Hodder blown away by Tomforde’s sports romance series Windy City   

Hodder & Stoughton has signed four books in the Windy City series by Liz Tomforde, which it says has become “a TikTok sensation” since the first novel in the series, Mile High, was first published by Golden Boy Publishing in June 2022, with the second book, The Right Move, following in February 2023.

Jo Dickinson, executive publisher, bought UK and British Commonwealth rights in print and e-book in a deal struck by Abner Stein’s Anna Carmichael, on behalf of Jessica Watterson at Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. Translation rights have also been snapped up in Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.

Mile High and The Right Move will be published by Hodder Fiction in e-book on 20th July 2023 and in paperback on 17th August 2023, while Caught Up will be publishing in e-book and paperback on 10th October 2023.

On TikTok, the hashtag #LizTomforde has amassed 25.4 million views, and #therightmove has garnered 14.1 million views.

The publisher describes the series as “irresistibly spicy, funny and full of heart”. Mile High follows the story of bad-boy star of Chicago hockey, Evan Zanders, as he clashes with the feisty new flight attendant on the team’s private plane, Stevie – and sparks start to fly.

Dickinson said: “We are excited to be welcoming Liz and the Windy City series to the Hodder family – the whole team fell head-over-heels for these addictive romance novels. We know that Zee and Vee, Ryan and Indy have already stolen so many hearts, and we can’t wait to bring them to even more readers.”

Tomforde said: “I’m excited as I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the wonderful team at Hodder. From our first meeting, it was clear our dreams for this series aligned, and I’m looking forward to working together to bring readers even more swoon-worthy stories that centre around family, friendship and self-acceptance.”