~Poppy~ A Review
Poppy Taylor is a successful hair, makeup, and clothing stylist with a client list packed full of elite musicians, actors, and celebrities. After months of touring with the bands, The Daughters of Darkness and the platinum selling rock group, From Yesterday, one final night changes everything. Will love evade her, as always, or will she find it in the least likely of places, in the arms of a rebellious rocker she never expected?
Riley Huntington is the bass guitar player for the rock band, From Yesterday. His bad boy exterior isn’t exactly the lifestyle he lives though. With his longtime relationship on the rocks, Riley finds himself alone and full of new feelings for a girl he never saw coming. When life gives him a chance to start fresh, will he take it?
When two unlikely people are thrown together during one night of passion, will sparks ignite a long-lasting fire, or will the temporary flame burn out before it ever has a chance to catch?
Chelly’s Thoughts
So we met Poppy earlier in the Behind the Words series and if you’re like me, you’ve been waiting on her story. She is a fiery, independent, and flat-out gorgeous 5’11” hair and makeup artist that is completely passionate about everything she does. Up until now, she has been fine being on her own, working for herself, and not having to worry about anybody else. That is until Riley happened. She’s always had a crush on him but she never thought anything would ever come of it, especially since he’s been with Alexis for years.
Riley Huntington is the definition of masculine and sexy with his faux hawk, electric blue eyes, and broad stature. His on again/off again relationship with Alexis has been going on for years and he’s getting tired of it. He loves her, but he’s beginning to see that what they have now is not love, it’s not happiness, and his life could be so much more without her. Especially if that “more” includes Poppy Taylor.
Poppy doesn’t date, she scratches the occasional itch every now and then with a guy, but never anything serious. Could that be what’s missing in her life? The way she feels when she’s around Riley is unlike anything she’s ever felt before, and although she would love to open herself up to him, she can’t put herself at risk like that. He’ll never leave Alexis, everyone knows that, and it’ll inevitably end in heartbreak for Poppy. She decides to focus all of her attention on her career and go back to the way things used to be, but everything is so empty without him. Can Riley truly get away (and get over) Alexis after their long history together? Better yet, can Riley convince Poppy that he is done with Alexis once and for all and he won’t hurt her?
I absolutely love this series, and Poppy just makes it even better. Her story is relatable, in that none of us really want to risk opening ourselves up if there is a chance of it going south, but it also gives hope. You don’t necessarily have to read the other books in the series in order to enjoy this one, but if you do plan on reading them, do so first or you’ll get a major spoiler in Poppy. But you should read them anyway because they’re all awesome! I love this author!
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Everything
on the guest floor was rattling from the bass of the music blaring throughout
the rooms. I was sure that I had drunk close to my weight in tequila alone, not
to mention the large number of whiskey shots I had thrown back, but I was still
standing and I was feeling good; no, better than good: I was feeling fan-fucking-tastic as I moved my body
along with the beat of the rap song that was playing. I threw my hands in the air above my head
before bringing them back down, trailing across my body as they went. Sweat was
beading across my collarbone as a few drops trailed their way down the valley
between my breasts. The melody was enchanting me, making me move provocatively
with every beat and I loved it.
Grinding
my hips from side-to-side, I felt a large body step up to my swaying backside.
Most guys were my height or only slightly taller, but whomever was behind me
was taller than the average Joe. I continued to rock my hips back and forth as
I spun around to face my dancing partner and smiled widely when I took in
Riley’s large frame behind me. He looked as sexy as ever: black jeans hanging
loosely on his hips with a plain forest-green shirt stretched tightly across
his broad chest. He gripped my hips as I snaked my arms around his neck. When
we had first arrived at the party he had disappeared. I had assumed it was just
to get ready for the party but when he never returned I had quickly turned to
liquor to dull the sting of disappointment I’d felt.
I
looked up at him through my lashes as I rubbed my body along his to the beat of
the song. Riley’s hands were still gripping my hips as he rolled his large self
along with my rhythm. My liquor-induced bravery was taking control, and I had
to struggle to try and tame it. Riley’s hands pulled me gently until I was
completely flush against him and I felt him
straining against the zipper of his pants. I drew in a long heavy breath as he
moved his hands around my waist and splayed one of them across my ass while
resting the other on my back underneath my shirt. His skin was warm against
mine. I closed my eyes and took in the feel of his hand moving gently up and
down my spine as we continued to sway against one another, and I felt his
breath tickle the side of my neck.
“Your
dancing is as passionate as sin,” his words crawled slowly across my neck
causing the skin to rise with goose bumps. I shivered and leaned forward to
reply when I heard Jayde yelling for me to do a body shot from across the room.
“Come
on, Poppy!!!!!! Body shots!!!” her slurring voice called out before the next
song started up and Riley took a couple steps back.
I
watched his electric-blue eyes darken just a little as I called back to Jayde
and made my way through the crowd to the long bar that separated the kitchen
from the living room. I stumbled a little as I tried to maintain my balance in
the shoes I was wearing, but surprisingly I wasn’t falling all over the place
from the amount of alcohol I had consumed.
“Hop
on up on the bar, it’s your turn!” Jayde spun around and pointed her index
finger at my chest. She was so care-free and unbelievably funny when she was
sober, but when she was drinking those same attributes about her seemed to grow
even more. Jayde was a knockout! I envied her different colored eyes: one green
and one blue. It was hard not to look back and forth between them whenever I
spoke with her.
“Are
you crazy?” I placed my hands on my hips and laughed. “I’m almost as long as
the bar, Jayde, and all of those alcohol bottles at the end will be in jeopardy
if I jump up there,” I laughed again as I twirled my hand around in the air
when I felt big hands latch around my waist.
“Up
you go,” Riley’s baritone voice was at my ear, sending chills across my skin. I
gasped from the unexpected contact as my bottom was placed against the cool
wood of the bar.
“Keep
your legs bent and you won’t knock anything off,” Cash suggested as he grabbed
the bottle of tequila, the salt shaker, and a few lime slices. “Who’s up
first?!” He held them up in the air.
“Me!”
Jayde snatched the items from Cash’s hands. His eyes seemed to darken when she
said it. I wasn’t sure if it was due to the fact that she was going to be
taking a shot off of my body or the fact that he was head-over-heels in love
with her and wouldn’t admit it.
“Where
you taking it from?” I asked as I laid my body across the wood bar.
“Navel
I suppose. It’ll hold the tequila the best,” Jayde shrugged as she plucked the
top from the bottle. I grabbed the hem of my belly shirt and pulled it off.
Apparently they weren’t expecting that because Cash let out a cat call that had
me blushing and Jayde cracking up. Most girls would have been ready to scratch
my eyes out if their man whistled at me like Cash had, but not Jayde. It was
just another reason why I loved having her as a friend.
I
was wearing a black lace bra that had studs running across some of the lace on
the front of the cups. It was a pretty bra, one of my favs…and apparently a new
focal point for Riley’s eyes. When he realized I was watching him staring at
the rise and fall of my chest, a wicked grin spread across his face. Yes, I had
a good-sized chest. No, I wasn’t born that way. I was the girl that was overly
tall but lacking in the boob department. Did I go overboard and get gigantic
tits when I got implants? Nope. I went with a full C-cup and you couldn’t
really tell that they were implants at all unless I had on a massive push-up
bra or you felt them.
Jayde
poured the cool tequila into my navel and I felt my stomach contract from the
feel of it. I took a lime slice and placed it in my mouth as she trailed a line
of salt up my stomach and between my breasts. “Here goes nothing!” She called
out just before she dropped her mouth to my body, licking the salt from between
my breast to my navel before she sucked the tequila from my navel swiftly. Her
lips were on mine as she sucked the tart juice from the slice of lime resting
between my lips. Jayde pulled the lime from my mouth and I sat up enough to
brace myself with my elbows against the bar. We definitely had a crowd of
observers around us then.
I
looked over at Riley and felt my heart pick up the pace from its normal steady
beat. His electric-blue eyes looked like tiny lightning bolts were going off
throughout them. I had never seen him look so
intense. It was like something inside of him was ignited and I was hoping I
would find out just what that something was.
“My
turn!” Cash stepped up but was quickly pushed back by Riley.
“I
don’t think so, lover boy.” Cash’s face fell. “She’s all mine.”
Those
three words bounced around inside my head.
She’s all mine.
I
knew he meant he was up next for the body shot, but the thought that it could
be something more was knocking loud and clear in my mind. I laid back against
the bar and felt the chill of tequila fill my navel again as I slid a new slice
of lime into my mouth. The grainy feel of the salt was back in the exact same
spot as before. I took a deep breath to try and steady my erratic breathing and
closed my eyes. There was no way I could watch Riley lick his way down my body,
suck tequila from my navel, and drop his lips to mine. The thought of it was
erotic enough, but watching him while he did it…that wasn’t anything I could
handle.
His
warm breath tickled the skin across my collar bone just before I felt his
tongue make its way between my breasts, skipping the area where my bra came
around, and continued down to my navel. My body was screaming for more as he
sucked the tequila up into his mouth. The loss of his tongue and lips on my
skin was devastating, but it quickly subsided as our lips connected, causing an
unexpected moan to escape from the back of my throat. Riley squeezed the lime
juice from the slice between my lips and discarded it onto the counter before
bringing his mouth back to mine. The tart juice of the lime lingered between us
as his tongue danced around mine, adding a hint of salt into the mix. The kiss
seemed to go on forever, but forever wasn’t long enough when Jayde’s voice
broke the spell.
“Whoa
there, Riley! Give the girl some room to breathe,” she drunkenly laughed and
Riley pulled his lips from me as fast as if I had burned him.
He
didn’t say another word before he walked off into the crowd of people dancing
and grabbed hold of some brunette that I didn’t know. I quickly looked away as
I slid down from the bar and put my shirt back on, hoping that the heat of
embarrassment that I felt in my cheeks wasn’t obvious to everyone else.
“Where
ya goin’?” Jayde asked as she filled a Solo cup and extended her arm to me.
“I need some
air,” I fanned myself with my hand and took the Bourbon-filled cup from her. I
needed to cut myself off, but seeing Riley all over some girl not even five seconds
after his tongue was down my throat left a bad taste in my mouth.
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From the Most Beautiful Small Town of America & the Bourbon Capital of the World, Bardstown, Kentucky, Savannah Stewart writes Contemporary Romance, New Adult, and Romantic Suspense novels. She is very much a Leo, with one fur baby named, Jack. She’s a Book-a-holic who loves music, tattoos, photography, singing, writing, & laughing. One of her favorite quotes is “Love is the beauty of the soul.”
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