Rescue Me
Get a behind-the-scenes all-access pass to Sara Ohlin's Rescue Me Series!
***Synopsis***
The women and men of Corvallis Street, an old historic neighbourhood in a fictional town called Opal, bravely strive to beat back old demons and find love while developing and revitalising the old block of buildings and park along a riverfront.
What is the sub-genre and trope?
Embracing Love is a Contemporary Romance with several tropes, such as friends to lovers, cinnamon roll hero, found family, food as love, brother’s best friend.
Did your characters lead you to this genre or was that decided before the story began?
I almost always write Contemporary Romance. But also this one, because it was the last in a series was already decided.
Are you more character or plot driven?
Definitely, character driven all the way!
With many main and secondary characters, how do you keep them separated in your mind?
They sort of appear in my mind as individuals, almost like people in my life so it’s easy for me to keep them separated.
Do you have a story/vision board above your workspace?
I have a notebook beside my computer where I keep notes.
I know from previous interviews that characters take on a life of their own. Were any of the characters in this series determined to take their own direction instead of where you initially wanted them to go?
Connor and Sasha, from Embracing Love definitely took on a life of their own.
When I began the series, there were only three books and Connor and Sasha didn’t even have their own book. They both appear in book 1, Salvaging Love, and by the end of Salvaging Love I knew Connor and Sasha needed their own book of love.
Are any of the male POVs based on anyone you know?
Not really, but I always try to give them some great characteristics from the men in my life.
Are any of the female POVs based on anyone you know?
Not individually, but I definitely try to infuse them with characteristics of strong females in my life.
Was there any one character/scene that was harder to write about than the other?
Definitely the sex scenes in Embracing Love because of Sasha’s abusive past, I wanted to make sure Connor was extra careful with her.
What is your favorite book in the series?
I think Book 1, Salvaging Love, because it was the first and I love the main characters Ellie and Jackson.
I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?
Gah! Hard question. I think Connor, from Embracing Love.
He was living a carefree but lonely life and he fell so hard for Sasha. And he would do anything for her.
Series question - Who is your favorite couple and why did you decide on their dynamics?
Ellie and Jackson, from Book 1, Salvaging Love.
They just appeared in my mind so clearly, both wounded and so deserving of big love.
How do you get inside these characters’ heads to find their perfect HEA?
This is such a great question. I feel like they climb into my head and demand an HEA. It really always go back to their past wounds for me and how that other person fits them, how they fit each other.
What scene in this book/series sticks out the most for you? Why?
I will always love the first scene in Book 1, Salvaging Love, when Jackson storms into Ellie’s vet clinic to demand to know why she’s there, and why she has her door unlocked so late at night at such a late hour.
He doesn’t even realize it yet, but he’s already showing concern for her. Then the puppy pees all over him. Love it!
Series - Were any of the books harder to write than others?
Igniting Love was for some reason. I had trouble making Katie and Leo have a third act break up.
How long did it take you to write this book/series?
Book 1 took me almost a year because my kids were younger. But now that they are older I can usually write a book in about three to four months.
How did you come up with the title for your book and series?
My editor decided on the series title and we worked together on the book titles.
If you met these characters in real life would you get along?
Gosh I hope so. I write characters I want as friends in my life.
Series question – Did you know in advance that you were going to write this as a series or did one of the characters in book one demand their own story?
I knew it was going to be a series, but I didn’t know
Connor and Sasha would get their own story.
If your book/series were made into a movie, which actors do you see as playing your characters?
I love James Marsden for Connor. And Emma Watson for Sasha.
Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next? Whether a new book and series or a sequel to an existing series?
My new series arrives this spring with Book 1 in My Graciella Series. It’s called Hearts in Bloom and the release date is May 23rd. (a spinoff of my very first series, Graciella)
Can you share a small tease?
Hearts in Bloom
My Graciella Book 1
by Sara Ohlin
Chapter One
Using the brand-new keys, two silver ones on a simple silver ring, Gabby unlocked the gorgeous double doors and propped them open to let in the soft spring breeze. She stood outside for a moment, taking everything in. Afternoon in downtown Graciella, the prettier, happier version, rising from under the decades-long shroud of oppression, was such a lovely place. Now, there was a joy and a lightness to the town. Excitement and growth, coupled with that charming small-town feel were present everywhere. And she was here, back in its warm embrace, finally.
To say she’d missed her home was an understatement. Part of her didn’t even recognize the place anymore. A stranger who’d never been here in the first place. More accurately, she was the unrecognizable one. Disillusioned, changed, but determined to prosper. She would heal her soul, shove away the last few years and claw her way back to joy and independence. Seems so much easier to imagine than to actually do. Easy didn’t have anything to do with it. It was a must, and she would succeed.
No more standing on the threshold, she ordered herself and stepped inside. One wide-open empty space greeted her. She set her bag down and slowly strolled the building’s length, the clip of her sandals echoing throughout the room. It looked so good from the gutted skeleton of a few months ago. Now it was a perfect blank slate ready for her. Gabby knelt and ran her hands over the newly finished hardwood floors, sun-warmed and light in the brightness of a sunny day. She lay down on her back, stretched her arms and legs out, and smiled. I’m here. I did it! Sun streamed in through the windows and warmed her skin, warmed her soul. She took a deep breath and let the heat strengthen and soothe the broken pieces inside her.
The old insurance office had been sitting on a pretty corner in Graciella vacant for over fifteen years, waiting for new life. She’d ogled this spot since she was a teenager dreaming of her very own salon. Today the floors were refinished, new drywall had been hung and the old windows replaced. One wall had exposed old brick she was delighted with. Everything crappy was gone, even, especially the ugly foam ceiling tiles. Above her rose high ceilings draped in soft wood planks. This space was hers, every single battle earned inch. She might have taken a few wrong curves in life, dated a man who crushed the light inside her. Never again. But now she was more determined than ever to bring her dream to fruition.
The beautiful light flowing in through the floor-to-ceiling windows infused her with calm, with anticipation. The floor against her back felt solid, grounding her. Her mind cleared and she focused her energy on this new space, her dream salon.
She’d imagined it ever since she was a young girl.
But those fantasies were from a young naive Gabby. One who didn’t exist anymore. Things were different. She dismissed her ridiculous sparkly imaginings for today’s dependable foundation.
White walls, white trim and white linen curtains along the windows. It needed to be clean, crisp and bright. She’d stick with simple white cabinets for each station and brown leather salon chairs. Polished and sophisticated, that’s what she was aiming for. A plant or two, scattered about. No, one plant at the front desk or a vase of fake flowers to add one stoic pop of color. No sense cluttering up the place. Gabby leaned into the calm picture she drew in her mind.
If she was lucky, it would only be a few more weeks until she could open. Her friend Lily’s construction company had rocked things so far, and the sinks, cabinets and chairs were due to arrive this week. Lucky? Gabby used to consider herself lucky. It felt like eons since she was that young, wide-eyed dreamer full of ignorance, charging headfirst into life.
Opening her own salon didn’t involve luck anyway. Only a ton of bullshit, followed by sheer, hard, bleeding determination had gotten her to where she was today. “Moment by moment,” her new therapist had said. “Take things however you need, at your own pace. Sometimes all we can do is go moment by moment.”
Gabby closed her eyes as if that could ward off the ugly reminders of the past few years. She was achieving her goals, albeit a few years later than she’d planned. She concentrated on the sun, so bright against her eyelids. She could see it even with her eyes closed, or maybe it wasn’t see, maybe it was feel. One knew it was there, coming out from behind a cloud to stun a person blind. Too bad she couldn’t see clearly through the gossamer thin layer of her eyelids. Wouldn’t that be a superpower to be able to see while having one’s eyes shut? To never have been blinded in the first place.
She couldn’t think like that. What mattered was that she was back in Graciella, her home in a gentle valley on the West Coast of Oregon, nestled into the farmland and guarded by the rugged cliffs and deep blue of the Pacific Ocean, her true place. Those are the parts of her past she’d resurrect. Those are the parts that will hold me together, keep me from losing myself again. My home, my foundation. Gabriella Flores, infinitely smarter and a bit world-weary was back to make a name for herself. Successful, single and fabulous. That was her new motto. She’d wrapped it around her being like the perfect dress, pretty but deceiving, showing off her assets, allowing others to see only what she wanted while keeping the vulnerable parts of her hidden and protected.
A cloud drifted over the sun, a shadow nudging into her vision. Gabby sensed it as sure as she could the brightness of before. Then a touch on her cheek. “Holy shit, what the…” Gabby yelled, slamming her eyes open, heart leaping from her chest.
“Oh! She swears like you, Daddy,” a bright voice from a tiny mouth echoed above her.
Two small people were bent over her body, head-to-head, gazing at her with soft brown eyes, big and wide and sparkling with a dancing hint of gold around the rim of each iris. Dark long baby lashes, full cheeks and two halos of black curls. Identical tiny people. Maybe she’d fallen down the rabbit hole of some foreign universe. Her heart raced as she blinked at the light flickering between these two tiny bodies. The sun is still here. I feel the floors against my bones. One child put her soft chubby hand on Gabby’s cheek, patting it gently. The other had taken one of her hands and linked the two together, Gabby’s larger one enveloping the small warm one.
“I think she’s alive,” the other tiny mouth whispered.
Suddenly a man was in her space, lifting the two brown cherubs away in a swift but careful hold, setting them behind him and kneeling his body down beside Gabby. “Are you okay? Where are you hurt? Don’t move.” Large hands mapped her body, gently but with intention. One hand stopped at her throat. Two shaking fingers felt for her pulse. He moved both hands to her chest.
“Whoa,” she said, pulling his wrists away from her boobs. “Stop…stop. I’m fine.” Gray short sleeve T-shirt, baseball hat and sunglasses were right in her face. Whoever he was, he was breathing as if he’d just scaled a mountain at a record pace to get to her. His body vibrated under her hands and his backpack pressed against her thigh. “I…” Something was happening. He was warmer than the sun. All she was doing was holding his wrists and she wanted to run the pads of her thumbs across the sensitive skin, feel his pulse beating, concentrate on its rhythm. Gabby shut her eyes again and tried to steady her own breathing. What is happening? It was like, he felt…
“Christ!” he yelled and jerked upright to standing. “What are you doing?” Gabby blinked. Something in her tugged at the loss of his touch. I’m so confused. She raised her eyes up his body. Old running shoes and shorts, he towered above her, hands on his hips, no longer shaking, or at least she couldn’t tell. Body held rigid in anger, he shoved his sunglasses off his face and glared at her. He was tall with broad shoulders blocking the sun completely now with his angry warrior silhouette, a pink cross-body bag strapped across his chest.
“Uh…thinking?” she answered. She blinked again to clear the fog in her vision. What the hell is happening?
“Passed out on the floor?” He accused. He crossed his arms over his chest.
Wait just a second. “Excuse me.” She lifted herself off the floor and stood to face him. She did not enjoy being yelled at, and especially not while he towered above her. “Why are you yelling at me? Who are you? I…this is mine.” She pointed to the floor and the windows, stepping out of his shadow to allow the warm rays to calm her heart. She wasn’t afraid, not exactly. He was acting like a jerk, but the pink bag, the minion characters on his shirt, and the two tiny humans who belonged to him whisked away any hesitation.
Rigid and angry, there was not one single ounce of kindness on his face. Gabby crossed her own arms—she could project warrior too—and met his stare, scowl was more like it. He lifted his sunglasses and Gabby sucked in a breath. Eyes the same shade as her Pacific, deep swirling blue stared back at her. Everything safe and exciting all rolled into one color. Home.
No, nope, no way. She shook her head and took a step away. That can’t be right. He’s not my home. He’s not my foundation. I don’t even know this rude man. Weird emotions surged through her. She glanced at her surroundings and grounded herself in this new space that would soon be her salon. This is my home Graciella. I’m already here, in my safe place, all by myself, exactly as I want.
©2023 Sara Ohlin
Check out all my interviews/reviews for Sara Ohlin!
https://readingbydeb.blogspot.com/2023/01/author-at-glance-sara-ohlin.html
Puget Sound based writer, Sara Ohlin is a mom, wannabe photographer, obsessive reader, ridiculous foodie, and the author of the contemporary romance novels, Handling the Rancher, Salvaging Love, Seducing the Dragonfly, Igniting Love, Flirting with Forever, Promising Love and Embracing Love.
She has over twenty years of creative non-fiction and memoir writing experience, and you can find her essays at Anderbo.com, Feminine Collective, Mothers Always Write, Her View from Home, and in anthologies such as Are We Feeling Better Yet? Women Speak about Healthcare in America, Take Care: Tales, Tips, & Love from Women Caregivers, and Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Sara loves creating imaginary worlds with tight-knit communities in her romance novels. She credits her mother, Mary, Nora Roberts and Rosamunde Pilcher for her love of romance.
If she’s not reading or writing, you will most likely find her in the kitchen creating scrumptious meals, or perhaps cooking up her next love story.
She once met a person who both “didn’t read books” and wasn’t “that into food” and it nearly broke her heart. You can learn more on her website https://saraohlin.com.
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When a sexy veterinarian rescues a brooding attorney, the temperature rises...
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Hotshot defense attorney Jackson is intrigued by the feisty Ellie and gives her one month to convince him not to put his gentrification plans into progress. Attraction soon sizzles between them, but when Jackson makes his desires known, Ellie's vulnerable heart doesn't know what to think.
She wants to trust the sinfully handsome Jackson, just as he wants to gain her trust, but finding their way to love isn't easy when her traumatic past and his criminal clients threaten to sabotage their relationship for good.
Can the enchanting veterinarian and the guarded attorney fight the ghosts of the past and build a new future?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B69KQ8ZJ
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Except...Katie is widowed, which means she's free to love again—if she can trust a man with her heart and her most precious gifts, her daughters. As Leo is free to love her, if he can overcome a past betrayal and believe in Katie's love. Add in the meddling community, Katie's family and teenage internet crime and it's going to be far from easy...or even likely.
Katie's love might be just the balm Leo's wounded heart needs, but will he have the courage to face his crushing past to accept it?
Can the artist with the wounded heart love his muse?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B69ZPZXQ
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Unfortunately, when tomorrow arrives and Lachlan is smacked with the knowledge that she's already in a relationship with two men, he feels he has nothing to offer her.
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