SEELIE KAY: Postcards from The Ledge: This week in The Loft: Author Melverna McFarlane!

Joining me today in The Loft is author Melverna McFarlane. A writer of Mafia romances, Melverna loves stories with Happily-Ever-Afters (HEAs). After years of characters taunting her imagination, she decided it was time to write her own scorching hot romances. Melverna moved to America from Jamaica at a young age, and has lived up and down the east coast most of her life. The bitterly cold winter of 2013 was the last straw, driving her back to island life—this time to Hawaii. When not writing, she is reading romance, YA, and fantasy, country hopping, or vicariously obsessing over other people’s cats--she awaits the day her landlords succumb to the truth--feline domination should be everyone’s goal in life.

S: Good morning, Melverna! It's always a pleasure to welcome new authors to The Loft.

Why write romance?

M: Romance focuses on relationships that have a happy ending. No matter how toxic, dangerous, or impossible a relationship between two unlikely people seems, romance has the ability to show how the characters grow individually and as a unit to make something beautiful.

S: Happily, there are all sorts of romances with all types of endings. I like that the romance genre is always expanding and becoming more inclusive.

Do you write in other genres?

M: Not yet. I want to focus on romance first. Once I get to a point where I can write faster, I intend to delve into epic fantasy. Even then, it will more than likely be as a romance sub-genre because everyone struggles and getting love at the end of the day is the best ending.

S: Love and romance are such a big part of life that they are hard to leave out of most stories.

Are there any characteristics your lead characters share?

M: Because I write Mafia romance, my lead men share a lot of alpha personality traits and my lead women like to challenge their authority. They grow to rely on each other and the men are confident enough to let their women be strong.

S: Do you adhere to tropes when writing romance?

M: I love tropes, especially when well done. I’m still a newbie writer, so I’ve only published a revenge trope and with my sophomore novel, a second chance. My works in progress include instalove, age gap, single mom romance, and marriage of convenience. I’ve loved writing them all because of how my characters react to their circumstances. I want to write as many tropes as possible, even if it means challenging myself to write ones that I don’t one-click, like bully romance.

S: Experts say there are more than 150 romance tropes. Even discarding the ones that annoy or appall me, I'd be writing well into my hundreds!

As a writer, did the pandemic and the subsequent isolation work to your benefit or detriment?

M: I’m an introvert so the isolation didn’t affect me as much as some of my relatives. If anything, more story ideas came to mind because I was able to live in my head without the constant social activity. I still get interaction when I need it. Virtual meetings help me when the need to see other people gets to be too much.

S: What would you like to people know about you?

M: I have a twisted sense of humor that comes out in how my characters interact with each other. Because I keep it in my head most times, I end up smiling during social interactions where I need to have a neutral expression. I’m sure the people surrounding me find me very odd.

S: What is the best/worst thing that has ever happened to you as a writer?

M: Imposter syndrome is the worst. Since my debut and seeing how many people liked my first novel, I’ve had to wrestle with the self-doubt. Thankfully, I have friends in my writing circle who are willing to shame the doubt into silence so that I can continue to create stories people will read and hopefully enjoy.

S: What inspires your stories?

M: Anything really. Books, movies, songs, people watching. I had a story idea come to me because a book I was reading made me so angry that the characters came to my mind fully fleshed out and the opposite of everything I was reading. Sometimes, those are my most exciting characters and story lines to develop.

S: What inspired "Inevitable?"

M: I initially had this couple in my debut novel, "Inescapable," with no intention of giving them their own story or making a series. I was in the middle of writing a rom-com matchmaker novel when I took a break. During that time, René and Nico kept hounding me for a resolution to their story and the news was filled with more footage showing police brutality that their history formed. Their story will be available March 25 on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited.

S: Is there anything special you would like people to know about "Inevitable?"

M: This book was deeply personal for me. I am used to reading novels with many European languages featured, but not many that feature Caribbean languages in a way that doesn’t diminish the characters. As a writer, language, its fluidity, and ever-changing nature always fascinated me. I wanted to showcase it with René’s family. She lives in a world where she was raised in multiple cultures—an overall American culture and African American and Jamaican subcultures. I experienced all of those things growing up in this country, and I hope my readers can relate because we all live in subcultures of one kind or another.

Here's the blurb--

Nico
Four years ago, I made one mistake, and she left. I couldn’t convince her to stay no matter how much I loved her. Still love her. But one day she turns up at my door asking for my protection. A rival family is threatening her life and the business she busted her ass for. No matter what unresolved issues lie between us, the heartache I’ve carried, or the dreams I wish were reality, I won’t let anyone threaten her or the family I had always wanted to be mine. I will always protect her. But I am more than just a temporary bodyguard. I have a second chance to show her my love is worth fighting for, and I will claim her completely. With this new chance, she can’t escape the inevitable.

René
Asking Nico for help is the last thing I want to do. After breaking up with him four years ago, I am not ready to be reminded of all the reasons I fell in love with him, to begin with. Avoiding him becomes impossible when he is still the only man I trust to protect me and my family from a rival mafia boss intent on ruining our lives. His every touch reignites my passions. Though I fight it, and will never admit it, my feelings for my ex had never died. As the heat between us flames to new heights, he tempts me with the possibility of a second chance at love.