Adriana Kraft

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

Romantic Suspense

It was a soft kiss… #MFRWHooks #RomanticSuspense #Romance #Kiss

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A desperate espresso café owner, a determined coffee franchise rep, a quiet Midwestern town, anonymous threats out of the blue—where does the true danger lie?

Welcome to Book Hooks, a Wednesday offering by members of Marketing For Romance Writers to share a little taste of our work and entice you into wanting more! Click on the links at the end to travel to other Book Hook posts, and enjoy!

EXCERPT

Last week their lips barely brushed at the end of what turned out to be their first date — this week they get another chance at a real kiss.

Nadja shuddered, sitting on her living room couch. Kevin sat next to her. He was too close. He was too far away. Her skin warmed and then just as quickly chilled. When had she become such a tease? She never toyed with men. She never bantered with them. Not like this.

Was it Kevin’s seemingly boundless patience she was testing? Or was it his perseverance? Maybe it was her perseverance.

She raised the wine glass to her lips and peeked at him. They’d exchanged views on a wide range of topics. She’d been surprised by his varied interests. But he hadn’t even tried to put his arm around her.

“Do you miss Ukraine?”

“Yes. I miss the high hills, the beautiful buildings, and the dancing.”

“But you don’t plan to go back?”

She shook her head. “Not to live. This is my home now. I have my shop, and Ivett and her husband. And I can speak my mind without worrying about what others may think.” She paused. “At least most of the time.”

He nodded and studied her thoughtfully. “Nadja.”

“Yes?”

“I don’t read minds very well. Are you going to jump out of your skin if I kiss you?”

She wet her lips but couldn’t smile. “I’ll try not to.”

He placed an arm around her shoulder and turned her chin toward him with his other hand. She held his gaze as he dipped his head until his lips slanted across hers. It was a soft kiss. Not at all demanding. His lips coaxed hers into responding. She draped her arms around his neck. She feared she might dissolve in his arms.

He leaned back only enough to whisper, “You taste like cherry.”

“My lipstick,” she explained.

“I like cherry.”

“Maybe you’ll want to taste again.”

BUY LINKS

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09L7WQH12/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/1140503297
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/i-am-not-for-sale
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1115419
https://www.extasybooks.com/I-am-Not-for-Sale

REVIEW

Five Stars from N. N. Light

“The romance is so hot, you may have to call the fire department. But it’s the character development throughout I am Not for Sale which makes this such an incredible story.”

BLURB

It’s nothing personal…

It all seems simple enough—Ukrainian immigrant Nadja Petrov is determined to hold on to her thriving new coffee shop, Nadja’s Literary Cappuccino, and Java Beans District Rep Kevin Langley is equally determined to move into her North Iowa town with a franchise and run her out of business.

He scopes her out, she keeps a watchful eye on him, and the sparring begins. But there are other players involved, and the web of intrigue soon threatens Nadja, her shop, and her aunt as well as Kevin, his potential franchise, and his son.

Within this cauldron simmers a sexual attraction between Nadja and Kevin that catapults them to overcome their fears of intimacy and commitment. Their lovemaking is tender and raw. Their love is nearly lost in tragedy—can it survive doubts, fire, and even a death?

CLICK TO TRAVEL:

“…does that make this a date?” #MFRWhooks #RomanticSuspense #Romance

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A desperate espresso café owner, a determined coffee franchise rep, a quiet Midwestern town, anonymous threats out of the blue—where does the true danger lie?

Welcome to Book Hooks, a Wednesday offering by members of Marketing For Romance Writers to share a little taste of our work and entice you into wanting more! Click on the links at the end to travel to other Book Hook posts, and enjoy!

EXCERPT

Kevin curled his fingers around the car door latch and turned back to Nadja. “Hmm, kissing me on the cheeks—does that make this a date?”

She broke into a large smile. “I’m not positive. Don’t misread a European custom.” She hesitated, then leaned across the space separating them to brush her lips lightly across his. She settled back in her seat and quietly watched his eyes sparkling.

“That’s an American custom,” he said, “for ending a date.”

“Don’t be so narrow-minded,” she teased. “I believe that custom is fairly common worldwide for ending a first date. Good night,” she added quickly. “I’ll see you on Friday.”

“You bet you will,” Kevin said, opening the door.

She watched him until he entered the motel. She hadn’t planned on their evening turning into a date. But it had. How? When? Why?

It had seemed like such a natural thing to kiss him. It had only been a kiss, and not much of one at that.

So why did her lips still tingle?

BUY LINKS

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09L7WQH12/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/1140503297
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/i-am-not-for-sale
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1115419
https://www.extasybooks.com/I-am-Not-for-Sale

REVIEW

Five Stars from N. N. Light

“The romance is so hot, you may have to call the fire department. But it’s the character development throughout I am Not for Sale which makes this such an incredible story.”

BLURB

It’s nothing personal…

It all seems simple enough—Ukrainian immigrant Nadja Petrov is determined to hold on to her thriving new coffee shop, Nadja’s Literary Cappuccino, and Java Beans District Rep Kevin Langley is equally determined to move into her North Iowa town with a franchise and run her out of business.

He scopes her out, she keeps a watchful eye on him, and the sparring begins. But there are other players involved, and the web of intrigue soon threatens Nadja, her shop, and her aunt as well as Kevin, his potential franchise, and his son.

Within this cauldron simmers a sexual attraction between Nadja and Kevin that catapults them to overcome their fears of intimacy and commitment. Their lovemaking is tender and raw. Their love is nearly lost in tragedy—can it survive doubts, fire, and even a death?

CLICK TO TRAVEL:

Adriana Tells All…#AuthorIntreview #EroticRomance #MFRWAuthor

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…well not really all, but almost!

If bad things happen in threes, maybe good things come in twos.

Mr. Kraft and I have been actively promoting our most recent release, I Am Not for Sale, and we signed up for a pair of interview opportunities that were published just three days apart. Sometimes we find author interview questions boring – who really wants to know that stuff? But each of these, in its own way, was unique, thought-provoking for us, and gave us a window to share stuff we’re usually not public about.

We hope you like them!

Friday, January 14, we were guests at Seelie Kay’s Loft. If you’re not familiar with Seelie, she’s a fellow Extasy Books author, and we love both her feisty (sexy) lawyer series and her new vampire series (equally sexy). Here’s a snippet from our interview:

Joining me today in The Loft is the husband-wife writing team that goes by the name of Adriana Kraft. Breaking the mold of staid, fusty academics, the retired professors write erotic romance.

How did you meet your current partner? When did you know he was “the one?”

A:  I was a graduate student and entry-level faculty member when he was hired onto the faculty of the program I worked in. I remember going, “Wow,” when I first saw him at the fall university gathering where new faculty were introduced. Evidently several other women did, too… In any case, the more we worked together, the more I liked him, and by the end of the academic year–with a push from one of our co-workers–he asked me out. We were married a year later, on the summer solstice. We’re still in love. Writing romance together both grows from and feeds into that love.

 

Then on Monday, January 17, we were guests Around the Campfire with D. V. Stone, an author we’ve just met, under her pen name Alana Lorens. We know you’ll like her most recent release, A Rose by any other Name, featured in our blog post earlier this month. I’ve downloaded this book and can’t wait to read it.

Here’s an excerpt from our interview:

What interests besides writing do you enjoy? For instance, what do you read or hobbies you have?

A:  First, let me say how much we love the title of your “Around the Campfire” blog – we’ve always loved the outdoors, and we were each avid tent campers before we met. We took my husband’s three boys along on our honeymoon camping trip to the Rockies, and when we later lived in the west, often took advantage of the nearby forested mountains. I’ve attached a photo from one of those trips to the high Uintas.

When we lived in northern Minnesota, we tramped down a mile-long cross-country ski trail with our snowshoes and even skied it by moonlight one frosty night (as in twenty below…). Here in Arizona, we still love hiking, and we especially love exploring the many historic native sites across the state.

I hope you’ll check out our interviews and those authors!

Stress – But not a complaint! #EroticRomance #RomanticSuspense #MFRWAuthor

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Do you let stress derail you plans?

Um, yes. Today’s Wednesday. I always have a post ready ahead of time for the MFRW Book Hooks weekly blog hop – but not this morning. I wasn’t even aware I’d missed it until I started running into the BookHooks posts of other authors on social  media this morning.

Stressors? On top of political turmoil and Covid fears, we lost a very dear friend Christmas day, and as so often also happens when I’m under stress, I didn’t pay enough attention to self-care and have developed a minor infection (short lived and easily cured, I hasten to add).

Stress doesn’t necessarily always stem from negative events – we’re thrilled our granddaughter is getting married this weekend. We can’t be there, and I put pressure on myself to get our gift to her in a timely manner. Which went out FedEx this morning.

I’m not writing all this on our blog to complain, but to talk about the impact of stressors on the best laid plans. Sometimes we have to simply step aside, accept what life has handed us, and change direction.

This is what Merry Delaney faces with the intrusion of Detective Jim Barnes into her life. Widowed for over a year, Merry is happily exploring all the dimensions of her new sexual liberation and has no plans to stop or slow down for anyone. Jim is investigating a mob funds-laundering scheme related to drug trafficking, and one of Merry’s accounting clients is under suspicion. She’s just discovered that some of her files have mysteriously disappeared from her home office computer…

EXCERPT

Merry looked up from the computer screen to see the object of her concern stalk into her office. He didn’t look any more relaxed than earlier. He held out his hand to her. She saw three tiny objects.

She cringed away from his hard stare. “What are they? Where did you find them?”

“Each of your three phones was tapped.”

“Shit. You were right about the computer, too. I don’t know why the security programs didn’t block the hacker. Somebody knows what they’re doing. You didn’t find anything else?”

“I’m not an expert on that, so we’ll wait for the people I called.”

“So we don’t know if anyone is listening as we speak.”

“Probably not.”

Merry slammed a fist on her desk. “This is too much. Having you spy on me from bushes is one thing, but this guy or woman is lurking in my space.”

“As I said, Merry, I doubt they have the house bugged. We’ll know for sure in a couple hours.”

“Good. I don’t like this, Jim. Not one bit.” She chewed on her lower lip. “It’s scary.”

“I know it is. Come on,” he said, offering her a hand. “Let’s go outside. Just in case.”

She grabbed his hand and led the way out onto the patio. “Would you hold me, please?” She directed him to the chaise lounge and sat on his lap. “Put your arms around me, please. I’m chilled. I’ve never been this scared. I was just trying to help—to help those young girls stay off drugs.”

BUY LINKS

All our backlist, including The Merry Widow, is on sale at Extasy Books through the month of January:

  Extasy Books

Additional Buy Links:

Amazon   Kobo   Barnes & Noble

Apple    Google Play

Goodreads     BookBub

Please visit all the Book Hooks bloggers who were timely at this link – you’ll be glad you did:

It doesn’t take any more time to dream big than small. #NewYear #Dreaming #RomanticSuspense #HorseRacing #MFRWAuthor #KU

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Happy New Year!

What are your dreams for this year? Do you even let yourself dream? I hope so.

Part of my daily practice is using the Daily Calm meditation app, first thing after I get up and start coffee. This morning’s meditation was on dreaming, and among other things, it pointed out that every new invention, every solution to every problem, has come about because somebody had a dream.

Mr. Kraft and I have been writing fiction for over two decades, published for a decade and a half. That all got started because of a dream each of us had held since childhood but never nourished until after we got together.

Each of us had also always dreamed about owning horses. As a child, I read every horse book I could get my hands on, including how to care for them, the different breeds, riding instructions, as well as all the famous children’s horse fiction, from Black Beauty to King of the Wind and Misty of Chincoteague Island.

Because we dreamed about it, we’ve been able to own horses at various points in our life; race horses in the early 90s, and a Saddlebred/Arabian gelding a decade later.

 

We pour our dreams and our hopes into our characters, so it seemed appropriate today to pull a quotation from one of them that surfaced for me after my meditation:

“Listen kid, if you hang around me much you’ll have to get used to expanding your dreams. I don’t dream small. It doesn’t take any more time to dream big than small.”

 

BLURB

When the chips are down, there’s nobody there.  Willowy blonde Daisy Matthews has survived the Chicago streets with this mantra, but she’s unprepared for the much older Nick Underwood’s urgent pursuit. The wealthy businessman receives a thoroughbred in payment for a bad debt and is thrust into Daisy’s world. She teaches him about horse racing; he teaches her about love. When Daisy’s seamy brother-in-law threatens Nick’s safety, she doggedly tries to stop him by herself, but flees to the familiar streets when he attacks. Can Nick find her in time – and if he does, will she still want him?

BUY AT AMAZON

Always free to read at Kindle Unlimited

 

Christmas Holiday Book Festival at @NNP_W_Light #EroticRomance #Giveaway #MFRWAuthor

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Today is the last day of N. N. Light’s Christmas Holiday Book Festival, and our erotic romance The Merry Widow is featured today as a Festival Pick! Head on over to Holiday Festival to learn more about it and read an excerpt – and be sure to check out all the other holiday entrants, plus enter for a chance to win a $75 Gift certificate!

 

The millennium arrived with such promise—will it deliver for recently widowed Merry Delaney?

Have you ever felt like life was passing you by? That shut-down feeling that separates you from everyone you see? They seem to be normal, happy, satisfied, and you just can’t connect. Worse yet, you don’t have the energy to do anything about it, to take even that first baby step toward making a change.

That’s what Merry Delaney is experiencing as the world turns toward the new millennium, New Year’s Eve 1999. She’s an accountant, for pete’s sake. Her life consists of managing the math for other people’s lives. She’s been a widow for the past year, but something inside her died long before that, as she watched her husband’s MS take over his body and felt him withdraw from her.

Mr. Kraft and I co-write erotic romance and romantic suspense under our pen name, Adriana Kraft. The Merry Widow combines both – intense eroticism with underlying suspense. But it is so much more than that. We wanted to capture a woman’s transition from that dark place and explore the process as she opens up and begins to say yes—slowly at first, and then pell-mell into the fast lane.

Especially, we wanted to explore the nuances of transformation: what is the moment, precisely, when a character makes an about face? When she’s passed the point of no return (or we’ve passed it, for that matter) and can no longer continue as before? Is it an earth-shattering moment? Is it a moment so tiny it’s lost in the cacophony of choices and activities, only to be recognized much later, upon reflection? Does it happen not when the choice is first made, but when a character is confronted with something she wants very badly that flies in the face of what she’s become?

Naturally, in our story, Merry’s journey of self-discovery is filled with sexual adventure—we write erotic romance, after all. But it’s also filled with choices she must make as she samples new experiences and begins to fall in love at the same time. Will she settle for less than what she truly wants? We hope not—and we hope the same for you, our readers.

BLURB

So much for all the anticipation about the new millennium. Merry Delaney’s life is still in a rut and shows no signs of changing. Sex? A fading memory, gone long before her husband actually died. Excitement? Hardly the hallmark of an accountant’s life. At forty-two, what can she look forward to?

Until her best friend takes Merry’s predicament into her practiced hands. One passionate kiss unleashes possibilities Merry never dreamed of—and she wants to sample them all. Men? Women? Young? Old? Ménage? Toys? Yes, to all, to pleasure, to making up for lost time.

Enter Chicago Detective Jim Barnes, who solicits Merry’s help with a mob funds-skimming case. Can the scorching passion that soon smolders between Merry and Jim survive the escalating mob threats of exposure? Having discovered a zest for sex, will Merry ever again be satisfied with one man?

BUY LINKS

Amazon   Kobo   Barnes & Noble   Extasy Books  

Apple    Google Play

Goodreads     BookBub