Bess, Nicholas & A Dog...

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Tessa Armytage

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Bess, Nicholas & A Dog Called Bones

by Tessa Armytage (Goodreads Author)

3.38 of 5 stars 3.38 · rating details · 8 ratings · 6 reviews

Bess Saint Clair is about to lose everything and the only man who can save her is Nicholas Blake. It's just a pity she can't stand him.

Nicholas is a record industry hotshot with a reputation for being a Big, Bad Wolf. That’s okay by publicist Bess – she’s the sort of Little Red Riding Hood who eats wolves for breakfast. From the moment Nicholas and Bess clap eyes on each o...more

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Published (first published July 17th 2011)

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Apr 16, 2012 Star (The Bibliophilic Book Blog) rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Elizabeth Saint Clair goes to interview with Nicholas Blake, but is nearly kicked out when he discovers she is a woman as she used a male name on her resume to get her foot in the door. Once there, she is able to impress him enough to get the job – on a trial basis in Nicholas’ eyes. As things progress, feelings start to develop and a dog, Bones, is thrown into the mix. However, Elizabeth’s long term plans and Nicholas’ don’t seem to mesh too well. Can they work it out together?

I did not like Ni...more

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Jan 03, 2012 Liz at Fictional Candy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, romance

It didn’t take long to realize that this book is so much more than just a love story. It’s full of life, excitement, mystery, funny moments that will make you laugh, seduction, passion, heartbreak and tension. And then even more on top of that.

But before I get to telling you how I feel about Bess and Nicholas, let’s talk about Bones. Bones is a dog, but not just any dog. The scenes with this dog will take you back and grasp your heart as you remember your favorite furry friend. I laughed out lou...more It didn’t take long to realize that this book is so much more than just a love story. It’s full of life, excitement, mystery, funny moments that will make you laugh, seduction, passion, heartbreak and tension. And then even more on top of that.

But before I get to telling you how I feel about Bess and Nicholas, let’s talk about Bones. Bones is a dog, but not just any dog. The scenes with this dog will take you back and grasp your heart as you remember your favorite furry friend. I laughed out loud, remembering how lucky I’ve been to befriend a dog or two in my lifetime. This dog is full of personality and true to the synopsis – she loves sausage. And she seems like she is indeed more intuitive and on the ball than her human counterparts.

Right away we meet Elizabeth and Nicholas. To put it lightly, their first meeting does not go well. But you can see sparks. There is an electrical current that you can’t ignore. Something is definitely going to happen.

“He was very still, so very still. His eyes were all over her face; his lips parted but imparted no sound.”

I just loved that line. It spoke to me. You will see why when you read this book. Unfortunately for you, I don’t like to give spoilers!

Nicholas is confident, living up to his player reputation. Elizabeth is young and seemingly a little hot headed. But they need each other. He needs someone to do some PR work, and she desperately needs a job. She fights tooth and nail, and she gets the job.

Nicholas gives Elizabeth a nickname. Let me just say… As someone who is also named Elizabeth, I know just how many nicknames are available. Lots. Tons. I’ve heard them all. Libby, Betty, Eliza, Beth… you name it. And none of those are my name. I can totally feel Elizabeth’s frustration and irritation when Nicholas continually calls her Bess. And then something changed. She grew into it, and so did I. No, don’t call me Bess ha-ha. But I could completely understand how she was able to finally just go with it. The man is charismatic, and it wasn’t long before I thought “Oh yeah, he could call me Bess. Any.Time.He.Wants.
Of course there is some conflict, and a ton of passion. Some scenes so steamy you will be absorbed and find yourself gripping the page. The loves scenes were perfectly detailed and not the usual fare. Some were a bit erotic, some were sweet, and some made me sweat!

And then someone gets hurt. And then another person. And your heart breaks right along with them. I found myself thinking, “If they get together at this point, I will scream!!” But at the same time wishing and hoping it would work out for them, because you know that what they shared was so perfect that some of us only dream of such a thing. You get to go along on the trip with Bess. You feel her jubilation, and you feel her heartbreak, and it is true and sincere. Her pain is raw and real. And personally, I felt like I could crawl right into bed too, and have that depressed cry that only comes after you've loved someone so entirely that your heart can't believe they are gone.

At first I had my reservations about this book. I thought I’d get to read a love story; a satisfying, feel good love story. I fully expected to enjoy it. What I did not expect was a story filled with tension, passion, sensuality, and a feeling of “oh please let this work out for them!” But that is what I got. Oh, and a side of kink. Hello?!?! Is anyone on the speakerphone? (That is most definitely an inside joke you will need to read the book to understand!)

This book will give you the unexpected. You will go on a ride. You will have some ups and some downs, and hope for this and “oh my goodness I can’t believe that!” And it is definitely worth the read.(less)

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Apr 04, 2012 A.R. Von rated it 4 of 5 stars

An emotional and fun read of two people from different backgrounds that may not be as different as they think.

Bess is a strong, determined and independent woman that has dreams, goals and responsibilities to see to and will let no man stand in her way. Even if it's her boss.

Nicholas is a business man. An extremely successful one that lives a life of order and has certain rules he operates by. That is until he meets Bess.

Bones is my favorite character in the book. I mean the dog understand every...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Teresa rated it 3 of 5 stars

At the end of Nov. the Dolls were asked to review a book called Bess, Nicholas and a Dog Named Bones. With so much coming in they sent out a call to their honorary Dolls for a little help, and I accepted their request. As many of you have probably figured out from other reviews I’ve given and if you’ve stopped by my blog, I rarely read romance novels. I have nothing against them; I just prefer mysteries and urban fantasies since I write in those genres. But the tidbit the Dolls gave me peaked my...more At the end of Nov. the Dolls were asked to review a book called Bess, Nicholas and a Dog Named Bones. With so much coming in they sent out a call to their honorary Dolls for a little help, and I accepted their request. As many of you have probably figured out from other reviews I’ve given and if you’ve stopped by my blog, I rarely read romance novels. I have nothing against them; I just prefer mysteries and urban fantasies since I write in those genres. But the tidbit the Dolls gave me peaked my interest.

“Bess Saint Clair is about to lose everything and the only man who can save her is Nicholas Blake. It's just a pity she can't stand him.

Nicholas is a record industry hotshot with a reputation for being a Big, Bad Wolf. That’s okay by publicist Bess – she’s the sort of Little Red Riding Hood who eats wolves for breakfast. From the moment Nicholas and Bess clap eyes on each other they share a common bond: they want to tear each other’s throats out.

When Nicholas discovers that the man he has hired for the job is a woman, he’d like nothing better than to boot her out of his office. When Bess discovers he is one of those creatures of prehistoric legend – a male chauvinist – she’d like nothing better than to flip him the bird and turn on her heel.

But he needs her talent and she needs his money.

Each is hell bent on teaching the other a lesson. Both are about to learn a lesson they’ll never forget. The battle over who will wear the pants will be fiercest when neither is wearing any.

Funny, tender and deeply sensual, Bess, Nicholas & A Dog Called Bones is set in a picturesque valley vineyard and features a heroic, shameless sausage extortionist of a dog who is almost as human, and every bit as unforgettable, as Nicholas and Bess. “

Let me start by saying I finished reading this book in under 24 hours. I started in the late afternoon and read until 6 A.M. slept and finished when I woke. So yes I had a hard time putting the book down but that isn’t because I fell completely in love with it. I just wanted to see how it would end.

The story is about Elizabeth “Bess” Saint Clair and Nicholas Blake, Elizabeth gets a job interview as a PR rep at Nicholas Blake’s recording company Falling Star. At first these two are like oil and vinegar, butting heads and saying the wrong thing. Blake doesn’t want another female PR person after what happened with the previous three women he had in that position. Elizabeth won’t take no as an answer. Blake decides to take her on for one assignment. He sends her off to his property in the country.

This is where the story gets interesting as we watch their relationship develop. Well sort of, you never really know if they have a relationship. There is loads of sexual tension between them which after a scary night of hypothermia becomes what seems like a month long sexual affair. As we get into the affair the book takes on an erotic nature. While the two are alone and intimate their relationship is compatible, but when people are around Nicholas is cold and distant. He likes Bess, which he nicknamed her, to be dominated yet it turns him on when she pushes back. However he always has to have the upper hand and he can flip the switch between lover and boss, at the snap of his fingers. When Nicholas is in lover mode, I was drawn in, and the scenes are hot, erotic, and very tantalizing. You may want your significant other around when you read those. However when he’s boss, it’s a flip of the coin on if you want to finish reading or not. Granted Bess doesn’t help. At the beginning she’s strong, she’s even strong during the affair but when things go icy between them she loses himself. I understand this can/does happen to women after break-ups, but she takes it to an extreme.

And this is where the book starts to lose me. There were a handful of chapters were I thought it was going to end. Then Bess would do something or when and I expected her to kick the bucket and bite the big one. She wouldn’t go after what she wanted but she’d pine for it. I wanted to smack her. At times she would have her back bone but it didn’t last long. When you thought the outcome was about to change the chapter would end and she was back to crying in a new chapter. The last handful of chapters or more were jarring in this way. And I had to go back to see if I’d missed something. Granted those weren’t the only jarring bits but I‘ll get to that. Even at the end you thought Bess was going to go one way and then it seemed like she changed her mind until you were at the very last scene. All the while she seemed emotionless, like a wet noodle or dead fish, pick your poison. So when the book finished I didn’t feel for Bess. I had no emotion left for her. It ended up being emotionally draining, and I don’t think that’s Ms. Bennett intended. She had me invited for about half the novel, then lost me.

There were other things that lost me, along with jarring me out of the novel. At the beginning when scenes change she uses asterisks, which were fine but the scenes didn’t seem to make sense when they changed. Some I didn’t know why they were in the novel. It wasn’t until halfway through the book that you got the full content of the opening scene. There really wasn’t a clear breaking point the scene would stop suddenly and it file like it was just there to take up space. When I got past the asterisks and the story started to flow, the asterisks became small chapters. One pagers or a page and a half. These at least made a little sense as to why they were in the novel but they seemed to be lacking emotion and/or substance. I wanted more from them but we jumped to something different. The last thing that jarred me out of the story was the instants where there were blatant typos, wrong words or words missing. I’ve talked openly about being dyslexic here and on my blog; I say this, because there are times when I don’t notice these issues. But when I do, I have to say that’s a problem. If it’s jarring for me, and I can normally ignore those issues (I add and or leave out words all the time), it may end up jarring others out of the story too.
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Apr 02, 2012 Paperback Dolls rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 3-stars, contemporary-romance, reviewed-2012, reviewed-by-teresa

Previously posted at PaperbackDolls.com

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Nov 18, 2011 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

http://www.beautybrite.com/2011/11/be...

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Feb 04, 2012 Laurie Jenkins marked it as to-read

Nov 26, 2011 Margaret marked it as to-read

Shelves: must-read, kindle

Oct 16, 2011 Musing Bookworm rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sep 08, 2011 Amy K rated it 3 of 5 stars

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