[.ca] Simply Irresistible (ISBN 0755337425)

From Amazon.com:
In this saucy romance, charm-school graduate Georgeanne Howard has only two real talents: cooking and talking. Her Mae West-like body, though, is what attracts Virgil Duffy, a man old enough to be her grandfather but richer than Croesus. But when it comes time to actually marry Duffy, Georgeanne just can't go though with it. She makes her escape with bad boy John Kowalsky, the star hockey player for the team that Duffy owns. John has no idea that the gorgeous babe he is about to have a one-night stand with happens to be his boss's bride-to-be. It's not an auspicious start for a romance, but romance Georgeanne he does. Seven years later, Kowalsky discovers that their one night of unforgettable passion produced an incorrigible little girl who is even wilder than her parents--and Georgeanne is even more beautiful than he remembered.

The Legendary Hockey Book was Worth my Wait:
Seven years ago, Southern belle Georgeanne Howard left her rich, and decidedly older fiancé at the altar. In her hurry to escape, she accepted the offer of a ride from the tall, handsome man getting into a red Corvette. John Kowalsky, renowned bad boy and professional hockey player, had no idea he was assisting in the escape of his boss's intended bride. But since she had no one else to turn to, nor a place to go, he put her up for the night. The night turned into a bewitching temptation too good to pass up. However, in the cold light of day, penniless Georgeanne found herself in love with John, and abruptly dropped off at the airport with a paid ticket in hand. Now they run into each other again, and this time Georgeanne is part owner in a successful catering business, and John has cleaned up his life and is considering settling down. Imagine his shock when he meets Georgeanne's daughter, and realizes he's the father. He wants to get acquainted with his daughter and become part of her life, but in doing that he also grows closer to Georgeanne. Has he actually changed enough to settle down, and will John risk his career by his boss finding out about his romantic involvement with Georgeanne? In my opinion, Rachel Gibson is unquestionably one of the best authors of the subgenre of contemporary romance. I was hooked upon reading my first book by her, and she's now one of the few whose titles I buy sight unseen. Lately, I've been catching up on her backlist of work, and I was particularly interested in this one. The first book I had read by her was SEE JANE SCORE, whose male lead was also a professional hockey player. I've carried a certain curiosity about SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE, because it is commonly referred to as "The Hockey Book". While this was an excellent story with in depth characters, witty dialogue, great romance, and love scenes that made me forget to breathe; my favorite book by her still remains, SEE JANE SCORE. However, I do wonder if it would have made a difference if I had read this one first. At any rate, this is a wonderful book that is certainly worth picking up for an unforgettable reading experience. Whenever I'm in a reading slump, I know I can end it simply by picking up a novel by Ms. Gibson. I have yet to read something by her that I didn't love.

Hockey Player + Southern Belle+ Great Cooking= WOW:
Well I'm Southern, I love hockey and I hate romance novels, yep you heard me right..I just dont like them! BUT when my mom got me this book as a gag...WOW I couldnt belive a woman wrote a book about a hockey player and used the jargon and didnt make him all sissy, Rachel Gibson has a dang good thing goin! And one last thing....TALKIN 'BOUT STEAMY!!!

Hated the hero.:
I haven't finished the book yet, but I just had to chime in and confirm that this book has the most unappealing, unsympathetic hero of any romance I've read in a long while. I mean, he had a one-night-stand with his first wife, and marries her when he gets her pregnant. After their son dies he proceeds to cheat on her numerous times, leading her to commit suicide. Then, while drunk, he marries a stripper whom he divorces a day later. Then he has a one-night-stand with the heroine, and dumps her at the airport the next day. This is all in the first 50 pages!! I thought we would actually see some introspection on his part, and perhaps understand why he was such a \ojerk\c in the past. But, that didn't happen. The heroine was little better. A very sad and confused woman with absolutely no self-esteem or self-respect. And, frighteningly, she's raising a 6-year-old who you suspect won't turn out much better. Also, I know I tend to be a stickler for grammar, but it drove me absolutely crazy that the 6-year-old repeatedly said "gots" instead of "has" or "have," yet none of the adults in her life ever corrected her. Apparently her first-grade teacher never corrected her either. Drove me crazy. Anyway, this is an okay book to read on the beach, but there are many better that would do much better. I certainly wouldn't spend any money on this one.

Great story...bad guy:
I won't give an overview because you probably already know what the book is about. It has a great story line and it flows really well. It's different from a lot of romance books out there. First, the woman in the book actually has (...)! Now, me being a C myself, I really identified with Georgie. I'm also insecure about my figure and it was good to read a romance with a non-skinny woman in it. Another unique point is that this book is about a hockey player. Of course, this is kind of Rachel Gibson's specialty, but there aren't a lot of these books out there. The only thing I didn't like was the hero's part. John was NOT a nice guy. I probably shouldn't go into everything he did in his past, but let's say he doesn't have the normal morals that most good romance guys have. At one point he tells Georgie, "If you ask real nice, I might just let you polish my stick", (Sorry if I'm not supposed to say that on a review) this following other such derogatory remarks. I wanted to yell at him for Georgie...but it was late at night so I couldn't. :( While I can handle a bad boy most of the time, his character almost ALWAYS acted like this. I couldn't really make myself like him that much.

2 stars for potential, but......:
it never went anywhere. The whole synopsis of the book occurred in the first 50 pages and then there were 250 more to go and I could care less. There was no chemistry between the h/h the way there was in See Jane Score and True Confessions. And as for their daughter, she was the sterotypical annoying kid who talks baby talk even though she's seven years old. Gibson tried to show that the h/h had their vulnerabilities and were wounded souls, but she never brought that out onto the pages. I'd skip this one.