Spotlight & Giveaway: How to Handle a Heartbreaker by Joss Wood

Posted November 3rd, 2021 by Sara @HarlequinJunkie in Blog, Spotlight / 16 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Joss Wood to HJ!

Hi Joss and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, How to Handle a Heartbreaker!

Thanks for having me!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Nobody is more independent than Haley Lopex, she’s walked away from her wealthy and powerful family to work in the Royal, Texas, police department. She’s studying to be a lawyer and while she might be young, just twenty-four, nobody is going to push her around.

Jackson Michaels is a billionaire real estate developer, and thirteen years older than Hayley. He’s impressed that he doesn’t intimidate her but uncomfortable with his attraction to the much younger woman and their off-the-charts chemistry.

They agree to a no-strings fling but things soon become complicated!

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“A lawyer and a cop,” Jackson drawled, looking amused. “Quite the combination. How do you find time to do it all? Do you keep your Superwoman cape in the trunk of your car?”
Now he was just mocking her. Or was he? The light in his eyes suggested he was teasing but Haley couldn’t be sure. Besides, she was the law. She should be above being teased. She had a goddamn Glock on her hip and a shield on her belt.
But, because she was the law, she couldn’t misrepresent herself. “I haven’t taken the bar yet, and I make suggestions, I don’t give advice. And if I did hand out advice, it would be unofficial.”
Remembering her father’s advice to her brothers— always portray confidence and show no fear—she refused to drop her eyes from his, not for a second. And, let’s be honest here, why would she want to look away? He was gorgeous and a balm for her very tired eyes.
A lazy smile crossed his face. “What did the lawyer name his daughter?” He waited for a beat before hitting her with the punch line. “Sue.”
A lawyer joke that was so corny she almost cracked a smile. She tipped her head to the side. “Have you seen the size of my weapon, Mr. Michaels?”
“It was an awful joke but not so bad to warrant a threat of violence.” Yep, definitely amused.
“I didn’t threaten violence. I asked you if you noticed my weapon. It’s big, and spurts out big bullets that make big holes,”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

This is book 2 of Harlequin Desire’s Texas Cattleman’s Club: Fathers and Sons series.
I didn’t think I’d enjoy writing a younger-than-usual character but I loved it.
Hayley is one of my favourite heroines, ever.
This book has a lot of banter. A. Lot.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Jackson likes Hayley’s in-your-face attitude and the fact that he doesn’t intimidate her, at all. She’s lovely and curvy but she’s smart. And ambitious.

For Hayley, initially, it’s all about chemistry. He’s thirteen years older than her but he’s hot and ripped and has the most gorgeous pair of purple-blue eyes. And he owns and drives kick-ass cars.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I loved writing the scene where Hayley cites Jackson for doing an illegal U-turn, it still makes me laugh. It’s very early in the morning and she hasn’t had her coffee yet. Jackson offers to share his coffee and Hayley appropriates his travelling mug. They talk about the upcoming Texas Cattleman’s Club Ball and the fact that neither of them has a partner for the exclusive event.

“What if we go together?” Jackson suggested.
Hayley slowly lowered the coffee mug. “Say what?”
“It makes sense. You need a date, I need a date but neither of us wants to find a date. We don’t want to date anyone who has expectations of said date.”
“I’ve never heard anyone use the word date so much in one sentence.”
He waved her observation away. “C’mon, Hayley, it makes sense. It’ll be a no-stress, no-pressure arrangement.”
And it would get her mom off her back. Hayley thought about it, didn’t see any immediate downsides and slowly nodded. “Okay.”
“Excellent,” Jackson said. He plucked his coffee cup from her hand and reached for the door handle of his superexpensive car. As he was about to open the door, Hayley placed her hand on his to hold the door shut. Her hand was half the size of his.
Jackson sent her a lazy smile. “As much as I’d love to stay here and shoot the breeze, I need to get to Dallas. I have an appointment I can’t miss, and I need to leave now.”
“Not without me giving you a ticket for your illegal U-turn.”
Hayley fought to keep her face impassive, to hide her smile at his astonishment. What? Did he think she’d forgotten why she’d stopped him in the first place? Jackson shook his head, as if trying to make sense of her words. “But I gave you coffee!”
“So you were trying to bribe me with coffee, Mr. Michaels?” Hayley asked, tongue in cheek.
“Yes, no, yes. Shit.” Jackson released the door handle and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can you make it quick, Officer Lopez? I am late.”
“It takes as long as it takes,” Hayley told him, amused. She wandered back to her car, grabbed her book and took down his details, loving the smell of his cologne on the crisp morning air. She handed him the ticket and struggled to hold back her smile. “You’re free to go. Don’t get caught speeding.”
Jackson folded the ticket and placed it into the inside pocket of his jacket. He ran his hand through his expertly cut hair before yanking open the door to his expensive car. He dropped into the seat and hit the start button and Hayley shivered at the sexy growl of the engine. The car turned her on. So did the man.
God help her.
“Pick me up at seven thirty on Saturday. I live in the…colorful house on Elm Street,” she told him, bending down to look into his face.
“Colorful house? Can I have a bit more of a description?” Jackson asked, sounding irritated.
“You’ll know it when you see it.” Haley patted the frame of his window before deliberately looking past him and frowning. As she expected, he turned his head to follow her gaze and, when he wasn’t looking, she jerked the travel mug from this hand.
She grinned at him and lifted the mug in a toast. “Thanks. I’ll get the mug back to you.”
“What? No! Shit, Lopez! A fine and then you steal my coffee?”
Hayley turned her back to him and walked back to her patrol car, sipping his delicious brew.
Yep, when she was done drinking his truly excellent coffee, she might, maybe, be ready to face the day.

Readers should read this book….

II know I say this all the time but it’s FUN! And it’s also an exploration of a love affair of people of different ages and how they navigate being in different places in their lives.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I am currently working on the second book of a series centered around South Africa’s wedding of the year for Harlequin Presents.

A spin-off book of my South Africa’s Scandalous Billionaires (Pasco’s story!) will be available in January 2022. It’s called The Rules of their Red Hot Reunion.

Then, in February 2022 is the first book of my Dynasties: The DNA Dilemma series for Harlequin Desire called Secrets of A Bad Reputation. It’s a four-book series and explores what happens when a patriarch demands a family DNA test…

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I’m so sorry I can’t send signed, physical copies — I live so far away– but I’m happy to gift 5 ebook copies of How to Handle a Heartbreaker.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: The cover of this book only has the heroine on the cover, which is quite unusual. What attracts you to covers? Hot guys, a couple, single faces? Enquiring minds would like to know.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Excerpt from How to Handle a Heartbreaker:

As for Jackson…
Hayley gripped the edge of the counter and stared down at her bare feet. He’d overreacted, and immediately chosen to believe the worst about her without hearing her out. He immediately aligned himself with the Wentworths, his loyalty to them unquestionable and absolute.
But his actions did tell her that when the chips were down, that when she was backed into a corner, she couldn’t rely on him for backup or for him to even consider her point of view. She was, as she always was, alone.
Her head pounding, Hayley dumped boiling water over a tea bag. Her family loved her but she didn’t have their unqualified support. They loved her but would love, and like, her more if she came home, pursued a career within the Lopez group of companies, found a nice man to marry, had a couple of babies.
But Hayley had this strange and weird conviction that, as their daughter and sister, she should be loved no matter the path she chose to walk.
Love and acceptance should not be subject to whims and conditions.
Hayley picked up her cup and walked over to her sofa, curling up into the arm and tucking her feet under her butt. She knew she wasn’t easy to love. Sometimes she thought she wasn’t even easy to like. She was headstrong and opinionated, impulsive and determined and fully accepted that she wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Hell, she’d far preferred to be a handful of people’s whiskey anyway.
But she was intensely disappointed that a two-minute conversation with Jackson’s friend blew her plans for the evening out of the window. If she hadn’t confronted Rafael about Arielle, she could be rolling around her bed right now, writhing under Jackson’s hands, exploring his big, masculine body. If she had taken a moment to think, her evening would have ended with joy and not a joust.
But she couldn’t get past the fact that all she’d done was ask a question…an innocuous one at that.
Asking a question shouldn’t be a hanging offense; neither should it be a barrier to some bed-based fun.
Stupid man. And stupid her for sitting here, second-guessing herself and wishing she’d done something different…
Hayley heard a light knock on her door and she sat up and placed the cup on her coffee table, her head cocked. She heard another light rap and, without putting on a light, walked over to her door and looked through the peephole to see who was standing on her porch at 1:20 a.m.
Because Jackson was so tall, all she could see was the bottom part of his face, but she instantly recognized his sexy mouth and stubborn chin, the small scar on the corner of his bottom lip.
Hayley took off her chain, flipped her dead bolt and pulled open the door to her very late-night visitor. She wished she could say that he was unwelcome but, because she always tried to be honest with herself, he wasn’t.
Hayley ignored the open collar of his shirt, his short stubble and his sensual scent, leaned her shoulder into the frame of the door and crossed her arms against her chest. “What do you want?”
Jackson’s eyes flicked down her body, all the way to her toes, lingered on her tight nipples—it was cold, and she was wearing a skimpy top—and returned to her face.
“You.”
Yeah, right. Hayley lifted her nose in the air. “You should’ve thought about that before you picked a fight with me earlier.”
Jackson sent her a brooding look but didn’t bite her baited hook. Damn, she was so tempted to just grab him by his jacket lapels and drag him into her hall.
And then she’d jump him…
Talk about being impulsive…
Hayley fought to keep her spine straight, to keep up the act of being a tough girl. But she was tired, and a little sad and a lot lonely. And horny, God, so horny. “Why are you here, Michaels?”
“I’m here because I always, always, keep my promises.”
What was he talking about?
“I promised to make you scream and I want to keep that promise,” Jackson calmly stated, his face impassive but his eyes a whirlpool of need and passion. “I’m pissed off, annoyed, beyond confused but I still want to take you to bed.”
“Oh.”
Oh? Was that the only word she could find? Apparently so since her brain just completely collapsed.
Hayley released an unhappy sigh. “How is it possible that I’m desperate to jump you? You’re absolutely infuriating!”
A hint of amusement lightened Jackson’s eyes. “I know that you hate it when I reference our age gap but experience has taught me that angry sex is a great way to release frustration and to deal with adrenaline. Anger can also work as an aphrodisiac. Science says that it gets your blood flowing and increases your heart rates and blood pressure.”
“Thank you, Dr. Know-It-All,” Hayley retorted.
Jackson stepped closer to her and curled his hand around her neck, dropping his forehead to rest against hers. “I’m annoyed with you and you’re, obviously, still pissed at me but I swear on everything I believe in, that I’ll make it good for you.”
His honesty was refreshing and deeply appreciated. If he’d tried to BS her or sweet-talk her, then she would’ve kicked him to the curb.
“Yes or no, Hayley?”

Book Info:

For her, the man in the tux spells trouble

in more ways than one…

After clashing with Jackson Michaels, sheriff’s deputy and law student Hayley Lopez doesn’t know whether to arrest the gorgeous billionaire developer…or kiss him senseless. Sure, the second option presents obvious difficulties. She didn’t fight for independence from her powerful family to let this supersexy older man boss her around. But when they fall into bed together, Hayley starts rethinking the whole mistress-of-her-own-destiny thing. Can she handle a no-strings fling or is she setting herself up for heartbreak?
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Meet the Author:

Joss Wood loves books and travelling— especially to the wild places of Southern Africa and, well, anywhere.

She’s a wife, a mom to two young adults, slave to two cats and a dog the size of a calf. After a career in local economic development, she now writes full time.