A warm welcome to author M.J O’Shea stopping over @ Love bytes on her creative minds blog tour for her new release
Family Jewels.
M.J kindly answered some questions for us , shares an excerpt and their is a giveaway to participate in
Welcome M.J!
Title: Family Jewels
Author: M.J. O’Shea
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: L.C. Chase
Length: 200 Pages
Release Date: 27th April, 2015
Blurb:
Corbin Ford, aka the Nightwatchman, named for the antique pocket watches he leaves behind at jobs, has been in the cat-burgling business for years. His father was. His grandfather was. His mother is still one of the most renowned thieves. Corbin likes his high-profile heists, priceless paintings from private collections, artifacts from museums, but his favorite? Jewels. Sparkly, beautiful jewels. If they’re famous, better yet.
Interpol agent Luke Eldridge has one goal and one goal only: to catch the Nightwatchman. Luke’s been after him for months, but getting the slip time and again is getting embarrassing. Luke has never even laid eyes on the bastard, but he’d happily strangle him. And then arrest him.
When Luke meets Corbin, the man of his dreams, he falls hard and fast… only to catch Corbin red-handed with his hand in a jewelry case at the scene of the highest-profile murder that’s rocked the international world in years.
What inspired your amazing cover design?
LC Chase and I…we work well together lol! We’d come up with the simple pouring wine cover for Corkscrewed, since that was set on a vineyard, and so for this one we both thought it would be great to use a similar look and the same font but I wanted to change the colors up and obviously change it to jewels since one of the MCs is jewel thief. When she showed me the picture where the big purple gem, I wanted to touch it! That’s how I knew it was the right one:)
Are you a jewelry girl? What’s your favorite gem stone?
I do like jewelry! My favorite gem is probably emeralds or sapphires. I have an old opal ring, though, that was my grandmothers and I love that. It’s cool to watch the stone change colors when different light hits the veins. Mostly, though, I wear costume jewelry that I won’t be sorry for losing.
What is your favorite part about the writing process? Least favorite?
I think my favorite part is plotting out new stories. there’s nothing like a blank sheet of paper ready for me to fill in characters and plot ideas. It makes me so happy!
My least favorite part is probably editing. While we all know that’s where the story is improved, the process is always a little painful:)
Are you working on another book now? Can you tell us about it?
I am! I’m working on X Marks the Spot, which is part of the same collection with Corkscrewed and Family Jewels — all adventure type stories but not connected by plot or characters. X Marks the Spot kind of reminds me of that old 80s movie Romancing the Stone:) It’s definitely a treasure hunt with hidden clues and high speed chases, and even an eccentric evil billionaire, but it’s definitely a romance as well:) I had so much fun plotting this one:)
Thanks for having me stop by <3 I’ve added a blurb for Family Jewels and some links below.
xoxo
MJ O’Shea
London, March.
“We’ve got something you need to see, Luke. You’d better get over here now.”
Luke Eldridge sighed into his phone. He glanced at the slices of pizza he’d just picked up from a food cart down on the Camden Lock. Looked like there was more cold pizza in his future. Typical. Irritating, but typical.
“Where are you?” Luke asked. He dragged himself off his soft leather couch. It made a disgusting squelching sound. Luke turned and halfheartedly wiped the seat off. He was tired from the run he’d forced himself to take, wet, and starting to chill as heat escaped through his damp T-shirt. The last thing he wanted to do was get back into a suit and go out in the cold he’d just escaped from.
Rob, one of his oldest friends from his days in the FBI academy, rattled off a very upper crust Kensington address.
“Jesus. Is this one going to make the morning press?” Luke asked. People who lived at addresses like that tended to make the news. His job was always harder when he had a ton of panicking socialites breathing down his neck guarding their beloved possessions. He didn’t need them or the news vans outside his crime scene.
“Probably. I’ll try to put it off as long as I can, but you know how it works. Just get your ass over here. Waterman’s on my dick already.”
“Sounds unpleasant.” Luke chuckled under his breath. “Does that surprise you?”
“Not really.”
Didn’t surprise Luke either. Their division chief within Interpol Art Crimes was all about the high profile cases. Art, jewelry, anyone with a Lord or Lady attached to their name. Even the odd Sir here and there. Cases like that were good press for the agency, he always said. Probably more like good for getting his face on the camera. Waterman was a media whore extraordinaire. Usually Luke didn’t care, but when they were in the middle of trying to open a case, it kind of pissed him off.
Luke felt it would be better to deal with the press after they had some solid leads, or, you know, someone in custody, but far be it for him to correct Waterman. He’d spent the last eight years trying to overcome the hereditary American-ness Waterman deemed a deep character flaw. If he started correcting the guy now, he might as well sign his own pink slip.
“I can be there in fifteen minutes. Waterman won’t even be done fixing his hair for the cameras,” Luke told Rob. He was already in his suit pants and shaking out his dress shirt. It felt a little stale from a long day, but he wasn’t going to put on a new one for a late evening call. If all went well, Luke would be back in his sweats and on his couch in less than an hour.
“Try to make it ten. I’m not in the mood to get my skin pulled off a strip at a time.”
He sounded like his typical sarcastic self, but the tone of his friend’s voice was different. Worried, maybe. “What’s going on, Rob? What are you leaving out?”
“There’s something weird about this one. Might cause us a lot of shit in the near future if I’m right.”
“Are you going to tell me or play guessing games?” Luke wasn’t in the mood to play anything. All he wanted to do was eat some still-warm pizza, crawl into bed, and sleep for days—or at least until his alarm went off at six. He’d gotten way too little sleep lately. He hadn’t gotten enough sleep in years.
Rob cleared his throat nervously. “You need to see this for yourself. Just get here, man.”
Luke disconnected the call. He finished dressing, shoved one piece of his pizza on a paper towel, and grabbed his keys. He could eat it on the way without ruining his suit. Even if he spilled, fuck it. Luke wasn’t going to sacrifice one more decent dinner to the cause.
It had rained earlier, and the London streets were still slick and dark, half frozen in the early spring chill, but at least it was quiet. The air was close to freezing, too. Unseasonably low temps, but sadly not by much. After all the years he’d been in London, the winters still got to him, cold and wet, the kind that seemed to creep all the way into the center of his chest—nothing like his childhood home in South Carolina or even Virginia, where he’d lived and worked his first few years out of the academy. Sometimes Luke missed the old optimistic years at Quantico. These days it seemed like the cold was impossible to shake. It seeped into his bones and camped out until nothing he did could warm him through.
I’m getting old.
The stone row houses slipped past, nestled together, dark on the outside like everything else, interiors shining and cheery against the insidious, creeping chill. Everyone who knew better was inside somewhere, enjoying dinner, relaxing with the people they loved. They didn’t look alone. He’d figured long ago his hopes for being one of them had probably passed. Luke loved his job, it was his life, but some nights he wouldn’t mind a break. Luke bypassed their unit’s Westminster offices in favor of going straight to the scene. He didn’t need anything but what he had on him. Hopefully he’d be in and out in time for the late news.
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I’m Mj O’Shea 🙂 I grew up, and still live, in sunny Washington state and while I love to visit other places, I can’t imagine calling anywhere else home.
I spent my childhood writing stories. Sometime in my early teens, the stories turned to romance. Most of those were about me, my friends, and our favorite movie and pop stars. Hopefully, I’ve come a long way since then.
When I’m not writing, I love to play the piano, dance, cook, paint pictures, and of course read! I like sparkly girly girl things, own at least twenty different colored headbands, and I have two little dogs who sit with me when I write. Sometimes they comes up with ideas for me too…when they’re not busy napping.
Website: http://mjoshea.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mj.oshea.5
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjosheaseattle
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3512511.M_J_O_Shea
Instagram: http://instagram.com/mjosheaseattle
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mjoshea5
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/M.J.-OShea/e/B003XERT7M/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1427433101&sr=8-2-ent
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There aren’t any “things” that I can think of, but I’d love to own a ranch. 🙂
Iwould love to own a bookstore so I could have access to unlimited books!
Hmm, not sure, but I do like the idea of the book store.
[…] blog to tell us what she has learned as Family Jewels releases . . . She is also interviewed by Love Bytes about her WIP and her gorgeous cover […]
Thanks for inviting me to stop by 🙂
I’m still kicking myself for not getting one of those Beaker Muppet minifigures made by Kubrick in Japan several years ago…they were insanely overpriced then, and now they must be astronomically expensive!
Not sure. But I’m looking forward to reading this!
Can I say Amazon? 😉 My reasons should be pretty obvious. I would have unlimited access to Kindles, Kindle books, Audible audiobooks, etc, that would likely be free if not heavily discounted.
Mmmm, what to covet?? I like the book store idea!