Customer Reviews

Simply Irresistible: Unleash Your Inner Siren and Mesmerize Any Man, with Help from the Most Famous--and Infamous--Women in History

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After reading this book I feel my siren skills needs some much brushing up. This is was a fun and enjoyable read. I tore into it and finished it within 2 days. All the women selected were fasinating case studies and there is definitely something to be said about becoming an unique or an irresistable woman. One thing that has often been repeated to me by my male friends that it is often a woman's attitude and or confidence that capture their attention and I think much of that is reflected in this book. Highly, highly recommended.

From the get-go this book made me laugh and was full of surprising, even startling, insights that chipped away at my (I suppose) hardened perspectives. The historical examples are entertaining, educational -- some even shocking -- but we also get the author's funny personal examples, which I especially loved. The author gives pointers like a wise and successful girlfriend who cares and can see things you don't. I gave a copy to a friend at work (it's a gorgeous gift) who reported back: "It's like a Bible."

This book is beautiful and so much fun to read. I found it enchanting, sophisticated, and very savvy when talking about these fabulous women. Unlike all those wordy thesis' about men are from Mars, etc., the author makes all her big, important points without psychoanalytic pretentions and gets to the heart of the matter much more quickly and succinctly. It's the first book that made me want to play the "game".

If you would like a more accurate and in depth look at "sirens" in history, I recommend Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love Past that, I have a problem with female self-help writers who offer the questionable examples of Wallis Simpson, Pamela Harriman and Mata Hari as paragons to be learned from. Wallis never did anything with her talents or gifts and was basically a gilded nursemaid and nanny to a royal wimp-(by the way, they were both Nazi sympathizers), Pamela-who described herself as a "backroom girl" who "didn't even particularly enjoy going to bed with men" was, more often than not, on the receiving end of much emotional abuse from the difficult men she played submissive geisha to- who also either returned to their wives or/and were unfaithful to her, and Mata Hari, according to Prioleau: "slept with faceless soldiers for peanuts, and concocted her secret agent yarn to get attention and improve business...(she)fooled nobody and cooperated fully in the national witch-hunt for women who renounced domestic responsibilities. During the war(WW1),with the combined threat of women in the workplace and the need for maternal succor and sacrifice, antidomestic sirens involved in politics were targeted as spies and demonized. Hence the myth of the double agent ball breaker in black satin." "She was eaten alive by every man in her path...her true love jilted her...")She was caught in the knots of her own clumsy lies and "hired a lawyer with no experience and blundered her way into a death sentence."
Far more inspiring and fabulous examples of triumphant sirens are found in Prioleau's study, many who, despite lack of beauty and youth, took no prisoners, got the men everyone wanted and triumphed against all odds. "Victimhood", Prioleau observes, "no matter how stylish, did not belong in the Siren's repertoire. Grand Horizontals preferred conquest, victory parades, and the spoils of war."
This is a pleasant, feel-good read, but by no means does it tell women anything they didn't already know. The only advice herein worth hearing again is: LOVE YOURSELF, and be happily fulfilled on your own so you do not cling or chase or need men to complete yourself. Truth 101.

Ellen T. White has scored with her lovely book "Simply Irresistible". The 264 page book is both a pleasure to look at and read. White begins by helping the reader identify their inner siren. The classic sirens are: Goddess, Companion, Sex Kitten, Competitor, and Mother. She uses a famous women in history as a case study to illustrate each. Marilyn Monroe, for example, is a classic Sex Kitten. White describes the behavior, clothes, attitude etc. Marilyn used to captivate her male audience that are typical of the "Sex Kitten" siren.

After you have identified your style, White suggests you personalize your style and make it your own. She gives more case studies of women who have magnetized with their unique traits. Tips on putting your best foot forward, building your power base, making yourself so unforgettable....

The allure of many well known and lesser known women throughout history is covered. Jackie Kennedy Onasis, Coco Chanel, Cleopatra, Clare Booth Luce, Zelda Fitzgerald, Camilla Bowles and many others.

Interspersed throughout the book are beautiful photos and illustrations. An index and resource section are included at the back.

Lovely read!

~ Lee Mellott

I heard about a book written particularly for women entitled Simply Irresistible. After reading a short synopsis and the author's take, I found the book to be, well, simply irresistible.

I'm of the male persuasion, but I read it even though the book was written specifically for women. But one that promised to help you "unleash your inner siren and mesmerize men?" Sure. I'm all for learning about "sirendom" especially "with help from the most famous and infamous women in history." The opportunity to learn about female/male relationships by reading case histories of some of the most intriguing and seductive women of our time is alluring indeed. And the book does not disappoint.

Ellen T. White, writing in a lively and invigorating style, divided the book into two sections: Finding Your Inner Siren and Personalizing Your Appeal. In the first part, the reader discovers White's explanation of what it truly takes to be a siren. She also reveals that women generally fall into five categories or archetypes she labels: the goddess, companion, sex kitten, competitor, and mother. Each category features a representing albeit appropriate study of a woman of well-known stature.

The second part features tips and suggestions on how to hone the skills necessary to develop the desired archetypical role. Here too the reader will find examples of such players as Mae West, Nicole Kidman, Jacqueline Kennedy, and even Queen Elizabeth I. Their lives offer a myriad of ideas and unique personal character traits to help cultivate and improve your siren ways.

I admit to knowing less than nothing about these female archetypes until now. But I hope women will believe me when I say this book may present the opportunity to become the siren they always aspired to be. If not, they will have received one heck of history lesson on some pretty interesting women, and perhaps a little insight into their own personalities as well.

The siren-style of woman is one that is admired, hated, gossiped about, loved deeply from both near and far and often envied, sometimes all at once by the same person. At no times are they ever ignored. This book describes some of the most famous women of this type down through history. Other than being a siren, the characteristics of these women cover a wide swath of different types.
There are queens and empresses, such as Elizabeth I of England, Cleopatra of Egypt and Catherine the Great of Russia. Some are actresses such as Mae West, Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, Carole Lombard and Susan Sarandon. Others pursued wealth and power at all costs, for example Evita Peron, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Pamela Harriman and Lady Randolph Churchill all pursued and captured men at high levels of political power. Finally, some were prostitutes and frauds, such as Mata Hari and Ninon de Lenclos, although the proper term for the higher-class sex worker was courtesan. They were women who provided quality companionship and conversation as well as sex.
Whatever category you would put them in, they were all women who altered and went contrary to the society they found themselves in. Looked at another way, most could be described as feminists, because they insisted that women could do what they want, social norms notwithstanding. In many cases, these women had many lovers and they made no secret of it, wearing it as a badge of honor and pride. Pamela Harriman summed it up when she said, "I would rather have bad things written about me than be forgotten."
This is not a book for someone who harbors a chauvinistic attitude towards the role of women, independent of their gender. However, if you are interested in some of the most dynamic, energetic and interesting women in history, then this book will fascinate you. It certainly generated that reaction in me.

Once in awhile a book comes along that empowers you to feel good about yourself, and helps give you that extra nudge that you want to become the person you desire to be. What women does not want to be irresistible to the man of their choice. Through example of life story after life story this book tells many tales of a variety of different women and the power they held over the men that they were with.

You don't have to be the most attractive, the best dressed, or the best anything to hold a man captive. You simply need to promote your best qualities be it a muse, a mother figure, a companion, or even a sex kitten to really attract a man. I like that it is suggested that you really just need to agument the best qualities that you already have and use those to your advantage.

She uses many examples of a variety of different women such as Mata Hari, Queen Elizabeth II, the Duchess of Windsor, Carol Lombard to name just a few. Each of these women are unique, just as each one of are. Through reading this book you will feel that you are unique and a special person completely capable of finding and holding that special person in your life.

I enjoyed the book from a writer's standpoint--it does provide some good archetypal insights for authors working on the portrayal of courtesans or femme fatales in general. These are not necessarily 'good' characters to be admired--but they are to be interesting, sexy, and dimensional. So, given that I got this book primarily for inspiration on that front, it fulfilled its purpose.
However, I did hope that there might be some insights into romance on a personal level--nice ideas of things to do, etc. Some depth, perhaps. There was a lack of that in this book. And, in its defense, it doesn't pretend otherwise--it simply is what it is. If you are willing to act, to play games, to stylize your persona in order to seduce someone, then the advice would be useful. Otherwise, I don't think there's much you can take away from it and still be authentic. It calls for you to put on a visage, a mask of some 'divine feminine' icon. But one thing that all of these women had in common was that they all were adulterous, (and my take on it is along the lines of 'waste not, want not'--why do you want more than you need? Especially where men are concerned) and that seemed to be the ideal, the standard, that the book was setting up as what the ideal seductress might aspire to.
I guess that's probably a given to some people. I just had it in mind to seduce my one main squeeze, to do it authentically, being myself--not subscribing to some other temptress' methods of game-playing.
Note, however, that the overall timbre of this book seems to me rather whimsical and flippant--it is nicely put together with inspirational quotes about love here and there, and the overall layout of the book is well thought-out. The content is entertaining and worth the thought, even if it isn't very often the sort of thing one would want to employ on a day-to-day basis. Who knows, someday you might find yourself kidnapped in a strange, faraway land and forced to seduce your way out of it as a means of survival. In which case, this book would probably be quite handy.

This book is easy reading with many indepth insights. If you like history and interesting stories to learn from then this book is for you. It is also wonderful for women wanting to learn how to embrace their powers of flirtation.