Review: Do Over by Delaney Diamond
Do Over by Delaney Diamond Published by Garden Avenue Press on May 4th 2018
Genres: African American, Contemporary, Fiction, General, Romance
Pages: 296
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She's devoted to her daughters.Years ago, when her cheating husband left, Ella Brooks realized how much she'd changed and was not sure how to get back to the woman she used to be. When she meets Tyrone Evers, the last thing she's looking for is another relationship, but it turns out that the police detective is just too tempting to resist. He's devoted to his job.Tyrone meets Ella when he's investigating a break-in at her home, but ends up paying more attention to the wealthy socialite's case, and her, than normal. After his wife cheated on him, he's not looking for romance, he's not looking for commitment, and he's definitely not looking for love. But you do not have to be looking for any of those things for them to find you.And when life gives you a second chance, do you take it or run for cover?
Do Over by Delaney Diamond is a spinoff of her very popular Johnson family series, though you don’t have to read any of those books to dive into this series.
Full disclosure: I haven’t finished the Johnson family series (I know, the horror!) but was able to follow along quite well.
Ella Brooks is a member of the uber-wealthy Johnson/Brooks family. She is recently divorced and the mother of two little girls. Ella returns to her home earlier than anticipated from her vacation and is unfortunately met with an unwelcome surprise. She is robbed at gunpoint and taken of her possessions. The detective on the case is attractive Tyrone Evers. These two are drawn to each other but both are hesitant for different reasons. She is hurt by her ex-husband’s actions, isn’t sure if love is in the cards for her and still has her mother’s words in her ear about being with a man with a certain financial portfolio. Tyrone is also recently divorced. He’s consumed with his work and isn’t sure that he wants a long-term relationship, let alone one with a woman who comes from a family whose circumstances are different than his.
Nevertheless, the attraction can’t be denied and soon these two are spending nights on the phone getting to know each other. They both needed do-overs, not in the sense that they would go back to their exes but that they would use the lessons they learned from previous relationships to do a better job with someone else.
When they begin dating, both are made to face their own internal hangups from past relationships and learn to coexist in each other’s world. Tyrone had to learn work/life balance and Ella had to learn to accept Tyrone’s job and project her insecurities from her marriage onto him. I initially thought that the vast power and influence that Ella’s family had would play an integral part in this relationship. While it was very present, and we weren’t made to forget how wealthy Ella was, it wasn’t necessarily an obstacle these two had to overcome.
Admittedly, Ella’s mother, Sylvie, worked my nerves. I understood she meant well but at times came off as overbearing. There were a few times I yelled at the book, “Let these children breathe! They’re adults now.” LOL. She came around a bit in the end and I was able to see that she really was trying to look out for them, in the best way she knew how.
Do Over was a nice, quick read that gives us a peek into the Brooks Family. There are a few more siblings that are still single so I’ll be keeping an eye out for their books.
P.S. I need a spinoff series with the Cordoba Agency, I love a good romantic suspense!
Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.
You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.
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