Simply Irresistible

By: Rachel Gibson

Narrated by: Kathleen Early

Platinum Anniversary Edition of

New York Times bestselling and RITA® Award-winning author Rachel Gibson’s

Simply Irresistible!

Georgeanne Howard, charm school graduate and Southern belle extraordinaire, leaves her fiancé at the altar when she realizes she just can’t marry a man old enough to be her grandfather, no matter how rich he is. John Kowalsky unknowingly helps her escape, and only when it’s too late does he realize that he’s absconded with his boss’s bride. At the height of his hockey career, this bad boy isn’t looking to be anybody’s savior but his own, no matter how beautiful this angel may be. But a long night stretches ahead of them—a night too sultry to resist temptation.

When Georgeanne and John meet again, she is on her way to becoming Seattle’s domestic darling and he is past his hellraising ways. But he is shocked to learn that their single unforgettable night in paradise produced a daughter, and he is determined to be a part of her life. Georgeanne has loved John since the moment she jumped into his little red Corvette seven years ago, but she doesn’t want to risk her heart again. Is he really a changed man? And will he risk the wrath of his boss, and one final chance at glory, to prove that this time his love will be everlasting?

At long last!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is my favorite Rachel Gibson book. I was thrilled to find it was finally available on audio. The story of John and Georgie is filled with heart and humor.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the arc of both John and Georgie, how they grew and changed. I also loved the dialogue between Lexi and her mother, and between Lexi and her new found father. And the parallel between both Lexi's insecurities and Georgie's insecurites. Very sweet.

Which character – as performed by Kathleen Early – was your favorite?

She did a wonderful job on Georgie. Georgie's southern drawl was not over done as they sometimes are. It was just enough to always know that this was a southern gal.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

As always with Rachel Gibson books, there was laughter as well as heartfelt awwwwwws.

Any additional comments?

It is my sincere hope that more (ALL) of Rachel Gibson's backlist of books will be available soon on audible. I will keep checking!

Started out good but…

This story started good but as the story progressed, interactions between main characters felt force even lack of chemistry. I was waiting for some kind of tension since they have not seen each other in seven years. The H came back as if no time has passed. The h was supposed to be independent and strong. I sure didn’t feel it. I’m glad I got this on sale and won’t recommend it, unless you don’t care to waste your money. The narrator saved me from giving up.

Love this series

Light, fun, and it made me laugh. What more can you ask for? Can’t wait to read more.

As good now as it was back then

I started reading romance novels about the same time Rachel Gibson started publishing them. I'm pretty sure I read Simply Irresistible circa 1998 when it was new and I remember that I loved it -- really, really loved it. When I saw there was to be a new audiobook of this beloved story that I had very tender feelings about I was a little afraid to test my memory and see if my love was still strong. Well, hell yeah!

There's an awful lot of talk in romancelandia about tropes-tropety-trope-tropes that seem to serve a purpose for some reviewers in allowing them to pigeonhole, condemn, dismiss the lovely things about romance novels that made me fall in love with them in the first place. Let's see, here we have a bimbo-ish heroine, an alpha sports star asshole hero, a meet-cute, a one-night stand, a secret baby, a long separation, infidelity, a cute kid, and a woman who rejects help from her very wealthy (this was before billionaires were all the rage) baby daddy. I loved every word of it. It was fresh back then and it holds up very nicely in the hands of a talented writer of Rachel Gibson's skill who knows how to work a ROMANCE. It's warm and funny and hot and sexy.

Narrated by Kathleen Early, who does an adequate job. There are narrators who could have punched it up, but the the story is most important here and Early didn't really add to or detract from it.

Her First is My Favorite

I first found Rachel Gibson in one of her later books, in her series about the Chinooks hockey team (True Love and Other Disasters), and that was my first in the category of "Romance". I enjoyed that book so much, I went on to listen to others she had written. When I ran out of Audible versions, I switched to Kindle (not my preferred method, as a spine injury makes reading difficult) and so I read this book before I listened to it.

In both book format and audio, this story remains my favorite by Gibson and one of my favorites in the category of Romance. Georgeanne's character is immediately likable, as are the other characters in the story. The story, like all romances, follows a typical pattern, but the story and its characters pull you along as boy meets girl, gets girl, loses girl, and chases her again.

As another reviewer remarked, what Georgeanne hides at the start of the story is not a act that one can condone, however, I feel that Gibson makes it at least an understandable move by Georgeanne and does not promote that kind of behavior.

Overall, I appreciate Gibson's ability to develop her characters well and create romantic tension without the melodrama I've seen in other books (tragic pasts of poor behavior or treatment--it's just not necessary and kills the escapism of the genre). Gibson's books don't go to any extremes describing intimate scenes, and she concentrates on the story between the two lead characters without getting overly sappy.

The narrator was quite good and did not detract from the story (which I already knew). This book was definitely worth a credit.