Boys In the Band Blog Tour & Contest with Review

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Hey everyone, I’m bringing you yet another cool Blog tour from four great authors! Yep that’s right four and they’ve all written about sexy Rock Stars! You will even get a chance to win a copy of their featured books! And just to make your knees weak again Rock Stars! So stick around, check out the books and enjoy the review of Rowan Speedwell’s Illumination and then click rafflecopter link and be in a chance to win!

Now I have to shoot before Portia wakes up and she sees what I have been up to 😉 *snuggles* Pixie

MM Good Book Reviews is the latest stop on the Boys in the Band blog tour, with authors Paula Coots, Cecilia Tan, L.A. Witt, and Rowan Speedwell. Each of these writers has brought a rock star to life in a recent romance release, so they got together to talk about music, musicians, love, and good old “sex, drugs, and rock and roll.” Today they answer the question: “What got you started writing about rock musicians? Why do they make good heroes/love interests?” Scroll down for the answer and a chance to win a prize pack of all four books!

You could win: WITH THE BAND by L.A. Witt Hard rock band Schadenfreude is finally on the verge of the success that’s eluded them for the last several years. With Aaron McClure as their new lead singer, nothing’s going to stop them…except maybe a steamy, secret relationship between Aaron and bassist Bastian Koehler. Aaron knows all too well what can happen when band members get involved with each other. After all, his last band was a casualty of his last relationship, and Schadenfreude forbids band members from dating for that very reason. But Bastian is too hot to resist, and besides, it’s just sex, so what’s the harm? Their passion in the bedroom is rivaled only by their ambition as musicians, though, and pretty soon, it’s going to tear them, and Schadenfreude apart, if they can’t get back to playing with the band.

ANOTHER ROCK STAR by Paula Coots Music is the driving force in Reed Lang’s life and he’s hit the jackpot when it comes to signing a major label deal and scoring a hit single or two. It’s never an easy task and certainly not for an out and proud gay man, even in this day and age. Now, it’s time to hire the backing band, shoot the videos, do all the promotion work and get out on the road. But what happens onstage is only half the show. When the wild energy onstage can’t be contained some become more than just hired hands. Friends. Mentors. Tormenters. Lovers. Surviving the circus of the music business, the rigors of the road, staying true to your art and discovering your heart show Reed that maybe there is more to life than being just another rock star.

DARON’S GUITAR CHRONICLES by Cecilia Tan It’s the 1980s, the era of MTV, AIDS, and Just Say No. Daron Marks is trying to make it as a guitar player in an industry where the whole world is the closet. Keeping his sexuality a secret would be a lot easier if he hadn’t developed a huge crush on his band’s lead singer, Ziggy Ferias. In fact, everything would be a lot easier without his crush on Ziggy… except for fame itself. In the latest volume of Daron’s Guitar Chronicles (volume 5), Moondog 3 are on the road. Is the tour bus the pressure cooker that will meld them together or will the pressure blow them apart?

ILLUMINATION by Rowan Speedwell Adam Craig is burned out. Lead singer of the hard rock band Black Varen, he’s tired of the empty life of groupies, paparazzi, and hotel rooms. Worse, a life in the closet. Miles Caldwell is a brilliant artist, tied by agoraphobia and social anxiety to his family’s lodge. Alone but for his parrot, he spends his days illuminating manuscripts and hiding from the complexities of life. Somehow, the man who’s never home and the man who never leaves it must find the strength to fight for a future together.

“What got you started writing about rock musicians? Why do they make good heroes/love interests?”

Paula Coots: Oddly enough, one of my characters informed my taste in music. I never much cared for The Cure. I always thought Robert Smith couldn’t sing. But Shane, the lead guitarist in Another Rock Star, loved The Cure, so I dug out my old CD of Disintegration and loved it. That set me off on a Cure binge. I bought everything they ever released that I could get my hands on in the second hand stores. And it was like I was searching for this one song, called Underneath the Stars. As I was driving home from Dallas, about two hours away from where I live, that song just broke my heart. I drove with tears streaming down my face and had to play it again. And again. And then I had to pull over to the side of the road to read the lyrics. This song is described in the first love scene between the two lead characters, and sounds exactly like what they feel as they explore each other for the first time.

Cecilia Tan: I have very wide-ranging tastes. I’m like one of those people who likes any food as long as it’s good, no matter what style: Italian, Japanese, barbecue, you name it. I grew up on a mix of classic rock and 80’s New Wave, with equal parts punk and Beatles. I knew Daron was going to have at least as wide-ranging taste, and as it has turned out, he has even more eclectic taste than I do! He’s even more interested in the quality of the song and the talent of the performer than I am, plus he learned to play more styles than what he writes himself. So he’ll throw in some bluegrass, R&B, you name it. We agree on Paul Simon, Prince, and The Cure. He liked Metallica long before I did, though he eventually convinced me.

L.A. Witt: I listen to a little of everything, from country to pop to industrial rock. I tend to joke that I have the worst musical tastes in the known universe because I own an embarrassing amount of pop drivel like Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and even a couple of Bieber songs. But the sheer volume of 30 Seconds to Mars and Adam Lambert on my iPod negates all of that, so whatever. Don’t judge me.

Rowan Speedwell: I looooove show tunes and soundtracks, and so do both my boys. I have to confess something (whispers): I’m old. I remember the Beatles. I actually had Paul Revere and the Raiders albums. My musical tastes were formed in the crucible of British Invasion, hammered out on the anvil of folk rock, doused in the basin of disco, and polished with glam rock. (Sheesh, enough with the blacksmithing metaphors…) Lately, I listen to whatever people make me listen to, anything from Katy Perry to Imagine Dragons to the Decembrists. I never know what it actually IS I’m listening to, but I listen! Suffice to say, my taste in music is eclectic. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a prize pack including all four ebooks below!

About the Authors:

Paula Coots: After seeing David Bowie and his lead guitarist, Mick Ronson, when she was eleven, Paula knew what she wanted to do with her life. Her plan was to play lead guitar in a band and hopefully make it big, and then after that focus on writing. Well, she didn’t “make it big” as a rock star, but she has had her share of traveling band adventures as a lead guitarist over the past twenty five years. And now she writes! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulaCootsBooks | Twitter: @PaulaRCoots

Rowan Speedwell lives in a tarpaper shack in the North Woods, without so much as cable TV to keep her warm. She is allergic to publicity and loathes marketing, so her books only sell one or two copies. If you have one, she thanks you, as your purchase enables her to buy cat food for her diabetic feline companion, Kimball O’Hara. Webite: www.rowanspeedwell.com | Twitter: @RowanSpeedwell

Cecilia Tan mostly writes erotica and science fiction/fantasy, but she started writing Daron’s Guitar Chronicles back in the eighties and is still writing it today. She is the author of Slow Surrender, The Prince’s Boy, the Magic University books, and many other novels and stories. She was inducted into the Saints & Sinners GLBT Writers Hall of Fame in 2010 and is currently a nominee for the RT Magazine Career Achievement Award in erotic fiction. She lives in the fantasy utopia of Cambridge, Massachusetts with her three cats and her partner of 23 years. Daron serial website: http://daron.ceciliatan.com | Blog: http://blog.ceciliatan.com | Twitter: @ceciliatan | Facebook: thececiliatan

L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer currently living in the glamorous and ultra-futuristic metropolis of Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband, two cats, and a disembodied penguin brain that communicates with her telepathically. In addition to writing smut and disturbing the locals, L.A. is said to be working with the US government to perfect a genetic modification that will allow humans to survive indefinitely on Corn Pops and beef jerky. This is all a cover, though, as her primary leisure activity is hunting down her arch nemesis, erotica author Lauren Gallagher, who is also said to be lurking somewhere in Omaha. Website: http://www.loriawitt.com | Blog: http://gallagherwitt.blogspot.com | Twitter: @GallagherWitt

Just click for a chance to win these fabulous books: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rowan Speedwell Illumination_500x750_0- 1Title: Illumination
 
Author: Rowan Speedwell
 
Genre: Contemporary
 
Length: Novel Plus (307pgs)
 
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (30th September 2013)
 
Heat: Moderate – Explicit
 
Heart: Black heart (cards)Black heart (cards)Black heart (cards)Black heart (cards) 4 Hearts
 
Reviewer: Pixie
 
Blurb: Adam Craig is burned out. Lead singer of the hard rock band Black Varen, he’s tired of the empty life of groupies, paparazzi, and hotel rooms. Worse, a life in the closet. After the final concert of their latest tour, he flees the afterparty, pursuing memories of lost summers and carefree days, until he passes out on the patio of a shuttered lake resort.
 
Miles Caldwell is a brilliant artist, tied by agoraphobia and social anxiety to his family’s lodge. Alone but for his parrot, he spends his days illuminating manuscripts and hiding from the complexities of life. When he discovers Adam asleep in a deck chair, he’s furious but intrigued. Adam soon charms his way into Miles’s bed, and they lose themselves in a summer idyll, safe from the compromises and claims of reality.
 
But Adam’s life, with all it demands, is waiting for him. And Miles, uncertain of Adam’s true feelings, is battling demons of his own. Somehow, the man who’s never home and the man who never leaves it must find the strength to fight for a future together.  
 
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Review: Adam reaches breaking point during the after party of the final concert of  the tour for his rock band Black Varen, he jumps in the back of a cab and ends up at a childhood vacation spot. He awakens the next morning on the patio of the closed lake resort to a grumpy artist who wants him gone. Miles is a recluse, he has his art and occasional visits from his sister and two best friends and that is all he wants, but coming across a hungover man on his patio is the beginning of a shake up in his well ordered life. Two men, one private and one in the public eye must both find the courage to grab hold of love and never let go.
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Adam and Miles are two different people, ones a famous rock star the other is a reclusive artist but they come together during a near idyllic time, learning each others quirks and discovering the wants and needs of each other… but what happens when the outside world encroaches and Adam has to go back in the limelight? Adam has to go back to playing the game and Miles’ insecurities come out to play.
 
Miles is a complex character, his circumstances unfold throughout the story and we discover the enormous changes to his character from when he was a carefree, confident young man to the grumpy recluse he has become. Adam is more than just a rock star, he first started out in musicals and that’s where he wants to return to. While Miles is content with his safe space, Adam has him hoping for more and Miles begins to slowly work on coming out of his safe haven. Adam is locked into his own cycle which includes drinking, drugs and partying and it takes a near brush with death for him to finally get stock of his life.
 
This is a great story, with interesting characters who entertain and confuse. Miles and Adam make a brilliant easy couple when they are at the lake resort but become frayed quickly when they are apart. Some of Adam’s choices was pretty pathetic, falling back into his old routine with no real concern about how it would look to Miles and he was easily convinced to party and do drugs when he at first refused. Miles had good reason for his doubts with the way Adam was acting and I think he made the right choice to distance himself from Adam, forcing Adam to think about what he really wanted. Both men face their own challenges together and alone making them stronger as a couple and on their own.
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I recommend this to those who love great stories of opposites attracting, overcoming your own fears, corralling impulses and taking control of addictions, developing love and hot sex and a wonderful ending.

9 thoughts on “Boys In the Band Blog Tour & Contest with Review

  1. Oh I’m so happy I’m not the only one that listen to music without actually knowing most of the times what it is I’m listening to 😛

  2. Homoerotic Band Intrigue is one of my all-time favorite pastimes (just go to a concert and read barely-suppressed lust into your favorite band’s interactions, it’s easy and provides hours of fun!) WITH THE BAND is a classic, and I’ve been eager to read the others!

  3. Thanks for the awesome review, Pixie! And Thommie – I know! I’m just putty in the hands of the music-pushers…!!

  4. Love and follow Daron’s Guitar Chronicles by Cecilia Tan. She is the reason why I read about rock star romances!

    1. *waves* Hi Renee! Thanks for the shout out! Yeah, I need to read more of the other great rock star romances out there now. It’s a whole flavor!

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