Adriana Kraft

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

Time Travel

She couldn’t be real… #SnippetSunday #SnipSun #WeekendWritingWarriors #LGBTQ #EroticRomance

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.

                                        

This week I’m featuring my very first published romance novel, Colors of the Night. You can read the story behind it HERE.

EXCERPT

Set Up: The love goddess Aria materialized out of the northern lights…

Aria stretched forth her jeweled fingers, and Jamie found herself in a different space. Dozens of candles formed a ring in which the trio sat on colorful pillows, and shadowy images flickered across mirrored walls. It might have been an Arabian dwelling, a Gypsy tent, or a sacred Celtic chamber.

Jamie huddled closer to Ryan. Wherever they were, they were no longer in the Minnesota north woods. What had they gotten themselves into—and how were they ever going to get back to their tent? The goddess looked friendly enough, but she wasn’t real. She couldn’t be real.

BOOK INFORMATION

Colors of the Night
Series : Colors of the Night #1
Author : Adriana Kraft
Published by: eXtasy Books
Publication Date: July, 2009
ASIN : ‎ B003XREZ1W
ISBN: 978-1-55487-319-7
Word Count: 65000; Print length:‎ 180 pages
Heat Level :    four flames (explicit sex, FM, FFM, FF; sex toys)

BLURB

The dazzling and timeless love goddess Aria pays a visit to struggling thirty-something Jamie and Ryan Hazleton, who are on the brink of divorce.  When the hot sex that results from her first lesson cools to icy glares, Aria decides to move in with them and provide more experiential learning.  Can Ryan overcome his jealousy of Jamie’s uninhibited response to the delectable goddess? What if he succumbs to his own desires?  Only time will tell whether this love triangle with an immortal will ignite or extinguish the dying embers of Jamie and Ryan’s love.

 

BUY LINKS

PUBLISHER: Extasy Books

https://www.extasybooks.com/colors-of-the-night

Currently on sale for $2.50 from the publisher.
It’s easy to download Extasy books to your Kindle.
“Send to Kindle” instructions are at the top of the Extasy home page.

All Major Retail Outlets

UNIVERSAL LINK

https://books2read.com/u/3nDDJK

A Little Cosplay #MFRWHooks #EroticRomance #TimeTravel #LoveGoddess #Cosplay

by

This week I’m featuring my very first published romance novel, Colors of the Night. You can read the story behind it 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: When Jamie confesses one of her fantasies is making love on a grand piano, Aria transports her and Ryan to another dimension and sets the scene…

Swaying to the lilting score of the Abduction from the Seraglio, Jamie marveled again at how Mozart’s music filled her soul. Her fingers flew across the keyboard of the baby grand piano and the tempo increased. It was a splendid instrument, very responsive to the slightest touch.

The tempo slowed; she wiggled her bottom and resettled herself on the bench. She glanced at the door. There in the entryway stood a strange man dressed almost entirely in black.

Jamie played on, not frightened by the man, yet curious. His white ruffled shirt was open at the throat.  Black pants and boots were almost obscured by a black cape with a red lining, which the man drew across his chest once he realized she’d seen him standing there.  On his head sat a wide-brimmed black hat with one side turned up like a rough rider’s. Even more distinctive was the long red plume tucked into the hat band.

She continued playing while assessing the stranger. An extraordinary man, really.  To top things off, he wore a small dark mask. Was he Zorro come to protect her?  Was he a brigand come to plunder her? Was he the phantom drawn from the rafters, attracted by her opera music?

She played on, watching carefully as the stranger removed his hat and bowed deeply before her. He neither smiled nor frowned.  He said nothing.  She asked nothing.

He walked toward her, then came around the bench to stand behind her.  She couldn’t see what he was doing. She didn’t turn around. She played on.

Something light and fluffy grazed her neck. Jamie smiled.  She recognized the touch as coming from the stranger’s long red plume. It was soft against her skin.  She lowered her chin, offering more of her neck.

The man played with the plume, guiding it the length of her neck. He eased it toward her throat, and then let the tip of the feather play across her breasts, partially clothed in a sleek yellow dress.

She played on; not ignoring the stranger, but waiting. What will you do next, my masked man? When would she stop him?

BOOK INFORMATION

Colors of the Night
Series : Colors of the Night #1
Author : Adriana Kraft
Published by: eXtasy Books
Publication Date: July, 2009
ASIN : ‎ B003XREZ1W
ISBN: 978-1-55487-319-7
Word Count: 65000; Print length:‎ 180 pages
Heat Level :    four flames (explicit sex, FM, FFM, FF; sex toys)

BLURB

The dazzling and timeless love goddess Aria pays a visit to struggling thirty-something Jamie and Ryan Hazleton, who are on the brink of divorce.  When the hot sex that results from her first lesson cools to icy glares, Aria decides to move in with them and provide more experiential learning.  Can Ryan overcome his jealousy of Jamie’s uninhibited response to the delectable goddess? What if he succumbs to his own desires?  Only time will tell whether this love triangle with an immortal will ignite or extinguish the dying embers of Jamie and Ryan’s love.

 

BUY LINKS

PUBLISHER: Extasy Books

https://www.extasybooks.com/colors-of-the-night

Currently on sale for $2.50 from the publisher.
It’s easy to download Extasy books to your Kindle.
“Send to Kindle” instructions are at the top of the Extasy home page.

All Major Retail Outlets

UNIVERSAL LINK

https://books2read.com/u/3nDDJK

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

Happy New Year! A look back at my first published romance novel #EroticRomance #FFM #LoveGoddess @ExtasyBooks

by

Picture this: It’s early summer, and you’ve spent the day hiking and canoeing in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, barely south of Canada. After a comfy evening by the campfire, you and your main squeeze are snugly zipped into your sleeping bags inside your tent. You wake – and the sky above the lake is pulsing with light.

That’s the scene my husband and I wrote into the opening of our first published romance novel.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Do you have New Year resolutions? For me, the turning of the year is always a moment to evaluate where I’ve come and where I want to go. This year, Mr. Kraft and I took a moment to look back – we now have a total of fifty-eight published romance books available for sale, including novels, novellas, and a few short stories.

My 2024 resolution? To get these books back out in front of you, our readers, one a week, every Monday, through all of 2024 and then some!. I’ll share them in pretty much the order in which they were published.

THE STORY BEHIND COLORS OF THE NIGHT

Sometime in late December 2004, having completed three romance manuscripts and sent them off to countless editors and agents with nibbles but no contract offers, Mr. Kraft and I sat down and wrote out some goals. At the top of that list was become a published author in 2005.

Did we succeed? That depends on how you count it. We did sign our first contract late in 2005 – for a romantic suspense, to be published in 2007, with an e-publisher that released books on a schedule of one a week. We counted that a success.

Meanwhile we kept writing and broadened our submission targets to include a wider range of e-publishers. If you’re a relative newcomer to reading romance, you won’t remember those early days before Kindle and Nook. E-publishing first began to coalesce in the early 2000s, and the first e-books were released as PDFs. There was no such thing as an “e-reader.” An e-book was something to be read on a computer, and e-publishers faced an uncertain future.

The publisher who’d offered that first contract didn’t handle erotic romance, but they recommended another e-publisher to us for that genre. We submitted a synopsis and first chapter for Colors of the Night and were thrilled to have almost immediate acceptance – perhaps the two-week turnaround should have told us something, but we were still newbies. So was the publisher.

I still have a vivid memory of that first book release date, in September, 2006. The book released on a Friday, and we’d been traveling out west in our motorhome but were part way back, camped in Minden, Nebraska. The publisher hosted a reader chat with every release date – in order to participate, I had to hunker on a chair in the campground office to get internet reception.

One reader question from that chat is lodged in my memory: why a “love goddess” and not a “love god?” Because a love goddess is who turned up most often in our own fantasies, aided perhaps by some excellent adult videos written and directed by women. Colors of the Night staked our claim on what we love most and write most often: Happy endings for bisexual women.

Unfortunately for us, that first e-publisher (like so many early ones) went belly up in only a matter of months, and we were never paid any royalties. It took a while for our rights to be returned to us, but as soon as they were, we submitted Colors of the Night to the publisher we have stayed with ever since: Extasy Books, one of the earliest and longest-lived among e-publishers. It has been available through Extasy Books since July, 2009.

BLURB

The dazzling and timeless love goddess Aria pays a visit to struggling thirty-something Jamie and Ryan Hazleton, who are on the brink of divorce.  When the hot sex that results from her first lesson cools to icy glares, Aria decides to move in with them and provide more experiential learning.  Can Ryan overcome his jealousy of Jamie’s uninhibited response to the delectable goddess? What if he succumbs to his own desires?  Only time will tell whether this love triangle with an immortal will ignite or extinguish the dying embers of Jamie and Ryan’s love.

BOOK INFORMATION

Title: Colors of the Night
Series: Colors of the Night #1
Author: Adriana Kraft
Published by: eXtasy Books
Publication Date: July, 2009
ASIN:‎ B003XREZ1W
ISBN: 978-1-55487-319-7
Word Count: 65000; Print length:‎ 180 pages
Heat Level: four flames (explicit sex, FM, FFM, FF; sex toys)

EXCERPT

Jamie heard the tent zipper open and felt the rush of cool night air all in the same instant. Where was Ryan going in the middle of the night? Startled, she lifted her head and opened her eyes. A tiny sliver of night sky was visible through the open tent flap—and it was pulsating with light.

“Jamie. Wake up. You’ve got to see this.” Ryan’s voice was a whisper.

Did he really want her to join him? She hugged herself against the chill, grabbed her sweatshirt, and crawled out of the tent.

Ryan’s hands were reaching for her, so she took them and let him pull her to a stand. Tall columns of color—multiple hues of greens, blues, reds, yellows, and occasional whites—fell in a shimmering waterfall connecting sky and lake. The colors danced across the entire dome of the sky. She’d never seen anything like it.

They stood hand in hand for a long minute, then wordlessly walked down to the lakeshore and sat side by side on a low rock. Shrouded in rising mist, the lake seemed to be hovering between earth and sky with no boundary. Jamie lost herself in the throbbing rhythms of the dancing light.

“This is what I’ve been missing,” she heard herself say. “It feels like magic, like time is suspended. I wish we could catch and hold this moment forever.”

“I know,” Ryan replied. “It’s been difficult to remember such moments. I sometimes wonder what else we’ve forgotten.”

“You have each forgotten how to love.”

Jamie gasped and squeezed Ryan’s hand. “Who said that?”

Ryan shook his head.

“I said that.”

Jamie watched in awe as the mist swirled and collected itself into the shape of a stunning female. The image pirouetted as if to prove she was much more than a vision. Jamie tried not to stare. The woman’s copper skin was barely concealed in a gauzy white gown; Jamie could make out her darkened nipples as the image floated closer to them.

“You two need help.” The phantom shook her head, sending her long dark hair flying.  “Your marriage is crumbling. You care for each other, but you’ve forgotten how to love—if you ever truly knew how.”

BUY LINKS

PUBLISHER: Extasy Books

https://www.extasybooks.com/colors-of-the-night

Currently on sale for $2.50 from the publisher. It’s easy to download Extasy e-books to your Kindle. “Send to Kindle” instructions are at the top of the Extasy home page.

UNIVERSAL LINK for All Major Retail Outlets

https://books2read.com/u/3nDDJK

“You are nothing but natural. You always are.” #EroticRomance #LGBTQ #HolidayRomance#GypsyMagic #MFRWHooks

by

A little Gypsy magic, some time travel, the power to be invisible…
and with any luck, three can join the happy ending.

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!

BLURB

Always authentic, Assistant Mall Manager Joy Danser insists that her mall Santas must have real beards so children can believe. But even she is unprepared for the very real Santa who visits her bed invisibly this Christmas season. Is she dreaming, or has she gone mad? Joy consults Sophia Nardiz, manager of the Magical Gypsy shop at her mall. Sophia reads her palm and gives her a cryptic message: Joy is at a crossroads, and she must trust her intuition.

Owner of the Magical Gypsy chain and a true Gypsy himself, Nick Polaris is thrilled to play Joy’s Santa, in the mall and in her bed, but he knows it’s only a lark. For true love, he’ll need someone with Gypsy blood. Must he renounce the Scottish redhead he enjoys so much?

EXCERPT

Rated PG

Fuming, Joy swung her legs over the bed and padded toward the bathroom. Before she could reach the doorway, she collided against a broad chest. Strong arms encircled her to keep her from falling. A beard swept across the top of her head.

“I told you he’d say you were crazy.”

“Maybe I am.” She rested her cheek on his chest. “Don’t you ever wear clothes?”

“Why should I when I’m visiting you?” He slid his hands up under her night shirt until he cradled a breast in each hand. “I love your Elf shirt. Were you thinking of me when you put it on?”

“Yes,” she murmured. She shuddered when his lips mussed her hair. She peered up at him but saw nothing. His mouth settled across hers. His tongue traced her open mouth before exploring inside. She blinked. She was gone, just like that. She’d never been kissed more thoroughly. If he was a phantom, then he was also an expert lover.

“I’m pleased that I please you. I had many tutors. Of course, I wouldn’t mind if you kissed me back.”

“Oh. I was lost for a moment.” She poured her concentration into the kiss. She traced the little ridges along the roof of his mouth. She tapped and toyed with his tongue. She kissed the corners of his mouth and tugged playfully on his moustache.

“You are equally skilled.”

She giggled. “Must come naturally. I haven’t had that many tutors.”

“You are nothing but natural. You always are.”

REVIEW

Five Stars at Amazon: A fun hot story

I really loved this great joyful fun story! I loved the characters, Joy, Sophia, Nick, and “Santa”! It has an adventurous storyline that has some wonderful Christmas magic that you could read all year long. Tracey P.

BOOK INFO

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003XREXH8
Publisher ‏ : ‎ eXtasy Books
Print length ‏ : ‎ 63 pages
Word Count :21,674
Heat Level : Four Flames
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, Fantasy Romance, Paranormal Romance, Christmas

BUY LINK

Universal Buy Link
https://books2read.com/u/3nXJd6

Amazon US Link
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XREXH8/

And don’t forget to travel to the rest of today’s enticing excerpts!

He’d never been very patient with himself… #NewRelease #EroticRomance #Contemporary #TimeTravel #MFRWHooks

by

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!

Just Released: From Beyond the Curtain

Book Two of my Seren’s Story series that began in Wales
during the Roman Occupation of Britain.

BOOK INFORMATION

Title: From Beyond the Curtain
Series: Seren’s Story, Book Two
Publisher: Extasy Books
Release Date: July 14, 2023
Length: 22,500 words
ISBN: 978-1-4874-3897-5

EXCERPT

Set-Up: Here’s a peek at the hero – hard at work on his rehab after his initial appointments with Gwen:

“Damn.” Dante groaned, pulling the stiff green band across his chest to the right. His therapist had said this would help heal his rotator cuff injuries. What had she called the exercise? Horizontal abduction, if he remembered right. He didn’t really care what it was called. He could tell it helped. Already his shoulder was a little less painful—unless he skipped a day. That was motivation enough to keep going.

Still, after three weeks of rehab, he’d expected to be further along toward a full recovery. His therapist claimed he was making very good progress, given the extent of the initial injury. He grimaced as he repeated the exercise with the band. He might be patient as he prepared legal cases, as he coached kids on the ball diamond, or as he made love to a woman he desired, but he’d never been very patient with himself. He wasn’t used to functioning at less than full throttle.

He shook his head and continued the drill. Gwen McFarland was proving to be a tenacious coach. She never let up. Even when they took a break for him to relax a muscle, she would demonstrate yet more exercises. And her voice stayed with him even now. Stretch, relax, stretch.

Dante dropped the band and reached for the bottle of water he’d left on his den desk. Fortunately, her sense of humor encouraged him to go beyond what he thought were his limits. He also couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that he’d met her in some other place. But he couldn’t recall ever doing so. Certainly he’d remember the tall, dark-haired woman with copper-tan skin. He thought of her as his personal drill sergeant.

He swallowed more water, knowing he’d sweated out more than he was taking in. He smiled. She wasn’t all drill sergeant.

If you’d like a taste of steam from this story, check out yesterday’s Steam Hop post, which takes place much later in the book than today’s excerpt… https://wp.me/p9O7pv-3oG

BLURB

Is she a ghost? A visitor from another time and place? A siren? A temptress? Or just a meddling dream mistress?

Seren has bided her time for centuries, waiting for the moment when two of her descendants fall in love and release her, finally, from the place between worlds. The many gifts Seren has inherited from her ancestors—time travel, entering dreams, telepathic communication—have been unsuccessful thus far. Will Gwen and Dante be the ones?

Gwen McFarland has always been in touch with her Celtic roots. When Seren—who looks to Gwen like a Celtic goddess—materializes and invites her to a love tryst in another time and place, she does not hesitate. That Seren sometimes brings along another woman is simply an added benefit.

Fast paced trial lawyer Dante Emmanuel has no time for sentimentality or relationships. A string of satisfying sexual encounters suits him just fine. He’s mystified when a recurring figure enters his dream life, but he won’t turn down Seren’s exotic sexual talents or the dreams that now seem more real than ever.

Who will make the first move in this three-part game of chess? Timing is everything.

UNIVERSAL BUY LINK

https://books2read.com/u/3k6RNK

This is a blog hop! Click on the links to travel.


Dante Emmanuel carries much deeper pain than physical. #NewRelease #EroticRomance #Contemporary #TimeTravel #MFRWHooks

by

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!

Just Released: From Beyond the Curtain

Book Two of my Seren’s Story series that began in Wales

during the Roman Occupation of Britain.

BOOK INFORMATION

Title: From Beyond the Curtain
Series: Seren’s Story, Book Two
Publisher: Extasy Books
Release Date: July 14, 2023
Length: 22,500 words
ISBN: 978-1-4874-3897-5

EXCERPT

Set-Up: Seren has whisked Gwen away from her office desk, and they’re at Seren’s cottage in some other world. Picking up where we left off last week:

“In due time, my love, all will be clear.”

“Hmmm.”

Seren worked Gwen’s hair aside until she could nibble on an earlobe.

“That feels so good, Seren. But why would I like him any more than Elizabeth does?” A chill shot through her body and she turned to meet Seren’s gaze directly. “You’re trying to throw us together—you’re not going to make me love him, are you?”

Seren chuckled and nipped Gwen’s shoulder. “I don’t have that kind of power. I wouldn’t use it that way if I did. All our destinies are intertwined. I know that. I can’t change that, but neither can I make things turn out the way I hope they might. You are mortals, and I have to abide by your rules.”

“Well that’s a relief—if it’s true.” Gwen laughed softly. “Even so, I do trust that you must have some limits on how far you can interfere, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Clever girl.” Seren pulled away. “Your dark hair is luscious. You truly have the gifts and are in tune with our ways, with your roots. You are so much more in tune than Dante.”

“What do you mean?

“If you must know, Dante has the same gifts you possess, but he is only slowly becoming aware of them. Not enough to own them or name them. Perhaps you’ll help him claim his gifts.” Seren kissed her cheek. “Now you must return. I believe a mysterious man is on his way to seek your healing spirit.”

“I’ll do what I can. Physical therapy is what I do for a living.”

“Yes, but Dante Emmanuel carries much deeper pain than physical.”

BLURB

Is she a ghost? A visitor from another time and place? A siren? A temptress? Or just a meddling dream mistress?

Seren has bided her time for centuries, waiting for the moment when two of her descendants fall in love and release her, finally, from the place between worlds. The many gifts Seren has inherited from her ancestors—time travel, entering dreams, telepathic communication—have been unsuccessful thus far. Will Gwen and Dante be the ones?

Gwen McFarland has always been in touch with her Celtic roots. When Seren—who looks to Gwen like a Celtic goddess—materializes and invites her to a love tryst in another time and place, she does not hesitate. That Seren sometimes brings along another woman is simply an added benefit.

Fast paced trial lawyer Dante Emmanuel has no time for sentimentality or relationships. A string of satisfying sexual encounters suits him just fine. He’s mystified when a recurring figure enters his dream life, but he won’t turn down Seren’s exotic sexual talents or the dreams that now seem more real than ever.

Who will make the first move in this three-part game of chess? Timing is everything.

UNIVERSAL BUY LINK

https://books2read.com/u/3k6RNK

This is a blog hop! Click on the links to travel.