Hi, everyone!
Today I am on the Harlequin Trade Publishing 2020 Fall Reads Blog Tour for Women’s Fiction and Romance. I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for RESCUE YOU (Dogwood County Book #1) by Elysia Whisler.
Below you will find an author Q&A, a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links.
***
Author Q&A
Q: What themes can readers find in your book, Rescue You?
A: One big theme was nailed on the front cover: “Everyone needs saving sometimes.” In this book, all the characters, human or canine, are saving each other in different ways and at different times. I enjoyed playing with some of the ways in which a character could be either a hero or someone who needed saving. I liked taking a pair of sisters, a big, strong Alpha male and a handful of rescued dogs and showing how any one of them could be either the hero or the saved, despite gender, birth order or human status, depending on the situation.Which brings us to, “love wins.” There’s some ugliness in this book, for sure, just like there is in life. But I always want to believe that love can win the day.
Q: With the sisters working with rescue dogs in the story and the hero working with veterans at his gym, are either of these elements something near and dear to your heart in real life?
A: Yes, both! Though I’ve never run a dog rescue like the sisters in the book, I’ve adopted rescue dogs and cats all my life. Military vets are definitely near and dear to my heart. My father served over thirty years in the military, my grandfather fought in WWII, and I grew up steeped in military life and culture. As a massage therapist, my most rewarding work comes from massaging for CAUSE (Comfort for America’s Uniformed Servicemembers). CAUSE is a non-profit program that provides wounded service members free massages twice a month. I love being able to give back to the men and women who have served us.
Q: What is something you can share about this pair of sisters and their relationship that might not have made it into the book?
A: Constance and Sunny always watch The Matrix together on Sunny’s birthday. They share popcorn and quote lines. It’s a ritual they started when the movie came out in their youth.
Q: Do you own any pets? If so what kind? If not, what kind would you adopt if you could?
A: I currently share a home with four dogs, four cats and a rabbit named Lieutenant Dan. Recently deceased are two guinea pigs. All rescues.
Q: Is this your first book that you have written? If not, what was your first book?
A: I’ve been writing books since I was about eight. They started out as short, handwritten books, but I was writing full length novels by the time I was a young teen. I had a word processor (like a typewriter but with editing capabilities) that I’d begged my parents for as a birthday present. I wrote a historical romance, a contemporary romance and a western (with a woman hero!) “Rescue You” is actually a combination of two novels I wrote and then wove together.
Q: Did you always want to become an author?
A: Yes. Always. When I was young I mailed a handwritten book to a publisher’s address I found on the copyright page of one of the many books on my shelf. Just put this handwritten book I wrote in a big envelope, slapped stamps on it and mailed it to them. They were actually kind enough to mail it back. They included a note saying that all submissions had to be typewritten. I look back on that and laugh at my young, naive self but also with surprise at the kindness of that publishing company. They paid out of pocket to return that book to me when most would dump it in the trash.
Q: What was the process of becoming a published writer like for you?
A: I won a writing award in high school. When I was in college, I wrote a lot of short stories and placed in competitions like the F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Sandy. Once I started writing novels, I entered those in contests, too, and won or placed quite a few times. After gaining that confidence, I started querying agents. This was back when almost nobody accepted email queries, so that was a long waiting game. I wrote several books and queried them at different times before getting an offer of representation.The road to publication after that was long. I told my agent, the fabulous Sara Megibow, that we were ahead of our time when I started out. My stories never fit neatly into genre, were kind of quirky and always had really strong, bold heroines, which weren’t necessarily popular like they are today. Everyone wants strong women now, and genre bending is more acceptable, so I’ve finally come into my own.
Q: Describe your hero using only 3 words.
A: Gritty-sweet Alpha.
Q: What is your advice for aspiring writers?
A: If you’re writing, you’re already a writer. You don’t need anyone’s approval to make it so. Publishing may be an end goal to that, and if so, know that the game changes and you have to meld art into business. Put in the work, get feedback, hone your craft, listen to your editors. It’s a tough industry for sure, but in the immortal words of Tom Petty, “In a world that keeps on pushing me around … I won’t back down.”
Q: Do you create outlines for your book or do you just start starting one scene at a time?
A: It’s weird–I’m a super organized person but I barely outline at all. I always tell myself I’m going to try to outline more, but my process goes more like this: I get inspired by an idea, a scene, a moment, a person, a song. I expand that into a possible cast, have a vague starting point and probably a big scene in the middle that doesn’t know where it’s going to end up, just that it WILL be in there, and then most likely an ending (but not always). I’ll jot those down. When I actually start writing, it’s important to me to nail the opening before I move on to any other part of the story, even though the opening might change. After that, the process gets even messier: I think, re-read, jot a couple sentences in the outline, write in my head, write for real, edit, maybe go for a long walk and listen to music and decide where the story goes next. I edit a lot as I go. I’m not a “vomit on the page” writer. I’m more of a two steps up, one step back kind of person.
Q: What is your next writing project?
A: The next book in the series is called “Forever Home” and is currently with my editor! This story is about a kick ass, motorcycle riding, Marine Corps Veteran heroine who catches the eye of Detective Sean Callahan. There’ll be fitness, sleuthing, romance, an abandoned dog who loves the motorcycle shop, and, of course, some face-time from Constance, Sunny and Rhett.
Q: Where can readers find you and your work online?
A: Visit me at my Web site: www.elysiawhisler.com. There’s a bio, information on events, upcoming books and press. There are links to order Rescue You, links to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads and Facebook and a place to sign up for my newsletter!
***
Book Summary
She needs a fresh start. He’s got scars that haven’t healed. With the help of some rescue dogs, they’ll discover that everyone deserves a chance at happiness.
After a year of heartbreak and loss, the only thing keeping Constance afloat is the dog rescue she works at with her sister, Sunny. Desperate for a change, Constance impulsively joins a new gym, even though it seems impossibly hard, and despite the gym’s prickly owner.
Rhett Santos keeps his gym as a refuge for his former-military brothers and to sweat out his own issues. He’s ready to let the funny redhead join, but unprepared for the way she wiggles past his hard-won defenses.
When their dog rescue is threatened, the sisters fight to protect it. And they need all the help they can get. As Rhett and Constance slowly open up to each other, they’ll find that no one is past rescuing; what they need is the right person—or dog—to save them.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49374468-rescue-you
RESCUE YOU
Author: Elysia Whisler
ISBN: 9780778310082
Publication Date: October 27, 2020
Publisher: MIRA Books
***
My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
RESCUE YOU (Dogwood County Book #1) by Elysia Whisler is the first book in a new Women’s fiction series that had me hooked from the very first chapter. This is a new author that I will definitely be following into the future.
Constance and Rhett are such wonderful characters. Both broken and yet when they meet, they know just what the other needs even as they work through obstacles of their own. It is not a relationship that comes easily, but I believe the author handled the speed and interactions realistically. The use of Rhett’s extreme fitness center, Semper Fit, as a place for physical as well as emotional change had me as intrigued as the dog rescue, Pittie Place which had all of the sisters’ dynamics playing out around it.
Constance and Sunny’s relationship as sisters, who love each other dearly, but have had certain roles forced on them evolves as both sisters change throughout this story. The relationships with the men in their lives adds to the dynamic, but does not stop their growth and love for each other. Every character in this book is fully fleshed and play a pivotal role in the overall story.
While emotionally dense with several real-life serious situations and problems, the author was still able to make this story easy to read with touches of humor. This book covers rescue dogs and puppy mills, sister relationships, depression after death of a loved one, divorce and PTSD all with an authority that never had me doubting the research and knowledge of any one topic.
I highly recommend this book and new author! I am anxiously waiting for the next book in this series!
***
Excerpt
One
Constance slammed on her brakes. Steam rose from the street as rain gurgled through the ditches. She killed the engine, stepped into the pattering droplets and scanned the shoulder of the road. Nothing there but the remains of a goose carcass. “Where are you, boy?” Constance gave a low whistle.
It hadn’t been her imagination. The picked-over goose only made her more certain she’d seen a dog, weaving through the foggy afternoon air like a phantom. A lost dog, with his head bent against the rain as he loped along the muddy ditch.
Constance whistled again. Silence, but for the sound of rain hitting the trees that lined the road. “Maybe I’m just tired.” She’d done a lot of massages today, which made her feel wrung out. Constance almost ducked back into the van, but halted.
There he was: a white face with brown patches, peeking at her from behind a bush. “Hey, boy.” Constance squatted down, making herself smaller, less threatening. The dog watched, motionless. Constance drew a biscuit from her coat, briefly recalling the cashier’s amusement at the grocery store today when she’d emptied her pockets on the counter, searching for her keys. Five dog biscuits had been in the pile with her phone, a used tissue and the grocery list.
“Dog mom, huh?” the elderly cashier had said.
“Something like that.” More like dog aunt, to all of the rescues at Pittie Place. Her sister, Sunny, had quite the brood.
Constance laid the biscuit near her foot and waited. A moment later, the bush rustled and the dog approached. He had short hair and big shoulders. He got only as close as he needed to, then stretched his neck out for the prize. As he gingerly took the biscuit, Constance noted a droopy abdomen and swollen nipples, like a miniature cow.
So. He was a she. Constance inched toward her. The dog held on to the biscuit, but reared back. Constance extended her fist, slowly, so the mom could smell her. “You got puppies somewhere?”
The dog whimpered, but crunched up the biscuit.
“Where are your puppies?”
The dog whimpered again. Her legs shook. Her fur was muddy, feet caked with dirt. She had blood on her muzzle— probably from the dead goose. By her size and coloring, Constance decided she was a pit bull.
Constance rose up, patted her thigh and headed toward her van. She slid open the side door, grabbed a blanket and spread it out, but when she turned around, the dog was several yards away. Her brown-and-white head was low as she wandered beneath a streetlamp, the embodiment of despair in the drizzle that danced through the light.
Constance followed, slipping on the leaves that clogged the drainage ditch. The dog glanced once over her shoulder, but her pace didn’t quicken. Constance decided her calm demeanor was working, keeping the dog from fleeing. And let’s be honest: the biscuit hadn’t hurt. Chances were, the dog would be happy to have more as soon as she got wherever she was going. “Let’s see where you’re headed, then. Show me if you’ve got a home.”
Constance followed her across the road, around the curve and down the narrow lane. Frogs popped like happy corn all over the slick street, but the chill of the oncoming winter slithered through Constance’s blood.
She followed the dog for a good quarter mile. Even before she hooked a left down the unpaved road hidden behind the trees, Constance had figured out that the mama was headed to one of the handful of empty places that sat decomposing on the hundred or so acres the Matteri family owned. Constance paused only long enough to squelch the sizzle of anger that bubbled up inside before she pressed on, determined to know if the dog was a stray or a neglected mother from Janice Matteri’s puppy mill.
Constance took the same turn and watched as the dog neared the abandoned house up ahead. Nobody had lived there in years. It was only a matter of time before it became condemned. The dog bypassed the crumbling porch of the old colonial and went around back. Constance knew little daylight was left, and she hadn’t brought a flashlight. She broke into a trot, clutched her coat tighter around her and didn’t slow until the dog came back into view. Constance followed her, her heart thumping harder with each step.
The dog passed the rusted chain-link fence and disappeared over a rise in the property, near an old shed so overgrown with trees it was only recognizable by a pale red door. Just as she reached the hill, Constance heard a squeak. The sort of high-pitched noise that echoes from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Another squeak came. And another. She crested the hill and saw the dog slink inside the shed door. Constance got to the shed and pushed inside. The dog had reached her destination: a battered old mattress, three shades of brown, lying a few feet inside. The mewls, now loud and hungry, came from a shredded section of the mattress.
Constance narrowed her eyes. At first, she counted only two bobbing, brown heads, but as she drew closer there was a third. Then a fourth. The last one didn’t move nearly as much, just sort of waded on his stomach. The puppies had cocoa-colored fur and black muzzles. Eyes open. The ones that moved didn’t really walk, just stumbled into each other, like drunks. Mama dog curled around them and they all wiggled toward her abdomen.
Constance knelt down next to the mattress and watched the suckling puppies. She decided they were about two weeks old. The air in the shed smelled of sour milk, poop and urine. She dug out another biscuit and reached, slowly, her hand in a fist to protect her fingers, her gaze on the mama for any sign she was upset, such as pinned ears, bared teeth or a raised ridge of fur down the back. The energy around the mom and her pups was calm, to the point of exhausted. Constance had certainly helped with enough of Sunny’s dogs over the years to know. She offered the biscuit and the mom took it. With her mouth busy, Constance carefully touched the smallest puppy, who shook so hard the tremble came from deep inside, beneath his skin and fur, straight from his bones.
Constance rose slowly and did a quick search of the vicinity for more puppies, which turned up nothing but trash, vermin and an old orange crate, which she brought over to the mattress.
Now to see if Mom was going to accept help.
Though daylight was precious, Constance waited until the pups were done suckling before she offered a third treat. “Let’s go back to my place,” Constance said as Mom accepted the biscuit. “My sister has a rescue for critters, just like you. And I help her all the time. You’ll be safe there. Does that sound okay?”
While Mama crunched, Constance reached for the two pups closest to her and, keeping an eye on Mom the whole time, she lifted them and settled them in the crate. Mom’s chewing quickened, so Constance acted fast, lifting the last two pups swiftly but carefully. She rose to her feet, crate in her arms. The mother dog was on her feet almost ahead of her, pointing her muzzle at the crate and whining.
Constance knew the mom would follow her anywhere she took those pups, but she also lacked any signs of aggression, almost as though she knew that this was their only chance. Or as Pete, owner of Canine Warriors and Constance’s longtime childhood friend, would put it, “You just got something about you, Cici. Everybody trusts you. People. Dogs. The damn Devil himself.”
Constance headed back to her van, chasing the sunset. As expected, the mother followed. Once to the vehicle, Constance opened the van and set the crate full of pups next to the blanket she’d spread out earlier. The mama dog leaped in after them.
Constance slid the door closed, settled behind the steering wheel and let out a great sigh. Mission accomplished. She edged down the long, lonely road. The rain pattered on the windshield and the scent of dirty puppies hit her nose. She’d take them home tonight and get them settled in, see how they reacted to a new environment, then text Sunny in the morning. Constance had worked with enough dogs, and people, to know that introducing another new person this evening was bad news. Let Mama get used to Constance first, and get some good food and rest, before she was moved to Pittie Place.
Tonight, at least, this girl and her babies belonged with Constance.
Excerpted from Rescue You by Elysia Whisler Copyright © Elysia Whisler. Published by MIRA Books.
***
Author Bio
Elysia Whisler was raised in Texas, Italy, Alaska, Mississippi, Nebraska, Hawai’i and Virginia, in true military fashion. Her nomadic life has made storytelling a compulsion from a young age.
She doubles as a mother, a massage therapist and a CrossFit trainer and is dedicated to portraying strong women, both in life and in her works. She lives in Virginia with her family, including her large brood of cat and dog rescues, who vastly outnumber the humans.
Social Media Links
Author Website: https://www.elysiawhisler.com/
TWITTER: @ElysiaWhisler
Facebook: @ElysiaWhisler
Insta: @ElysiaWhisler
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19812585.Elysia_Whisler
Purchase Links
