Sid Love: Welcome to the Blog of Sid Love, MJ. To tell my followers about this event, MJ O’Shea is here with us to promo her latest release – Newton’s Laws of Attraction.

MJ, can you please tell the readers a bit about this book? About why this is a unique love story?

MJ O’Shea: This book is a story about best friends who fell in love when they were teenagers but one betrayed the other and they haven’t spoken since. Years later, they’re thrown together working in adjacent classrooms and sparks of all sorts fly.

I hate to judge if something is unique or not but I loved combining the sweetness of best friends with the angst of enemies. Two of my favorite things in one book. 🙂

SL: If you see it that way, this dynamism does set the book apart. The whole friends-to-lovers-to-enemies and then back to lovers is kinda unique. I have read this book and I especially loved the friendship that you showed us between Rory and Ben. Was that what you were going for, to have the readers warm up to their friendship and then show us how beautiful a friends-to-lovers relationship can be?

MJ: Yes, plus I wanted to add a nice large serving of discomfort at the beginning of the section once they’re adults and Rory refuses to be friends with Ben. I loved the idea of the chemistry still being there but a conflict as well.

SL: Speaking of conflicts, I sort of dig the idea of not having a villainous character ripping the two lovers apart. It is the circumstances that bring about life changing moments in this book.

MJ: Yes and them making their own bad decisions and reacting to them. Its reality that way 🙂 there are situations where outside forces affect the relationship especially in YA or paranormal/fantasy type worlds but often it’s the two people involved who are ultimately responsible.

SL: No better words to define the reality of life. Would you say NLOA is partly a YA story? 

MJ: Nah. Just the first chapter really to set the stage. While both of them may act like children at points in the story (like many adults do from time to time), I wouldn’t say this is YA. They’re adults living adult lives.

SL: Acting like children, oh god, that’s so true about Ben and Rory. Ha!

Anywho, moving on, I would like to say – one of the best moments in the story is when Ben takes Rory to bed after Rory breaks up with Keith. Ben is trying not to get affected by the closeness between them and be a gentleman through it. However, Rory is making it truly difficult for him. The conversation goes something like this –

“What are you doing, Ro?” Ben teased. He ruffled Rory’s curls and went to turn him back toward the living room.  

“It’s cold. I miss sleeping with you.”  

Sober. Instantly completely painfully sober. “You can’t say stuff like that to me,” he whispered. 

“But I do miss it. I sleep better when you’re there. Always have.”  

“Always will,” Ben echoed without even thinking. 

A really special moment between the boys, according to me. But I want to know which part of the story truly got to you when you were writing it?

MJ: I think what got me was first when they’re in bathroom at the club and Ben kisses Rory. Then the part where Ben makes Rory dinner and he’s going to say how he feels but then finds out Rory is still dating other people.

I felt awful for him there.

SL: Ben’s outburst at that moment does make your heart sink. But it soon gets better – obviously.

Are you a sucker for happily ever afters?

MJ: Of course! 🙂 Or at least HFN… I like to feel good at the end of a story!

SL: Newton’s Laws of Attraction – that title made me laugh happily when I first came across this book. Looks like you paid a lot of attention in your physics class, MJ?

MJ: Lol sort of. 🙂 I liked chemistry better actually! I just couldn’t resist naming the book that.

SL: Did the title decide Rory’s last name or was it vice versa?

MJ: No his name came first and then the title. I’d called it something else originally but I can’t even remember. Must not have been very good 🙂

SL: Well, this title definitely fits and we all love it!

Besides Physics or Chem class, I am told you definitely looked forward to your algebra class that just had you, your pen and Leonardo DiCaprio!

MJ: Hehe that was probably more junior high. He was hot stuff when I was 13. 🙂 But I still managed to write stories in high school too. Lol. I still have a few. They’re really embarrassing!

SL: Embarrassing huh? You shouldn’t have said that. 😛  Now you have to share one of those with us. Tell us about the best plot that featured MJ DiCaprio?

MJ: Noooo lol. I’d die!!

Piper had the rare privilege of reading a few. Haha. We laughed a lot.

SL: Just one, please MJ? J For the fun sake!

MJ: Oh they were so dumb haha. My friends and I are on a trip to L.A. (by ourselves because of course our parents would be fine with that lol) and all the hot famous boys swept us off our feet.

SL: Don’t we all have that fantasy when we are young? Nothing embarrassing about it at all. 

MJ: Oh I’m sure! We just don’t all write 100 page cheesy stories about it 🙂 

SL: Writing cheesy stories is what got you here though. One of the popular authors in the M/M Romance genre!

MJ: Aww thanks for saying that. I suppose it did!

SL: I have to ask – was there any character in one of your books that was inspired by Leonardo’s charming personality? 

MJ: Not really, although I still love him. 🙂 He’s such a good actor. It’s hard to even say what his personality is!

SL: Ha! You are stuck with the Leonardo crush forever it seems.

You have written quite a few books with Piper Vaughn – another talented author in the industry in my opinion. Tell us about your experience writing with her.

MJ: It was easy. 🙂 We’d work together to come up with a general plot and then more detailed chapter outlines then just divide them up and go back and forth and play off each other’s strengths.

SL: That sounds like a workable process. And I believe your friendship, your understanding for each other made it a lot easier?

MJ: Oh sure! We had a great time and laughed a lot.

SL: Let’s go back to NLOA – I noticed the book has deservingly got many 5 star reviews. How, according to you, is the overall reaction to the book? Are you happy with it?

MJ: You know, I don’t read many reviews especially on Goodreads since for me it kind of feels like spying on the readers’ space to speak freely but people have contacted me with some very nice things to say! That’s really the best thing I can ask for when I write. To make people happy.

SL: Enough about your writing and books, – let us get to know you as a RL person. Why don’t you share with us a few fun facts about you?

MJ: Hmm I think everyone knows how much I love music. 🙂 I like to play the piano to de-stress. Painting and drawing do that for me too. I paint a lot of murals.

SL: I do love art, I seriously do … but my knowledge on arts only extends to what I see. So call me stupid, but I really have no idea what a mural is!

MJ: There’s one of them I did 🙂 a painting on a wall instead of a canvas.

SL: WOW that is so beautiful MJ. You are seriously a bundle of talents!

MJ: Aww thanks ♥ I also really like to dance.

SL: Like professional dancing?

MJ: Um I used to teach dance class but nothing actually professional no. I got way too tall lol

SL: That is still really amazing!

MJ: Thanks! 🙂 And I love glitter!

SL: Haha! Don’t we all?

As a reader, what do you like in a book?

MJ: Fun dialogue for sure 🙂 

SL: Tell us about a book you are currently reading!

MJ: This is gonna sound awful but I’m not reading anything right now other than something for a friend (which is really cute!). I really need to catch up. I have a huge pile waiting to be read.

I’ve just been busy WRITING 🙂 

SL: Well that makes my next question easier for you to answer – what are you currently working on?

MJ: Fen’s book 🙂 (Ben’s best friend). I liked him way too much to leave him alone. It’ll be called Impractical Magic.

I’m about halfway done 🙂 

SL: OMG! That’s a pleasant surprise. I loved Fen! But I thought he was straight!!

MJ: Straight ish. Sort of.

MJ: Remember how much he liked to go to the gay club?
SL: (at the same time) No wonder he liked hanging out at gay bars haha

Jinx!

MJ: Haha!! So yes. Fen 🙂

SL: So what’s up with Fen in this next book?

MJ: Well obviously he meets a boy…

His name is Kevin and he’s a firefighter…

And that’s all I’m telling for now 🙂

SL: Kevin and Fen, Fen and Kevin … sounds like music to ears!

Believe me, MJ, you have made me a happy man just sharing that!

MJ: I’m glad!

SL: Can you share with us the last piece that you wrote of your current WIP – Impractical Magic?

MJ: Here’s a little section off of the last part I’ve been working on, which is probably going to be about the middle of the book:) Kevin’s only in town for the summer working then he goes home to San Francisco which is a few hours away. Fen’s realized their fun little fling has turned into something a bit more serious but he doesn’t know what to do about it… 

“I don’t want you to go back to San Francisco.” Fen wasn’t sure if it was the wine or the fact that time was quickly coming to an end that made him say it.

Kevin scratched gently at Fen’s hair then down his back. “I know. I didn’t really think this was going to happen. If we didn’t live in different places…”

“I’d want to be with you.”

Kevin grinned. “So you’re saying you actually like me? It’s not just the sex? Does Fen have a crush?”

Fen pinched his nipple. “Shut up. I hate you. You’re just hot in bed.”

“That’s what they all say.” Kevin giggled and blew a raspberry in Fen’s neck. Fen laughed and fought back with tickles until they were both breathless and rolling around, not having sex but just laughing. And in that minute it felt real. Not like a fun fantasy that had an impending expiration date, not an experiment, but a relationship. Fen didn’t know what was going to happen in two weeks when Kevin packed up his truck and went home. He didn’t know what he even wanted to have happen. But here, the way it was, it felt like nothing he’d ever felt before.

“I do really like you,” he said finally when they’d calmed down. “Other than Ben, and he’s pretty much my brother so ew, I’ve never gotten along with anyone this well. It feels right.”

Kevin ruffled his hair gently. “I think we just get each other.”

“Yeah.”

“Aww, Fen does have a crush.”

“Don’t give me shit about it or I won’t make you dinner anymore.”

“Please you can’t resist me.”

“I wouldn’t push it.”

Kevin chuckled and pressed a kiss to Fen’s forehead. 

They both fell silent after that. Fen lay on Kevin’s chest, cheek pressed to springy pecs, hand curved around strong slats of rib, and he thought. He’d never really put much thought into another person, certainly not one he’d only known for a couple of months. Fen had always been the easy type, no muss no fuss. But things were… yeah. Different.

Maybe it was time to tell Ben. And Jeremy. Not that he had a boyfriend, he and Kevin couldn’t be that. Not anymore. But if Ben was his best friend, well he’d be hurt if something like this had happened to Ben and he kept it to himself. Fen shrugged to himself. It was time, he supposed. Probably long past it. 

SL: That is so sweet, MJ. So romantic… I can hardly wait to read more of it!!

Is there something you’d like to say to your readers and fans?

MJ: Let’s see… just thank you for reading the stories I write and saying such nice things to me about them  I couldn’t do this without them!

SL: Very sweet. Thank you MJ for giving us your precious time. We, at the blog of Sid Love, hope that NLOA as well as your other books do well on the market!

MJ: Thank you!

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NEWTON’S LAWS OF ATTRACTION

Blurb: Rory was Ben’s oldest and best friend until senior year of high school, when they confessed they’d harbored feelings for each other all along. They enjoyed only a few months of happiness until Ben chose closeted popularity over true love… and he’s regretted it ever since.

Eight years later, Ben is out and proud and teaching art at the same high school he graduated from. When he learns the chemistry teacher is retiring, he’s excited to meet her replacement until he finds out the brand new teacher is none other than Rory Newton—the first love he’s never quite gotten over. Despite a painfully awkward start, it doesn’t take Ben long to realize he’ll do whatever it takes to win Rory back. But it’s starting to look like even his best might not be enough.

BUY LINK: Dreamspinner Press

READ SID LOVE’S 5 STAR REVIEW ON: NEWTON’S LAWS OF ATTRACTION

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I’m Mj O’Shea, author of erotic romance–well all sorts of romance actually, that’s just what’s been published so far!

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 tv stars. Hopefully, I’ve come a long way since then…

Right now, I have four books published through Republica Press (click on the link to visit their site), but I’m constantly working on new projects.

When I’m not writing, I love to play the piano and cook and paint pictures…and of course read. It’s nearly impossible to work on my own writing when I’ve gotten myself hooked into a great new book:) I like sparkly girly girl things, own at least twenty different colored headbands, and I have a little white dog with a ginger eye spot who sits with me when I write. Sometimes she comes up with ideas for me too…when she’s not napping.

Website http://mjoshea.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mj.oshea.5

Twitter https://twitter.com/mjosheaseattle

Goodreadshttp://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3512511.M_J_O_Shea

GIVEAWAY

M. J. O’Shea has generously decided to give away a free ebook copy of “Newton’s Laws of Attraction” to one lucky winner from this stop! All you have to do is leave a comment, telling us about why this book has grabbed your attention. Please do a message for the author if you want to say something to her.

CONTEST ENDS – 26th DECEMBER, 2013 @ 23:59 PACIFIC TIME