Adriana Kraft

When it's time to heat things up...

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The Eggplant Story ~ Is This a #MeetCute? #RomCom #RomanceReads

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Since Hubs and I don’t write Rom Com or Chick Lit, we don’t really write Meet Cutes, at least not on purpose. A Meet Cute might set an odd tone for our romantic suspense and erotic romance stories…

But having got this far, I’m thinking that how he and I met might be a true-life Meet Cute. Here’s our story—we’d love to hear whether it qualifies. For that matter, if any of you have a real Meet Cute in your life, we’d love to hear about it!

The first time I ever saw my husband, I was a grad student and an instructor in a new program at my university.

Early that fall, the entire school faculty were gathered in the lobby for the introduction of new hires. There were only two or three new faces, but a distinguished looking bearded man with mischievous eyes stood out to me immediately. It got even better when it turned out he was a new addition to the program I was teaching in. I won’t say I stalked him—but I will say that when I got home, I told my roommate about him, and through her contacts in a similar field, she got me his bio.

Fast forward to a Chicago January: Snow is piled high in streets and on sidewalks, and our program is having a potluck an hour’s drive away. I have a car (which I’ve duly shoveled out). The new professor does not have one. A fellow prof suggests that I give him a ride, he accepts, and we have an hour each way to talk to each other. I had two conclusions at the end of the evening – I was very definitely interested in him (okay, I was crushing on him), and I suspected he was living with someone (someone who wouldn’t share her car? Wasn’t sure).

The following week he materialized in my office doorway to ask me for the recipe of the dish I’d brought to the potluck. Triumph! I shared it – and nothing else happened for five more months. He had some loose ends to tie up, it turns out…

Our first date (finally!) was that June, and we married the following June.

Why is this the Eggplant Story? Because the dish I’d taken to the potluck was one of my favorite veggie recipes of my mom’s, an eggplant-tomato-bacon casserole. Hubs and I had been married for over two years when the confession finally came: He’d had no idea which dish was mine—he was just looking for a way to start a conversation with me, and he hates eggplant.

We’re still married.

Hard Work Pays Off ~ Blood Sugar, Aerobics and Strength Training #LiveLonger #StayFit #IndieAuthor

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I can still hear our now-grown son as he got back in the car on his first day of Kindergarten, in a rush to tell me: “Guess what we learned, Mom? Hard work pays off!” Which may not always be true, but it’s a starting place, at least.

Did I think about working to stay healthy when I was a young adult? Not too much – I just was healthy, without especially thinking about it. I was active, ate reasonably well, didn’t have much flab, and enjoyed activities like hiking, swimming, boating (with a small footwell sailboat, nothing elaborate), bowling on occasion, doing walks for various charities and causes.

Did I ever actively plan to work at being or getting healthy? No. I backed into it. I gained about twenty pounds with my one and only pregnancy; life happened, and I only managed to get ten of those pounds off while that child was growing up.

In 2015, I discovered (or rather my primary care doc discovered) that I had problems with blood glucose levels. My clinic referred me to a six week diabetes education class, where I learned the basics of diet and exercise for diabetes prevention. I’d thought I was a healthy eater, especially after we revised our diet following my husband’s triple bypass a decade earlier. But there were specifics about carbs and fiber that got left out of that training. The exercise information focused on aerobic activities. I bought a Fitbit, started keeping track of steps, and lost the other ten pounds. Living in the Southwest, we have many marvelous options for hiking.

By 2020, those habits weren’t taking care of the problem. I have a genetic load for both diabetes and Alzheimer’s, and I desperately want to avoid having to use medication to control my blood sugar levels. My doc referred me to a year-long weekly class (on Zoom, during the pandemic) which was superb.

There, in addition to further refining diet (and writing everything down while I straightened that out), I also learned about the role of strength training. Strong muscles pull sugar out of the bloodstream and put it to work. After three months of following the new guidelines, I saw my blood sugar drop back down below the threshold. That class ended a year ago, and I’m still maintaining those levels. And the workouts. And the walking.

So I was more than thrilled when Hubs sent me the following article:

Combining weight training with another activity could lower your risk of early death, study finds.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/health/weight-exercise-benefits-lower-death-risk-wellness/index.html

Not only am I likely to live longer, I’m likely to be healthy enough to enjoy a lot of those years.

P.S. If any of you readers are concerned about your blood sugar level, you might be able to access the DPP Diabetes Prevention Program I attended. It’s put out by the CDC (US), and in Arizona it was free to participate.

https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/index.html

The Mind of the Villain #TBT #RomanticSuspense #KU #Halloween #MFRWAuthor

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For Throwback Thursday, here’s another peek into the mind of our villain. Tension is amping up! By now, Nancy and Matt have figured out the villain’s timing, but they still have no clue who he is, who he’ll target next, or how to stop him.

He sobered against the stiff wind. Did Detective Appleby think she was invulnerable to his gift? No goddess could resist the gift of his Robyn. And she was a goddess. Maybe more dangerous than the others, but certainly he knew now what the universe had been trying to tell him.

The irony was that she thought she was hunting him. None of the others were that eager to receive his gift. But she’d have to wait her turn.

BLURB

Whose mask will crumble first—
the enigmatic professor of Celtic Studies,
the undercover cop masquerading as a co-ed,
or the campus stalker,
biding his time to strike again?

Is anthropology professor Matt Bayfield the Blackthorn College rapist, or a potential ally? Aloof and unapproachable, Matt has academic ambitions. He can’t escape Blackthorn College soon enough, and he doesn’t want any entanglements to slow down his exit.

Nancy Appleby would like nothing more than to solve the string of campus rape cases before Thanksgiving so she can go home. The last thing she wants is a relationship to complicate her life—but she’ll settle for a fling, especially when the sex sizzles.

The stalker has his own carefully crafted timetable, with a special date just for Nancy. Can Matt and Nancy force him out of his hidey-hole before it’s too late?

BUY LINK

Available exclusively at Amazon

Always free to read on Kindle Unlimited

That Kiss! #MFRWHooks #RomanticSuspense #Samhain #UndercoverCop #KU

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Welcome to MFRWHooks!
Scroll to the end for more of this weeks tempting excerpts

The Unmasking, by Adriana Kraft

BUY LINK  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IDVB6KQ/
Always free at Kindle Unlimited

BLURB

Whose mask will crumble first—
the enigmatic professor of Celtic Studies,
the undercover cop masquerading as a co-ed,
or the campus stalker,
biding his time to strike again?

Is anthropology professor Matt Bayfield the Blackthorn College rapist, or a potential ally? Aloof and unapproachable, Matt has academic ambitions. He can’t escape Blackthorn College soon enough, and he doesn’t want any entanglements to slow down his exit.

Nancy Appleby would like nothing more than to solve the string of campus rape cases before Thanksgiving so she can go home. The last thing she wants is a relationship to complicate her life—but she’ll settle for a fling, especially when the sex sizzles.

The stalker has his own carefully crafted timetable, with a special date just for Nancy. Can Matt and Nancy force him out of his hidey-hole before it’s too late?

EXCERPT

Set Up: It’s Samhain—after leaving Professor Bayfield’s Celtic lecture, Nancy’s determined to smoke out the stalker; she’s pretty sure he spots his victims at a local bar…

At the bar two hours later, Nancy sat on a bar stool next to the open space where patrons came to place their orders. Her purse lay on the stool beside her so there would be plenty of room for her perp to sit down—if he ever arrived. She’d wait another half hour and then make her exit. She was nearly certain the man was somewhere in the smoky bar.

Slowly adding another layer of lipstick, Nancy studied her image in the mirror that stretched the full length of the row of liquor bottles behind the bartender. She hardly recognized herself. Her own dark hair was tucked under an auburn wig. Fake contacts made her eyes appear dark brown instead of gray. The sweater she wore dipped low, revealing much more of her breasts than she preferred, but then she was trying to fulfill every man’s dream. She hoped her red leather mini-skirt screamed availability. Once again, she had on the calf length black boots. They provided her with some sense of being covered up as well as warmth. Now all she needed was a man—the right man.

She took a sip of Coors and watched a new patron enter the room still huddled over from fighting the cold wind. He straightened and stepped into the light.

Nancy raised a hand to cover her largely exposed breasts. It couldn’t be, she screamed to no one. It couldn’t be. She looked away and then peeked back at the man approaching the bar. Holy shit! It was.

Be calm. He won’t recognize you. You’re in disguise. And what in the hell was Matt Bayfield doing here? This wasn’t his kind of scene. She closed her eyes, taking in the lilting Celtic music. Of course it was, tonight. She should have remembered that. She shivered and then warmed to her task. It might be fun observing the man when he didn’t realize she was even nearby.

Nancy concentrated on her beer and nearly snickered when Bayfield came to the bar to order a drink. His fingers drummed against the bar surface no more than two feet from her arm. The bartender was busy at the other end of the bar and Bayfield’s impatience was evident.

At last, the bartender nodded at Bayfield. “What can I get for you?”

“A glass of chardonnay,” Bayfield said, distinctly as if the man might be hard of hearing.

The man wiped his hands on his once white apron. “Drinking heavy tonight, huh?”

Nancy gave Bayfield credit for not rising to the bartender’s bait.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Bayfield accept his drink and change. His gaze swept above her trying to locate a seat in the crowded tavern. His eyes lowered meeting hers. She tried to control her racing pulse. He shook his head. And then his eyes bugged.

“Ms. Cr—”

Before he could mutter another syllable, Nancy leaped to her feet, wrapped her arms around his neck, and planted the biggest, wettest kiss she could muster on his mouth, swallowing the rest of her name and his breath. He stumbled backward. She refused to let him go, imprinting her lips on his.

She started to release him, but then one of his hands pressed against her back and the other curved over her buttocks. Her eyes widened. Professor Bayfield was kissing her! Not about to pass up this opportunity, Nancy closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment.

His tongue pushed into her open mouth; she greeted it with her own. He brought a hand between them and squeezed a breast. Her eyes flew open. Would she burn up right there in the damn bar? As if he sensed her changing mood, Bayfield’s eyes sprang as wide open as hers. He started to pull away.

Applause and hoots broke out from bar patrons. Steins were raised in salute.

Nancy and Matt looked sheepishly at the other patrons. “Don’t say a word, Bayfield,” Nancy said, still holding him close. “I can explain everything, but we’ve got to get out of here, now.” He started to open his mouth. Brushing her lips across his, she whispered, “Please, don’t say my name. It could be a matter of life and death.”

Be sure to click on the links to travel to the rest of today’s excerpts!

#Review: 1066 Turned Upside Down #HistoricalFiction #Midieval #BattleofHastings @AnnieWHistory @HelenHollick

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On my side of the pond, the history lessons I grew up with were woefully inadequate when it came to England. My college Western Civ history began with the Renaissance, as though nothing that came before either was known or would have mattered. I knew nothing about the Norman Conquest or the tribes and kingdoms that had preceded it across the British Isles.

I’ve been filling this gap in the last few years with marvelous history and historical fiction by, among others, Annie Whitehead and Helen Hollick. Annie Whitehead’s Alvar the Kingmaker, suspenseful and rich with cultural details, brings us up to the accession of Æthelred the Unready (978-1016). And Æthelred’s second wife, Queen Emma (984-1052), comes alive in Helen Hollick’s engaging The Forever Queen. It is Emma’s son, Edward the Confessor, whose lack of offspring sets the stage for the Norman invasion of 1066 – and it is Emma’s grand nephew, William the Conqueror, who ultimately won the Battle of Hastings, now being turned upside down in fiction.

So I was intrigued a while back as I scrolled through my morning Triberr posts to discover the title 1066 Turned Upside Down, then further thrilled to realize I was familiar with some of its authors. It takes a special talent to make history come alive, and the nine authors who’ve contributed to this work have succeeded marvelously.

The book is organized chronologically and examines nine turning points in the autumn of 1066, any one of which could easily have led to a different outcome. Each chapter creates a compelling narrative of that different outcome and its consequences.

The stories make great reading, and I was struck that they would be an excellent resource for middle school or high school students to soak up the history that hangs by a thread. But they are also delightful reading at any age. The players were already familiar to me though my earlier reading, and I was entertained and intrigued to explore their actions and motivations at each twist of the story.

Amazon Buy Link:

https://amazon.com/1066-Turned-Upside-Down-Alternative-ebook/dp/B01I1V7G42/

With a forward by C. C. Humphreys, the book brings us stories by the following authors:

Joanna Courtney

Helen Hollick

Annie Whitehead

Anna Belfrage

Alison Morton

Carol McGrath

Eliza Redgold

G.K. Holloway

Richard Dee

HEA for Everyone #LGBTQ+ #Romance #Giveaway #IndieAuthor #LoveTriangle

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Below, I’m publishing a blog post that was originally scheduled at author Tina Donahue’s Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas blog for this morning. We’re running into some Blogger-related difficulties, so the post isn’t up yet, and I’m running it here so loyal readers can enter the Rafflecopter.

Without further ado, here’s the original post.

Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas Blog Post

Good morning! I’m half of the writing duo Adriana Kraft, and I’ll be with you on the 15th of every month for the coming year. Tina Donahue has invited me to expand the LBGTQ+ offerings here at Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas.

Most of the erotic romance my husband and I co-author features either bisexual women or lesbian women. We write these pairings for two main reasons. As parents of a gay son and grandparents of a non-binary adult, we believe that love is love, and any gender pairing deserves happiness in love. We also write these pairings for their eroticism. Erotic romance readers (of whatever gender) are seeking fantasies that expand their horizons and amp up the voltage of arousal.

In particular, just as women have been flocking to stories of hot male bodies in gay romances, men often fantasize about being with two women, or seeing two women together. Since my husband and I write as a married cisgender couple, we like to write stories that might appeal to both halves of other couples like us.

There are a wide range of LBGTQ+ pairings and combinations that we do not currently write, so some months I’ll be featuring other authors whose works I’ve read and liked. This will bring us gay male romance (by both female and male authors) and transgendered romance, among others. The “Q+” designation includes a great variety of orientations and combinations that don’t necessarily have much in common other than that they depart from what so long was considered “normal.” Through the range of books and issues we showcase each month, we hope to contribute to normalizing love across the entire spectrum of the LGBTQ+ rainbow.

Be sure to stop by in a month, on November 15th, when we’ll hear from multi-award-winning author Rick R. Reed. He’ll share with us about his latest release, The Impossible Childhood of My Desires.

This month I’m highlighting one of our own favorites. The Reunion, released in 2014, was the winner of that year’s Bi Writers Association Book Award for Bisexual Erotic Fiction. Across the LGBTQ+ books we’ve written, we explore many of the possible Happily Ever Afters sought by bisexual women. For some, happiness is a monogamous relationship with one partner, of either gender. Others find partners with whom they can have an open relationship, often called ethical consensual non-monogamy. Committed polyamory is a third option, and it’s the one featured in The Reunion.

Be sure to scroll to the Rafflecopter contest at the end of this post and enter for your chance to win a copy of The Reunion!

BUY LINK

https://www.amazon.com/Reunion-Adriana-Kraft-ebook/dp/B00F30CTLK

Always free to read at Kindle Unlimited

BLURB

A dark and brooding bad boy,

his petite Latina lover,

and his unattainable former high school crush ~

a sizzling, combustible threesome.

Dark and brooding, Adam Granger was always the bad boy out of reach—but now he’s in Sarah Atkinson’s bed, the morning after their twentieth high school reunion. When Adam beats a retreat to his Pacific Palisades estate, former good girl Sarah throws caution to the wind and pursues him.

Petite copper-skinned Maria Ramirez greets Sarah at Adam’s front door. The former exotic dancer doesn’t challenge Sarah’s assumption she’s the maid—how long will it take the dark-haired beauty to figure out Maria is Adam’s live-in lover? Better yet, how long before Maria can entice her into their bed?

Determined not to rock his hard-won lifestyle, Adam resolves to push Sarah past her sexual limits so she’ll leave. When she stays, he watches helplessly as the two women fall in love with each other. Will they shut him out? And, if they let him in, what must he sacrifice?

EXCERPT

Maria opened Adam’s office door quietly and entered, bringing him a second cup of coffee. She placed it on his desk. “Are you okay?”

Heaving his shoulders and avoiding direct eye contact, he nodded. “Sure, why not?”

“I could think of a few reasons.”

His gaze settled on hers.

She witnessed pain before he was able to hide it.

“How was she?”

“Succulent.” Maria wasn’t going to lie. “You know, like when you take the first bite of lobster soaked in butter. It is so scrumptious you’re not sure you dare take a second bite for fear it will disappoint. That’s Sarah.”

A flash of emotion flickered across Adam’s face before he muttered, “I know. But you took a chance and went back for more. So will you take her from me?”

Startled, Maria chose her words carefully. “You’ve done little to hold onto her, if that’s what you want.”

“I took her slow,” he said, defensively.

“Right. Even then you threw it back in her face by leaving her bed.” 

ABOUT ADRIANA KRAFT

Adriana Kraft is the pen name for a married pair of retired professors writing erotic romance together. We like to think we’ve broken the mold for staid, fusty academics, and we hope lots of former profs are enjoying life as much as we are.

Having lived in many states across the Midwest, we now make our home in southern Arizona, where we enjoy hiking, golf, and travel, especially to the many Arizona Native American historical sites.

Together we have published more than fifty romance novels and novellas to outstanding reviews. We love hearing from readers at [email protected], and here is our website:

When It’s Time to Heat Things Up https://adrianakraft.com

STALKER LINKS:

Blog: https://adrianakraft.com/blog

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BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/adriana-kraft

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