Category Archives: The Diamond Collection

Behind the Book: Diamonds N’ Roses (Chapter Six)

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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 SIX: HOLD UP

This chapter is a perfect example of how there are only good moments in the series, and not good days. The good news of the chapter is Carmen learning that her divorce from Kane is final. While this puts a smile on her face, the smile is temporary. King strolls in her office with the announcement that Kane, his stepfather, will be the best man at his upcoming nuptials.

If you’ve made it to this book in the series, then the drama and turmoil between Jay (King’s birth father) and Kane is well-known. I won’t go into all that, but to sum it up, it’s just an old-fashioned love triangle with Carmen smack dab in the middle.

In Chapter Six, there are two different dynamics going on. Carmen has officially broken ties from Kane while King is set on maintaining his. It is King’s right to choose who he wants as his best man, but Carmen also feels it’s right to share with him what the outcome could be. Carmen expresses her opinion because she wants King to heal his relationship with Jay not dig the grave any deeper. Carmen feels that Jay would be disturbed and upset over the decision because once again, he is being robbed of a special moment with his son. King doesn’t express to Carmen his reason for the decision, but Carmen believes it’s to get back at Jay for whatever issues they have.

All I wanted for this scene was for Carmen to plant a seed in King’s mind. Whether it is watered and grows, well, that’s a discussion for the next entry of Behind the Book.

Behind The Book: Diamonds N’ Roses (Chapter Five)

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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 FIVE: ONLY

There are two major things to dig into when it comes to Chapter Five. The first is mother/daughter relationships. The action and dialogue between Carmen and her mother, Patricia, show how their relationship is strained. Patricia has no filter as she takes shots at not only Carmen’s parenting (because her oldest son has impregnated his teenage girlfriend), but also at Carmen’s illegitimate children with Jay (Rakim and Nyla).

This torn relationship between mother and daughter is becoming a generational curse as Carmen isn’t in the best place with her oldest daughter, Kristian. While not heavily discussed in this book, the animosity between the two stems from Carmen’s affair with Jay (Kristian blames both her mother and Jay for breaking up the family). However, Carmen still remains Mama Bear and is worried about her daughter’s safety as she took an impromptu trip to Georgia to see Victor Fontaine.

This leads me to the second thing I want to dig into…

When I wrote this book back in 2016, I believed Victor Fontaine was going to be a character that would be heavily present in the rest of the collection. This is the reason I had him pop up in this book. I thought he would be a good love interest for Kristian as he was her knight in shining armor in Book 4, Black Diamonds, during her kidnapping. Even in this chapter, he comes to her rescue when she has a night terror. I wanted readers to become familiar with seeing him.

I can honestly say as I type this that I am torn on what to do with his character. For one, Kristian has another love interest, Dijuan Harrison, who was heavily present in Book Two, Diamonds are Forever. I feel like he needs to make a grand return and Book Eight: Diamond Life, would be a good place. If he comes back, Victor has to come back, too, but I don’t want another love triangle. I feel like I have enough of that with Carmen, Jay, and Kane.

Oh well, I’ll have it figured out by next year.

Behind The Book: Diamonds N’ Roses (Chapter Four)

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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 FOUR: THE CRYING GAME

This chapter opens with a family dinner in which Carmen and Jay’s son, King, announces his plans to marry his girlfriend, Coco. While the marriage plans were revealed in a previous chapter, King and Coco are hesitant to announce their pregnancy due to their fear of how Coco’s mother, Maya, will react. While they dance around the topic, Maya has already figured out that her daughter is pregnant (the biggest clue is that they are trying to have a shotgun wedding).

Maya shares her thoughts on the pregnancy in a one on one conversation with Carmen. Her reaction isn’t positive because I wanted her to have a similar reaction to the one Carmen’s mother (Patricia) had when she learned Carmen was pregnant with King. This is an example of history repeating itself. Like Patricia was with Jay, Maya disapproves of the pregnancy because of King’s past and run-ins with the law. Another example of history repeating itself, is that just like Carmen, King is also having his first child in his early twenties.

The pregnancy and pending nuptials are only more toppings to distract Carmen and Jay from planning their wedding. With a year to go until their wedding date, more drama can only be on the rise.

Behind The Book: Diamonds N’ Roses (Chapter Three)

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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)

At the time I was writing this book, I had two friends who were looking to create an event planning company. I added them to the book as the characters, Veronica Freeman and Patience Nelson, because Carmen needed event planners for her wedding. In fact, DreamGirlz, as named in the book, was going to be the name of their company.

This particular chapter was entitled, “Want Some More,” because more drama was brewing. The relationship between Jay and his eldest son, King, which has always been rocky, was taking another plunge. Kane also hints to Carmen in this chapter that he still has a soft spot for her when he asks for “one more night,” before their divorce is final.

Behind The Book: Diamonds N’ Roses (Chapter Two)

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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.

CHAPTER TWO: ALL THINGS GO

In this chapter, readers learn that Chapter One was a nightmare. Well, parts of it was. Some of it did actually happen.

In Chapter Two, readers are introduced to the two main plot points of the book. The first is Story A, which is the planning of Carmen and Jay’s wedding. The second is Story B, which is Jay being introduced to the issue of conflict diamonds (or blood diamonds).

Story B conflicts with Story A because it distracts Jay from the main task at hand – the planning of his wedding. This chapter shows the start of the breakdown in some of Jay’s relationships. First, with his fiancée, Carmen, as he misses their first planning session. Then, with his business partner in Africa and his best friend/ right-hand, Malik Washington.

Of course, it wouldn’t be The Diamond Collection if there wasn’t a sea of other conflicts occurring at the same time (i.e. Coco’s pregnancy, Kristian’s disappearance). I planted this stuff on purpose as I wanted readers to question if the wedding between Carmen and Jay was even going to happen with all the drama surrounding them. Hence why the chapter is named, “All Things Go.” The title of the chapter as well as many more in the book come from the tracklisting of Nicki Minaj’s The Pinkprint album. This album stayed on repeat while I was writing the book, which is why I named the chapters after most of the songs.

Behind The Book: Diamonds N’ Roses (Chapter One)

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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 ONE: THE LION’S DEN

To kick it off, let’s start with Chapter One, which is entitled “The Lion’s Den.” The chapter’s title was partly inspired by the show, Empire, and by the primary setting of the scene – Jay’s office at his club, Sapphire. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Jay Santiago is the main male character of the series. At the time of this chapter, he is engaged to the book’s main female character, Carmen Davenport.

This chapter is a mix of reality and fantasy. I wanted to pick up where Book Four, Black Diamonds, left off, which was at the re-opening of Jay and Carmen’s soul food restaurant, Blue Magic. I also wanted the book to open with a bang. This chapter is an intimate scene between Carmen and Jay, which begins with the two sharing a couple of drinks. One in particular, was VSOP, which I chose on purpose as an ode to one of my favorite singers, K. Michelle (she has a song called VSOP).

Their intimate moment is “interrupted,” by Carmen’s soon-to-be ex-husband Kane. This was to show that the love triangle between these three is still on-going despite Carmen and Kane being in relationships with other people. The end of the chapter is where the fantasy comes into play (I won’t share this spoiler) and is a foretelling of what is to come later in the book.

The Diamond Tiara and Dirty Red Diamonds are NOW AVAILABLE for PRE-ORDER!

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The Diamond Tiara and Dirty Red Diamonds are now available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books-A-Million. 

💎The Diamond Tiara (Paperback – $15; Kindle/ Nook – $2.99)

💎Dirty Red Diamonds (Paperback – $10; Kindle/ Nook – $2.99)

OFFICIAL BOOK TRAILER: Dirty Red Diamonds (Part VII of The Diamond Collection)

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Career-defining moments are not only years in the making, but also few and far between. What was supposed to be a night celebrating her wins, Carmen’s world is turned upside down when her fashion brand’s anniversary party becomes a bloodbath.

Fifteen people are left dead including members of the terrorist group, Artemis 66. When the group’s leader goes off the grid, Carmen receives a tip from a former Triad agent of a potential lead in the Entertainment Capital of the World.

Dirty Red Diamonds is a tale of what happens when Vegas’ bright lights meets Brookstone’s most famous players.

Release Date: 06.07.2022

Thug Luv Instrumental Remake by TifsterBeatz

Official Book Trailer: The Diamond Tiara (Part Six of The Diamond Collection)

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Ask anyone how New York-born fashion designer, Carmen Santiago (née Davenport), rose to fame and the first reference you’ll get is her multi-million dollar fashion empire, Flame, Inc. The second reference you’ll get is the fashionista’s high- profiled relationship with business mogul, Jay Santiago.

What many don’t reference is the driving force behind Carmen’s success, Flame’s Vice President, Tiara Washington. A Brookstone native, she’s had the reins of the company since its infancy. With a career in fashion that spans more than two decades, fashion greats describe Washington as Flame’s backbone.

As the fashion brand continues to stay on everyone’s lips, so does its major player, Carmen Santiago. After her lavish wedding in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen is whisked away to sunny St. Lucia. The first three days are pure bliss until one phone call sets off a nonstop cycle of drama, scandal, deception, and lies.

Release Date: 06.07.2022

Check out a Sneak Peek of Diamonds N’ Roses!

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diamondsnroses copyHello Diamonds,

It is my birthday and as a special gift to you all, I would like to share with you the first seven chapters of Diamonds N’ Roses. This draft of the novel has not been professionally edited, but will give you insight on what to expect in Part Five of The Diamond Collection.

This sneak peek is available exclusively on Amazon’s Kindle. The price is currently set at .99, but a free promotion for the preview will run for the book, starting on Thursday, April 14th – Monday, April 18th. Click the Diamonds N’ Roses book cover to be directed to the book’s Amazon’s page.

For those of you who do not have  a Kindle, please drop your email below or send an email to crownjewelzpub@gmail.com and a PDF of the special preview will be delivered to you. I hope you enjoy and happy reading! Razzle Dazzle!

Vogue

Goddess Fish Promotions Presents… Black Diamonds Review Tour

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Reviews_BlackDiamonds_Banner copy

 

Black Diamonds

Within the last year, acclaimed fashion designer, Carmen Davenport, has witnessed the ups and downs of being romantically linked to one of New York’s most prominent men. On the heel of her engagement to Jay Santiago, a Puerto Rican businessman, she learns her oldest daughter has been kidnapped. A direct result of an ongoing war between her fiancé and a disgruntled drug kingpin, Carmen becomes determined to put an official end to the conflict.

She sets out to track down her daughter only to be met with unforeseen obstacles. A criminal investigation, led by her soon-to-be ex-husband, Michael Kane, leaves her fiancé behind bars. Due to Jay’s incarceration, Carmen is placed in the care of his estranged cousin, Gully. He constantly reminds Carmen of the price of fame, ultimately forcing her to take matters in her own hands. Determined to bring her daughter to safety, she takes a no holds barred approach to ensure her daughter’s return.

Genre: Contemporary Urban Fiction, Crime, Mystery, and Detective

Available in Paperback, Kindle, & Nook

Release Date: July 4, 2015

Page Count: 215

ISBN: 978-0-9888004-4-1

ASIN: B010RR3EQM