Book excerpt: The follow-up to the critically acclaimed novel Platinum, Diamond Life returns to the smoke and mirrors world of fame with brand new characters and more true to life plotlines. Alex Maxwell’s career as a journalist and celebrity ghostwriter is taking off, but it pales in comparison to her rapper husband Birdie’s multi-platinum debut and world tour. Slowly but surely, everything they swore would never happen begins to happen—leaving Brooklyn for a mansion in suburban New Jersey and letting a reality TV crew into their home. Birdie is confronted time and again by the sexy groupies who pursue famous rappers, and he’s forced to make some life-changing choices. Meanwhile, the largely unknown performers Trip and Step release their new single, and it becomes the hottest song of the year. The duo’s popularity spreads like wildfire at the expense of entertainment’s leading icons—Jake and Z—who seem to be losing their edge, their market share, and perhaps their reputations, too. Diamond Life doesn’t just pick up where Platinum left off—it reintroduces Platinum’s main characters from a different perspective and gives background characters center stage while presenting future stars. Whether readers have read the first book or not, they’ll be swept up by this intoxicating story of love, sex, ambition, money, betrayal, and the surprising realities of making it big.