Character Spotlight ~ Cerella D. Sechrist's Sadie, Jasper & Dmitri

Today the spotlight shines............on Sadie, Jasper & Dmitri



Cerella D Sechrist's first venture into a contemporary novel will tickle your tastebuds! Another in the successful Love Finds You series from Summerside Press, Cerella has a fascinating insight into her characters below - what a choice for Sadie!! Who would you choose ~ the best friend or the intriguing Russian?!?!

Over to you, Cerella:~


Brief physical description of your main characters:

Sadie is tall, about 5’ 8”, with straight chestnut brown hair and brown eyes. Her five-year-old daughter Kylie once described her mother’s eyes as warm like cinnamon buns, glossy and sweet. Kylie inherited her mother’s eyes and brunette hair. Sadie tries to constantly maintain a look of professionalism so her wardrobe is often slightly more conservative but with just a touch of eclectic jewelry which reveals her true, slightly bohemian spirit.

Jasper is described in the book as a ‘surfer dude gone country.’ He has choppy, wheat blonde hair and skin that bronzes in any weather. (Lucky guy!) His features are masculine and slightly rugged: angular jaw, slightly scruffy but with a cute, childlike pout to his lips. He’s a very laid-back type of personality so he’s often dressed in worn jeans and a t-shirt.

Dmitri is your classic tall, dark and handsome with a heart-melting Russian accent. His eyes are a pale blue. The thing to understand about Dmitri is that while he’s very attractive and serious outwardly, he possesses quite a bit of vulnerability. A lot of mystery surrounds Dmitri, and his personal style reflects that in the darker colors he wears. Like Sadie, he gravitates toward conservative fashions, which are more appropriate to his status as an entrepreneur of sorts.

Actor/famous person

Sadie: Sandra Bullock or Jennifer Garner

Jasper: Keith Urban meets Owen Wilson

Dmitri: Goran Visjnic

Strengths and weaknesses:

Sadie is determined and humorous, but she’s also a little selfish and unforgiving. In her defense, she learned these traits the hard way – her father wasn’t around much when she was growing up, but now he’s back, wanting to make amends. But for her, it feels like it’s too little, too late. Her husband died in a car accident when their daughter was only a few months old, and then her mother lost a battle with cancer, and her father wasn’t around for any of that. But her best friend, Jasper, was there for her, and she rather takes him for granted, I’m afraid.

Quirk:

Funny you should ask. Sadie actually remarks to Dmitri in the book that her ‘hobbies’ include “running people over in grocery stores and babbling incoherently to restaurant patrons.”

To which Dmitri replies, “I believe those are quirks, rather than hobbies.” =)

Dmitri’s own quirks include a penchant for classic black and white films. It was through Cary Grant and Greta Garbo movies that he helped his Russian grandfather learn to speak English.

Jasper’s quirks involve a lot of interesting analogies he and Kylie conjecture concerning the bathroom and an island paradise. It’s a shared game between the two of them. Read the book, and you’ll understand!

Your inspiration for the character:

In the creation of Sadie, it was one of those periods in my own life where I was facing the question of how to define my own self worth. I kept asking more from myself than I could possibly give, and when I didn’t measure up, I just drove myself all the harder. That frustration and compulsion all got channeled into Sadie’s character, who struggles with perfectionism and has to learn that she has value, even if she can’t be the best at everything she wants to achieve. It’s not that I inspired Sadie. It’s that Sadie inspired me – because I had to learn my own lessons through her struggles.

Background to the story:

I wrote historical novels for years before deciding I wanted to try my hand at something out of my comfort zone. I decided to switch gears from historicals to something contemporary, and the first question I asked myself was, “What would I want to read if I were the reader of this novel?” And that was easy because I’m a bit of a foodie, so I thought, “Why not a story about a chef?” From there, I hit upon the idea of Sadie, who is phenomenally talented in the food arena except for one thing.

She can’t make desserts.

And of course, enter this handsome Russian entrepreneur whose greatest culinary skill is dessert, and you have instant conflict. The fact that the town of Hershey is less than hour’s drive from where I live in southern Pennsylvania just made for a naturally sweet setting to a story filled with chocolate rivalry.

Cerella ~ what a terrific spotlight! Can't wait to find out who Sadie succumbs to ;-)



Stay tuned for Thursday's spotlight on Brannon Callahan & Roark Holland from Robin Caroll's romantic suspense, Deliver Us From Evil.

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