Tori Ross's Blog, page 8

Head Over Heels in Hawaii is FREE!

Head Over Heels in Hawaii is now free on all major retailers! Click the link below or the picture to download it. It’s also on Radish Fiction.

About HOHIH:

First in a new romantic comedy series by Tori Ross! Come along with the Calvert sisters as they find love and laughter far from home…

Cora Calvert is frustrated with her life and still sleeping in her childhood bunk bed. As if living with your parents isn’t bad enough, Cora’s job consists of measuring old women for bras instead of using her college degree in fashion design. When an opportunity for a trip to Hawaii comes about, she’s all over it and can’t pack fast enough. Even better, the tour is only for people in their twenties.

Cora’s excitement for the tour wanes when she learns the tour company assigns seats, and she’s stuck next to an arrogant jerk named Eric. Cora makes other friends and tries to ignore Eric’s green eyes and verbal diarrhea as she explores the islands, but Cora’s about to learn that first impressions can be very wrong.

The Traveling Calvert Sisters series is a series of shorts with 25-35k words. They can be read in any order. HEA or HFN guaranteed!

Now Available in Audio!

The Cuffing Season Contract, the National Indie Excellence Award winner for romantic comedy, is now in audio on Audible and iTunes.

Click here or on the picture above to be taken to the Audible page!

Blurb:

Savannah Smart comes back to her hometown, Evergreen Hills, to take over as the head librarian over the local library’s youth literacy program. She’s determined to finish her degree in library science and enjoy a quiet life as a town librarian. Her mother, however, has other plans for Savannah. When a local bar advertises a cuffing season speed dating event, Savannah’s mom signs them both up and convinces her daughter to give it a try.

Wilder Lynx is determined to remain single forever. He also has a new partner every year for cuffing season and even makes his partner sign a deal saying that their relationship ends after Valentine’s Day.

As the couple begins their cuffing season and their feelings for each other grow, they quickly realize they may be in over their heads. Can Savannah break the contract she signed and tell Wilder she wants him to stick around, or can Wilder put his pride aside long enough to void the contract?

Happy reading!

How to Access ALMOST any eBook in the World for $20 a Month

This blog isn’t for the people that buy a $5 romance eBook once a month. Carry on. Keep doing you. We love you. I’m also not talking about paperbacks or audio. This discussion is about eBooks only.

I’m going to talk to the people that voraciously read a book or two a day and want to read as much as they can for as little money as possible, including enjoying all books by big name authors and as many widely available authors as possible. This is for the people that mostly read in KU but get frustrated when a book they want to read isn’t there.

You can totally read big release books if they’re available through a mainstream distribution channel without breaking the bank or supporting sketchy hackers. You can do all of it for the same price as 4 lattes a month.

Step One: Get your Kindle Unlimited subscription for $12. Sure, I’m moving my romance wide over the next few months, but Kindle Unlimited is still a great deal. (My pen name erotica is there, so yes…I totes still love KU since I make my Subaru payment and pay for my kid’s piano lessons with it each month.) With KU, you can get your Haunting Adeline and your Meghan Quinn. You also support a ton of indie authors. You can read all you want for $12 a month.

But…some authors aren’t in KU. Many big authors aren’t there. How can you read them for cheap as voraciously as you read your KU authors?

Step Two: Get Kobo Plus. It’s now available in North America and it comes with a free 30-day trial. (I highly suggest the trial to make sure it’s a good fit.) Guess what? You can read wide authors (authors not in Kindle Unlimited) if they’ve chosen to be part of Kobo Plus. Click here for details.

Cost: $8 a month

For example, here’s a link to my book Loved in Las Vegas on Kobo Plus.

Don’t like my work?

Just kidding. That’s cool. There are plenty of options.

If you like Skye MacKinnon’s alien romance, you can get it on Kobo Plus. Like Rebecca Hefner’s vampire paranormal romance? It’s there. Some of Elle Kennedy’s books are there. Nana Malone has books there. Oh, and they have K Webster, Sam Crescent, Kristin Ashley, Sawyer Bennett, Kennedy Fox, and a ton of romance you won’t find on Kindle Unlimited because, well, they’re not on Kindle Unlimited. If that’s not enough…Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers series (commonly known as “The Beard” series) is in Kobo Plus as of the time I write this. You heard me. No hold time at your library or lamenting that your library doesn’t have the tax base to buy steamy romance necessary.

Let’s talk about that a second. A lot of libraries won’t buy the really steamy stuff for their collection unless it’s massively popular. If there are books you like that aren’t in KU or in your library collection, check Kobo to see if it’s in Kobo Plus.

Example: Lauren Biel’s Captured was banned in eBook format from Amazon for being too…extra. She took it wide and put it in Kobo Plus. It’s there. You may be able to find it in some library apps, but a lot of libraries stay away from content that pushes the envelope.

Note: If you read on any phone, iPad, or android tablet that’s not a Kindle, you can easily download the free Kobo app. If you read on a Kindle…Amazon can be a little proprietary about accessing the Kobo app on their device. Make sure you can get to it through your preferred device.

Step Three: For authors that are wide (not in KU) and have opted NOT to have their books in Kobo Plus, there’s Libby AND Hoopla if your local library has them. Cost: Free. This is a good choice to read authors like Tessa Bailey. She’s wide, but her books aren’t in Kobo Plus. I just read a couple of her books on Hoopla. I just finished Verity by Colleen Hoover on my local library’s Libby app. (I’m lucky enough to have a library that has both Hoopla and Libby. Your library may have both too.)

Why do I add this after Kobo Plus? Well, some people have library systems that don’t have a lot of money. They may only purchase big names for their Libby app or cap off Hoopla borrows for books to a certain number for each book. Hold times for some popular books can be insane. If you want to read an author not in KU, Libby is a good choice…if your library has the budget. Kobo Plus can fill in the gap for budget restraints and hold times.

Click here to see my blog on how to request a title from your Libby app if your library has not purchased it yet.

Here’s where it gets fun:

Long hold time in Libby for the new Colleen Hoover? First, check Hoopla if your library has it there. Wide authors mostly distribute to Hoopla, but each library has a checkout limit for books. Put the hold on at Libby, check Hoopla periodically during the hold time, and head to KU or Kobo Plus to read something while you wait. If the book is on Kobo Plus…score! And I know waiting for Libby holds sucks.

Wait, Tori…I’m looking in Libby and can’t find that Lucy Score I want to read. I see it in my library system in paperback but not eBook! She’s not even there to request a purchase.

Well, Lucy Score’s eBooks are in KU as of the time I write this, so it’s not available for library purchase in eBook format. See step one and read it in KU.

Wait, there’s a wide indie author I want to read, my library won’t purchase it for Libby, and we don’t have Hoopla. Answer: Check Kobo Plus because an indie is probably there if they’re wide.

You dig?

You’re welcome.

And happy reading!

Books to Read

Want some ideas for the weekend? I’m sure you’re capable of choosing your own, but I like to blog about books I’m enjoying or want to read.

Check out what I’m reading and some other book I’ve recently added to my TBR pile.

Currently Reading:

Hooked – Emily McIntire

This is a little darker than I usually read, but it’s a good story line, and I want to keep turning the pages.

Protecting What’s His – Tessa Bailey

I just started this on my library’s Hoopla app, so I haven’t read far enough to form an opinion, but I love me some Tessa Bailey.

And, yes. I read two or three things at once. I have a book that I own so I can take to the pool and get wet or read in the bathtub. (I refuse to use my Kindle in the bathtub.) I have a book I read on Kindle in bed at night. Sometimes, I keep a book in my car to read when I have appointments. (That’s usually a non-fiction or collection of short stories, though.)

Book Suggestions I’ve Added to My TBR:

The Other Side of Summer by Lyla Andrews

This looks so good. I mean…friends to lovers? Check. Second-chance romance, which is one of my favorite tropes? Check. Steamy scenes? Check.

Something to Think About: Samantha Baca

If you listen to Sitting Here, Reading Corn with Tori Ross, you’ll know Samantha Baca is one of my favorite guests. This book comes out the 30th, but you can pre-order it for 99 cents ahead of release date.

Hopefully, there’s nothing in here that will make me not want to eat salad for a month. (IYKYK.)

Recently Read:

The Pool Boy – Nikki Sloane

Holy smokes. The story was OK, but the steam…oh, my.

Verity – Colleen Hoover

Fun fact that I’ll probably be roasted for: This is my first CoHo. I’ve never read anything she’s written. OK, I have a problem with reading what “everyone else is reading.” I just don’t do it often. Even when I was younger, a sure bet for me not to read something was slapping an Oprah’s Book Club sticker on it or putting it front and center at Barnes and Noble. I’m like a bargain shopper in TJ Maxx. I like the obscure. I like to sift through clearance bins of unheard-of titles from eight years ago and find the diamond in the rough and then rave over it like a lunatic.

But this came up on my Libby app as available on the home screen, so I shrugged and read it.

I can see why people like her writing. This was good. Does it mean I’m going to go buy her entire catalogue? Nope. But it’s a great story, and I kind of guessed the ending, but I wasn’t totally correct, so I give this book mad props.

Post your comments below if you’ve read any of these. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Happy reading!

The Cuffing Season Contract Wins!

Well, yesterday was interesting. Around 5:00, I was at the pool with my oldest daughter and checked my phone. We were probably going to stay a little longer, but I ended up throwing my stuff into my bag, grabbing my towel, and bolting.

Yeah, it was an email I never expected to get.

The Cuffing Season Contract won the National Indie Excellence Award for romantic comedy.

To say that I’m over the moon wouldn’t even cut it. For about three hours, the adrenaline was so crazy, I felt like I could run a marathon.

If you know me, you know these tits don’t run. At all. If I’m running, someone’s trying to kill me…or I’ve won a book award and need to burn off some energy.

I’m humbled. I entered this year’s award season because I wanted to get an idea of the process for future books. I told my husband I’d be tickled if I even squeaked into a finalist position. (Finalists are hard to explain outside the book world, and I had to explain it to my husband last night. There’s one winner, and there are finalists. Basically, the judges probably have trouble deciding on a winner and mention books that are high in the running. Those books are awarded a finalist position. These books are also considered award-winning.)

I entered one other award and didn’t win or get picked as a finalist, so I kind of wrote off winning anything this year. I took Taylor Swift’s advice when she got snubbed for a Grammy…”I need to write a better book.”

To say that I’m surprised I won the rom com NIEA is an understatement, but I won.

You can find The Cuffing Season Contract on Kindle Unlimited until July 15. As some of you know, I’m moving my romance catalog wide this summer. Grab it in KU while it’s there. You don’t need to READ it by that date, just make sure it’s downloaded in your KU library. After that date, it will go to all major retailers and Radish Fiction.

A big thanks to the judges that liked it.

Happy reading!

Rocks is on Sale!

Rocks: The Complete Series is on sale June 17-22. Grab it for only 99 cents. You get all three shorts (Cherry Burn, Blue Balls, and Pistol Fire) included in the set. Click here or on pic below.

Grab it in KU if you want to read it there. It’s only there until July 15!!! After that, it’ll be wide on all major retailers.

Three shorts in one volume!!

Blurb: Deep in the sticks of Missouri is a bar called Rocks where the bartenders are only similar in the fact that they’re all unlucky in love…

Cherry Burn – Dylan Wilcox has been gone from Highlight, Missouri for ten years. Nobody has seen him or even received an email as to his location. Worse, he left his high school girlfriend, Cherry Moss, without saying goodbye when he disappeared. When Dylan shows back up in town, clearly changed in the past ten years, Cherry needs to decide if his story is worth her forgiveness and if she can get over her own demons about him leaving.

Blue Balls – Piper Peck loves her life, her friends, and her job. There’s only one problem. The local sheriff, Creed McDuffy, has it in for her over her grandma’s old hot tub that’s considered an eyesore by county enforcement. Unknown to Piper, Creed has had a crush on her since high school and will do anything to get her to look his way. When Creed goes too far and arrests Piper in a last-ditch effort to get her attention, can he ever grovel enough to get in her good graces?

Pistol Fire – Libby Dean is known for being the town pistol. Brock Carpenter is known for being the town’s hero fireman. When a fire at Rocks Tavern throws Libby for a loop, Brock wants to comfort her. Libby’s not used to comfort, though, and runs away from any affection as fast as she can. But when Brock needs his own comfort, will Libby put aside her pride and step up?

Each short is 12-14k words. HEA or HFN guaranteed!

Happy Reading!

How to Request Your Favorites on Libby!

Want to read your favorite author’s (cough cough) books on your Libby app? Why wouldn’t you? I mean…Libby comes with most library cards, and you can read the books for FREE. No subscription service required. Also, if your local library doesn’t have Libby, you can often buy a yearly subscription from other libraries for cheaper than THOSE other subscription services. Just saying.

(PSA- Use your local library!)

See below for a handy guide to requesting a book from Libby.

Step 1: Pull up your Libby App and search for your author or their book.

Step 2: You’ll see a list of all the author’s work that is available for library purchase. (Reminder, no Kindle Unlimited authors are allowed to have their book available for library purchase. Only authors/books that are WIDE can be requested.)

Step 3: Click on “Notify Me.” You’ll see this:

Even the library reminds you in the yellow section at the bottom that they may not acquire the title. However, it anonymously pings their purchase department that you’re interested.

That’s it! Easy Peezy, right? If the library buys the book, we get paid, you get to read the book for free, and everyone is happy.

Happy reading!

Cinnamon Rolls

Not THAT type of cinnamon roll…

We’re talking about cinnamon roll CHARACTERS in romance books.

If you like your romance with a dash of nice guy that makes sure his partner finishes first, there’s a new FB group that just opened today.

A few authors got together and made Cinnamon Roll Book Boyfriends. Click here to join or click on the picture below.

Come on over and chat your favorite cinnamon roll men in the romance book world or get some ideas for your TBR.

Happy reading.

Paranormal Romance Reads for the Summer

Read paranormal romance?

I’ve teamed up with some other authors to give you a great list of paranormal romance books for your beach trip. The list includes witches, vampires, angels, demons…(Nothing wrong with a demon-fucking book on your vacation.)

Winning the Witch is on the list. Paranormal/witch romcom. BTW- Winning the Witch is only on KU until the end of the month! Grab it now if you’re interested in reading it there. After June 27, it goes to all major retailers.

Click here to go to the Bookfunnel page, or click on the picture below.

Happy reading!

Readers and the Content Filter

Amazon did it again.

If you’re a reader and looking for a NEW steamy release that you’ve seen advertised on Tik Tok, you may be having trouble finding it.

There’s a reason.

In April of 2023, Apple and Google, the two main app stores, got miffed with Amazon about mature content. They said Amazon wasn’t doing enough to keep minors from accessing adult content on the Kindle app.

So, Amazon changed their way of uploading AND updating books so that the authors have to check a box on whether or not the book contains mature content. For example, when I load Contact High later this month, I have to check mature content to get some of the romance categories it needs to be placed in. Personally, I don’t market to anyone under 18, so I’m not fluffed with this in the slightest.

HOWEVER, it makes it harder for our adult readers that are used to flipping to Amazon and typing in our names to find our books.

(Authors only get erotica and steamy romance categories if they check the adult content box.)

Earlier today, I went in and updated my pre-order of All I Wank for Christmas. Guess what? All I Wank for Christmas disappeared from Amazon when I went to my Amazon account on my laptop and typed the title in the general search bar.

Why?

I panicked. When your book that was searchable in the morning suddenly isn’t by the afternoon, it’s a little scary.

Well, it’s because Amazon won’t allow it in GENERAL search now. I assume this is to avoid people searching for a Santa suit for their eighth grade Christmas play and finding my steamy Christmas romance book about a woman who works at a hand job parlor and gets swept away by Santa’s son.

So, I wrote Amazon and told them that I could not search my book. This is the response I got:

Amazon rep: “Books with adult content will not surface in general product searches but will surface in general Kindle searches for customers who choose to allow adult content. This is the reason you are unable to find your book in general product searches. If you’ve mistakenly marked your book as adult content then you can remove the adult flag by following the steps listed on our Help page.”

Well, this means that you can’t search a steamy book on the same search page where you buy a plunger.

You need to do both of these things if you’re a reader that wants the GOOOOOD new releases from your favorite steamy author or recent Tik Tok phenomenon:

#1- Click on either “Books” or “Kindle” and search in those sections. NOT on the general search page when you first come into Amazon. (Kindle device users should be able to search from the Kindle library as normal.)

#2- Make sure your Amazon settings allow for adult content.

When I flipped to the Kindle Store and searched on my laptop, my book appeared in search results. It also came up on my Kindle Fire, because I (obviously) have my filters set to allow in sensitive content.

So…readers, make sure you are searching your favorite steamy author’s new release in the KINDLE section of Amazon. And turn those filters off.

I hope this helps someone out there. Happy reading!