Do you have any visual images of Josephine and Maceo?

The answer is yes, I certainly do, and I am happy to share them with you.

Maceo: When I first started brainstorming for Lips on my Heart, I had an idea in my head of an attractive man. I knew I wanted him tall (6’5”) and built like a goliath (250lbs+). In my head I pictured him with undercut raven hair. He had eyes so dark they appeared black. He prefers to be clean shaven, but is often depicted with morning scruff or a couple days old beard. He is broad through his chest and shoulders and is more bulk muscle than cut. He also has an Adonis’ beltline/the V lines. His hands are described as huge, like a catcher’s mitt. His skin tone is russet/dark tan. His heavy muscles are covered in tattoos which are all symbolic and mean something to him (tattoos are described in book 1 in detail). He is both handsome as well as foreboding/threatening looking. His features are hard and angular which gives him an intimidating look. His heritage is a mixture of Colombian and Spaniard (Spain).

I literally goggled these details and was given the first image which I posted. I thought, ‘wow, he’s handsome, but he doesn’t have that unapproachable look I was going for.’ It wasn’t until after I had written the book and was goggling for my cover that I stumbled upon the second image posted. I froze. His back tattoos were nearly identical to what I had in my head. I was like, ‘I need to find out who this guy is and see if his face represents Maceo.’ So, yeah, I turned into an internet stalker. I knew the artist who took the photo and started there. Went through thousands of pictures ‘till I found his and got his name—the models actual fucking name.

I’m not proud to admit it, but I took my stalking to the next level and started goggling the model. The next picture I posted is the first image of his face that I saw and it was the Maceo I had in my head—he even had the fucking undercut and everything. Funny story behind this, I actually reached out to the guy through social media to see if I could get him to model for my cover. I knew it was a long shot and that I’d most likely not be able to afford him, but he did get back to me and he turned out to be a really nice person. No, I could not afford him (obviously), but we did establish if I find myself with the funds some day (hopefully soon), he’d be available to do the shoot for the first three books. (Cross your fingers).

Josephine: Oooh, this is emotional for me. A lot of people who know me are like it’s you. Hard NO. Josephine is too beautiful to ever depict as myself. I actually depicted Josephine after the daughter my husband and I lost when I was 18 weeks pregnant. We never got to hold her, but I definitely think about what she would look like had she lived. I often see her with bright blue eyes, light brown hair, and full of energy. Her name was Evelyn and if she were alive today she’d be twelve years old. Eve is the reason I started writing over a decade ago. All my main female characters represented her. It was how I coped with my grief, giving her a life she was robbed of through my stories. So when I describe Josephine, you are really getting an image into my heart of a child my husband and I lost and what I see her as if she grew into adulthood.

Josephine is petite, 5’2”, 105lbs, slender, toned from running (often depicted as a runner’s body). She has sun-kissed skin (light tan), aqua-blue eyes (often described as costal-blue or gemlike), medium to long ash brown hair (light brown/sandy) and often in a braid or braids. She has elfin features (small nose, thin/oval face, full lips). She has a vibrant smile with perfect pearly teeth. She has a slender neckline, small through the bust and narrow in the waist, but has a butt you can bounce a quarter off of, giving her a full booty. Hands and feet are small to match the rest of her pixie body. Her heritage is described as Nordic.

The images I posted are what I see her as. I did the same thing when I was researching Maceo, goggled the description and came across these images. I think she is lovely and delicate looking, just like Josephine. You get a sense of gentleness from her even though Josephine’s attitude and mannerisms blow that right out of the water, but on first glance you would never guess how truly strong she is until you got to know her. The first picture nearly made me cry when I came across it because it was what I saw Josephine as being, what I saw our Evelyn looking like had she lived into adulthood.

The two together is comedy in itself with how massive he is and how sprite-like she is, but when you do see them together you start to see how Maceo is this domineering alpha who feels an overwhelming sense of protectiveness for Josephine. Her size alone makes him feel he needs to shield her from all the horrors of the world. Now you finally see what I’ve had up in my head and I hope you enjoy the visuals as much as I do.