Series - Oliveri Mafia
ASIN - B09WH5LTPM
Genre - Contemporary Romance
Tropes - Alpha Hero, Diverse, Plus-Size Main Character, Forced Proximity, Bodyguard, Interracial, Second Chance, Mafia
Author - Melverna McFarlane
Release Date - March 25, 2022
#mafiaromance #romance #KindleUnlimited #darkromance #secondchance #bwwm #interracialromance #melvernamcfarlane #bwwmromance #newrelease #romancereader #darkromance #darkromancebooks #sexyreads #spicybooks #organizedcrime #irromance #melvernamcfarlane #oliverimafiaseries #inevitable #urbanromance #kindleunlimitedromance #urbanromancefiction
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.
Excerpt (Chapter One) – 411 words – rated PG
“You’ve got this,” René told herself. She straightened her posture, and faced the door she had walked out of three years ago with no intention of ever returning. “It’s not like I am crawling back. If it weren’t for Onika I wouldn’t even be here right now.”
Although René was a first-generation American and had lived in the states her entire life, her family was big, loud, close, and international. With her childhood summer vacations spent in Jamaica, she and Onika, who had only moved to Felicidad two years ago, might as well have been twins. They spend almost every day of their breaks together.
Two years ago, René had offered to help Onika get settled, but her stubborn-ass cousin rejected her offer. Now René was a target with few options.
It was too late to lament her current circumstances, her business was at stake.
Okay, her life and Onika’s were also at stake which technically was more important.
But damn, René had worked her ass off to become a hairstylist whose growing popularity resulted in two successful salons. She’d spent years renting chairs in other people’s salons while doing hair in her parents’ extension. Nights, weekends, and friendships were sacrificed on the altar of her dream. Finally, success had started trickling into her life. And now there was a threat to everything she had poured her soul into building, not to mention her life.
She wanted to curse Onika’s name, but Onika was only part of the equation. Who knew her friendship with Jessie would one day up the stakes to her dilemma?
There she went, hyping herself up when she needed a calm head to deal with that man behind the door. If anyone had gotten her wrapped up in drama she would have bet the bank on him—Nico Donini.
All this time she had avoided his name. In her mind, he was an abstract idea. Because thinking his name brought inevitable memories. Not the rip your heart out memories but the warm, cuddle sessions that plagued her after she’d ended things. They whispered to her of the what-ifs she could never voice.
Desperation had driven her here but it didn’t cancel out Nico as her wisest choice. Who was she fooling? She was not ready to face Nico. She spun to her car once again.
Before her first full step, the voice still haunting her dreams said, “Running again? You haven’t changed, have you?”
Buy Links $4.99
US—https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WH5LTPM
Series Link—https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099MW7L8M
Please Note: Both Inescapable and Inevitable can be read as standalone novels in the expanding Oliveri Mafia series
Guest Post
What drew you to the romance sub-genre you write?
I think a lot of women’s secret fantasies involve falling in love with dangerous men, although in reality we avoid danger in our daily lives. That sense of the forbidden, of getting away with something, is a seductive lure for me as a reader and now as an author, which is why the first full story that came to mind was a mafia romance. I still love my wholesome romance, with lots of steam, and most sub-genres under romance. One day I may even venture into those stories, but for now I have a lot of mafia men in my head that are demanding their stories be told.
When did you start reading romance?
I was probably 14-16 when I started reading my mom’s romance novels. They were the historicals, Judith McNaught, Julie Garwood, Jude Devereaux, and so many of the big names wrote in those days. I used to sneak them out of her room to read, not knowing she knew I was reading them until I was in high school. Then we would fangirl over the heroes and heroines. When I started feeding my book addiction, she started “borrowing” my books like I used to “borrow” her clothes. It made for a lot of fun debates.
How do you come up with your ideas?
I’m a pantser, writing without a plan, for the most part. But there is one thing that always sparks my ideas: the meet-cute. When boy meets girl, I know nothing about them, but their first interaction, the chemistry I feel between them is so vivid that it helps me create their backstories and a plot that challenges their budding love.
When I decided to seriously write, I had a difficult time deciding what genre to write in. I love Romance, Epic Fantasy, and Young Adult Fantasy. I finally settled on Romance because it is by far the genre I read and love the most. It spans so many sub-genres that I couldn’t go wrong.
The idea for my first romance novel, Inescapable came pretty easy to me.
Writing was a different ball game. There was a huge learning curve for me, but I actually enjoy the process. Even the days where words hide from me and the story stalls because I haven’t quite gotten the right mix of plot and character to move the story on.
When it came to writing Inevitable, I initially had no intention of writing a series. The couple featured in this sophomore novel, René and Nico, kept hounding me for a resolution to their broken love story. My readers wanted to them to be happy, and they wanted to be happy. So I explored their personal histories and the reason for their previous relationship ending and came out with a book about two beautifully flawed people who needed each other. Of course, I mixed their love story in with action and the dangers of Nico’s mafia lifestyle.
I’m really excited for the reception of this book, and my other author friends keep telling me this won’t go away. It makes sense. Each book is my child and once it’s published my child is leaving the safety of my home for the brave unknown of the world. What matters is that readers find the book entertaining and they feel an emotional connection to the ups and downs my book babies go through.
Author Bio
Melverna McFarlane loves stories with Happily Ever Afters. After years of characters taunting her imagination with their potential, she decided it was time to write her own scorching hot romances. She 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).
Social Media Links
Website: https://www.melvernamcfarlane.com
Amazon Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/Melverna-McFarlane/e/B098KP2DXN
FB reader group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/353173499490610
Newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/ydk45fkx
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelvernaM
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melverna_mcfarlane/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21632673.Melverna_McFarlane
BookBub Author Profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/melverna-mcfarlane
Newsletter sign up (receive a FREE ebook of Nobody’s Wingman) https://tinyurl.com/2p9bvazp