FUN FACTS

Favorite Food: I love a hearty veggie soup. In the cooler months, I always have a pot simmering or ready for reheating. I can put together a quick veggie soup with leftover pot roast and a jar of marinara sauce.

Favorite Movie: Hands down, Blazing Saddles. I know. My second pick is Beetlejuice, simply for the creative writing, the irreverence and the humorous take on existing in the afterlife and being forced to work as a civil servant.

Favorite TV Show: I love a good murder mystery, and I am leaning heavily toward Vera on BritBox.

Favorite Author: John Sandford. His Prey series, featuring Lucas Davenport, partly inspired my use of idioms in the Blind series titles.

Favorite Song: “There’s Nothing Better Than Love” by Gregory Hines and Luther Vandross, released in 1986.

“I fell asleep late last night

And I dreamed the night and almost half the day away

I just got up

So that I could hear her say

She’s still in love

And no one could take her love away…”

There is magic in that song—the words, the tenderness and the way it flows. Waking someone up just to hear them say they love you could be cause for a fight in my house, but somehow, they make it hella romantic.

Favorite Book: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg. As a child, I read this book and wanted to travel to New York, visit the Met, see all the wonderful displays and steal change from the fountain. It made me believe in the magic of storytelling.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

Describe a typical day for Olivia.

 

Well, Wayne, the plan is to write in the mornings and quilt in the afternoons. How closely reality follows that plan depends on what my family needs and what my characters have decided to do. There is usually coffee involved, some journaling and a running conversation in my head with people who do not actually exist. I also manage the Journaling Lovers community, so there is always something to create or someone to encourage. By afternoon, I’m usually ready to trade words for fabric. Either way, I’m making something.

What do you enjoy most about being a writer?

 

Watching people become more than they thought they could be. I especially enjoy writing a man who is competent in almost every area of his life, then handing him a woman or a family he has absolutely no idea what to do with. That is where the fun begins.

I also love exploring what happens beyond attraction. You can want someone desperately, but can you build a life together? Can you make room for their habits, their history and the things they carry? Those questions keep me interested.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

 

Quilting. There is a considerable amount of fabric in my house, and I refuse to discuss whether all of it was necessary. I also enjoy journaling, spending time with my family, playing online Scrabble and traveling when the schedule allows. Lately, I’ve been enjoying being home, making things and trying out my bread maker. Apparently, I needed another hobby with supplies.

What, to date, would you consider to be your greatest achievement as an author?

 

Becoming a USA Today bestselling author was a wonderful milestone. But I’m also proud of the body of work I’ve built and the readers who continue to come back for another story. The Modern Mail Order Brides series is reaching its twenty-first book. That takes persistence, imagination and readers willing to follow you into another town with another couple. Being able to keep doing work I love is an achievement I don’t take lightly.

What is the best book you have read so far in 2026?

IN THE KILLER’S SIGHT by Mike Omer. (Wayne, I love a good murder mystery, and this one pulled me in early and kept me guessing. I enjoyed Kate Marino, and the K-9 dogs, Nero and Bella, were a bonus. I appreciate memorable nonhuman characters, too. What held my attention was how the investigation intertwined with Kate’s family relationships and her past. Those personal layers gave me more to care about while I was trying to figure out who was responsible. This was my first read in the Kate Marino series, and after that ending, I’m ready for the next one. (I loved it too!)

ALL ABOUT THE BOOKS

Tell us a little about your recent book, BLIND BEND, and your upcoming release, SHELVES, SAWDUST AND CAROLINA, later this month.

BLIND BEND is the story of The Stately Elm, an arborist whose other line of work involves poisons and assassination. He is very good at what he does. Building a family, however, requires an entirely different set of skills.

Tandy is a mixed media artist, and their story brings together romance, two boys who need a home and a man learning that caring for people means much more than keeping them safe. The line I keep coming back to is, “Growing a family is the hardest thing he’ll ever do.” That really is the heart of this book.

SHELVES, SAWDUST AND CAROLINA takes us to Walhalla, South Carolina, for book twenty-one in the Modern Mail Order Brides series. Duke is a mechanical engineer who works with reclaimed wood, and Carolina is a technical writer from Charlotte. I’m a maker myself, so I enjoyed bringing that love of creating into this story. There is something appealing about a man who can look at an old piece of wood and see what it could become. Give him a marriage to build, and now we have a story.

Oliva, along with your upcoming releases, I've heard that you have an important announcement to share with us! So please, tell our readers about this fabulous opportunity. (Cue Drum Roll)!

 

Wayne, you know a reclusive author has big news when she comes out of the sewing room to make an announcement!

DramaWAVE has purchased the film rights to the first twenty books in my Modern Mail Order Brides series! My agent, La Sheera Lee at SBR Media, handled the deal with Julie Kunlan at DramaWAVE, and the announcement appeared in Publishers Marketplace on October 14.

These characters have been living in my head, finding love and causing problems for years. Apparently, they’re ready to cause problems in another medium. There are twenty-one books in the series, but Carolina is not included in this deal. She and Duke have their own shelves to fill, and you can read their story, SHELVES, SAWDUST AND CAROLINa, this Thanksgiving. There will be more to share as things develop, but for now, I’m excited, grateful and trying to act like I have some sense. You’ll notice I said trying.

If you had to recommend a book that best embodies you as the author, which of your books would it be?

I would choose Blind Bend. It brings together so many things I enjoy writing: humor, an unexpected romance, complicated people and a family taking shape in ways no one planned. I like characters who make you reconsider your first impression. Elm can be intimidating, but then you watch him trying to figure out what these children need and how to love this woman. That combination of danger, tenderness and everyday life feels very much like me as a storyteller.

What qualities or characteristics do you believe make your books special?

 

My characters have lives to live. They work, they have responsibilities, they come with family complications and they still have to figure out dinner. I enjoy putting love into that everyday world. There is humor, there is steam and there are people who don’t always arrive in the prettiest emotional packaging. I want readers to laugh, care about them and believe they can build something lasting together. Falling in love is wonderful. I’m interested in the life they make from there.

What is next for Olivia?

I’m finishing Caleb Duverney’s story, BLIND TEST. Readers will be heading to Belfast, Maine, to meet a land surveyor whose other work is considerably less suitable for polite conversation. He likes tea and pie, and he has caught my attention.

I’m also working on a Whyte New Year novella, with more Prado Sloe, another Modern Mail Order Brides story and Maple on the horizon for 2027. We have the Inter-Racial Romance Expo in Jacksonville in April, too. Somewhere in there, I intend to finish a few quilts. My fabric has expectations.

ABOUT THE READERS

 

If there was one thing you could tell your readers about Olivia, what would it be?

 

There is a real woman behind these books who has ordinary days, family responsibilities and moments when she needs to go sit quietly with her sewing machine. I put a great deal of myself into the work, and I appreciate the time readers spend with it. You have plenty of choices when you pick up a book. It means something to me when you choose mine.

What advice would you give to an aspiring author?

 

Finish the story. You can spend years polishing the opening chapters and never find out what you’re capable of completing. Get to the end, then give yourself something to revise. Learn your craft and learn the business. Both matter. Also, pay attention to your own storytelling rhythm. I know when I’m reaching the point where I’m rambling instead of moving the story forward. Your book needs the length that serves it. And please have interests outside writing. Living gives you something to write about.

How can readers reach you?

I love hearing from readers. You can find me here:

Email: olivia@ogaines.com

 

Website: www.ogaines.com

Facebook: Olivia Gaines

Instagram: @gaines.olivia

TikTok: I don’t have one. I refuse on reclusive author principles alone.

 

RIC would like to thank Ms. Gaines for taking time out of her busy to do this interview.