Adriana Kraft

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

Second Chance

Are you ready for me? #MFRWHooks #EroticRomance #LGBTQ #FF #Giveaway #Sale

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For week two, I’m featuring my sapphic second chance romance, The Lady Wants More. It’s part of this week’s I Heart SapphFic Reading Challenge – and if you click this LINK, you can enter for two drawing for free books. Comment on my post in the IHeartSapphFic Facebook group to enter a drawing for one of my eight books featured on their website.  You can read more about the story behind The Lady Wants More HERE.

Welcome to MFRW Hooks, where the authors of Marketing for Romance Writers share snippets from their stories to entice you into wanting more. Be sure to click on the links at the end to travel!

EXCERPT

Set Up: After running into each other at their twentieth college reunion, Brenda has persuaded Janet to bail and hit a bar they frequented as undergraduates. Now they’re dancing together…

Brenda spun around to face Janet when they got to the far corner of the dance floor. She knew Janet would prefer to be in the corner rather than on the front edge, where bar patrons could easily gawk at them. She preferred center stage herself, but—she grinned at her partner—tonight she’d cater to Janet’s desires. She just wished she could get a better read on them. Did they include her, yet? She saw no need to rush things, now that they’d reconnected after all these years.

Brenda had already decided Janet needed, once again, to break out of her shell and get on with her life. Of course, Brenda had often been accused of making quick judgments, if not rash ones. But she was sure the universe hadn’t crossed their paths just so they could share a drink and swap life stories. While she wasn’t looking for a permanent relationship—whatever that was—she was always on the lookout for a relationship that might offer enough challenge and spice to keep her going for more than a night or two.

Brenda smiled at Janet. She knew for certain this tall, dark-haired woman with gorgeous, long legs could provide ample challenge and spice for some time. She held out her hands, interlaced her fingers with Janet’s, and picked up the beat to the fast-paced hip-hop music. At arm’s length, they swayed and stepped to the music. They circled each other.

Brenda filled her lungs. Her body throbbed with the music. Her brain clicked into hypersensitive mode—once again, she’d become the huntress. “Are you ready for me?”

BOOK INFORMATION

Title: The Lady Wants More
Author: Adriana Kraft
Cover Artist: Alessia Brio
Publisher ‏ : ‎ B&B Publishing (October 24, 2014)
Length: Novella, 22,000 words, 83 pages
Genres: Erotic Romance, Sapphic Romance, Later in Life, Second Chance

BLURB

Janet Baxter keeps her post-divorce life neatly compartmentalized: Secure job, spacious Westchester County home, successful adult children, dependable community volunteer activities. Why is she drawn—for the first time ever—to attend her twenty-year college reunion in New York City?

Always a free spirit, Brenda Cassidy is comfortably bisexual and has no plans to ever settle down. But a fling? The reappearance of svelte, reserved Janet Baxter in Brenda’s life is nothing less than a gift, worthy of every enticement Brenda can conjure up. Can Brenda seduce Janet into an endless night of the lovemaking they enjoyed too briefly as college roommates? What if the lady wants more?

BUY LINKS

Want to support keeping LGBTQ Romance available for everyone? If you purchase The Lady Wants More (or any of the books in this week’s reading challenge) through the link on the book’s I Heart SapphFic page, a small portion of the price goes to help keep the website running. Definitely a worthy cause.

The Lady Wants More is exclusively on Amazon and is on sale for $0.99.
It is also available on KU.

https://iheartsapphfic.com/bookinfo/the-lady-wants-more/

If you live outside the U.S., this universal link will take you to the appropriate Amazon outlet:

https://books2read.com/u/bzn6RL

 

Click on the links travel to the rest of today’s excerpts:

What if the Lady Wants More? #Sale #99Cents #Giveaway #LGBTQ #EroticRomance #SapphicRomance #FF @IHeartLesFic

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The reappearance of svelte, reserved Janet Baxter in Brenda’s life is nothing less than a gift, worthy of every enticement Brenda can conjure up.

For week two of highlighting my 58 published romance novels, I’m jumping out of time order to let you in on a giveaway and a marvelous opportunity to fill your Kindle and win gift cards!

Every Week, I Heart SapphFic sponsors a sapphic fiction reading challenge featuring books in each of two themes/tropes, with most of the books on sale for the week.

One of this week’s tropes is “divorced heroine,” and my novella The Lady Wants More has been selected to participate. Many featured authors (including yours truly) are offering giveaways and prizes this week in the I Heart SapphFic Readers Group on Facebook – here’s your chance to not only fill your kindle but enter for other giveaways. You can read more about the Weekly Reading Challenge HERE – to further entice you, the grand prize drawing at the end of the year features multiple gift cards, topping out at $250!

THE STORY BEHIND THE LADY WANTS MORE

Some of you may remember a marvelous e-publisher that was among the first to publish and promote LGBTQ books – Torquere Press, 2003-2016. I am deeply sorry it is gone. Their editing staff and graphic artists were marvelous to work with.

Sometime in early 2010, Torquere put out a submissions call for a twelve-book lesbian romance series featuring the signs of the Zodiac. My sun sign is Cancer, and I immediately knew I wanted to write a heroine who shared my sign: nurturing, loyal, reserved, resistant to change, seeks a well-ordered life. And there’s more – the Cancer Zodiac symbol is a crab, well known to scuttle backwards to reach its destination. Like my heroine Janet, I often take a circuitous route to accomplish my goals.

Who to partner her with? Go with what you know. My husband is Aquarius, the opposite of orderly, structured – a sign that can never be put in any box. Voila, Brenda emerged to challenge the reserved and hesitant Janet. They were a lot of fun to write.

The Torquere Press edition was published in June, 2011 – under the sign of Cancer, of course. Our contract was for two years, so when rights reverted to us, we thoroughly edited it, expanded some scenes, and published it under our own imprint in October of 2014.

I’d always loved our cover, and I’d met the original cover artist, Alessia Brio, at a writer’s conference a while earlier. I was thrilled she was willing to adapt her original cover for our new edition.

BOOK INFORMATION

Title: The Lady Wants More
Author: Adriana Kraft
Cover Artist: Alessia Brio
Publisher ‏ : ‎ B&B Publishing (October 24, 2014)
Length: Novella, 22,000 words, 83 pages
Genres: Erotic Romance, Sapphic Romance, Later in Life, Second Chance

BLURB

Janet Baxter keeps her post-divorce life neatly compartmentalized: Secure job, spacious Westchester County home, successful adult children, dependable community volunteer activities. Why is she drawn—for the first time ever—to attend her twenty-year college reunion in New York City?

Always a free spirit, Brenda Cassidy is comfortably bisexual and has no plans to ever settle down. But a fling? The reappearance of svelte, reserved Janet Baxter in Brenda’s life is nothing less than a gift, worthy of every enticement Brenda can conjure up. Can Brenda seduce Janet into an endless night of the lovemaking they enjoyed too briefly as college roommates? What if the lady wants more?

EXCERPT

Set-Up: A few days after their brief connection at the twenty-year high school reunion, Janet is pacing her bedroom, cell phone in hand, with Brenda’s number already entered. She finally hits “send”…

“Hi, Janet,” Brenda chirped, “I hoped you would call soon. So are you joining me for the ballet?”

Janet rolled her eyes. Obviously, caller ID hadn’t allowed her to surprise Brenda. “I’m fine. How are you?”

“Oh,” Brenda replied. “Sorry, should’ve asked first. I’ve had a good week so far. Though thinking about you has been a distraction at times.”

“Oh.” Janet held her breath. It hadn’t occurred to her Brenda might think about her as much as she’d been thinking about Brenda. Distraction? That was a mild way of putting it. Brenda had been an ever-present weight since they’d parted Saturday night.

“So,” Brenda cooed, “have you thought about me much these last few days?”

“Some.”

“Just some.”

“A lot,” Janet confessed.

“That’s better. I’d hate to be the only one losing sleep.”

“Losing sleep?” Janet blurted out. “You, too? I didn’t think you’d lose sleep over me.”

“Two a.m. on the dot. Haven’t missed a night yet.”

“Oh my. I wake at two also.”

Brenda chuckled. “I told you there is some sort of karma at work here. So what do you think?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe there’s karma, or maybe you’ll join me a week from Friday?”

“I have to be in the city that afternoon for a meeting with an author and her publisher.”

“How convenient. So you’ll join me for dinner and the ballet?”

“I don’t know about dinner. It’s a late-afternoon meeting, the only time the publisher could clear her calendar. Maybe we shouldn’t plan on dinner.” Janet swallowed and wet her lips. “Before.”

She could imagine Brenda mulling over the implications of that single word. She wished she was more skilled at veiled repartee, but she never had been.

“Ah,” Brenda said at last. “My loft isn’t far from the theater. Of course, you could drop by after your meeting to freshen up. Though if you do that, we might not make it to the ballet.”

Failing to hold back a giggle, Janet said, “You’re pretty confident, as usual.” She sobered. “I’ll change clothes in a restroom before heading over to meet you at the theater. I often do that when I have plans after work and don’t want to go home first.”

“You do plan ahead. Let’s grab a sandwich on our own before the performance, then, and have drinks and dessert afterward at my place.”

Janet closed her eyes and nodded. “That sounds good.”

“Your enthusiasm overwhelms,” Brenda chided. “Do you still love crème brûlée?”

Janet responded quickly, “Of course I do. But I wouldn’t want you to go to a lot of work.”

“Not a problem. I don’t have anything on my calendar from mid-Friday afternoon on—except you.”

BUY LINKS

Want to support keeping LGBTQ Romance available for everyone? If you purchase The Lady Wants More (or any of the books in this week’s reading challenge) through the link on the book’s I Heart SapphFic page, a small portion of the price goes to help keep the website running. Definitely a worthy cause.

The Lady Wants More is exclusively on Amazon and is on sale for $0.99.
It is also available on KU.

https://iheartsapphfic.com/bookinfo/the-lady-wants-more/

If you live outside the U.S., this universal link will take you to the appropriate Amazon outlet:

https://books2read.com/u/bzn6RL

 

 

 

“And you met me.” #SnippetSunday #SnipSun #WeekendWritingWarriors #EroticRomance #LGBGTQ #Sale #99cents #MFRWAuthor @IHeartLesFic

by

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday, the weekly hops for everyone who loves to write – and read!
Click on the graphics to travel to the other snippets.

                                        

Picking up where we left off last Sunday from the opening scene, at their 20th college reunion; the last sentence was Janet shrugged, but didn’t withdraw her hand.

EXCERPT

She wasn’t pleased Brenda could still read her thoughts so well. “Why did you come this year? Do you come every year?”

“Not really – I’ve been to a few. I decided to come at the last minute, on a whim, really. I didn’t have anything else to do. Now that I live in New York, it’s not that hard to get here. A lot easier than when I was on the west coast.” Her mouth curved into a warm smile. “I hoped I might meet someone interesting.”

“And you met me. That must’ve been a downer.”

BLURB

Janet Baxter keeps her post-divorce life neatly compartmentalized: Secure job, spacious Westchester County home, successful adult children, dependable community volunteer activities. Why is she drawn—for the first time ever—to attend her twenty-year college reunion in New York City?

Always a free spirit, Brenda Cassidy is comfortably bisexual and has no plans to ever settle down. But a fling? The reappearance of svelte, reserved Janet Baxter in Brenda’s life is nothing less than a gift, worthy of every enticement Brenda can conjure up. Can Brenda seduce Janet into an endless night of the lovemaking they enjoyed too briefly as college roommates? What if the lady wants more?

BUY LINK

ON SALE NOW FOR 99¢

https://books2read.com/u/bzn6RL

REVIEW

Five Stars at Goodreads: “Building up the sexual tension between these two is the heart of this book. When they finally give in, I was right there with them. They are HOT! … a quick read but so well written I did not want it to end.”

HUGE SALE OF SAPPHIC FICTION

GOING ON NOW!

250+ BOOKS

Book Bargain Bonanza

“You look like you’re miles away…” #SnippetSunday #SnipSun #WeekendWritingWarriors #EroticRomance #LGBGTQ #Sale #99cents #MFRWAuthor

by

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday, the weekly hops for everyone who loves to write – and read!
Click on the graphics to travel to the other snippets.

                                        

EXCERPT

Picking up where we left off last Sunday from the opening scene, at their 20th college reunion:

Janet remembered how much Brenda used to admire her long legs and hid a smile. Janet was a good head and a half taller than her old roomie. They used to get kidded a lot about being a feminine Mutt and Jeff duo. She’d always blushed and resented that comment—did any of their friends know they’d experimented with each other sexually?

Janet swallowed hard. It hadn’t happened often—not often enough for Brenda. But…Janet raised her eyes from her drink to meet Brenda’s intense gaze.

“You look like you’re miles away, or maybe years in the past.” Brenda reached across the tiny round table to clutch Janet’s hand again. “Hey, it’s okay. Isn’t that part of what reunions are about?”

Janet shrugged, but didn’t withdraw her hand.

BLURB

Janet Baxter keeps her post-divorce life neatly compartmentalized: Secure job, spacious Westchester County home, successful adult children, dependable community volunteer activities. Why is she drawn—for the first time ever—to attend her twenty-year college reunion in New York City?

Always a free spirit, Brenda Cassidy is comfortably bisexual and has no plans to ever settle down. But a fling? The reappearance of svelte, reserved Janet Baxter in Brenda’s life is nothing less than a gift, worthy of every enticement Brenda can conjure up. Can Brenda seduce Janet into an endless night of the lovemaking they enjoyed too briefly as college roommates? What if the lady wants more?

BUY LINK

ON SALE NOW FOR 99¢

https://books2read.com/u/bzn6RL

REVIEW

Five Stars at Goodreads: “Building up the sexual tension between these two is the heart of this book. When they finally give in, I was right there with them. They are HOT! … a quick read but so well written I did not want it to end.”

 

Release Blitz: Footwork, by TA Moore @tamoorewrites #Giveaway #LGBTQ #GayRomance @GayBookPromos

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RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Footwork

Author: TA Moore

Publisher: Rogue Firebird Press

Cover Artist: Tammy Moore

Release Date: September 10, 2023

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance

Tropes: First Love, Second Chance, Bad Boy, Grumpy One and Sunshine One

Themes: Forgiveness, second chances, family, redemption

Length: 57 000 words/ 90 pages

Heat Rating: 3 flames

It is a standalone book set in the same world/town as the Dirty Deeds series

It does not end on a cliffhanger

Goodreads

 

Buy Links

Universal Link

 

When your ex-boyfriend finally has the life he always wanted, it would take a real asshole to interfere with that…but not like Bode’s ever said he’s not an asshole.

 

Blurb

Bode Harlan has never claimed to be a good guy, but he’s trying to keep his nose clean and his head down these days.

After a year in prison for assault–and to be fair, he did it–he isn’t looking to go back. Admittedly, his pretty face being the star attraction in an illegal underground fighting ring seems to run counter to that goal, but he’s gotta pay the bills and there ain’t much else he’s good at.

And it keeps his parole officer off his back…since she runs the place.

Then his mom skips town and her boyfriend kicks Bode’s 14 year old brother out on the street. Bode grew up in and out of foster care, he doesn’t want that for Danny. It’s not like he can take the kid in, though. He’s an ex-con who gets beat up twice a month for money. That’s how he ends up on his good-natured ex-boyfriend’s doorstep. Sonny is a soft touch. At least he always was for Bode. All he wants is somewhere to crash for a couple of nights, nothing more. Sonny’s got his life together now–a home, a boyfriend, even a dog–and it would take a real asshole to want to blow that up.

…of course, Bode’s never said he wasn’t an asshole.

 

Excerpt

SONNY SLAMMED THE door. Or tried to. Before it closed, Bode shoved his boot into the gap, and the heavy wood bounced off leather and bone.

Bode winced and had the balls to look put out. The cooking show Sonny had been halfway through rattled on in the background. It wasn’t the soundtrack that Sonny had imagined for his first reunion with his sort-of ex. That had either been Driver’s License or Bad Guy, depending on his mood.

“Why do you assume I want something?” Bode asked. His hair was shorter than it used to be—making it look darker, more red than ginger—and a bruise had just started to bloom around one of his eyes. At some point, Sonny knew it would fade down to a marshy green that nearly matched Bode’s eyes. He’d seen that happen before.

Back when Bode’s bruises had been Sonny’s business. That had been a while ago.

“Why else would you be here?” Sonny asked. He could hear it in his voice—the dredged-up hurt, the once-broken heart—but he doubted Bode would notice. It wasn’t the sort of thing he cared about. Other people and how what he did affected them were not Bode’s area of expertise. Sonny checked the time. “At nearly midnight.”

Bode shrugged, one-sided and laconic. “Maybe I wanted to tell you I’m out.”

“You’ve been out for three months,” Sonny said.

“Keeping tabs?” Bode asked with a slow, smug smile. It probably hurt as it creased along the edges of the bruise, but he didn’t let that stop him. “I didn’t know you still cared.”

“I don’t,” Sonny said. It wasn’t true. He cared, but that didn’t have to mean anything. It didn’t mean anything. “Just pointing out you’ve had plenty of time to drop by, yet this is the first time I’ve seen you. What happened? We keep missing each other?”

“You always got up too early for me.”

Sonny was surprised at how angry that made him. He wasn’t stupid. Bode knew that. So why stick to his stupid lie when they both knew Bode wouldn’t cross the street to see Sonny, not unless he had an ulterior motive. His temper felt like a head cold, the pressure of it at the back of his eyes. Usually it took him a long, grudging time to get mad about something, but Bode had been an asshole for years, so that pump was about ready to blow.

Except Sonny didn’t like it when he lost his temper. He didn’t like being out of control. It never ended well. He bit the inside of his cheek, a knot of old scar tissue from the habit gritty between his teeth, and throttled the hot emotion back.

“Right, well,” he said. “Whatever. If that was the only reason you’re here, job done. Now I know. I’m glad for you.”

He opened the door. Bode had the balls to look smug, as if he’d known that Sonny would come round. More fool him. Sonny braced his hands flat against Bode’s chest and gave him a shove that made him stagger backward.

“You can still fuck off,” Sonny repeated and slammed the door.

He turned around and leaned back against the door while he waited. On the TV screen, a woman in a white chef’s coat was trying to do something to a side of beef with a coat hanger. The dog had taken the opportunity to crawl up onto the couch and bury her head under a cushion, as if there was no way Sonny would see her whole ass sticking out.

Five.

Four.

Three.

The idea that he might have gotten it wrong—that Bode might have actually fucked off—had just started to nibble at the back of Sonny’s mind. He hated—really, honestly hated—that it would bother him if Bode had.

It wasn’t that he deluded himself that Bode couldn’t leave things unsaid with him—that was how Bode preferred to leave things. It was just that they’d known each other since they were kids, and Bode didn’t easily give up on anything he wanted. It would be weird if that changed now. No, the reason Bode was here was because he wanted something.

And two…

“I need somewhere to crash,” Bode said through the door. “Just for a couple of nights, until I sort something out.”

 

About the Author

TA Moore is a Northern Irish writer of romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and contemporary romance novels. A childhood in a rural, seaside town fostered in her a suspicious nature, a love of mystery, and a streak of black humour a mile wide.

Coffee, Doc Marten boots, and good friends are the essential things in life. Spiders, mayo, and heels are to be avoided.

 

 

Author Links

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Giveaway

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Hosted by Gay Book Promotions



Why had she decided to come? #SnippetSunday #SnipSun #WeekendWritingWarriors #EroticRomance #LGBGTQ #Sale #99cents #MFRWAuthor

by

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday, the weekly hop for everyone who loves to write – and read!
Click on the graphics to travel to the other snippets.

                                        

EXCERPT

Picking up where we left off last Sunday from the opening scene, at their 20th college reunion:

Brenda glanced around the dimly lit college town hangout. “It’s hard to believe this place has barely changed in nearly twenty years, and we’ve changed so much.”

Janet nodded, glad for the change of subject—they’d spent too much time talking about her since arriving at the Golden Eagle. Brenda had suggested leaving the campus reunion party and checking out their old hangout. Janet thought that sounded good—she didn’t want others from their former house to hear her troubles. Why had she decided to come to a reunion after so many years anyway? She and Tom had never gone back.

Maybe that was why she’d come—she knew Tom wouldn’t. The campus was only half an hour from her Westchester County home. Still, it wasn’t like her to act on such a whim.

BLURB

Janet Baxter keeps her post-divorce life neatly compartmentalized: Secure job, spacious Westchester County home, successful adult children, dependable community volunteer activities. Why is she drawn—for the first time ever—to attend her twenty-year college reunion in New York City?

Always a free spirit, Brenda Cassidy is comfortably bisexual and has no plans to ever settle down. But a fling? The reappearance of svelte, reserved Janet Baxter in Brenda’s life is nothing less than a gift, worthy of every enticement Brenda can conjure up. Can Brenda seduce Janet into an endless night of the lovemaking they enjoyed too briefly as college roommates? What if the lady wants more?

BUY LINK

ON SALE NOW FOR 99¢

https://books2read.com/u/bzn6RL

REVIEW

Five Stars at Goodreads: “Building up the sexual tension between these two is the heart of this book. When they finally give in, I was right there with them. They are HOT! … a quick read but so well written I did not want it to end.”