Review: Diamond in the Rough by Charmaine Pauls!

Charmaine Pauls is a one-click author for me, and I was jumping in my seat to read this book.

Book 1 left us off with the mother of all cliffhangers, and book 2 picks up right where book 1 finished. Our beautiful little flower Zoe realizes by the end of book 1 that her life is forever changed and she does something drastic to act out. Zoe had my sympathy for all of book 1, but in this book...sigh. I wept for Zoe, no lie. She was like a helpless little bug being entrapped in the web by the big bad spider, but in her case, she had no idea the extent of the deception and mindfuckery Maxime was willing to go to keep her trapped. She is finally living her life, content with her situation, but every time it seemed like she had a handle on her emotions, life threw another curveball at her. The poor girl couldn't seem to catch a break. She is bound to a man who is selfish to his very core, who does not have many redeeming qualities, and who does not want to change. He would change the world around her for her, but when push came to shove, Zoe always bent for him.

Which brings me to Maxime.

Maxime, Maxime, Maxime. Oh, how I would like to hit you in the face with a chair. I thought he annoyed me in book 1. That was nothing compared to the amount of frustration I felt towards his character in this book. It was a good kind of frustration, it always is when an author makes you react so viscerally to a character. I think this is what Charmaine wanted, and this is how I feel reading all of her books. I become so invested that when her characters screw up, I need to walk away from the book to process what has happened. I found myself putting this book down many a time, thinking about how the fuck Zoe would get out of this mess because make no mistake, no matter how much I enjoyed Maxime, Zoe is my number one. She grew as a human throughout this journey of hers. She is tenacious as fuck, truly like a daisy growing through the cracks on a street. No matter how much she is stepped on she continues to grow and bring beauty to the world around her. The world is better for her being in it, but unfortunately for her, she is surrounded by pricks who don't know her value.

Some parts of the book truly took my breath away due to the anger and hopelessness I felt. I was waiting for the inevitable to happen, and it did. I knew all along what that Italian deal meant, but when that blow came it didn't make me any less furious towards Maxime. But with that came clarity, because Zoe finally understood where she stood in their relationship. She finally hit rock bottom, and the only way from there is up. I know Zoe will save herself because that's what she's always done.

As for Maxime, I hope he gets eaten by sharks.

I know this review is all about my feelings, but I'm feeling a lot of those feelings. Diamonds in the Rough stayed with me for a long time, and if you can handle characters which make you frustrated as fuck, read this series.

Cannot wait for book three.