A single wrong assumption can be costly in Adriana Kraft’s new erotic romance release, Embracing Passion. Roseanne Falcon is a PhD researcher conducting unusual interviews with truckers. Thomas Walker is a seasoned detective, out to snare the stunning redhead he’s convinced is a prostitute. Can he overcome his deep-seated bias to make room for what’s possible?

Adriana, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about Embracing Passion.

Embracing Passion by Adriana Kraft

Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Book heat level: (based on movie ratings): R

A single wrong assumption can be costly…

Now in her late twenties, Rosanne Falcon’s life has finally come together—a Ph.D., a prestigious research job, and two exquisite lovers, one of each gender, to complete the package. The intense bond she shares with Simone Stone was augmented rather than broken when Simone met and married Boyd Roberts, and the three have forged a fulfilling polyamory relationship. More would only be trouble.

Widowed by a tragic accident several years earlier, Detective Thomas Walker is nearing retirement after twenty years on the police force and ready to change careers. Fully convinced the hot redhead who meets truckers at the rest area he’s staked out is a prostitute, he sets out to build his case against her. He is dead wrong, but each layer he uncovers of what she really does for a living challenges long held assumptions. Can he overcome his deep-seated bias to make room for what’s possible?

Tell us about yourself as a person.

What makes you different from other people?

A major difference is that “I” am not a single person – I’m two people. My husband and I write together under the pen name Adriana Kraft. I’ll add here that when you see “me” out and about on social media and blog posts, that’s almost always the solo me (she/her). Hubs and I plot, write, and edit together, but I’m our marketer in chief.

Another difference is that we’ve never fit into any traditional “box.” Neither one of us followed a straight career path. If an interesting opportunity came up, we took it. We joke that it’s because his astrological sign is Aquarius – free spirited, unpredictable, and never comfortable in any box. I’ve had no trouble coming along for the ride, and I wouldn’t trade anything for some of the adventures we’ve had.

What is your personality type?

I love throwing our MBTI types into questions like this – I’ll explain in a sec, for those unfamiliar. I’m INFJ and my husband is INFP. MBTI is a personality inventory that identifies a person’s style or preferences in four main areas:

Introvert (I) versus extrovert (E) – like most writers, both hubs and I are strong introverts, people who thrive on meaningful relationships with a small collection of others and don’t circulate well at cocktail parties (which, if you stand near a wall and just watch, provide lots of fodder for the next book plot).

Sensing (S) versus Intuition (N) – I suspect lots of writers also prioritize intuition over fact gathering, though I hope we’re sufficiently grounded in reality. Sometimes I wonder.

Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F) – You’ll notice we’re both focused on feelings. This doesn’t mean we never think – we’re a pair of retired academics, so there’s been a vast amount of intellectual endeavor across our careers. It means in making decisions we each value emotion and feelings more than lots of data and information. Naturally we pour those emotions into the characters we write.

Judging (J) versus(Perceiving (P) – ah, here’s the rub. Our one difference. I am quick to judge, not in the sense of being judgmental, but in making decisions. I see a problem or something to be reached for, and I’ve already figured out what to do and may have even begun to take action.

Fortunately my partner in crime has to take his time perceiving and processing the information, waiting for all the important elements to surface, and hold me back from silly mistakes.

He and I like to say that our first three MBTI dimensions means we both have our heads in the clouds, but at least one of us (him) can keep his feet on the ground.

What is your favorite book?

Since I’m the marketer, I get to cop to my own favorite here: Emma, by Jane Austen. My college English professor was a remarkable woman who shared that she kept the complete Jane Austen novels on her nightstand and simply started over again each time she completed them. I promptly purchased a set and read them all. My favorite moment in all her works is the moment Emma is walking in the garden with Mr. Knightley, suddenly becomes aware of her feelings and the risks she is facing, and suggests they take another turn around the paths. Moments where a women discovers both her true feelings and her inner strength—and then takes action—are what I love to read and something we both strive for as we write our novels.

Tell us about yourself as a writer.

What made you want to be a writer?

I’m talking about my half of our duo for this group of questions. I was already writing poetry by the fifth grade, and as a thirteen-year-old I took up a pen and began my first novel – which, thankfully, never saw the light of day. I remember researching all I could find out about the city where I placed my characters. I had a general plot – a teenage romance. My quiet, socially awkward same-age heroine was going to get the boy after all. After three chapters I must have been distracted by some other teenage drama, but I kept the pages in my memories notebook for years.

Learning early in our marriage that my husband had also always wanted to write fiction was a fortuitous gift.

What are your favorite books for writing advice?

Some years back, freelance editor Beth Hill created a PDF book called The Magic of Fiction. It covers all the elements a beginning fiction author needs to know – point of view, narrative tense, shaping characters, crafting dialogue, etc. – and as academics, hubs and I had a lot to learn about everything. For many years Beth ran The Editors Blog, and the website is still live with more in-depth treatment of all these elements: https://theeditorsblog.net/

I think hubs and I were browsing a Barnes and Noble in the era before e-books, and in the writing section this title leaped out at us: “Shut Up!” he explained. It’s a complete primer on writing realistic dialogue that will pull readers in, as opposed to bore them to death. If you think about it, most of what we say on any given day might be completely realistic dialogue, but we’d never put it in a book. Toeing that line, between real and readable, is a delicate balance.

What are your favorite reference books?

LOL! A decade ago we sold our house and took off around the country in our motor home for the next five years. We allowed ourselves a dozen print books each to travel with us – fortunately, the internet filled in the blanks. My huge Roget’s Thesaurus was one of them, and I still access it when the online version doesn’t pinpoint what I need.

Another one was the tiny Strunk and White Elements of Style. A longtime editor friend of mine once told me that before she sat down to start any editing job, she re-read this book to keep her grounded in the essentials. For years I followed the same habit – and the online version is now at the top of my favorites bar. The Elements of Style Online

And a third? The Chicago Manual of Style – now also online (for a fee). It’s my grammar bible, and yes, I still have to look some things up, though I suspect I’ve memorized a vast portion of it.

Where to buy Embracing Passion

Universal Buy Link https://books2read.com/u/bpYaYX

Adriana Kraft Social Media

Adriana Kraft is the pen name for a married pair of retired professors writing erotic romance and erotic romantic suspense 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. Whether readers open our romantic suspense or our erotic romance, they can expect characters they care about, hot sex scenes, and a compelling story.
Website https://adrianakraft.com
Blog https://adrianakraft.com/blog
Twitter https://twitter.com/AdrianaKraft
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AdrianaKraftAuthor
MeWe https://mewe.com/i/adriana1kraft
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kraftadriana/
Mastodon https://mastodonbooks.net/@adrianakraftbooks
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1578571.Adriana_Kraftub
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/author/adrianakraft
Get to know Adriana better by signing up for her monthly email newsletter – you’ll receive a free download of the sizzling erotic short story Swingers Light Up Vegas!
https://storyoriginapp.com/giveaways/d1c82f5e-9b43-11ed-8c5e-b712215e57d9