Call Me Irresistible

REVIEWER'S OPINION:The author used a similar plot in several books. Heroine is down on her luck, in an unfriendly place, abandoned by family/friends, has no money. The locals bully, despise and/or humiliate her. She suffers, discovers things about herself, becomes responsible/successful, and finds love. If a reader complains that they've read this before, I say "Who cares. It's a fun story and she does it well."The first time I read this I was uncomfortable seeing favorite characters from earlier books being mean to Meg. But the second time I read this (in 2015) that didn't bother me at all - maybe because I knew they would all like her in the end. And the same thing with Ted's feelings. The first time I read the book, I wanted more of his point of view. But the second time I read it, I was fine with what happened. This book is better the second time.PRIOR BOOKS:I suggest reading the author's books in the following order for the character flow.5 stars. Glitter Baby. Fleur is a beautiful model living a glamorous life, then has nothing, and then brings herself back to the world, developing brains, strength and relationships along the way. She marries famous actor/playwright Jake. Meg is their daughter who is now 30 and the heroine in this book. Meg's best friend is Lucy.5 stars. Fancy Pants. Francesca is a rich English girl, whose mother dies leaving her penniless and stranded in the U.S. She gets a job as a cleaning lady for a small town radio station. She marries famous golfer Dallas. Ted is their son, the hero in this book.5 stars. Lady Be Good. Emma is headmistress of a girls' boarding school in England. She visits the U.S. for two weeks and meets Kenny, a famous bad boy golfer. They marry and live in Wynette, Texas. They are friends with Francesca, Dallas, and Ted.5 stars. First Lady. Cornelia is wife of the U.S. President who dies in office. She meets and marries Matt a journalist. They adopt orphan Lucy. Cornelia later becomes President. Lucy is now 31 and is engaged to marry Ted in this book. Meg is Lucy's best friend.4 stars. The Great Escape Lucy Jorik leaves Ted at the altar and runs away. She sees a stranger on a motorcycle Patrick Shade "Panda." She asks him for a ride. Read this right after First Lady since Lucy has a significant role in both books.STORY BRIEF:Ted is close to perfect, handsome, genius IQ, everyone in town loves him. They made him mayor without asking him. Most females fall in love with him. He is engaged to marry Lucy, daughter of the former U.S. President.Meg has never had a job, dropped out of college, and travels the world for fun. Her famous parents recently cut her off financially, hoping she will become responsible. Meg travels to Wynette, Texas, to be Lucy's maid of honor. Meg raises some questions which cause Lucy to realize she is not in love. Lucy abandons Ted at the altar and wants Meg to do the explaining. Everyone in town blames Meg, thinking she talked Lucy out of the wedding. Lucy left town, and no one knows where she is. As Meg is checking out of the hotel, she realizes her credit cards have been cancelled. She doesn't have enough money to pay the hotel. She has over borrowed from everyone she knows, and there is no one she can call. The police chief threatens to put her in jail if she can't pay her hotel bill. Ted suggests she work it off as a hotel maid, which she does. She is sleeping in her car and has no money for food.Spencer owns a plumbing company. He is looking for a location to open a factory and visits Wynette. The town desperately needs jobs, and everyone in town hopes he will choose Wynette for the factory. Spencer wants to be Meg's lover and sugar daddy. She does not feel the same and tries to avoid him. Most people in town dislike Meg and have been mean to her, but they want her to be nice to Spencer to get his factory.DATA:Narrative mode: 3rd person. Story length: 385 pages. Swearing language: moderate, including religious swear words. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: 10. Setting: current day mostly Wynette, Texas, with some California and New York. Copyright: 2011. Genre: contemporary romance.

I enjoyed this story and was relieved it wasn't like some of her other recent efforts. There's a lot of emotion in this book that packs a punch and the romance is good, even though it's slightly rushed. The heroine, Meg is smart and very likeable and that's what kept me entertained and I didn't want to put it down. I have read all the preceeding books and it isn't necessary to read them except that you recognize the characters. Regretfully, by reading previous stories you also have higher expectations, especially of Teddy, and he's a bit of a washout. Quite frankly, the entertainment factor of this book will likely prompt others to read previous books if you haven't already done so and it could be a huge mistake.Meg Koranda, the daughter of Fleur and Jake from Glitter Baby, is the best friend and bridesmaid for Lucy Jorik, the daughter of Nealy and Mat Jorik from First Lady. Lucy is marrying Theodore Beaudine, son of Francesca and Dallie from Fancy Pants (horrible book), but right before the wedding she is having second thoughts. When Meg assesses the situation, she thinks Ted is the closest thing to perfection she's ever met, but the worst match possible for her friend so she supports Lucy when she up and cancels the day of the wedding. As a result, the entire town, Ted, friends and parents included, take it out on Meg. They exhaust the theories that Meg is conniving and jealous and really wants Ted for herself. When they find out that she's been cut off from her parent's finances, they stake out their revenge. Unfortunately for them, she's too strong a personality, extremely tenacious, funny, witty and smart and they can't help but respect and like her.Teddy, Supposedly nursing a broken heart, goes all out to make Meg miserable. It's a side to the perfect golden child that no one has ever seen and although it makes most of the town happy, it raises the eyebrows of those who truly know him and they can't help but wonder if there's more to his obsession than meets the eye.What's disappointing about the story is how remote and dispassionate Teddy is as a character. As a bit of a trouble maker bad boy in Lady Be Good, I wasn't expecting Teddy to be the town saint in this story, nor so process oriented and logical overall. I guess for the the sequence of events to unfold as they did, it was a necessary profile. What's great about the story is that our heroine is never hesitant to call a spade a spade and she's spot on in her assessments of his actions and relationships. Although she falls in love, she's wiling to walk away from what she perceives as an unhealthy relationship when she sees his same pattern of behaviour applied to herself. Many reviews say she has unreasonable expectations that he would fall in love with her two or three months after they met and after is debacle of a wedding day, but I don't think it's that. Throughout the book, so many people think they know him and love him and she comes to the realization that her perspective is no different. She also thinks she knows him and loves him and the lightbulb goes off that she's no different, so she walks away. I think it's safe to say that not a lot of woman could do that, myself included, and it displays and incredible amount of self worth and strength, not the psycho factor that many perceived.Finally, if you're looking to catch up on previous books that are referenced here, I would say that this one is the best of all the previous books with references to other characters. I mentioned Fancy Pants is horrible, don't bother, it's depressing and Dallie is violent. Lady Be Good is worth the read, it's fun and sexy (Kenny and Lady Emma's story). First Lady (Nealy and Mat's story and also where they find and adopt Lucy and her sister) is okay but the little girl Lucy is not what I expected here grown up. What I did for love (Georgie's story) barely has Meg in it and it's not very good. Glitter baby, although I appreciated it, it's not for most SEP fans, and last but not least, I'm assuming April Robillard (Dean's mom) from Natural Born Charmer which I still feel this was a better book.

Funny romance where the characters are challenged to grow and embrace, love and accept themselves as they truly are. Love this author. Thank you!

No siempre, pero la mayoría de cosas que yo diga de esta autora serán sólo positivas. Es una de mis autoras favoritas de romance contemporáneo, tiene mucha chispa, humor, imaginación. Y este es uno de mis libros favoritos de siempre.

I really, liked this book. It was a fun read and it had hilarious moments, there were points where I just couldn't stop laughing.After finishing this book, I had to go back and re-read her earlier books. Call me Irresistible is very reminiscent of her earlier novels about a young heroine who hits a bad stretch of luck and gets to fall in love with a super hunky hero. i particularly liked the fact that this book briefly brings into the plot characters from previous books.

Loved it ! Laughed heaps and enjoyed reading about Teddy's "downfall" into love after reading him in other earlier books. Love Meg to bits :-)

Another of Phillips' best books. It is charmingly written and brings together two people who are, at first, at great odds with each other but who, in the end, need each other very much to bring greater depth to their lives