Girls like me, we know how to survive.

We each have our own little ways, but we acquire those skills at the same tender age.

If you ask me how many times a person can die, I’ll tell you many times. As many times as a man stabs you in the stomach with betrayal and wrings out your heart with lies.

Girls like me, we live.

We don’t get a choice.

We step over the cliff and fall.

Eat, sleep, die, and repeat.

(Diamonds in the Rough is Book 2 of the Diamonds are Forever Trilogy and ends on a cliffhanger. Book 1, Diamonds in the Dust, must be read to follow the story. Book 3, Diamonds are Forever, which concludes the story, will be released on 15 September 2020.)

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.