THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
The Beautiful Dream Series
Get a behind-the-scenes
all-access pass to Melony Ann's The Beautiful Dream Series!
***Synopis***
The Beautiful Dream series is a Cop
Romance that focuses on mental health, starting over, and finding true love.
The series features the same characters. Each book focuses on a different plot
and different character pairings. The books aren’t connected. It’s a choose your
own romance!
What is the sub-genre and trope? Did your characters lead
you to this genre or was that decided before the story began?
The series is a Cop Romance Series. Each book focuses on
mental health and starting over.
I wanted to write something that was a little
like real life. So many people deal with the things my characters do and feel
like they’re crazy. I wanted to show them that they aren’t crazy. I wanted to
validate them.
Are you more character or plot driven?
This series is character driven, but it’s also very plot
driven.
It’s the only series where the plot and characters actually agree with
each other. Sometimes, it gets taken in a different direction by the
characters, but the plot still remains the same because, ultimately, the
message in these books is what I want the world to see and focus on.
With many main and secondary characters, how do you keep
them separated in your mind? Do you have
a story/vision board above your workspace?
There
are only a total of 7 characters in this series and they are all based solely
on someone in my life so keeping them separated is easy.
I know from previous interviews that characters take on a
life of their own. Were any of the
characters in this series determined to take their own direction instead of
where you initially wanted them to go?
For
the most part, the characters and plots agree. So it often doesn’t take on a
whole new direction from what I intended. However, sometimes they talk to me
and say that something needs to happen that I didn’t expect. Usually, it just
makes the book so much better and more emotional. Which I truly love.
Are any of the male POVs based on anyone you know?
Yes. They are all based on the loves of my life. The kids
are based on the kids I feel are mine.
Are any of the female POVs based on anyone you know?
Yes. The females are me and my girlfriend.
Was there any one character/scene
that was harder to write about than the other?
These
books are so incredibly emotional, sometimes intense, that when I finish
scenes, I’m fighting to breathe.
The ones that are the most difficult are those
that are based on real life. Like my girlfriend’s miscarriage or her past with
bullying and abuse.
Or mine with emotional and mental anguish and abuse with
the people in my life who should have loved and protected me. Those scenes
always bring me to my knees.
What is your favorite book in the series?
For me, I think my favorite book so far is Loving You
because it’s so emotional and based so much on real life events in my own life.
The second is Ravishing Our Queen, which is just being released, because it’s
so raw and emotional. Loosely based on real life but a crossover with my Crane
Family Series. It’s something I’ve never done, but I love it so, so much.
I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far
as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?
My
favorite character in this series is DJ.
DJ is so dominant and complicated. I
love diving into his mind and writing him. He’s just an amazing character.
Series question - Who is your favorite couple and why did
you decide on their dynamics?
I’m
not sure I can pick just one. Ha! I’m going to have say…
The four of them.
There is a foursome book where they are all together. That’s my favorite
because they all bring a different element to the table.
Matt and DJ are the
calm to Mariah and Lyric. Lyric is the calm to Mariah. DJ is the calm to Matt.
Mariah is the strength to Lyric. Matt is the strength to DJ.
They all just give
something to each other that I find lovely and perfect. Together they are just
so strong and beautiful.
How do you get inside these character’s heads to find their
perfect HEA?
It’s
because I truly feel them. But in this case, they are based on people around
me. I just ask them how they feel something needs to go. Even if two of them
are only around now in a very non-traditional way, I still feel them.
What scene in this book/series sticks out the most for
you? Why?
There
are two that really touched me.
The first is in Loving You when Mariah
experiences severe anxiety and has to face down her father in both court and
physically. It’s based on real life.
The second is in Crashing Into You when
Lyric tells DJ about her past with her ex who tried to kill her. That is based
on what actually happened to my girlfriend.
Series - Were any of the books harder to write than
others?
The most difficult book in this series for me to write
are those that focus around Lyric and her past, like Crashing Into You and
Ravishing Our Queen, because it hurts me to know all of the things my
girlfriend, who Lyric is based on, went through. How hurt she was. It makes me
cry every time.
This question is if you write in MULTIPLE POVs not just
the hero and heroine - I love the multiple POVs in a book. It’s not just the hero and heroine, but we
get inside the heads of multiple characters throughout this series. I feel that it gives the story further
depth. Do you think you will write
another book or series following this multiple POV outline?
This
series is written with just the main characters POVs
How long did it take you to write this book/series?
This
series is still ongoing. It should be finished in 2023. So, a little over 2
years. There will be 12 books!
How did you come up with the title for your book and series?
I
usually work with my girlfriend on them. She’s incredible with titles. I
struggle beyond belief. Sometimes, they come to me. Sometimes, I struggle for
days!
If you met these characters in real life would you get
along?
These characters are based on people I know, so I definitely
feel like we’d get along!
Series question – Did you know in advance that you were
going to write this as a series or did one of the characters in book one demand
their own story?
No.
I actually only intended to write Loving You as a sort of psychological
release. Like, coming to terms with my past and moving on with my life.
But
when I started grow, and so did my relationship, I wanted to write more books
based on our life together, focusing on different aspects of it.
If your book/series were made into a movie, which actors
do you see as playing your characters?
Lieutenant
Matt Chance – Colin O’ Donoghue
Captain
DJ Rens – Tom Ellis
Lyric
Sharpe – Phoebe Tonkin
Mariah
Marie Carter – Mila Kunis
Liam
Sharpe – Henry Cavill
Beckett
Chance – Garret Ryan
Layne
Rens – Max Charles
Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect
next? Whether a new book and series or a
sequel to an existing series? Can you
share a small tease?
I
plan on coming out with a couple more books and a couple of boxsets soon! Each
boxset will include 6 books! I’m excited for it!
Check out all my interviews/reviews for Melony Ann!
https://readingbydeb.blogspot.com/2022/06/author-at-glance-melony-ann.html#more
Bio:
Melony Ann began writing short stories and poetry as a child. She continued honing her craft over the years until she took the plunge and began publishing her work, despite having severe anxiety.
Melony writes contemporary romance stories that are full of suspense and a lot of steam.
When she isn’t writing, she is loving her family and working to make her life something she deserves.
Melony believes that if her writing can inspire just one person, then all of her hard work is worth it.
Her hope is that her writing allows each and every one of her readers to escape for a little while. To dive into a different world one book at a time.
CONNECT WITH MELONY:
Email:
melonyannauthor@gmail.com
LOVING YOU
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
Moving across the country may have been the worst thing I have ever done in my entire life. Maybe it was a cop out and all I was doing was running away from my problems.
I wasn’t looking to ever fall in love again. And then Matt came along and wouldn’t leave me alone. It was my own fault. I turned to him in the midst of the worst panic attack I had ever had in my life, and he refused to let me go.
My past came back to haunt me when my father decided that 1500 miles of distance was still too close. He was one of the reasons I ran, but that wasn’t enough.
Now I have to wonder if Matt will really stick by me, or if he’ll be the reason I fall into a darkness I can never come back from.
Trigger Warnings:
Cop Romance
Mental Health Themes
MY LOVE, MY HEART
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
I’ve always been willing to do anything for love. Even if it means leaving everything I know behind.
My relationship with my favorite author, Mariah Marie, started with a message telling her I love her books. She actually messaged me back and made my entire day. We talked every day from then on, and our relationship blossomed into this explosion of passionate fire. We couldn’t be happier.
One night, Mariah came home with our dinner shaken to the core. I’ve never seen my girl so terrified. I feel like I’m out of my depth, and I’m forced to get help. Problem is, I don’t know anyone except our neighbor, Lieutenant Matt Chance, an incredibly hot cop who I have a super secret crush on.
Running to Matt could possibly be the biggest mistake, or the best decision I’ve ever made. Matt vows that he will do whatever it takes to protect us both. In his hands, he holds the power to turn our world's upside down. He'll either save her, or destroy us both forever.
Trigger Warnings:
- Cop Romance
- FF Romance
- FMF Romance
- Mental Health Themes
- Kidnapping
SOFTENING LYRIC
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
I’m perfectly content with my life the way it is. I’m a Lieutenant with Gainesville Police Department. I’m a Commander with our SWAT team. My job is my life, and I like it that way. No chance my heart can get broken.
Everything is great. Until one day when my Captain drops Lyric Sharpe into my lap. She’s a new recruit with a serious attitude problem. Her Field Training Officer is out with an injury, so guess who gets stuck with her? Me. She’s a brat. She doesn’t take orders. She challenges me on every level, and I hate it because it appeals to every dominant bone in my body.
Lyric has a way of getting under my skin, and burrowing into the cockles of my cold heart. Before I know what she’s done to me, I’m wanting to spend all of my time with her. When the past she worked so hard to leave behind catches up to her, all of my protective instincts go into complete overdrive.
I’ll do anything to protect the woman I fell in love with, even though she thinks she can handle it all on her own. Neither of us are prepared for the lengths we’ll have to go through to keep Lyric from succumbing to the clutches of the dangerous and obsessive monster chasing her. But I’ll be damned if I won’t die trying.
Trigger Warnings:
- Cop Romance
- Mental Health Themes
- Mentions of Physical Violence
UNDERCOVER TEMPTATIONS
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
Most people think I have a pretty good head on my shoulders. I have a good job. I’m a Sergeant with the Gainesville Police Department. I’m on the SWAT team. I have an incredible family. I’m a single dad, but I work hard to make sure my kids have everything I didn’t. I’ve never complained. I put my head down and push through whatever I face because everything I do is for my family.
But I have a secret. A very large secret. A secret I fear could destroy everything I’ve worked for. The respect and rank I have in the department. The friends I’m close with. My family. Everything. My entire world could explode into a firenado if my secret is revealed.
I’ve done very well at hiding it behind a carefully crafted persona. No one knows what I keep hidden. That is until I’m sent on an undercover mission with my best friend. The one person in all of creation who has the power to figure it out. Because he’s the object of my secret.
I try to keep my feelings private. But when he becomes the target of the cunning serial killer we’re trying to take down, I’ll do everything I need to do to protect him. Even if it destroys me in the process.
Trigger Warnings:
- Cop Romance
- MM Romance
- Mental Health Themes
CAPTAIN CHARMING
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
Given my reputation, most people wouldn’t think of me as romantic. I’m tough. I can be gruff. A hard ass. I know being a Captain with the Gainesville Police Department has probably gotten me more than a few dates. I have a reputation for being a ladies’ man. Truthfully, all I’ve ever wanted is to settle down. I’ve just never found the right woman to do it with.
Until Mariah Marie comes into my life. She’s an author who just moved to Gainesville. Her popularity has grown exponentially in such a short period of time. Wherever she graces with her presence, a call for service is sure to follow. I can’t blame those that flock to her. She’s enchanting. Beautiful. Sweet. Intelligent. Fierce. She has a wicked sense of humor, and a tantalizing way with words.
I find myself falling more and more in love with her the longer she allows me to be a part of her life. I’m thankful that she trusts me enough to let me in, despite the abusive past she came from. I love that she’s fiery as hell in all aspects of her life, but soft and submissive with me.
When the attention of one of Mariah’s adoring fans becomes more than innocent adoration, all of my instincts go directly into a territory I’m completely unfamiliar with. Suddenly, we’re both thrust into a dangerous world that threatens to destroy us. When it’s over, what will be left of us when we emerge from the carnage?
Trigger Warnings:
- Cop Romance
- Mental Health Themes
- Kidnapping
BREAKING BOUNDARIES
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
Matt:
I’ve never had a complicated love life. I’ve always known what I want. I want Lyric Sharpe. Enter Captain DJ Rens and one drunken night that I can’t forget. Not for lack of trying. And just to complicate my life more, I had to go and add Mariah Carter to the mix. But I don’t really have a chance to sort my feelings out before all of us are put into serious danger.
Lyric:
I’d resigned myself long ago to the single life. I’m far too sassy, and too much of a brat for men, apparently. I guess being a cop who knows what she likes is wrong. So when I meet Matt, my direct commanding officer, I’m thrown totally off my game when he shows interest. The problem? I have a serious thing for my roommate, Mariah, and my Captain, DJ. Feelings I don’t get to explore before we all start receiving threats to our lives.
DJ:
The idea of being a Captain who sits behind his desk has never been appealing to me. When I got my promotion, I did it with the stipulation that I was still allowed to patrol the streets of Gainesville like I loved. But when Mariah enters my life, I regret everything about that decision. I wish I’d never met her because now she’s all I want. Everything I can’t have. To complicate my life more, I fall for Lieutenant Matt Chance and Lyric, another patrol officer. When all of our lives are on the line, I must figure out a way to protect those I love.
Mariah:
I fell hard for DJ when I first met him. I didn’t know my partner was my Captain, though, and the blow was heartbreaking, knowing he’d never be mine. It’s totally forbidden to date my boss. The feelings never go away, though. Even after a drunk night of mindblowing passion with Lyric, my roommate. When we all start being threatened by a large gang, Matt comes to the rescue like an Avenger. But sorting out my heart will have to wait. The focus is our lives because we might not make it out of this one breathing.
Trigger Warnings:
- Cop Romance
- Mental Health Themes
- FF Romance
- MM Romance
- FMF Romance
- MFM Romance
- MFMF Romance
- Age Gap
CRASHING INTO YOU
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
The United Kingdom, where I was born, is a beautiful place. But while I love where I came from, it was never a home. A home is where a person can realize and follow their dreams. Where they feel safe and secure. Loved. That was never my life.
My dream is America. Land of the free. Home as far away from all of my tormentors and bullies as I can possibly be. An entire six thousand mile ocean between us. When I step foot on America’s soil for the first time, I know it’s the beginning of a new life. One lived on my own terms.
Gainesville, Florida, is everything I’ve ever wanted and more. A place to get lost while I find my own way in life. A city where no one can tell me what to do while I heal from the scars of my past.
A chance encounter with the dangerously sexy Captain DJ Rens of the Gainesville Police Department threatens to derail all of my plans. I wanted to start over. I hadn’t intended on the wickedly tantalizing, ungodly dominant, frustratingly enticing man to bulldoze my walls to the ground.
But happily ever after doesn’t seem to be in my cards when my past comes back to haunt me with his new wife. All of the walls DJ broke through are quickly fortified.
Being in DJ’s arms is all I’ve ever wanted, but I don’t know if I dare allow myself to fall in love. I’m so terrified of getting hurt again that avoiding that level of pain just might be worth letting the love he promises with his actions and words slip away.
Trigger Warnings:
- Cop Romance
- Mental Health Themes
- Age Gap
- Mentions of Physical violence, bullying, and rape from FMCs past
TACTICAL INFERNO
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
Sometimes, I want to run away. Somewhere where no one knows me. Maybe then I could live my life in a manner no one expects of me. The way I want to live it. A place where no one will judge me. Somewhere I’ll just be left alone.
Even I know that’s wishful thinking. My agent would hunt me down. I am contracted for another book, after all. Something to give Alexander’s Publishing House, the largest publishers in the world, another best-seller to tuck under their belt.
I know I need a break. I need to go somewhere I can just be myself. I’m excited to book an only for lesbians cruise to the Caribbean. It’s time I do something for me.
Unfortunately, fate has other plans. When my best friend is murdered in cold blood, I don’t feel like I can leave until her killer is brought to justice. As if that wasn’t enough, my management decides it’s the best time to keep up appearances and attend local charity events. They make certain I know a date is mandatory.
The only thing keeping me standing is the woman investigating my friend’s murder. She’s stunning. We quickly form a bond. I can’t stop thinking about her. I’ve fought my sexuality for a long time, but now that I’m ready to be who I really am instead of hiding behind a public facade, I can’t imagine it being with anyone else.
Before I know it, I become the sole focus of my friend’s murderer’s attention. And never in a million years would I have guessed who it is.
In order for me to survive, I have to rely on Officer Sharpe and her unmatched instincts and skills. She says I gave her a reason to live. My only desire is that she’ll be able to save my life so I have a chance to prove to her that her love is the greatest gift of all.
Trigger Warnings:
- Cop Romance
- FF Romance
- Mental Health Themes
RAVISHING OUR QUEEN
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
It’s not easy being a gay man in law enforcement. Especially one who is a high-ranking officer like I am. The stigma we face is even worse for those of us who are bisexual. It’s the reason few people I work with know my sexuality. I’m perfectly content letting the rest believe what they want. It’s none of their business anyway.
Luckily, I found someone who shares my sexuality. Captain DJ Rens. Life for me and DJ has been just the way we like it for many years. We have each other. We have jobs with the Gainesville Police Department that we both love. And when we need to scratch our itch to share a woman, we head directly to our favorite club, Pandora’s Sapphire, a club filled with the type of women we long for, and where no one knows anything about us and who we are.
We’ve never wanted to take anyone from the club home with us, though. We’ve happily gone to their place, had our way, and moved on. That is until the one night that changes our lives. Whether it’s for the better is something that remains to be seen, but we’ll never be the same. Not after having a taste of her.
Unfortunately, DJ and I don’t have a chance to explore the possibilities she promises because we are violently thrown into a dark world of secrets and lies that we must unravel before more and more women end up dead in our beloved city.
When the department decides on a plan that involves an undercover operation into the club, DJ and I are completely unprepared for the woman the Chief has decided to send in. The very woman we can’t get out of our minds. There’s no way we’re allowing this operation to go down without us controlling every aspect of it. Especially when it’s not just lives at risk… It’s our hearts.
Trigger Warnings:
- Cop Romance
- MFM Romance
- MM Romance
- Age Gap
- Mentions of child abuse
CHERISHED BY THE TEXAN
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
They say a cop is sixty to seventy-five percent more likely to get a divorce. As a Captain with Gainesville, Florida’s, Police Department, I can attest to just how accurate that statistic is. I’m currently getting a divorce from wife number three.
And I’ll fight her with everything I have if she thinks for a single second she has a chance of taking our teenage son from me. Not with her inability to act like a responsible adult or make rational decisions.
But of course, she won’t give up without a fight. It’s the only thing she’s good at, and she loves doing it with me. My divorce has raged on for over a year with no end in sight.
Needless to say, I’ve sworn off love forever. I’m done. I’d rather focus on my career and son. With the woman I consider one of my best friends by my side, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to accomplish that goal. She’s good at keeping me sane and focused on what matters.
Soon, though, lines we’ve drawn between us blur. Walls we’ve built begin to crumble. Before either of us know what’s happening, we end up in a place neither of us intended.
My bed.
Just when I think my life can’t possibly get any more complicated, another mystery girl drops into our lap and knocks us both off our feet. I know immediately none of us are getting out of this with our hearts intact.
As my own, personal battle rages on, will either of them come out on the other side with me? Or will the flames licking at our heels consume us?
UNVEILING OUR PASSIONS
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
Runaway.
That’s what I’m called back home. A runaway. No one seems to believe that I didn’t actually run. I left because it was the only way for me to survive. If I hadn’t, I would’ve given into the demon that torments me daily.
Two years later, in the Florida sun, I’m finally free of the suppression that held me down.
But not from the darkness.
I exist in a world that frightens me and keeps me moving in one direction. I walk a very straight line down the path of safety. Assurance. Where no one can hurt me except the evil fiend in my mind.
Until one day, my entire world is flipped upside down. I’m shoved violently into the midnight blackness that exists in my own head.
Then, a glint of light comes in the form of two men. Two police officers with the Gainesville Police Department. They want to be my light in the darkness. To help me destroy it.
They’re determined to prove that love is the greatest weapon of all.
While I want to believe them, I’m not sure I can. Sometimes, the pull of the shadow world is too strong…
Content Warnings:
- Cop Romance
- Age Gap
- MM Romance
- MFM Romance
- Violence and Threats (Not by MMCs)
- Intense Description Of Mental Breakdown
- PTSD Induced Panic Attack
- PTSD Themes
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