Adriana Kraft

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

Romantic Suspense

“You’re hardly big enough to swat a fly!” #99¢ #SALE #SnippetSunday #SnipSun #TripleCrown #HorseRacing

by

Welcome to Snippet Sunday – ten sentences from all your favorite romance authors! You’ll find them all at this Facebook Group every Sunday:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SnippetSunday/

The Kentucky Derby is history, and it’s on to the Preakness this coming Saturday, the second leg in the Triple Crown. The Derby Winner, Mage, is slated to run, keeping open the potential for a triple crown win this year.

Our four steamy romantic suspense novels set in the thoroughbred racing world are on sale for just 99¢ each, now through mid-June, to celebrate this year’s race for the Triple Crown.

Book Two, Heat Wave, draws on our years in Iowa, our own experience raising and training horses, and a family member’s journey to sobriety. That young man has read and vouched for those elements of Ed’s journey in Maggie’s story. We celebrate all who struggle and succeed.

EXCERPT

Set Up: Today’s snippet comes a little later in the conversation that began last Sunday. Ed has come to Maggie’s farm to accept the job she’s offering.

“My husband died over two years ago,” Maggie continued. “He left a sizable insurance policy. It may be enough to make the farm profitable – if  not, Con-Ex Farms or some other conglomerate will swallow up this land and my family’s heritage like it’s just so much dust.”

“Ah, so now I at least know something about the larger game you’re in.” He nodded grimly. “So that’s why you had to resort to digging a broken-down trainer out of his hiding hole – you have to play some ace cards or fold. It’s ante up time, and I’m part of the ante.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Maggie frowned. “This is no game to me. But I see your point. Anyway, I want you to teach me how to train horses.”

“What?” Ed jumped to his feet. “I thought you wanted me to train them and then turn them over to someone else at the track. You’re hardly big enough to swat a fly!” Uh oh, his mouth had got him into trouble again. When would he ever learn to engage brain before mouth? But the sparks firing out of those large round blue eyes might have been worth the gaffe.

Scrambling to a stand, Maggie gestured toward door. “If you are incapable of working with and teaching a woman—even a short one—to work with horses, Mr. Harrington, you can leave right now. I don’t need you. You can crawl back from wherever you came from.”

REVIEWS

Goodreads: Five Stars: Heartfelt with mystery and hope…made me cry. Spot on interplay between the main characters…well written and extremely enjoyable to read. Donna H.

Amazon: Five Stars: I felt like I was on a roller coaster reading this story! Laughing one second, then felt like crying the next, always on the edge wanting to know what is going to happen next. Amy B.

BUY LINK

99¢ SALE

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZ6GW6G

BOOK INFO

Title: Heat Wave
Series: Rider Up, Book Two
Can be read as a stand-alone
Author: Adriana Kraft
Publisher: B&B Publishing
Publication Date: April 30, 2014
ISBN 978-0-9907476-2-8  ASIN B00JZ6GW6G
Length: 93,000 Words   418 Pages
Genres: Romantic Suspense, Erotic Romance, Sports Romance
Pairings: M/F
Tags: Horse Racing, Thoroughbred Racing, Small Town, Saving the Farm, Young Widow, Horse Trainer
Heat rating: 3 flames

BLURB

During an oppressive Iowa summer of drought and farm foreclosures, widowed Maggie Anderson makes a bold decision: She’ll merge her love of horses and her family’s three hundred and twenty acres into a horse farm and try her hand at nearby Prairie Meadows Racetrack, where racing purses have just been augmented by the recently added casino gambling.

Down on his luck after being falsely accused in a racing scandal and banned from training, former Arlington Racetrack trainer Ed Harrington has skulked home to Des Moines to drown his sorrows and wait for the dust to clear. He’s unprepared for the piercing robin’s-egg-blue eyes of pint-sized Maggie Anderson, who finds him at a flophouse and offers him a job. Can he pull himself together and meet the challenge?

As the two forge a tumultuous working partnership, they soon discover someone is out to get Maggie’s farm and will stop at almost nothing to force her off the land. Can they find and stop the culprit before someone is killed? Can they survive the far greater danger unleashed by the raw passion simmering just beneath the surface of their relationship?

~ o ~

…about the foal in my promo photo at the top of this post – I’m well aware he’s not a thoroughbred racehorse. His sire is Arabian, his dam, pictured with him, is a Saddlebred, and we gave him a role in Book Four in the series, Detour Ahead.

FIND EVERYONE’S POSTS IN THIS FACEBOOK GROUP:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SnippetSunday/

 

“I’m not very calm…” #MFRWSteam #RomanticSuspense #HorseRacing #BookSale #99¢

by

Welcome to the MFRW Steam Hop,
where the authors of Marketing for Romance Writers
entice you with steamy excerpts from their erotic romance stories.

Scroll to the end for more of this week’s tempting excerpts

For today’s steamy except, I’m drawing from a book we’re currently promoting to celebrate this spring’s horse racing Triple Crown. All four novels in our romantic suspense series Riders Up are on sale for just 99¢, now through mid June. Heat Wave is Book Two in the series.

EXCERPT

SetUp: The temperature is scorching, the sexual tension is even hotter, the kitchen faucet leak is steadily dripping, and Maggie’s kids are away at summer camp. Maggie and Ed are in the kitchen studying pedigrees and bloodlines of potential broodmares when the dam breaks.

Maggie moaned softly when Ed easily picked her up and laid her on the kitchen table. Sale catalogs and pedigree charts tumbled every which way.

Ed leaned over to kiss her lips, her neck, and then her breasts. Each breast received equal oral attention: each orb washed, each nipple stroked to full extension, each crown suckled.

Clasping her bare legs tightly around his bottom, Maggie rocked back and forth. Ed smiled when she pressed his head gently downward. He needed no more encouragement. With his tongue he traced a trail across the rivulets of perspiration forming on her flat stomach.

“I’m not a yearling filly to be gentled,” she squealed huskily. She applied more encouraging pressure to his head.

“I’m not very calm,” he muttered, moving his tongue lower still. Her sex opened before him. The soft fleece of golden ringlets was already soaking, and not just from the humidity.

He breathed deeply, sucking her scent into his lungs, never wanting it to escape. She tasted slightly salty. He would never get enough of her. His tongue searched further. Her legs jerked; her thighs squeezed. He paused for air.

“Oh my God,” she screamed. “Don’t stop now!”

In response, Ed slipped two fingers into her cleft. Spreading her thighs wide, wiggling her bottom, she offered him a better angle. He probed deeper while his tongue tapped her clit. Repeatedly, he rhythmically grazed and licked her engorged flesh.

* * * *

Through the hazy fog of her mind, Maggie became aware of what Ed was doing. His subtle, sensual movements matched the beat of the faucet drip. Excruciating. Exhilarating.

She waited. He flicked his tongue and plunged his fingers. Maggie moved closer to the edge. As the faucet dripped, he continued his excruciating pace. This was different. She’d never before been played like some erotic instrument. The edge was near. She was the edge.

Shaking uncontrollably, she felt her release cascade through her body. When at last she hunched forward on her elbows to peek through teary eyes at Ed’s head resting on her belly, Maggie ginned lazily. “What a way to beat the heat.”

REVIEWS

Goodreads: Five Stars: Heartfelt with mystery and hope…made me cry. Spot on interplay between the main characters…well written and extremely enjoyable to read. Donna H.

Amazon: Five Stars: I felt like I was on a roller coaster reading this story! Laughing one second, then felt like crying the next, always on the edge wanting to know what is going to happen next. Amy B.

BUY LINK

99¢ SALE

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZ6GW6G

BOOK INFO

Title: Heat Wave
Series: Riders Up, Book Two
Can be read as a stand-alone
Author: Adriana Kraft
Publisher: B&B Publishing
Publication Date: April 30, 2014
ISBN 978-0-9907476-2-8
ASIN B00JZ6GW6G
Length: 93,000 Words   418 Pages
Genres: Romantic Suspense, Erotic Romance, Sports Romance
Pairings: M/F
Tags: Horse Racing, Thoroughbred Racing, Small Town, Saving the Farm, Young Widow, Horse Trainer
Heat rating: 3 flames

BLURB

During an oppressive Iowa summer of drought and farm foreclosures, widowed Maggie Anderson makes a bold decision: She’ll merge her love of horses and her family’s three hundred and twenty acres into a horse farm and try her hand at nearby Prairie Meadows Racetrack, where racing purses have just been augmented by the recently added casino gambling.

Down on his luck after being falsely accused in a racing scandal and banned from training, former Arlington Racetrack trainer Ed Harrington has skulked home to Des Moines to drown his sorrows and wait for the dust to clear. He’s unprepared for the piercing robin’s-egg-blue eyes of pint-sized Maggie Anderson, who finds him at a flophouse and offers him a job. Can he pull himself together and meet the challenge?

As the two forge a tumultuous working partnership, they soon discover someone is out to get Maggie’s farm and will stop at almost nothing to force her off the land. Can they find and stop the culprit before someone is killed? Can they survive the far greater danger unleashed by the raw passion simmering just beneath the surface of their relationship?

This is a Blog Hop – click on the links to travel to the other steamy posts!

“You’ve been vouched for…” #99¢ #SALE #SundaySnippet #SnipSun #TripleCrown #HorseRacing

by

Welcome to Snippet Sunday – ten sentences from all your favorite romance authors! You’ll find them all at this Facebook Group every Sunday:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SnippetSunday/

Did you watch the Kentucky Derby yesterday? Those late scratches threw everyone’s tickets into a mad scramble to replace horses. What a race! And now it’s on to the Preakness, always two weeks after the Derby.

Our four steamy romantic suspense novels set in the thoroughbred racing world are on sale for just 99¢ each, now through mid-June, to celebrate this year’s race for the Triple Crown.

Book Two, Heat Wave, draws on our years in Iowa, our own experience raising and training horses, and a family member’s journey to sobriety. That young man has read and vouched for those elements of Ed’s journey in Maggie’s story. We celebrate all who struggle and succeed.

EXCERPT

Set up: On the porch at Maggie’s farm. Ed has just driven to the farm to accept the job Maggie has offered him to train her horses.

“There is one thing – you know I can’t take your horses to the track.”

Maggie nodded. “I know about the ban, Ed. That doesn’t have anything to do with me. You’ve been vouched for, and that’s enough—there are likely a lot of bridges yet to cross. Let’s take them one at a time.”

“I’m all for that, Maggie.” Harrington lifted his cup in salute.

That was the first time he’d called her Maggie. It sounded too familiar, yet they had to be on a first name basis if they were going to work together as a team. She took a short breath, excited about actually beginning to put in place her plan to save the farm. Her nerves tingled at the prospect.

Or, perhaps her nerves were responding to the man who pronounced Maggie in a gravelly voice that oozed intimacy.

REVIEWS

Goodreads: Five Stars: Heartfelt with mystery and hope…made me cry. Spot on interplay between the main characters…well written and extremely enjoyable to read. Donna H.

Amazon: Five Stars: I felt like I was on a roller coaster reading this story! Laughing one second, then felt like crying the next, always on the edge wanting to know what is going to happen next. Amy B.

BUY LINK

99¢ SALE

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZ6GW6G

BOOK INFO

Title: Heat Wave
Series: Rider Up, Book Two
Can be read as a stand-alone
Author: Adriana Kraft
Publisher: B&B Publishing
Publication Date: April 30, 2014
ISBN 978-0-9907476-2-8  ASIN B00JZ6GW6G
Length: 93,000 Words   418 Pages
Genres: Romantic Suspense, Erotic Romance, Sports Romance
Pairings: M/F
Tags: Horse Racing, Thoroughbred Racing, Small Town, Saving the Farm, Young Widow, Horse Trainer
Heat rating: 3 flames

BLURB

During an oppressive Iowa summer of drought and farm foreclosures, widowed Maggie Anderson makes a bold decision: She’ll merge her love of horses and her family’s three hundred and twenty acres into a horse farm and try her hand at nearby Prairie Meadows Racetrack, where racing purses have just been augmented by the recently added casino gambling.

Down on his luck after being falsely accused in a racing scandal and banned from training, former Arlington Racetrack trainer Ed Harrington has skulked home to Des Moines to drown his sorrows and wait for the dust to clear. He’s unprepared for the piercing robin’s-egg-blue eyes of pint-sized Maggie Anderson, who finds him at a flophouse and offers him a job. Can he pull himself together and meet the challenge?

As the two forge a tumultuous working partnership, they soon discover someone is out to get Maggie’s farm and will stop at almost nothing to force her off the land. Can they find and stop the culprit before someone is killed? Can they survive the far greater danger unleashed by the raw passion simmering just beneath the surface of their relationship?

~ o ~

…about the foal in my promo photo at the top of this post – I’m well aware he’s not a thoroughbred racehorse. His sire is Arabian, his dam, pictured with him, is a Saddlebred, and we gave him a role in Book Four in the series, Detour Ahead.

FIND EVERYONE’S POSTS IN THIS FACEBOOK GROUP:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SnippetSunday/

 

Triple Crown Fever! Steamy Romantic Suspense #Sale #ThoroughbredRacing #Fiction

by

 TIME FOR SOME TRIPLE CROWN FEVER

 

In just four more days, twenty top thoroughbred three year olds will load into the post and race in the Kentucky Derby for the first crown.

I’ve been to the Kentucky Derby in person twice – it turns out I don’t like mint juleps very much, but I do love the hats! My former roommate and longtime best friend is a southern Indiana gal whose family always had tickets and kept an attic full of hats for visitors to borrow in season. No sense turning down that invitation!

I was a horse-crazy kid, and as fate would have it, so was my husband, who was with me at those Derbys and once also at the Belmont Stakes. When we first lived out west, we had a friend who owned and trained horses that ran at Wyoming Downs and sometimes at Los Alamitos in California. A small financial windfall empowered us to follow a dream – Hubs and the friend attended Barrett’s sale in California and came home with two 3-year-old thoroughbred fillies.

One of them never raced but proved an excellent brood mare whose offspring won races:

 

The second filly ran successfully at Wyoming Downs, then also ran at Los Alamitos and won her first race there:

 

There’s lots more to our horse story, and I’ll be posting more during the Triple Crown races.

In the meantime, we poured our love of horses and the experience gleaned from our foray into horse racing into a four-book steamy romantic suspense series set in the world of thoroughbred horse racing.

To celebrate the upcoming Triple Crown, all four books are on sale for just 99¢ from now through the Belmont Stakes in mid-June. Though they are a series, each book can be read as a standalone.

Book One: Cassie’s Hope

High stakes, a fiery Irish redhead, her stunning racehorse, and a fiercely loyal rancher

Five stars at Goodreads An emotional roller-coaster, with twists and turns you never see coming! …I feel I know them, I took their journey with them. I felt their pain, their sadness, their struggles, and most of all their love. And that is the mark of a truly good book. Faith

BUY LINK https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GDWTUGY
LINK TO BLURB AND EXCERPT https://adrianakraft.com/books/cassies_hope/

Book Two: Heat Wave

Hang onto the land – but at what cost? Feisty widow hires ace racehorse trainer to salvage her family’s heritage. Can they survive escalating threats to life and limb?

Five stars at Amazon: Adriana Kraft made me a believer in this beautiful tale. I loved that no matter how many times she was told she would fail, Maggie never backed down. Melena

BUY LINK https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JZ6GW6G
LINK TO BLURB AND EXCERPT https://adrianakraft.com/books/heat-wave/ 

Book Three: Willow Smoke

When the chips are down, there’s nobody there. Willowy blonde Daisy Matthews has survived the Chicago streets with this mantra – is she ready for a May/September romance?

Five stars at Amazon “Adriana Kraft has created memorable characters that linger long after the story has ended and I’ve closed the book. She has done what an author should—brought me into the book’s world and made me care about the characters so that my world will not be the same.” Sheila G.

BUY LINK https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N0DH13I
LINK TO BLURB AND EXCERPT https://adrianakraft.com/books/willow-smoke-2/ 

Book Four: Detour Ahead

Threatened race horses, city slicker attorney, sexy California wrangler—what can possibly go wrong?

Five stars at Amazon: TopPick This is a story about letting go of your past so you can move on to your future, letting go of being the victim and becoming a survivor…Add into this touching story of recovery a mystery that will keep you guessing to the very end, and you’ve got a story you won’t be able to put down. Angi, Night Owl Reviews

BUY LINK https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RPT6YJA/
LINK TO BLURB AND EXCERPT https://adrianakraft.com/books/detour-ahead/

“Very Nice…” #SundaySnippet #SnipSun #Steamy #RomanticSuspense #Sale #KentuckyDerby

by

Only six days to the Kentucky Derby! All four books in our horse racing romantic suspense series are on sale for just 99¢, now through mid June.

This week’s snippet continues the scene from Cassie’s Hope – Clint and Cassie are just meeting for the first time.

Set up: Cassie has trailered her dad’s prize thoroughbred filly from Illinois to Wyoming to try to get her first stakes win and is just getting Hope settled into her stall…

Our last sentence last week: This was no drugstore cowboy…

EXCERPT

He stepped closer, and she could make out a scowl. Dark eyes snapped a foreboding anger. Raven black hair framed chiseled features, searing them into Cassie’s brain. Her toes curled involuntarily and she rubbed Hope’s coat vigorously.

Who the hell was he? And to top it off, he didn’t even seem to notice her – his eyes appraised only the horse.

The handsome stranger walked around the horse. “Very nice,” he drawled at last.

Cassie kept on grooming, doing her best to ignore the man.

“You’re gonna wear a hole in that horse with all that hand rubbing,” he commented dryly.

REVIEWS

An emotional roller-coaster, with twists and turns you never see coming! …I feel I know them, I took their journey with them. I felt their pain, their sadness, their struggles, and most of all their love. And that is the mark of a truly good book. Faith, Goodreads

Just downloaded this book yesterday and didn’t set it down until I was finished. Great story! Great characters with steamy love scenes. Will look for more suspense written by this author. Would recommend this book to all romantic suspense readers. Billie D.

BUY LINK

Amazon

BLURB

What happens when a fiercely loyal widowed half-Ute cowboy meets a fiery redhead with an Irish temper to match? Cassidy O’Hanlon – Cassie, to her friends – has set aside her Chicago career for six months to train racehorses for her dad after his stroke.

Furious the interloper has shipped in a ringer from the Chicago circuit to his Wyoming turf, Rancher/trainer Clint Travers sets out to put her in her place. Sparks fly immediately, but after their rocky start, the two quickly forge a passionate relationship, and he follows her to Chicago.

When it becomes clear someone is drugging Cassie’s horse, Clint sets out to solve the mystery, but storms off in a cloud of wounded pride when suspicions turn to him.

Can love trump pride?

“Nice lookin’ filly…” #SundaySnippet #SnipSun #Steamy #RomanticSuspense #Sale #KentuckyDerby

by

It’s less than two weeks to the Kentucky Derby!

…so my Sunday Snippet is switching gears to prep for Triple Crown Fever. Do you love horses? I was a horse-crazy kid, and as fate would have it, so was my husband. We poured our love of horses and the experience gleaned from our brief foray into horse racing to pen a four-book steamy romantic suspense series set in the world of thoroughbred horse racing.

To celebrate the upcoming Triple Crown, all four books are on sale for just 99¢ from now through the Belmont Stakes in mid-June.

Here’s our Sunday Snippet from Riders Up: Book One, Cassie’s Hope

EXCERPT

Set up: Cassie has trailered her dad’s prize thoroughbred filly from Illinois to Wyoming to try to get her first stakes win and is just getting Hope settled into her stall…

Shaking her head, Cassie grabbed a hoof pick from her back pocket, lifted one of Hope’s front hooves, and began extracting dirt and pebbles.

“Nice lookin’ filly.”

Cassie groaned at the strange deep voice and the too-familiar line. Couldn’t men anywhere be a little more original?

Dropping the hoof, Cassie glanced across Hope’s back and gasped. The deeply tanned hunk behind the voice had shoulders that stretched taut a pale yellow polo shirt covered, in part, with a thin buckskin vest. The wide cowboy buckle appeared unnecessary to hold up well contoured Levi’s. A sweat-stained brown Stetson, tipped low, cast a light shadow across his facial features. His worn boots were those of a working man. This was no drugstore cowboy.

REVIEWS

An emotional roller-coaster, with twists and turns you never see coming! …I feel I know them, I took their journey with them. I felt their pain, their sadness, their struggles, and most of all their love. And that is the mark of a truly good book. Faith, Goodreads

Just downloaded this book yesterday and didn’t set it down until I was finished. Great story! Great characters with steamy love scenes. Will look for more suspense written by this author. Would recommend this book to all romantic suspense readers. Billie D.

BUY LINK

Amazon

BLURB

What happens when a fiercely loyal widowed half-Ute cowboy meets a fiery redhead with an Irish temper to match? Cassidy O’Hanlon – Cassie, to her friends – has set aside her Chicago career for six months to train racehorses for her dad after his stroke.

Furious the interloper has shipped in a ringer from the Chicago circuit to his Wyoming turf, Rancher/trainer Clint Travers sets out to put her in her place. Sparks fly immediately, but after their rocky start, the two quickly forge a passionate relationship, and he follows her to Chicago.

When it becomes clear someone is drugging Cassie’s horse, Clint sets out to solve the mystery, but storms off in a cloud of wounded pride when suspicions turn to him.

Can love trump pride?