Hiya guys today we welcome the Riptide Publishing/L.A. Witt blog tour for Running With Scissors! We have a great except, a fantastic giveaway and Aerin’s review, so check out the post and then leave a comment (with a way to be contacted in the body of the comment) to enter the fab giveaway! <3 ~Pixie~

Running With Scissors

L.A. Witt

Eighteen months ago, drummer Jude Colburn made the biggest mistake of his life when he walked away from his band just as they were on the brink of success. Now, he’s got a second chance. The band’s bassist just quit, and Jude plays bass almost as well as he plays drums. The other band members aren’t thrilled, but they are desperate.

Running with Scissors needs him, but there’s one condition: no hooking up with bandmates. That’s what ruined things eighteen months ago, after all. Jude’s on board, but no one warned him about the drummer who replaced him. A.J. Palmer is shy and unassuming . . . until he hits the stage. He gets Jude’s attention from the first beat, and suddenly that “no hookups” rule isn’t so easy to follow.

Keeping secrets on a tour bus isn’t easy either, and it’s only a matter of time before the band catches on. When everything hits the fan, Jude has to choose: a second chance at the career he’s always regretted leaving, or a shot at the man of his dreams?

Excerpt

Inside the tiny airport, Kristy and A.J. loitered in baggage claim by the escalator. She alternately scrolled through emails on her phone and looked up at the escalator. A.J. did the same, though his nerves were holding his attention more than Facebook or Twitter. A few fans had tweeted at the band, and a handful had messaged him directly. He’d reply to those when his brain was functional. Hopefully they wouldn’t mind the wait.

Beside him, Kristy straightened. “There he is.”

A.J. turned around, and his heart went into double time. There was no mistaking who this man was, coming down the escalator with the guitar case on his back and the elaborate sleeve of ink covering his right arm, but he looked a hell of a lot different than he had in the photos and videos A.J. had seen. Either those images hadn’t done Jude a bit of justice, or a year and a half had been enough for him to quantum leap from good-looking to holy shit.

As the escalator brought Jude closer, A.J. stared. Jude’s nearly black hair was cut short now. Instead of hanging in sweaty strings over his face and falling over his shoulders, it was cropped like he’d walked into a barbershop with a copy of GQ and said, “That’s what I want.” A hint of five-o’clock shadow dusted his sharp jaw, and though they looked exhausted as all hell, those dark eyes were just spectacular.

Jude must’ve seen Kristy right then, because a tired smile spread across his lips. A moment later he stepped off the escalator, oblivious to the effect he was having on A.J.’s blood pressure, and embraced Kristy.

The manager hugged him tight. “It’s good to see you, baby.”

“You too.”

As they separated, Kristy gestured at A.J. “Jude, this is A.J. Palmer. He’s—”

“My replacement.” Jude studied A.J. His comment hadn’t been laced with any malice. Just an observation, it seemed. “Jude Colburn.”

“I know.” A.J. extended his hand. “Good to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Jude started to return the gesture, but hesitated. “I, uh . . .” He glanced down, and A.J. followed his gaze. At first, A.J.’s attention went to the elaborate tattoos going from beneath Jude’s T-shirt sleeve to just below the heel of his hand, but then he realized what was making Jude hesitate—his fingers were wrapped in white tape. They’d even bled through in a few places.

“Oh. Shit.” A.J. withdrew the offer. “Don’t worry about it. I understand.”

Jude smiled faintly. “Thanks. I’ve been, uh, practicing. So . . .”

“Good.” Kristy’s lips quirked. “Are you going to be healed enough to play?”

He shrugged. “I’ve played through worse.”

“Just don’t wear your fingers off, okay?”

“Promise.”

Behind them, the baggage claim belt groaned to life.

“I’d better get my bag.” Jude adjusted the bass on his shoulders.

“Okay. Why don’t I go get the car?” Kristy gestured at the door. “I’ll meet you two outside.”

“Perfect.”

She left, and suddenly A.J. was alone with the unexpectedly hot incarnation of Jude Colburn. All six foot something of him. He only had an inch or two on A.J., but it felt like much more. Even standing there, tired as fuck and waiting for his luggage to come down the belt, he had a larger-than-life presence about him.

Or maybe A.J. just hadn’t been laid in way, way too long.

He cleared his throat and turned away before he made an ass of himself.

A moment later, Jude hauled a drab green duffel bag off the belt. “All right, that’s everything.”

“Just the one bag?”

“Well, and . . .” Jude tapped the bass still slung over his shoulder. “I travel light.”

“So I see.” A.J. gestured at the duffel bag. “You want me to carry that?”

“You don’t mind?”

“Nah, it’s fine.”

“Cool.” Jude handed it over. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” A.J. returned the smile as he hoisted Jude’s bag onto his shoulders.

Outside, as they waited on the curb, Jude turned to him, his expression blank. “So how’s the tour been going?”

“It’s been awesome. Beats the hell out of playing in clubs.”

A barely perceptible wince flickered across Jude’s face. “Glad to hear it.”

“Thanks, by the way.” A.J. shifted his weight. “For bailing us out.”

Jude smiled. “Don’t mention it. Honestly, I’ve been hoping something like this would come along.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. The corporate world is just . . .” He grimaced and shook his head. “I was starting to wonder how much longer I could handle it before I went on a stapling rampage or threw a printer at one of the guys in my cubicle.”

A.J. laughed. “That bad?”

“Worse.” Jude sighed. “Okay, it’s not that bad. But it’s definitely not for me. This”—he adjusted the bass on his shoulder—“is what I was born to do.”

“I know the feeling. I was doing retail before I joined the band.”

Jude wrinkled his nose. “Sorry to hear it.”

“Eh, it was a paycheck. A small one, but a paycheck.”

“There is that. I’ll be fucking thrilled if I don’t have to go back to a day job, though.”

“Yeah, same here.” An uncomfortable knot grew beneath A.J.’s ribs. Jude had been itching for a change. Wanting to get back onstage. What if he liked being back in his old band and stayed indefinitely? Beyond the next album and tour? How long before he started eyeballing the drum set?

No. No. Not going to think about that. I’m part of this band.

Jude is the bassist. The temporary bassist.

I’m not going anywhere.

Please, God . . .

Oblivious to A.J.’s worries, Jude reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled pack of cigarettes. He slipped one between his lips, then patted the pockets of his jeans—front first, then back, then front again—and cursed around the cigarette. “You don’t have a lighter, do you?”

A.J. shook his head. “Sorry.”

“Damn it.” Jude shoved the pack into his pocket but kept the single unlit cigarette in his mouth. “Fucking TSA took mine.”

“Bastards.”

“Right?”

A.J. wasn’t a fan of smoking—it didn’t bother him but didn’t do anything for him either. Still, there was something weirdly hot about Jude with the cigarette. About this whole picture of Jude—clean-cut with some scruff and a hell of a lot of ink, standing beneath a No Smoking sign with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth and an elbow on his bass—that did inexplicable things to A.J.’s pulse. It was a damn good thing Jude wasn’t playing his bass just then, long fingers on the strings and narrow hips cocked just so . . .

A.J. shook himself and tried not to pass out from thinking about Jude with a bass across his lap.

Breathe, dude. Get a fucking grip.

A pair of headlights caught his eye, and he waved at the approaching Explorer. “There’s Kristy.”

“Perfect,” Jude said around the cigarette. “Maybe she’s got a lighter.”

A.J. had never seen Kristy smoke, but she’d pulled stranger things from that giant handbag.

When their manager stepped out of the Explorer, though, she took one look at Jude and gave him that ball-withering scowl that kept most of the band in line. “Jude Colburn, when did you take up smoking again?”

Jude smiled sheepishly, his cheeks coloring. “Uh . . .”

She sighed loudly. “Idiot. Well, no smoking in the car. You’ll have to wait until we get to the motel.”

“Motel? They don’t even have a bus?”

“They do, Princess.” She opened the trunk. “But we’re stuck in motels until it’s fixed.”

“Joy.” Jude hoisted his bag and bass into the trunk.

“Hey, you’ve got nothing to complain about.” She wagged a finger at him. “The mechanics are working on the bus as we speak, so you only have to spend one night in a shitty motel. We’ve been staying in them since Little Rock.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah. Ouch. Okay, let’s roll.”

Everyone climbed into the Explorer. While Kristy shifted gears, A.J. settled into the backseat. As it happened, the seating arrangement gave him a perfect vantage point to surreptitiously check out Jude.

So, heart pounding and palms sweating, he fixed his gaze on the ridiculously hot bassist-slash-drummer.

And wondered just how screwed he was.

For more excerpt click here: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/running-with-scissors (Just click the excerpt tab)

About L.A.

L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer who has finally been released from the purgatorial corn maze of Omaha, Nebraska, and now spends her time on the southwestern coast of Spain. In between wondering how she didn’t lose her mind in Omaha, she explores the country with her husband, several clairvoyant hamsters, and an ever-growing herd of rabid plot bunnies. She also has substantially more time on her hands these days, as she has recruited a small army of mercenaries to search South America for her nemesis, romance author Lauren Gallagher, but don’t tell Lauren. And definitely don’t tell Lori A. Witt or Ann Gallagher. Neither of those twits can keep their mouths shut…

L.A.’s backlist is available on her website, and updates (as well as random thoughts and the odd snarky comment) can be found on her blog or on Twitter (@GallagherWitt).

Giveaway!

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a choice of two eBooks off L.A. Witt’s backlist (excluding Running With Scissors) and a $10 Riptide Publishing store credit.

Don’t forget to leave your email in the body of the comment so we can contact you if you win!

Review

Title: Running with Scissors

Author: L.A. Witt

Genre: Contemporary, Music

Length: Novel (313 pages)

ISBN: 9781626493315

Publisher: Riptide Publishing (August 31st 2015)

Heat Level:  Moderate, Steamy

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Reviewer: Aerin

Blurb: Eighteen months ago, drummer Jude Colburn made the biggest mistake of his life when he walked away from his band just as they were on the brink of success. Now, he’s got a second chance. The band’s bassist just quit, and Jude plays bass almost as well as he plays drums. The other band members aren’t thrilled, but they are desperate. 

Running with Scissors needs him, but there’s one condition: no hooking up with bandmates. That’s what ruined things eighteen months ago, after all. Jude’s on board, but no one warned him about the drummer who replaced him. A.J. Palmer is shy and unassuming . . . until he hits the stage. He gets Jude’s attention from the first beat, and suddenly that “no hookups” rule isn’t so easy to follow. 

Keeping secrets on a tour bus isn’t easy either, and it’s only a matter of time before the band catches on. When everything hits the fan, Jude has to choose: a second chance at the career he’s always regretted leaving, or a shot at the man of his dreams?

Product Link: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/running-with-scissors

Review: It’s been a long time since I’ve read a great MM musician/rock band book, and I’ve missed it like crazy! I loved everything about this book, the characters, the story line, the angst, the conflict, the love story, the chemistry…I could go on and on and never finish finding things to love. This might be the best rock band love story I’ve read, ever! 

Jude is the founder of Running With Scissors, a band formed by him together with his childhood friends, but he’s also no longer a part of the band. The personal relationship between him and the lead singer burnt up in flames, and he disappointed the whole band by giving up on them right before they made it big. Two years later he’s miserable working a 9 to 5 job, and when a call comes from the band’s manager asking him for help, he takes the second chance he’s been given, even knowing the relationship between his old friends and him will be tense and full of grudges at best. There’s a lot of bad blood, lots of conflict and buried emotions that will need to come out in the open before things change for the better. The one condition Jude was given to join the band? Keep his dick away from fellow band members’ asses; but that shouldn’t be a problem now that he learned from past mistakes.

Insert AJ, the drummer who took Jude’s place on the band, and all Jude’s good intention go down the drain. AJ is everything Jude loves in a man, and the difference between AJ the man and AJ the drummer drives Jude crazy in the best ways. The chemistry between these two burns bright from the first time they meet, and I couldn’t wait for them to take it between the sheets. That didn’t happen right away, which was a good thing, because the sex didn’t seem gratuitous; it was intense and rewarding, all that pent-up desire resulted in some very hot sex. Slow-burn is the way to go!!!

The story is told from both AJ and Jude’s pov, so we get to know both of their perspectives when it comes to the band and the relationship between them. I liked the secondary characters as well, but at times I wanted to smack a few of them around for giving Jude such a hard time. In the end, it was all worth it, and I loved how the situation between Jude and his ex got resolved.

I really really REALLY want Connor to get his own book; he is a temperamental ass, but for some reason I like him and would love to read his own love story.

Check out the other blogs on the blog tour