Tempt Me Tuesday with Joz Maxel

Last weekend I donated a prize basket to a local event, and invited authors to donate a paperback if they’d like. Joz Maxel kindly offered up one of hers, so I decided to feature her on the blog today! Please give a warm welcome to Jox Maxel!    

Which of your characters is most likely to be an activist and what kind of activist would they be?

I think Rourke and Christian would be the activists out of all my characters fighting for equality and inclusion for gay men’s rights. Somewhere down the road I want to write them getting married and having a child together (adoption or surrogate I haven’t decided). As much as we’ve come forward in our thinking, we still have a lot further to go.Everyone has the right to love who they want and to have a family by any legal means possible.

If one of your books was made into a movie or show, which actors would you want to play the main characters?

The characters I’m writing now are based on tv actors so this is an easy one.

Vance- Steven R McQueen

Hazel- Lily Collins

Rob- Jacob Elordi

Gemma- Nina Dobrev

Manic- Ryan Hurst

What is the most difficult part of your writing process?

Finding the time to not be interrupted every few minutes by hungry people. I’m a mom of three with a husband that’s gone a week at a time. The only time I can really concentrate is when everyone is gone and even then I have to fight distractions like social media or writer’s block.

What future writing project(s) are you most excited about?

The three book series I’m working on right now, Devil’s Damned, and the hockey series I’ll have after this one is done, Owen Sound Pirates series.

How do you process and deal with negative reviews?

Negative reviews are never easy to stomach but I try to learn from them, make the next book that much better, I write for me and I’m not for everyone.

My Absolution by Joz Maxel

Have you ever loved a woman with your heart and soul, just to watch her slip away?

I had her.

I broke her.

I left a piece of me behind.

My best friend put her back together.

Cherished her.

Loved her the way she deserved.

My time for absolution has come.

And I’ll stop at nothing until I get it.

Now I’ll have to fight my way back to what I left behind.

Book 1 in The Absolution Series

The music downstairs matches the beat of my heart, ready to tear through my chest at what is about to happen. We’re both lying naked under the sheets of my friend’s bed. We’ve touched each other before, licking, sucking, and kissing each other’s most intimate areas, but what we’re about to do is a game changer.

Nova pulls at my bottom lip with her teeth before pulling away from me. Without breaking our stare, she lays her head on the pillow and pulls me to lay on top of her. I can feel her quivering under me. I’m not sure if it’s nerves, or if she’s as ready for this as I am. I place my elbows on either side of her head and brush her hair away from her face.

“I love you, Nova.” I kiss the tip of her nose. “Are you sure?”

Caught up with emotion, she nods her head and bites her lip. I bring my lips to hers as I enter her for the first time and fuck me, it feels like heaven. Slowly, inch by inch, I slide deeper and deeper into her, until I hit a barrier. I look down at Nova as she closes her eyes, waiting for the pain to come. Thinking it’s better to get it over with than prolong the sensation, I drive past the tightness, calling her my beautiful girl and kissing the stray tears cascading down her temples. I stop moving to make sure she’s okay, and when she opens her watery eyes, she smiles, giving me the unspoken words to carry on. I slow my thrusts, kissing her brows, her cheeks, her nose, until I reach my climax and spill into her.

After we get dressed, I hold her hand, kissing her knuckles as we make our way back to the party. Nobody’s none the wiser of what life-changing moment just occurred between us, except maybe one.

Standing in the corner, surrounded by high school seniors drinking their way to a nasty hangover, is a pair of steely blue eyes belonging to my best friend. And if looks could kill, I think I’d be dead.