Tory Richards's Blog, page 147

Sneak Peek Sunday!

Link to participating authors
Bishop's Angel Excerpt                                           Bishop didn’t know the woman beneath him, but his gut told him that she knew him. The shock on her face revealed that she recognized him, and that she probably hadn’t broken into his sister and brother-in-law’s house. So why was she there, and where were they? He sensed a change in the woman beneath him. Her body relaxed beneath his, and suddenly he was lying on a soft, appealing woman who smelled of springtime, fresh and slightly floral.

The light above her head reflected the sparkle of green-gold, cat-shaped eyes that were fringed with thick black lashes. They were looking up at him now, filled with confusion and another emotion that he couldn’t name. Her thick brown hair was wild around her, framing her pretty face and naked shoulders. He sobered as his gaze swept over her partial nudity, the graceful curve of her shoulders, and the full curves of her breasts.

Fuck! All of a sudden the situation between them had changed. No longer were they combatants, fighting what they both had thought was a burglar. Bishop’s gut told him she had as much right to be there as he had. Her relaxing beneath him had allowed the tension to vacate his body, giving him the opportunity to become more aware of the woman, her alluring curves and the unmistakable crevice his cock was wedged between.

Hot…sweet…heaven.

He shook his head, realizing he was becoming mesmerized over her lush body, and an awakening urge he hadn’t been able to appease in some time. He hadn’t wanted to, not with his usual choice of woman. Her soft gasp told him it was too late to try and hide his erection, but he rolled away anyway and sat up on the edge of the bed. Police sirens in the distance were growing closer by the second.

“I know who you are,” her soft voice said from behind him.

LINK to participating authors!Welcome blog hoppers!Thank ...

LINK to participating authors! Welcome blog hoppers!

Thank you so much for joining us for the Hot Summer Romance Giveaway Hop! This blog hop is sponsored by the Insatiable Reads Book Tour. Because there are about 150 authors in this hop I'm keeping this post short so you have time to visit everyone.

Grand Prizes
First Prize - Kindle Fire
Second Prize – $50 Amazon.com gift card

In addition, every blog has their own prize as well! On my blog, all commenters will be sent a coupon for a FREE copy of Up in Flames.

Don’t forget to leave your email in your comment, and good luck!

Bishop's Angel has hit the door running! I'm proud to say...

Bishop's Angel has hit the door running! I'm proud to say it has already racked up several 5-star reviews, and I was just notified by All Romance Ebooks that it's ranked #7 on their best sellers list! How cool is that? If I could dance I would be right now:)

Amazon Reviews
All Romance Ebooks Best Sellers

For those of you who helped me celebrate my 20th release ...

For those of you who helped me celebrate my 20th release by signing up for my newsletter, liking my facebook fan page, and leaving a comment here between 7/14-7/16, I just sent out an email with a coupon for your free copy of Bishop's Angel. A couple of you didn't leave me email addys so if you don't receive the email you know why. Just get in touch with me.

Enjoy Bishop's Angel and I'd really appreciate you leaving your reviews at Smashwords and Amazon. Thanks!

LOL, it just occurred to me that I spend half the day ask...

LOL, it just occurred to me that I spend half the day asking the kids to hold down the noise so not to wake their daddy, and the other half sneaking somewhere to check on them because they're too quiet!

Bishop's Angel Release Day!

July 15th marks the release of my 20th ebook, Bishop’s Angel. When my first book became published in 2005 I never dreamed that I would reach this milestone. I don’t believe it’s a goal any writer sets, as who knows what life will bring, or what kind of distractions get in the way. 
During the years that followed 2005 I’ve had a best seller, attended the 2009 Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention, bought and sold several homes, traveled to Europe, experienced the joy of becoming a grandmother twice, lost my mom and soul mate, retired from Disney, and moved in with my daughter and her family.

In celebration, from 7/14-7/16 ONLY, get a free copy! Details on how are below.

1 – sign up for my newsletter, form at the top of the page
2 – like my new facebook fan page
3 – leave your email addy, and a comment here 
Bishop’s Angel
Blurb – After ten years of sacrificing everything for his country as a Navy SEAL, Bishop is looking for salvation, and a little something more permanent in his life. Angel, a pretty kindergarten teacher, thinks she's just what he needs. Their chemistry is instant, and explosive, only Bishop has trouble letting go of his commitment to his country. It's up to Angel to prove there's room for her in his future.

Excerpt –

“The police are on the way, ma’am. Where is the intruder now?” the operator asked.

Angel listened for a moment. “He’s still in the kitchen.”

“Is the intruder male?”

“No, no!” Angel said, and then quickly lowered her voice when she realized she’d spoken too loud. “I don’t know if it’s a woman or a man.” She’d been too afraid to look when she had the chance. Movement coming from the kitchen told her the intruder was still there, but for how long? She was crouched at the end of the couch, too afraid to turn around, frightened that at any moment she would be discovered. “Please hurry!”

“They’re on their way. Stay calm and—”

“I think he’s in the room with me!” Angel’s eyes rounded with fear when she sensed someone moving up behind her.

“Ma’am stay on—”

Angel knew the intruder was behind her now. She stood up, whipped around and slammed her phone into the side of his head with a piercing scream. All she could make out was a tall, dark outline.

“What the fuck—” a male voice boomed.

Angel let out another scream and slammed her hands against a massive chest, shoving him away from her as hard as she could. Her only thought was making it back upstairs to the safety of her room until the police arrived, but the second her palms landed on the man’s rock-hard chest she knew she was in trouble. He stumbled back but she had a feeling it was due more to her catching him by surprise than the force of her push.

She scooted around him but suddenly his hands were on her, and for a moment they struggled against each other. Angel was hyped up on adrenaline and a strong sense of survival, and she used her nails and teeth on the naked arms and powerful hands trying to subdue her. It gained her enough freedom to make it to the stairs but halfway up she found her ankle being grabbed, she fell, and then she was pinned beneath a heavy weight.

“No!” she cried out, struggling wildly against him. But she was no match for his superior strength and the honed muscles she felt beneath her hands. In no time his hands had wrapped around her wrists, and she was pinned against the stairs.

“Who the hell are you?” he demanded, his face too close to hers.

“Who the hell are you?” Angel demanded right back, twisting beneath him. It was then she felt cool air in places that she shouldn’t, reminding her that all she had on was a thin night-shirt and a pair of bikini panties. Judging by the super hard pecks she felt pressed against her breasts, her shirt had come undone, too. An insane thought crossed her mind, why he wasn’t wearing a shirt. She wiggled wildly, unintentionally scraping her nipples across his flesh.

“Stop before you get hurt!” he growled. In an effort to subdue her he pressed his body against hers.

“Then get off me!” Angel hissed, arching her body in an effort to throw him off her. His muscled thighs and powerful legs flexed against hers, easily holding hers still.

“Not until you tell me who you are,” he grated in a rough voice.

His warm breath slapped her in the face. “I live here,” Angel said without hesitation, glaring up into his shadowed face. She was aware there was no way he could see her because it was too dark.

“The hell you do.”

How did he know that? “The police are on their way so I suggest you let me up and get out of here.” Her energy was beginning to wane. He was too strong and big, and the longer they remained like that, the more she began to feel uncomfortable with their intimate proximity.

“Good. Then we can get to the bottom of this.”

That wasn’t the kind of response an intruder would make if he were caught in someone else’s house. Maybe he was delusional or something. Angel decided to switch tactics. “These stairs are hurting me,” she said weakly.

Things grew still between them and she sensed his silent contemplation, as if he were wondering if he should believe her. She whimpered a little for good measure.

“Okay, I’m going to let you up, but don’t try anything stupid,” he warned.

The second he released her and lifted off her body, Angel got to her feet and dashed the rest of the way up the stairs.

“Son of a bitch!” he cursed behind her.

Angel slammed and locked her bedroom door in his face. She didn’t know what she hoped to accomplish, except to get away from him until the police arrived. What was taking them so long? She ran to one of the windows and opened it. Maybe she could push out a screen and—

Without warning her bedroom door was kicked in. She screamed and made a beeline for her connecting bathroom.

“Oh, no, you don’t.”

A muscular arm wrapped around Angel’s waist and she was lifted off her feet. “Let me go!” She wiggled and kicked, very much aware that her butt was against a very intimate part of his body. Burning heat replaced the fear flowing through her blood because his cock wasn’t as flaccid as it should have been.

“Look,” he slammed her down onto the bed and for the second time she found herself pinned beneath his superior strength. “Before this goes any further I think we need to talk.”

“You can talk to the police,” she panted, twisting beneath him.

“I intend to,” he said without hesitation. There was a confidence in his tone that surprised her.

Without warning he reached up and turned on the reading light at the head of the bed. How did he know that was there? Meeting eyes the color of blue topaz, everything in Angel froze, including her breath. Oh God, I know those eyes! She didn’t know the man personally, but she knew of him from the pictures on the fireplace mantle downstairs. He was Diana’s older brother, and Navy SEAL Bishop Strong. Suddenly everything made perfect sense.

After six years, he’d finally come home!


Smashwords
Amazon Author Page

Hey guys, I've been busy the last few days putting the fi...

Hey guys, I've been busy the last few days putting the finishing touches on Bishop's Angel for the release date on Monday. I'm so excited! I asked a few readers on face book to look it over for errors and so far they all loved it. One has even added a 5-star rating on Goodreads. Wow!

By the way, I added an excerpt on the excerpt page so check it out while you're here.

Not Everyone Can Write

I read a complete disaster yesterday. I'm not going to say who wrote it, but it was a short erotic romance that had so many issues that I couldn't find one nice thing to say about it. Well, okay, it had a nice cover. Unfortunately that alone will get readers to pick it up. 

I left a negative review, then thought twice about it and deleted it. I did, however, leave the one-star rating. It didn't surprise me that the story already had one star, what shocked me was that someone actually gave it a four. 

This story actually insulted me. It was a clear example of what is giving indie authors a bad name. I'd just read an article that slammed indie authors for the very examples I found in this book. Anyone can write and publish a book now, but if crap like what I saw yesterday inundates the market, readers aren't going to take a chance with indie authors for long. They'll go back to purchasing from publishers.

It  had no formatting of any kind, missing words, point of view problems, missing punctuation, misspelled words, obviously no editing was done, and a lot of it didn't even make sense. I had to wonder if it was written by a child. 

This author has five books out, and all have really nice covers. I can only imagine what's inside if they're as poorly written as the book I read. I really hope someone, a friend possibly, is honest with her to point out that she needs to attend some writing classes. 

I'm not perfect, no one is, but my goal is to put out the best product that I can. Especially with the stories I self-publish. I can only hope that I'm doing that.

Rave Review for Instant Attraction!

I say it's a rave review because the reviewer, Jennifer, did a  fabulous job of writing it. You can read the whole thing at Romance Novels in Color . Below is just a snippet.


There is a trifecta of elements that make this story fun. The plot was light with a minimum of fuss and a refreshing lack of fluffy filler phrases. The characters have chemistry and in spades. And lastly, there are spots of laughter that make this a strong read for those who are too busy to go for the heavy stuff, but want to get spirited away at lightning speed while still enjoying the ride.

-Reviewed by Jennifer

New Release Contest!

I'm so excited to announce that Bishop's Angel, my 20th book, will be released this month on the 15th! In celebration I've decided to hold a little contest, which runs from 7/1-7/15 where one lucky winner will receive a download of Bishop's Angel, and a $25 Bath and Body Works eGift Card. Please use the rafflecopter below. And feel free to let your friends know! 

Blurb - 
After ten years of sacrificing everything for his country as a Navy SEAL, Bishop is looking for salvation, and a little something more permanent in his life. Angel, a pretty kindergarten teacher, thinks she's just what he needs. Their chemistry is instant, and explosive, only Bishop has trouble letting go of his commitment to his country. It's up to Angel to prove there's room for her in his future.


a Rafflecopter giveaway