Behind the Book is a series in which I give you a behind the scenes look at one of the latest installments of The Diamond Collection. For this round, I will be focusing on Diamonds N’ Roses: Part Five of The Diamond Collection.

Diamonds N’ Roses was released on December 25, 2016 and is available at the following online retailers: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books-A-Million.

Other Available Titles in The Diamond Collection: Diamonds in the Rough, Diamonds are Forever, The Ace of Diamonds, Black Diamonds, The Diamond Tiara (Part Six) and Dirty Red Diamonds (Part Seven).

CHAPTER SEVEN: DADDY LESSONS

In the last entry of Behind the Book, I discussed how Carmen wanted King to mend his relationship with his father, Jay. The purpose of that conversation was to plant a seed in King’s mind.

When Chapter Seven rolls around, Jay has invited King to breakfast to try and fix their relationship. I did this on purpose to show the seed being watered. Both Carmen and Jay are on the same wavelength when it comes to their son. I chose the diner as the place to hold this conversation because of its significance to the series (this is the site where Carmen and Jay first met).

In this scene, King shares that his pain stems from his jealousy towards Jay’s relationship with his younger brother, Rakim. I planted this on purpose as a prelude to a future book. In Book 9 (tentatively titled: Diamond Princess), there is a storyline where King and Rakim, who are now both adults, are on the warpath. Their constant arguments, fights, and battles have a major effect on the rest of the family and even leads to a murder. After finishing Book Seven, I do not know if I will keep this as a storyline as it no longer fits the series.

In this scene, King also shares his original idea of having Kane serve as his best man. In response, Jay says, “I know all about the role Kane played in your life…I will never take away what he’s done for you. He was your father when I couldn’t be. What I will attack is his character. There’s nothing authentic about him. He’s like a bootleg…”

The, “he’s like a bootleg,” line came from a conversation I had with a former friend. He was sharing a conversation he had with his mother about an older woman who was like a mother to him. His mother told him, jokingly, “she’s not the real thing, she’s a bootleg.” I was writing this scene at the time and told him I was going to use it, which is how it made it into the book.

In conclusion, I wanted this scene to take place because I wanted King and Jay to be in a healthy place before Carmen and Jay tied the knot. I thought it was important to their love story that they were both on a good page with their firstborn.