Hi! I'm Tori
I'm a Texas gal, born and raised!
I live in San Antonio with my incredible husband, teen daughter, a cat and a yorkie.
I have always been a reader. The Sweet Vally High series hooked me in junior high and I have been reading ever since. Now it's my turn to write the stories to hook the readers. I look forward to writing stories and characters you will love.
Fun Facts
1. I LOVE food and trying new restaurants. I follow foodies on IG so we know where to try next. I even geeked out when I saw a food writer for the local newspaper at a restaurant where I was dining. LOL
2. We love to travel and explore new cities. Can't wait for our next European vacation.
3. Wine is my Spirit Animal. My goal other than becoming a best-selling author? To be a wine snob, of course.
Podcast Interview
(Transcript provided by Sonix)
[00:00:00] Toni Kirkland
I am Toni Kirkland with the Hidden Bookshelf Club, and I am joined tonight with Tori Alvarez. She
is a author and we are going to find out more about the author behind her stories. So, hello, Tori.
[00:00:24] Tori Alvarez
Hi, how are you?
[00:00:26] Toni Kirkland
I am trying to stay warm.
[00:00:29] Tori Alvarez
Yes, I know. I'm here in Texas and we just got another cold front and it's going to get colder.
[00:00:37] Toni Kirkland
I'm in I'm in Georgia and it's supposed to be eight degrees this weekend.
[00:00:44] Tori Alvarez
Oh, that's brutal. That's So you're a Southern girl, too. So, you know, we're not used to the cold.
[00:00:51] Toni Kirkland
I'm originally from western North Carolina, so I'm used to some snow at Christmas time. But I'm
like, I moved further south, like I'm in Georgia now. We're not supposed to be cold.
[00:01:05] Tori Alvarez
Completely. Understand?
[00:01:08] Toni Kirkland
So you write the Men of Graffiti Arts, the graffiti art series.
[00:01:16] Tori Alvarez
I did. That is the first series I have. That wasn't my debut. But yes, that came right after my
debut. And it was a series that was never supposed to happen.
[00:01:29] Toni Kirkland
Well, they're definitely eye candy, so I'm happy they did happen.
[00:01:34] Tori Alvarez
Yes. When I had, I always thought I was just going to do stand alone. So I always knew I was going
to write romance. And I did my first book, my debut, which was naive in love. And then I had the
idea for Beautiful, Beautiful Collision, the first book in the series, and I put it out in the
world and the reviews started coming in and they were asking for more stories about the side
characters and my secondary characters, and we want more Alex, which is the main character, the
heroine's cousin, older cousin and his brother Harvey. And I hadn't thought about doing stories for
them. It was just going to be her story. And I was onto I was already on to my next project. And so
it started kind of marinating in my head and I was talking to some other friends and asking them,
what should I make this a series? I didn't even have a story. And it just became a series because
the story finally came after some brainstorming with
others. And so now we do have the graffiti art series.
[00:02:56] Toni Kirkland
Well, I'm very glad that we have the graffiti art series, and I think some of the best books come
that way. Like they're not intended to come out, but they're like, Yeah, I'm going to be written.
[00:03:08] Tori Alvarez
Yeah. And it seems like when the secondary characters I just read a post on Instagram, I think it
was how all of these interconnected series happen. If the secondary characters play such a good
role and they're developed enough, know you want to have more of their stories and you want to know
what happens to these other characters in the story. So I'm just glad that my secondary characters
resonated so well and almost took over.
[00:03:42] Toni Kirkland
Yeah. Some of them refuse to stay in the shadows.
[00:03:47] Tori Alvarez
Yes. And so I'm currently working on a new project and it is going to be a spin off. So some of the
characters you met very briefly, except for one, which is the older brother of the heroine in my
last book, Beautiful Serenity. It's going to be her brother and his friends, and they're getting
their series mixed.
[00:04:14] Toni Kirkland
I'm intrigued.
[00:04:16] Tori Alvarez
Yes. But her brother is not going to be the first book. That's a twist.
[00:04:22] Toni Kirkland
Of course not.
[00:04:24] Tori Alvarez
Because it didn't work that way. The story that had already kind of been formulated in my mind
actually was not going to be like it was just a story. I just had kind of the overall gist of the
second chance and how it developed and things of that nature. I just didn't have characters to
attach that storyline to. Until I thought about one of the characters, one of the older brother's
friends, and thought, Oh, this is perfect, and was able to attach that story to him and it's just
fitting perfectly.
[00:05:05] Toni Kirkland
That's awesome. I love when the plot and the character is line up. Yes. So a little about you is I
hear that you like food and wine.
[00:05:20] Tori Alvarez
I do. I am a big foodie. A lot of our trips are based around where we're going to go eat and what
we're going to explore. I have become somewhat of a wine snob, and because I wasn't a wine drinker
before until about maybe ten years ago. And slowly I've started to appreciate wine and all of its
intricacies, because it is it's there are so many different flavors and and notes and things of
that nature. So I'm really enjoying that. And I'm lucky that we have the whole country so close to
me and we have Highway 290, I think it is, which is wine country. So we have like I think over 50
vineyards about an hour away. And so that's a fun place to go and just spend an afternoon.
[00:06:23] Toni Kirkland
That's awesome. Well, I mean, it would it would be very fitting to love wine when you live and
enjoy the wine country near you.
[00:06:32] Tori Alvarez
Yes. And I was able to use that location to build my novella Love's Influence around. So my
novella, Love's Influence, is all about food and wine and, of course, a spicy romance.
[00:06:52] Toni Kirkland
But that just pairs, right? Food, wine and romance.
[00:06:57] Tori Alvarez
Oh, yeah, definitely. And a little bit of adventure, too, because, I mean, we have it's the hill
country. You have to have some sort of adventure, too.
[00:07:05] Toni Kirkland
Yes.
[00:07:07] Toni Kirkland
So do you have a favorite food currently?
[00:07:14] Tori Alvarez
So as much of a foodie as I am, my favorite food will always and I have said this since I don't
know, young. Young is a cheeseburger. I am just in awe of cheeseburgers. You know how the joke is.
What would your last meal be? You know, and a cheeseburger. I want a greasy, cheesy cheeseburger or
burger for my meal. That is the nice crispy fries. So as adventurous as we get with food, I will
still come back to a cheeseburger.
[00:07:53] Toni Kirkland
Well, now I have to ask, what do you eat on your cheeseburger?
[00:07:57] Tori Alvarez
You see, I'm simplicity. I only like lettuce because I feel like everything else takes away from
the meat. So if you have good beef. You want to taste it. And the cheese just accents it, too. And
the lettuce gives it a nice cooling sensation. But I'm not a fan of tomatoes at all, so no
tomatoes. Pickles overpower everything so you can't have pickles, onions overpower can. And I want
to taste the meat, and I'm sure that could be used in so many bad ways. What I just said.
[00:08:42] Toni Kirkland
Well, you are a romance author.
[00:08:44] Tori Alvarez
Yeah. My mind automatically went there.
[00:08:49] Toni Kirkland
So what? Since you've become a wine snob, what is your favorite wine?
[00:08:57] Tori Alvarez
I really like Malbec now. So it's a Spanish or Argentine wine or I guess that's where the grapes
originated from. Now, other regions are making it, of course, but I think primarily it was an
Argentine grape. And I like that bridle. I do like them all back. I like the boldness of it.
[00:09:25] Toni Kirkland
Hmm. I don't know if I've ever had an Argentine grape. Yeah. But now I'm intrigued.
[00:09:32] Tori Alvarez
There's so many out there, like different grapes and where they originated from. And I mean, it's
just a whole slew of crazy information. And I may even be wrong about where that the Malbec grape
is from. But I want to say it is because that's where you find the most Malbec. The wine store is
under the Argentina section.
[00:09:57] Toni Kirkland
Back in North Carolina, we are known for Muscadines, which they use to make wine.
[00:10:05] Tori Alvarez
And that's a grape?
[00:10:08] Toni Kirkland
Yes. Muscadines and scuppernogs. They're both grapes.
[00:10:12] Tori Alvarez
Okay. So is there sweeter? Is that like, the most the moscato? Is that what the grapes the
mosquitoes are made from?
[00:10:20] Toni Kirkland
I'm not 100% sure. I know that they make Muscadine wine.
[00:10:25] Tori Alvarez
Oh, I've never had that one. So that one's new to me.
[00:10:30] Toni Kirkland
See. Now you have something new to try.
[00:10:32] Tori Alvarez
I do. Now I have to go look up some new wines to try.
[00:10:39] Toni Kirkland
So you also like to travel. Do you pair your travel with your wine and food or do you travel and
then pick your wine and food?
[00:10:52] Tori Alvarez
So both. So sometimes we pick trips based on like when we went to Napa, of course. But for the
wines in particular vineyards that we wanted to try and to visit. But other trips, we take the trip
and then we look at look to see. And it's not always wine because I'm also an appreciate. I
appreciate all kinds. I'm a beer gal and a cocktail gal, so it just depends on where we go and what
we're going to be doing. But I'm a beach girl, and a Beach girl also loves frozen drinks and cold
beers where when cross our fingers, we hope to be taking a trip back to Europe and Italy. And of
course, that's the wine type of trip. So it just depends on where we're going. And then we kind of
look up the food and whatever we're going to be exploring.
[00:11:58] Toni Kirkland
What has been your favorite place to visit so far?
[00:12:03] Tori Alvarez
My favorite place. My favorite city is Florence. Florence, Italy. It's it's just amazing. Just the
architecture and the people and. The vibe that the city gives. So Florence, Italy is definitely my
favorite city. I've been there twice. Once when I was in high school, we did one of the high school
trips, like month long European trips. And then the second time I went was on my honeymoon and my
husband loved it. And he were always joking around and saying, you know, we're just going to sell
everything and move to Tuscany and close to Florence or move into move to Florence. So that has to
be my favorite city now. My second favorite vacation that we took as a family has to. It's a tie
between Vancouver, Canada and Puerto Rico, both just because of the adventure, the people, the
food, just both of those places were amazing to visit.
[00:13:17] Toni Kirkland
I've heard that Florence is definitely got its own atmosphere and it's also referred to a lot for
the romance. Side of its. Atmosphere. Is that true?
[00:13:31] Tori Alvarez
I don't know. It's just Florence. Or if it's just Italy? Just the country and. The culture because
there's so open and there's so just I don't know, maybe or maybe it's just the. From how we
romanticize the country because we did two cities. When my husband and I were there for our
honeymoon, we did Florence and we did Venice. And I want to say just the gondola rides and the
little cafes which are both in Venice and in Florence, but in Venice there's no cars because you
don't have the streets. All everything is the canal ways.
That one just seemed to be more romantic to me than Florence. But the. Atmosphere and the culture,
I think maybe is what we think of when we think of that romance in Florence.
[00:14:35] Toni Kirkland
Yeah, I always. Especially with the gondolas going down the passageways. And I mean, the only
pictures that I know of Florence are like older pictures from. I'm not sure if it's the medieval
times, but it's definitely back in that time of. Well, but.
[00:14:56] Tori Alvarez
That's the thing about Europe is that they don't update, if that makes sense. It's like their
buildings still look the same because they may renovate, but they keep that traditional. The way it
looks just it's just beautiful. So, I mean, you may have pictures that are recent but may look
older just because the buildings are so old, You know, I don't know. Hundreds of years old,
probably.
[00:15:26] Toni Kirkland
Yeah. So your your honeymoon, What, or on the trip by yourself, what was your favorite thing that
you did in Italy?
[00:15:39] Tori Alvarez
Who in Italy? I don't know. Just exploring because it was my honeymoon and. Well, and even in high
school, it's just the exploration of someplace new. Now you never know what you're going to find.
So when we did our honeymoon, we didn't have an itinerary and we didn't book the. Those buses or
those tour guides or anything. We bought a book, a tour guide book before we left this the States.
And you know, for a couple of months before then, we just kind of highlighted the must sees, we
must do the statue of David or we must do a gunfighter, and we put like our must haves and then
everything else we just stumbled across. So we did what we a must have, maybe during the day. And
then everything else was by accident. And that's what I love that we have made. Maybe missed
something that a tour guide would have given us, but then we might have stumbled on to something
new that wouldn't have happened. So I just like that sense of surprise that it gave us.
[00:16:56] Toni Kirkland
I love the adventure of it. Yes. So going back to being an author, what is something that you would
tell a new author? What kind of advice would you give them?
[00:17:18] Tori Alvarez
I think it all depends on the goal of the author or the. Person going into this industry because
there are so many ways to go about publishing or not so many ways. I mean, really to but the way
you get there. So if you're going the traditional route, it's so much different than the Indy
route. And because I'm an indie author, I can really only speak. You know knowledgeably about my
indie journey. Because I don't know one thing about querying agents and having the agents, you
know, sending your manuscript to the big publishing houses. I do have a couple of friends that are
or have or are currently taking a hiatus from writing, but a hiatus from publishing because they've
published indie and are now looking to do it traditionally. So and it's it's a long process and
it's a patient process and it's a process of a lot of rejection. So. If you want to do the indie
route. It's not any easier, though. It may be faster, but is so much work and there's so much to
learn because you're not just writing and putting your book out into the world, you're writing the
book, you're having to design it. The cover are finding people to hire, to design a cover. You're
finding your own editors, you are doing your own marketing. You're doing everything that a
publishing house would do for you. You're doing all of that on your own. So both have so many pros
and cons.
[00:19:21] Tori Alvarez
I am choosing indie and I'm going to continue indie for the foreseeable future because I like the
freedom that it gives me. I like to be in control of my covers and not having anybody tell me. What
it's going to be, because sometimes you lose that autonomy when you go with a publishing house. I
like to write my stories. I am a mexican American woman. And so my characters all have, or each of
my book has had a Hispanic character or characters. From my debut to the one I'm currently writing.
They are all Hispanic characters, so I like to have my voice in my characters, and I know that
resonates with a lot of Hispanic and teen voices or people and being able to see themselves in the
characters that I write. So I want to make sure that I keep that part of me. So for right now, that
is you have to figure out for a newbie author, you have to figure out where you want to go and how
you want to approach it and get that footing first. I jumped into it. I can involved in. So I made
so many mistakes on my way in. But now I'm in a place where I know what I know and I know that I
don't know so much more. And so I know I'm always open to learn and to grow. And so just finding
which path you want to take.
[00:21:10] Toni Kirkland
Want to follow up with that. With hindsight being 2020. Is there anything you wish you would have
known when you cannon balled into it?
[00:21:20] Tori Alvarez
Yes. It would not have stopped me from cannonballing in because I didn't take the time to to learn.
I can indulge in because I was at a point in my life that I needed to do something. My mom had just
been diagnosed with breast cancer. And I was just kind of lost and I was trying to find my footing
somewhere. And so I just can't involved in because of that. I had been writing for years before
then and I had the book written about 90% my debut and not even Love. It was like 90% written. And
when we got that diagnosis, I was just kind of scrambling and I needed to do something. And I
always wanted to be a writer and I always wanted to be an author. I just maybe didn't believe in
myself enough to do it. But when that happened, I just went straight, just dove right in. So even
if I had known it back then, I don't think I was in the mindset to listen to it. So what I would
tell the newbies is to find your tribe first, find those mentors that can teach you along the way.
And that's what I talked about, about so many mistakes I made along the way, because I can involved
in is I didn't have a tribe. I didn't have anybody to lean on. I didn't have anybody to bounce
ideas off of. I didn't have anybody to tell me, Oh, that's not a good idea. Hit pause and let's
kind of talk this out, which I do now. And I love that tribe that I've found of other friends. So
my journey led me and I had to take the path that I took. But if you can and if you're doing your
research, which you should always be doing, find your tribe, find those people to learn from and do
your research.
[00:23:26] Toni Kirkland
So I'm going to jump a little on that research. Is there any books that you're reading currently?
Not necessarily for research. Could be for entertainment as well, but what is on your bookshelf or
nightstand right now?
[00:23:42] Tori Alvarez
Actually nothing is on because when I'm writing, I usually don't read so much. And since I'm right
in the middle of my story, I don't really read much. So I just finished for entertainment law, This
and the Mafia. That was the last book I read. I do have a few that I want to read, so I my
Christmas break. I'm in education, so I have a couple of weeks off, so I'm going to kind of plan it
around writing and blocks of time or days of time and then giving myself a couple of days to binge
a few books. And I have so many on my TBR, so I don't know what I'm going to be pulling up first.
But craft books, those are usually audio books, those I listen to in the car.
[00:24:41] Toni Kirkland
So are you more obviously the audio is for your car, but are you more audio Kindle paperback?
[00:24:49] Tori Alvarez
I read mostly on my Kindle. I'll read some paperback, but always on my Kindle and not Kindle app on
my phone. I have my my actual Kindle with the backlight so I could read in bed in the dark so I
don't disturb my husband. So I always read on my Kindle and my Kindle goes everywhere with me. And
now if I love a book, then I buy the paperback just so I can look pretty on my shelf.
[00:25:17] Toni Kirkland
That's a good way to do it.
[00:25:18] Tori Alvarez
Yes.
[00:25:20] Toni Kirkland
Before we wrap up, who is your either your mentor or author or your favorite author?
[00:25:29] Tori Alvarez
Well, I wouldn't call her a mentor. But Colleen Hoover is who inspired me to kind of start writing
and why I took the journey that I did. I read an interview with her years ago before she became
what she is now. And it talked about. Why she was writing and she had so much time at her kids, at
her son's practices, and that she just started writing while they were at practice. And so my
daughter at the time also was an extra curricular extracurricular. And I started writing. That's
when I started writing my debut debut novel is when she was at practices and I was just sitting
there for an hour waiting for her, and she inspired me to do it and just how she published
independently and how her sisters and family just really rallied around her and help get her name
out and her book out and everything else. And I just love her writing. I love her books. And so
she's kind of like the inspiration behind it all. But Melanie Smith is probably my biggest mentor
any time I have a question, she is always there. She is such a sweetheart with so much knowledge
and a wonderful spicy writer, like deliciously spicy romances. And so she is probably she's one of
the first people I met when I. Jumped in and didn't know what I was doing and was making so many
mistakes. She had such a gentle way of telling me the mistakes I was making at the time, and now I
just like, I'll know I'm making mistakes or I can feel the mistakes and I'll just go to her. It's
like, hey, And you know, I can you know, I know that she's going to give me good, honest feedback
and, you know, just she's just a gem.
[00:27:45] Toni Kirkland
I love it. I love when we find our people.
[00:27:48] Tori Alvarez
Yes. And, you know, there are so many others that I have met also that I have come to rely on for
just different questions or just support or venting. There's just you know, it's those people
around you that just really keep you going in this industry that can be so hard.
[00:28:15] Toni Kirkland
Yes, my advice is definitely never tackle this industry alone.
[00:28:22] Tori Alvarez
Yes, that is very true. I tried and fell flat on my face.
[00:28:28] Toni Kirkland
So one last question before we wrap up is what is your big goal for 2023? What can we expect?
[00:28:37] Tori Alvarez
So my big goal for 2023 is to have Natalia's book out. I don't have a title yet. I have an idea of
a title, but it will be the new the first book in the new series. I will be releasing my novella,
Miss All My Son, probably late Spring. It is a story that's already written and it's already been
published. It's in the anthology that is out right now, and actually it's going to be unpublished
on December 23rd because our six month run for that anthology is up. And so that one is going to be
actually kind of like a little prequel, a taste to the new series coming out, because Matteo and
Natalia are both in that book or that novella as supporting characters. So you kind of get a taste
of them before they meet up because they are a second chance romance. And the next project I have,
I can't give too much information about because it's not just my own project. It's going to be
another anthology that we have discussed to come out in November. So it will be a fall release.
It'll be six authors total, so myself and five others, and I can't give out any names yet because
we aren't there quite yet, but just know that we are all so excited about it. We are ecstatic and
I've left little hints here and there on Instagram stories. So if anybody follows me on Instagram,
sometimes I leave little morsels of clues that of things that could be coming up.
[00:30:31] Toni Kirkland
Now I'm excited. My birthday is in November, so now I'm excited.
[00:30:35] Tori Alvarez
Mine too. Fellow Scorpio.
[00:30:37] Toni Kirkland
Yes. Well, I appreciate you hanging out with me today and letting us figure out the person behind
the stories that we're falling in love with.
[00:30:50] Tori Alvarez
Thank you. Thank you for having me. This was fun.
[00:30:54] Toni Kirkland
It was fun for me, too. And I hope it was fun for our listeners, too, to dive a little deeper than
our titles.
[00:31:01] Tori Alvarez
Yes. Get a little behind the scenes.
[00:31:05] Toni Kirkland
Yes. But I hope you have a great rest of your day and we will definitely be keeping an eye out for
your upcoming releases.
[00:31:16] Tori Alvarez
Thank you.
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