Irresistible by Liz Bankes - Revision history

Jill at 16:19, 13 April 2018

2018-04-13T16:19:59Z

Sue at 12:58, 5 November 2014

2014-11-05T12:58:04Z

Sue at 11:13, 13 February 2014

2014-02-13T11:13:07Z

Sue: Created page with "{{infobox |title=Irresistible |sort=Irresistible |author=Liz Bankes |reviewer=Robert James |genre=Teens |rating=2 |buy=No |borrow=No |isbn=978-1848123380 |pages=224 |publisher..."

2013-01-18T07:48:55Z

Created page with "{{infobox |title=Irresistible |sort=Irresistible |author=Liz Bankes |reviewer=Robert James |genre=Teens |rating=2 |buy=No |borrow=No |isbn=978-1848123380 |pages=224 |publisher..."

New review

{{infobox
|title=Irresistible
|sort=Irresistible
|author=Liz Bankes
|reviewer=Robert James
|genre=Teens
|rating=2
|buy=No
|borrow=No
|isbn=978-1848123380
|pages=224
|publisher=Piccadilly Press
|date=April 2013
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848123388</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>1848123388</amazonus>
|website=
|video=
|summary=Anything but Irresistible, characters who are staggeringly difficult to like make this one to avoid.
}}
After finishing her GCSEs, Mia gets a job at Radleigh Castle, working as a waitress. She quickly meets fellow worker Dan, who she likes, but is he the boy for her - or would she be better off with Jamie, son of the owners and all-around arrogant idiot. Incredibly, it's a somewhat harder decision than that last sentence would suggest.

I reviewed another book recently and said that the problem was that I could put virtually everyone in it into one of two categories - those I definitely hated and those I probably hated. This suffers from similar problems. Mia is a vapid and obnoxious narrator who should be turning somersaults in delight that anyone is interested in someone with barely any redeeming qualities, rather than trying to get her hands on two boys. Dan is so wet that he should invest in flood defences, while Jamie is absolutely vile. I'm struggling to think of any other character in teen contemporary fiction who has quite so little going for him, and this makes it extremely hard to care about the love triangle.

The 15 rating screams 'publicity stunt', by the way - it's hardly explicit, and there's probably more sex scenes or frank talk about sex in dozens of teen books released last year without that gimmick. In particular, a passage in which Mia talks to Jamie's girlfriend about touching herself feels so shoehorned in to try and be controversial that it's almost laughable, while the supposedly steamy scenes here are rather bland, when compared to the heat levels of [[Adorkable by Sarra Manning]] or [[The Hollow by Jessica Verday]] series.

The dialogue is pretty good and Bankes captures the setting fairly well, but that's nowhere near enough to make up for the dreadful characters here.

Not recommended.

For a steamy 'mature young adult/new adult' read which does live up to the hype, don't miss [[Easy by Tammara Webber]].

{{amazontext|amazon=1848123388}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=9450209}}
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-{{infobox
+{{infobox2
 |title=Irresistible
 |sort=Irresistible
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 |publisher=Piccadilly Press
 |date=April 2013
-|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848123388</amazonuk>
+|aznuk=1848123388
-|amazonus=<amazonus>1848123388</amazonus>
+|aznus=1848123388
 |website=
 |video=

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 For a steamy 'mature young adult/new adult' read which does live up to the hype, don't miss [[Easy by Tammara Webber]].
-{{amazontext|amazon=1848123388}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=9450209}}
+{{amazontext|amazon=1848123388}}
 {{commenthead}}

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 |summary=Anything but Irresistible, characters who are staggeringly difficult to like make this one to avoid.
 }}
 After finishing her GCSEs, Mia gets a job at Radleigh Castle, working as a waitress. She quickly meets fellow worker Dan, who she likes, but is he the boy for her - or would she be better off with Jamie, son of the owners and all-around arrogant idiot. Incredibly, it's a somewhat harder decision than that last sentence would suggest.