immediately draw out the anticipated feelings." - K. Lynn, Goodreads
"Delicious, Dark, Devious... Charmaine Pauls does it again!!! If you are a fan of Dark Romances, then you are in for a wild ride. You will be intrigued to understand what motivates the anti-hero Maxime and feel deeply for the innocent, naive and brave heroine Zoe. It is such a well crafted story that will pull you in and not let go until the very end. The psychological manipulation is done with such finesse, something that Charmaine Pauls excels at, with plenty of dark elements to keep you on your toes." - D K, Goodreads
"As always, Charmaine Paul's writing creates intrigue, urgency and completely envelops my mind when I'm reading her novels." - Becky, Goodreads
"Explosive and unpredictable with intriguing and complex characters." - Sheena, Goodreads
"Maxime Belshaw is everything..." - Book Loving Fairy-Blog
"Just Wow Fabulous Crazy good." - Jamillah Smith, Goodreads
From the Author
Standalone Novel
Beauty in the Broken
Diamonds are Forever Trilogy
Diamonds in the Dust (Book 1) - 19 May 2020
Diamonds in the Rough (Book 2) - 14 July 2020
Diamonds are Forever (Book 3) - 15 September 2020
About the Author
When she moved to Chile with her French husband, she started writing full-time. She has been publishing novels and short stories since 2011.
Charmaine currently lives in Montpellier, France with her family. Their household is a lively mix of Afrikaans, English, French, and Spanish.
Product details
- ASIN : B088GMJ369
- Publisher : Independently published
- Publication date : May 11, 2020
- Language : English
- Print length : 240 pages
- ISBN-13 : 979-8635178751
- Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5 x 0.55 x 8 inches
- Book 1 of 3 : Diamonds are Forever Trilogy
- Best Sellers Rank: #7,820 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Join Charmaine's newsletter on her website to be informed of new book releases.
Charmaine loves to write dark and edgy romance that will melt both your e-reader and your heart.
She's a mom of two teenagers, an adorable dog, and a dominant cat. Her country of birth is South Africa where many of her stories play off. Her French husband whisked her away to the south of France where she currently lives with her family.
When she's not writing, you'll find her in the kitchen baking cakes or in the gym lifting weights (because ... all those cakes!).
Customer reviews
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To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book captivating, with one review noting its cliffhanger ending that keeps readers engaged. The characters are well-developed and beautifully written, while the pacing is engaging. They appreciate the book's sexiness, with one review describing how the diamonds dazzled.
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Customers enjoy the story quality of the book, describing it as captivating with unexpected twists and cliffhangers.
"...because I love the way she writes her characters and structures her stories...." Read more
"...The story was well-paced, the characters are beautifully written (yes, even the psychopath Maxime)...." Read more
"Really enjoyed reading this very well written and interesting book and highly recommend that you read it as well...." Read more
"...; along with fascinating settings and a well thought out and executed storyline. Charmaine Pauls is a sublime storyteller...." Read more
Customers find the characters interesting and beautifully written.
"...The thing with Charmaine's books is that the characters are consistent...." Read more
"...The story was well-paced, the characters are beautifully written (yes, even the psychopath Maxime)...." Read more
"...All the characters are strong in their own ways, however their weakness are often painful to themselves and others...." Read more
"...This is a well written book with complex and intriguing characters...." Read more
Customers find the book engaging, with one mentioning they were hooked from the first page and finished it in two days.
"...Fully developed characters that capture and keep your attention; along with fascinating settings and a well thought out and executed storyline...." Read more
"...They literally have me hooked from the first page and dying for the next one. I'm so curious to see where this next book is going to take us." Read more
"...With all the things I have to do in a day, I still read this awesome book in two days. I just couldn't help it. Can't wait to start the next!" Read more
Customers find the pacing of the book engaging and meaningful, with one customer noting how it makes them desensitized to anything and everything.
"...Her heroes are scary and fascinating (or fascinatingly scary), not because of the violence they are capable of, but because they usually keep a very..." Read more
"...who is sexy, ruthless, emotionless, dark, broody, and desensitized to anything and everything...." Read more
"...Uniquely crafted tale and plot. Intense and engaging. Odd for me in a surprisingly good way...." Read more
Customers find the book sexy, with one mentioning how the diamonds dazzled.
"...charming Zoe was hoping for, but instead got a mafia prince; who is sexy, ruthless, emotionless, dark, broody, and desensitized to anything and..." Read more
"...how to describe this book except for it’s dark, haunting, sad and lovely. I feel love for both characters...." Read more
"These diamonds dazzled!..." Read more
Reviews with images

Pure dark perfection!
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2020I am always anticipating for some authors to release new books, and Charmaine Pauls is quickly becoming one of them. After zipping through her Loan Shark series and reading Beauty in the Broken, I was excited for her to release Diamonds in the Dust. I knew she would not disappoint because I love the way she writes her characters and structures her stories. After reading the blurb for Diamonds in the Dust I knew it was right up my alley, and when the book finally dropped I got to reading.
Diamonds in the Dust is connected to her book Beauty in the Broken, and if you've read that (you really should) this book takes place a few years before Beauty in the Broken. Diamonds in the Dust is about Zoe Hart (the sister of Damian Hart, who is the male protagonist of Beauty in the Broken). Zoe Hart has been slaving away at a sweatshop after her older brother Damian was sentenced to a crime he didn't commit. Zoe is dirt poor but has dreams to be a designer. She is, as Charmaine describes her in the story, like a daisy growing on the pavement of a street. She's tough even though she might not be strong in the physical sense, and her poverty does not define her. One day walking home from work her life changes completely when two worlds collide. She is taken by a man named Maxime Belshaw and his intentions are less than stellar. Maxime knows Zoe's weakness-her love for her brother Damian-and he uses this to his advantage when he tells her to come quietly. Any rebelliousness from her and Damian will be killed in jail. Zoe is confused, terrified, and enraged as to how her brother in jail could have made an enemy of Maxime, but she does not have a choice. He makes her a deal: stay with him for a few years, and then he'll let her go.
What may seem like a story about a rich man kidnapping a poor woman, is actually much more complex. Zoe is nothing but a pawn and there is a story within that story. Even Zoe does not know the full extent of the game Maxime is playing. When I realized his plan, I had to stop reading. Maxime may be the most unforgivable hero Charmaine has ever written, and its made even more annoying because of his confidence and disregard of Zoe's previous life. He snatches her from the only existence she's ever known and expects her to be grateful. Talk about the audacity...And Zoe, poor naive Zoe, whom I wish I could warn of her impending doom and heartache. She does not even know of the things coming for her.
So long story short, she is trapped in a gilded cage. Like a princess in an ivory tower with all of the comforts she can desire at her fingertips, but there is no real freedom here. Nothing truly belongs to her. She's swimming with sharks now, and she is out of her depth.
I do know this, though. Zoe is a survivor and she is tenacious. She was getting her bearings in this book, but I have a feeling that in the coming books we'll see her becoming the strong, independent female I know she can be. And Maxime...well he can go die in a fire. Seriously, for most of the book, my kindle was clutched so tightly in my hand, and I was cursing his pigheadedness. The thing with Charmaine's books is that the characters are consistent. The antihero doesn't suddenly turn into a good guy when he meets the girl, in fact, he becomes more of an antihero, and I expect Maxime to be nothing less. I didn't know quite how to contain myself after that cliffhanger, but I loved it. I like cliffhangers when done right (I know, I'm a masochist) and this one I felt was just dramatic enough. I cannot wait for the next book.
And oh yeah, that "Italian deal" better not be what I think it is.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2023Wow, this book is dark but in a different way than other dark mafia books. Maxine makes some pretty shady decisions that would make any sane woman not trust him. Then he wants her blind trust and obedience. His inner conflict is explained a bit, but there is just too much that’s not made clear about his brother and why his family turns a blind eye to his crimes. And also no insight into Z’s brother and his POV. The book is really well written. My complaint is that it’s left in a cliff hanger, and each book is expensive for an e-book. It should all be in one book, one flat fee. Or better yet Kindle unlimited.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2020Maxime is a dark romance (anti-)hero after my own heart: cold, scarred (physically as well as mentally), ruthless, and brutal when cirumstances necessitate it. And he has a French accent (swoon for that alone). So it seems that in his relationship with Zoe – the heroine - he holds all the power, but although Zoe acquiesces to Maxime’s proposal for the moment, she has a core of strength that allows her to find pockets of resistance and to keep her innermost self untarnished by the things she is forced to endure and by the things Maxime makes her do (and reluctantly enjoy).
But before I delve deeper into the story, first some warnings: this is a dark romance that contains scenes of a sexual nature and quite graphic depictions of violence and abuse. Also the relationship between hero and heroine can best be described as forced consent, so if you are triggered by any of that, by all means steer clear of the book. If, on the other hand, you are like me, this will only make you want to read the book all the more.
Second warning: Diamonds in the Dust is the first book in a trilogy and it ends on a literal cliffhanger. The good news is that books two and three are going to be released at two month intervals, so maybe you will want to wait; me, I was unable to contain myself.
Also, Maxime and Zoe’s story is part of the Diamond Magnate collection and as such sort of a prequel to Beauty in the Broken. It can be read as a standalone, but there is a loose connection as Zoe is Damian’s sister. So, while Damian is still in prison, Zoe etches out a living as a seamstress in Johannesburg. She is poor, but she still has hope of one day becoming a fashion designers and she still clings to an ephemeral dream of getting rescued by a white knight. That’s when Maxime crashes into her life unexpectedly, only he is no knight in shining armor, quite the opposite: he is the heir and de facto leader of a French crime family who have their hands in the South African Diamond trade, and as his family wants to gain leverage over Damian, whose influence in the business is growing even while imprisoned, they decide to take his sister as a kind of byzantine hostage. Maxime is tasked with collecting her and delivering her to the family. But Zoe’s innocence and hope that she kept even while living in squalor touches something within him, and he decides that if Zoe has to become a pawn, she could just as well become his…
It’s difficult to put into words what exactly the qualities are that make me like – or rather crave – Charmaine Pauls’ brand of dark romance so much. I think it has to do with her ability to create the perfect tension between the dubious/forced consent position she usually places the heroine in and then showing us ways how that heroine manages to resist in small, but meaningful ways, even while outwardly surrendering. And although there is violence, the relationship between the main protagonists is always much more a battle of wills and it is definitively not one-sided. Her heroines are often put into positions where they seem to have no choice, and though in general they act sensibly and submit for the moment, they never give up and they look to (re-)assert their own agency, sometimes in dramatic ways that change the power dynamic. Her heroes are scary and fascinating (or fascinatingly scary), not because of the violence they are capable of, but because they usually keep a very tight check on their emotions and only apply violence with surgical precision.
5 exuberant stars and counting the days until I can get my hands on part 2 of Maxime and Zoe’s story.
Top reviews from other countries
- Kindle CustomerReviewed in Australia on September 21, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Epic series
This is a gritty good series. You won't wanna out it down. Dont!. Great writing, great characters. Definatly a series for the harder reader.
- JinxxReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 30, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
I’ve never read anything from this author before, but I will from now on. Brilliant writing, captivating storyline & very in-putdownable! I literally couldn’t put this book down & as soon as I finished it I was heading to Amazon to download the next book. I would highly recommend if you like a book to keep you hooked.
- susieReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful author x
This is one of the best series of books I have ever read together with Charmaine's next series Stolen that is so good that I had to reread. Waiting eagerly for the next instalment of stolen to be released in June x
- PebblesReviewed in Australia on October 25, 2020
2.0 out of 5 stars Review for all 3 books! Disappointing
The first book was fantastic a definite 5-star rating.
The second book 4-star rating it would have been 5 stars but the page count was a little over 200 and considering the price we should have had more to read.
Third book 1-star rating
While I have enjoyed the different take on this Mafia series and the arcs in both Zoe and Maxime it was really grating on me how Zoe continually complains (to herself) that Maxime doesn’t love her and never will, it was getting exhausting and I started losing interest which is a shame because, before the longevity of Zoe’s internal whining my rating would have been 5 stars ⭐️ Even now she’s still doubting Maxime after 75% and beyond of the book, it’s slowly destroying all the enjoyment of this series for me it’s so depressing, I've started skimming now just to get it the end. I’m down to 3 stars now at 87% ☹️. Eventually, about 92% of the good stuff happens but it’s too late now because I lost interest. So damned disappointed 😔 I don’t know if I’ll ever read something from this author again.
- JellybeanReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 23, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect
Great writing and characters. Pleasure to read. Crime family story based largely in France. Great strong crime lord, intelligent and dark. Zoe, our heroine, dealing with her situation and his actions. Looking forward to next