Olivia Gaines Interview Published on: 23, Jun 2022

My childhood was average for a kid growing up in Alabama. I am the youngest of six, with only one brother who is still my world. My sister, who was three years older and a voracious reader, started me on Harlequin Romances when I was a pre-teen. Once I progressed to Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Langston Hughes, I put aside the flowery reads for the more realistic. It is easy to surmise, my childhood I mostly spent between the pages of a book.

I would wager my cousin Felisa. She was like my little sister and I would sequester myself in a corner in the Summer or cold Winter months, creating stories with fabulous adventures.

Yes. I started my writing career as a journalist. I believed, in my naivete, that I would somehow transverse the world, reporting, collecting facts, and solving the crisis of the world. Yeah, none of that happened, so I ended up in graduate school in business, learning how to market sweet treats to people who didn’t need them. Later, by accident, I became a collegiate level English instructor, and after several years of that, I took a break. On the break I started playing around with Kindle Unlimited and writing short stories for women on the go. Honestly, I never imagined I would win any award at all for writing romance books. I am humbled at the acknowledgement.

I like the romantic suspense genre more, since I only must include romantic elements, versus having the man and woman meet in a cute way. I can have the couple meet over a dead body. Nothing says, “how you doing?” Like meeting over a dead body. What? Is it just me?

When I came up with the idea, I didn’t know it was a series. I thought, hey bad guys need love too, but what if, these bad guys are redeemed by helping others less fortunate than themselves. They have money, nice homes, full refrigerators, and a sense of honor. Hey, there must be a woman out there who looks at him and thinks, “oh yeah, I want some of that.” What? Is it just me?

I love Westerns. I often watch the old west shows like The Virginian and Gunsmoke, and Wagon Train, and each time, when the Natives attack, there is always that one guy, riding bareback on the horse, with the torch in his hand. That one torch miraculously ignites seven wagons and sets them all on fire. Yet, each time the cavalry rides in, it is at the end of the burning. I sit in wonder, asking, isn’t there another route these wagons can take? Can the calvary just ride along with the wagons during the trek across the Native territory, and just as I ask the question again, here comes the one brave on the horse with the torch. I asked, what is his story? Lakota is born, and he’s able to ride bareback with flaming arrows to set the PowWow in motion. He’s a bad dude, like that one Brave, igniting all of them wagons on fire with a single torch.

I have plans for three more in the series. I am hoping to revisit the family with a holiday read, and marry off Eduardo’s little brother, Carlos. Then give Micah, the third son of a third son, his own book.

Maple Sundae and Cider Donuts wrote itself. I love my Modern Mail Order Bride™ Series because it is a new adventure each time, I sit to pen the tale. This story was too much fun. I always start with a what if…and thought what if this guy doesn’t get married, he loses everything. Then, what if, he’s out of time, and the woman who shows up to marry him, isn’t the woman he’s been writing. Does he go with it, or lose it all. (Rubbing my hands together in glee…he goes with it)! They are as opposite as night and day. He lives a neat orderly life and she buys half a prefab house and adjoins to his. It looks as crazy as it sounds and is such a fun read. Also, New Hampshire is well known for, yep, you guessed it, Maple Sundae and Cider Donuts. Ironically, shortly after the release of the book, Krispy Kreme released a cider donut. Cool, right?

My next travel destination I am headed north, to New York, to Buffalo, then on to Niagara Falls. I am anxious to get lots of pictures, understand the culture, taste to food, hear the dialects and work on my mail order bride.

The one reader who9 changed my outlook on what I do, I met in Florida. She told me she sold her jewelry to come meet me. I was so floored, I could barely breathe. I sit in a junky room, surrounded by scraps of paper, making up ways for people to fall in love. This woman, fell in love with my words and decided at any cost, she was coming to meet me. That is humbling.

If I told you, what fun would that be? I have to keep an element of mystery about my writing life.

I have recommended AllAuthor to several authors whom I think this would be a great experience. I love having everything in one spot, tweets, promos, graphics and all in one location. My experience has been phenomenal.