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49th out of 464 books
—
414 voters
An Offer You Can't Refuse
by
Jill Mansell
A sweet, funny and romantic novel from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller.
Lola has no intention of accepting when her boyfriend Dougie's snobbish mother offers her £10,000 to break up with him. Then she discovers a secret that makes her think again. Dougie would probably have broken up with her in the long run, and this way she can help one of the people she loves most in t...more
Lola has no intention of accepting when her boyfriend Dougie's snobbish mother offers her £10,000 to break up with him. Then she discovers a secret that makes her think again. Dougie would probably have broken up with her in the long run, and this way she can help one of the people she loves most in t...more
410 pages
Published
(first published January 1st 2008)
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Awful.. such a painfully disappointing and dull read! It was pure torture reading it through, which is even worse, since I was so interested by the plot that I went to great efforts to order it online, buy it have it delivered, and all for such an irritating and boring, undeveloped, low quality novel which just dragged on and on! I'm not prejudiced against chick lit, I like it, there are some authors I love : Sophie Kinsella, Melissa Nathan, Marian Keyes, etc, but this one definitely put me off...more
5 likes · like · see review
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This is the first and only book I have read written by Jill Mansell and I found the book to be easy to read and was instantly hooked. I instantly loved the main character, Lola, who was in the worst possible situation at the beginning of the story - keep your boyfriend or have £10,000... Lolca decides to take the money and run, something which I had a bit of a shout about when I was reading that part of the book.... I definately formed a lot of opinions throughout reading this! Would recommend t...more
I gave this book a solid 3/5, and I feel as if that was very generous.
I was very excited to read this book, as the plot seemed pretty interesting with her meeting her ex years later. But I was really disappointed.
The idea was a good idea, but poorly executed. I didn't feel the connection between Lola and Doug at all. I don't even know if I really wanted them together. I also was not that fond of Doug, as his character was pretty bland and Lola seemed to be too overly hyper. Maybe that was just m...more
I was very excited to read this book, as the plot seemed pretty interesting with her meeting her ex years later. But I was really disappointed.
The idea was a good idea, but poorly executed. I didn't feel the connection between Lola and Doug at all. I don't even know if I really wanted them together. I also was not that fond of Doug, as his character was pretty bland and Lola seemed to be too overly hyper. Maybe that was just m...more
This book follows Lola from a young age when a great love is all she cares, until her lover moves away to Edinburgh to study. They vow to stay together and Lola is even prepared to move to Edinburgh if they miss one anothe too much. However her bofriends mother steps in she does not approve of Lola, believing she isn't good enough for him. She bribes Lola with a large sum of money to leave her son alone. On her demand Lola does and as a result flee's the country to live abroad. She nver gets ove...more
This was selling cheap at $1.99 so I whipped myself up a copy.
At first I found the story a bit difficult to get into--I guess I wasn't really feeling the voice. Additionally there's a lot of time jumping over a period of ten years before the main part of the novel starts.
But there was certainly enough interest to keep me reading.
I'm hot and cold on a few things though.
Starting with the positives, I loved the depth of characters. Jill Mansell manages to make her characters three-dimensional as...more
At first I found the story a bit difficult to get into--I guess I wasn't really feeling the voice. Additionally there's a lot of time jumping over a period of ten years before the main part of the novel starts.
But there was certainly enough interest to keep me reading.
I'm hot and cold on a few things though.
Starting with the positives, I loved the depth of characters. Jill Mansell manages to make her characters three-dimensional as...more
Book starts off 10 years ago when Lola and Dougie are in love at 17 and 18. They have promised to stay together even though Dougie is moving to go to University, however, Doubgie's mom has other plans. Early on in the novel she tries to pay off Lola with 10,000 pounds! Lola is offended, however, when a situation in her home-life occurs Lola is desperate for cash to save her family. This secret between her step-father and herself will haunt her 10 years later when Lola realizes how much she still...more
Sep 29, 2011
Margarida Cruz
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
segredo-dos-livros
Foi o primeiro livro que li de Jill Mansell e confesso que fiquei fã. "Uma Oferta Irrecusável" é um livro leve, que nos rejuvenesce e anima os dias. Ao mesmo tempo, é um livro carregado de ternura, amor e toda uma mistura de sentimentos, cuja fonte é invariavelmente o coração. Todos os gestos das personagens que conhecemos neste livro são baseadas em lealdade, ternura, carinho, devoção, amor e laços de amizade.
Apesar de ser um romance cor-de-rosa, tem o poder de nos fazer acreditar que uma histó...more
Apesar de ser um romance cor-de-rosa, tem o poder de nos fazer acreditar que uma histó...more
I liked this book and yet it made me uncomfortable for a strange and unusual reason. Jill Mansell writes great realistic characters who are honest and likeable. Her supporting characters are just as great and that does not always happen in chick lit, this makes me squirm. I am so used to reading about the cute girly character who is silly and screws everything up and the reader follows along as she stumbles through disaster after disaster only to pull everything together at the end with the help...more
I read this book immediately after Prodigal Summer and that book was far superior. I question whether that has made any difference to my review. I have read a couple of Jill Mansell's chick lit books previously and they were readable when choice was limited. Marginally better than An Offer You Can't Refuse. One of the main ingredients to good chick lit is humour. The heroine has to be someone you can relate to or even admire (give or take one or two embarassing situations!). This book was distin...more
The concept of this book is not particularly unique — mom paying off the destitute girlfriend who needs to save her family to leave the rich boy she loves behind. But still, I enjoyed it none the less.
Most of Mansell’s characterizations (on an individual level) were wonderfully entertaining. Lola was funny and somewhat outlandish; she wasn’t afraid to be who she was despite leaving the man she loved behind to better the lives of her family. Gabe, her BFF, was a great counterpart with his dry-wit...more
Most of Mansell’s characterizations (on an individual level) were wonderfully entertaining. Lola was funny and somewhat outlandish; she wasn’t afraid to be who she was despite leaving the man she loved behind to better the lives of her family. Gabe, her BFF, was a great counterpart with his dry-wit...more
From the back of the book:
"Young Lola, under duress, accepts a huge bribe to break up with her boyfriend. The worst part is, the bribe is from his mother. Ten years later, when they meet again, her feelings for him are as strong as ever-but how is she going to win him back without telling him why she broke his heart in the first place?"
My thoughts:
My thoughts on this book can be summed up in one sentence: "What a fun read!" Seriously, it really was a fun read and I ended up enjoying this book im...more
"Young Lola, under duress, accepts a huge bribe to break up with her boyfriend. The worst part is, the bribe is from his mother. Ten years later, when they meet again, her feelings for him are as strong as ever-but how is she going to win him back without telling him why she broke his heart in the first place?"
My thoughts:
My thoughts on this book can be summed up in one sentence: "What a fun read!" Seriously, it really was a fun read and I ended up enjoying this book im...more
2 likes · like · see review
Lola and Dougie were very much in love. Though only 17 and 18, they had promised each other forever. This changed in the blink of an eye. Dougie's mother was not a big fan of Lola's. She didn't think that Lola belonged in her son's "privileged" life, so she offers Lola 10,000 pounds to leave Dougie and convince him that it is over. Lola is outraged and is bound and determined to tell Dougie what kind of mother he has. Before she has a chance to speak with him, her circumstances change and she is...more
Naprosto příjemné a relaxační čtivo, které vás nenechá ani na chvíli na pokoji. Jakmile s touhle závislostí od Jill začnete, musíte ji dojet co nejdříve do konce. Příběh je propleten hned několika postavami, z nichž mi nejsympatičtější byla asi dvojice Sally a Gabe, kteří vůbec nejsou hlavními postavami, ale u nichž jsem se naprosto bavila. Ano, tahle kniha je velmi humorná, na konci ukápla i ta slzička. Přestože by se v jednoduchosti měla hledat krása (a tahle kniha určitě vůbec nebyla špatná),...more
A really, really fun book! If you're in a bad mood, it'll cheer you right up! And don't make plans --I read it in one sitting.
So...what about it...
Lola really never, ever, gave up on trying to get Dougie back -- even when he kept throwing daggers at her and quite frankly it was hilarious!
Don't worry, you don't have to be a sadist to appreciate the way Doug shuts her down, you just can't not enjoy it with Lola being Lola!
Plus, you have to admit, that from Dougie's point of view, he could have b...more
So...what about it...
Lola really never, ever, gave up on trying to get Dougie back -- even when he kept throwing daggers at her and quite frankly it was hilarious!
Don't worry, you don't have to be a sadist to appreciate the way Doug shuts her down, you just can't not enjoy it with Lola being Lola!
Plus, you have to admit, that from Dougie's point of view, he could have b...more
Mais outro livro que li da autora e que adorei. Esta fórmula não desilude e adoro ler os livros dela. São uma lufada de ar fresco.
Leves, divertidos, românticos q.b., é tudo o que se pode pedir para uma tarde bem passada.
Sobre este livro, vou primeiro dizer as partes negativas e deixar o melhor para o fim.
A tradução está péssima. Até dá vontade de arrancar cabelos. Desde frases deste género: " A Sally entrou pelo apartamento de Sally", ao facto de a moeda neste livro estar traduzida, mesmo quan...more
Leves, divertidos, românticos q.b., é tudo o que se pode pedir para uma tarde bem passada.
Sobre este livro, vou primeiro dizer as partes negativas e deixar o melhor para o fim.
A tradução está péssima. Até dá vontade de arrancar cabelos. Desde frases deste género: " A Sally entrou pelo apartamento de Sally", ao facto de a moeda neste livro estar traduzida, mesmo quan...more
1 like · like · see review
Mais uma vez a autora não me desiludiu. De vez em quando gosto de ler estes livros leves e que me fazem rir, que contêm uma pitada de romance e humor irresistíveis.
Lola e Doug têm 17 anos e são namorados. Têm a vida pela frente e muitos sonhos para realizar. De repente Lola termina o namoro, deixando Doug sem chão e sem compreender porque é que a sua namorada resolveu desaparecer para Maiorca, sem grandes explicações. Lola não esperava ter de ceder à chantagem da mãe do namorado, mas foi exactam...more
Lola e Doug têm 17 anos e são namorados. Têm a vida pela frente e muitos sonhos para realizar. De repente Lola termina o namoro, deixando Doug sem chão e sem compreender porque é que a sua namorada resolveu desaparecer para Maiorca, sem grandes explicações. Lola não esperava ter de ceder à chantagem da mãe do namorado, mas foi exactam...more
...Jill Mansell has hit it out of the park again for me with this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I loved how Mansell wasted no time in jumping right into the thick of things. This book starts off when Lola is 17 and madly in love with Dougie Tennant. Dougie is getting ready to go to university in Dublin and though he's mad for Lola, they've worked out how they were going to do things. If things got to be too much, Lola would move to Dublin to be with Dougie but until then, they would take tur...more
An Offer You Can't Refuse by Jill Mansell is witty, charming, engaging, and Chicklit to the max.
For a reviewer this was a treat to find in a book, this is definitely how many of us feel about books and reading, and reading these lines instantly cemented my attention to this book.
Lola is a young girl in love with a boy, Dougie, whose family is wealthy and whose mother hates her guts. His mother makes her an offer that she can't refuse, so she takes it and says goodbye to the love of her life in a...more
For a reviewer this was a treat to find in a book, this is definitely how many of us feel about books and reading, and reading these lines instantly cemented my attention to this book.
Lola is a young girl in love with a boy, Dougie, whose family is wealthy and whose mother hates her guts. His mother makes her an offer that she can't refuse, so she takes it and says goodbye to the love of her life in a...more
Jill Mansell's story is a delightful British romp through love, loss and renewed love. I happen to be a bit of an anglo-phile and enjoyed adding this title to my growing library of British chick-lit, which also includes Sophie Kinsella and Madeleine Wickham. Mansell's story is told through the perspective of lovely Lola, who is just the right combination of "girly girl" as well as someone who uses her head on a regular basis. She is a bibliophile, which makes her completely lovable but at the sa...more
It’s about a teenage girl named Lola who has been offered 10,000 bucks by her boyfriend’s mother. BUT, she wants her to leave his son because she sees Lola as a threat to her son’s future. At first, Lola was against that idea, but sooner, she finds out that she needs the money in order to pay her step father’s debts. She took the money and agreed to her boyfriend’s mother to sabotage their relationship.
Ten years after, Lola and Dougie’s fates entangled again. Causing their feelings grow stonger...more
Ten years after, Lola and Dougie’s fates entangled again. Causing their feelings grow stonger...more
The second book for my chick-lit reading group.
I would have liked to give this book half a star more, because it's really quite cute, but it has a couple of things to it that annoy me:
Firstly, at a charity dinner our heroine finds herself in a situation that is too much like the Law Council Dinner in Bridget Jones' Diary: the edge of reason. That kind of recycling really anoys me...
Secondly, the characters are very much stereotypes of the genre, which works sometimes, but not this time, in my o...more
I would have liked to give this book half a star more, because it's really quite cute, but it has a couple of things to it that annoy me:
Firstly, at a charity dinner our heroine finds herself in a situation that is too much like the Law Council Dinner in Bridget Jones' Diary: the edge of reason. That kind of recycling really anoys me...
Secondly, the characters are very much stereotypes of the genre, which works sometimes, but not this time, in my o...more
This book was nothing extraordinary but entertaining none-the-less. My main point of contention, however, is the the synopsis provided on the back cover certainly does not aptly describe the plot. Only a very small portion of the story was dedicated to Lola and Dougie's relationship. The bulk of the book dealt with the relationships' of every other person in Lola's life (a bit too heavily weighted in this arena if you ask me). I recommend this book mainly just for a beach read- the short chapt...more
I normally go bed quite early as I have problems getting up in the morning and so it was my mistake to start reading this book on a Sunday evening. I just couldn't stop.. It was already past midnight when I made myself put in away. The whole next day at work I was thinking only about this book and the main characters Lola and Dougie. The characters are really likable and you can relate to them. The whole story is witty, funny, engaging, plausible and giving you hope that anything's possible.
A g...more
A g...more
Et tilbud du ikke kan afslå, er chick lik, som jeg aldrig har læst det før. Et tilbud du ikke kan afslå, har det hele. Jeg kunne ikke undgå at blive i godt humør, samtidig med at bogen nogle steder er lidt sørgelig.
Jill Mansell er ved at blive en af mine ynglingsforfattere.
In English
An offer you can't refuse, is Chick lik, but not like anything I have read before.
An offer you can't refuse, has it all. I had a smile on my lipe when I was done with the book, eventhough it sometimes were a little b...more
Jill Mansell er ved at blive en af mine ynglingsforfattere.
In English
An offer you can't refuse, is Chick lik, but not like anything I have read before.
An offer you can't refuse, has it all. I had a smile on my lipe when I was done with the book, eventhough it sometimes were a little b...more
I wasn't a big fan of Chick Lit when I read this book, so though my best friend recommended it to me, I was skeptical. However, about 100 pages in, I realized I was completely wrong. I've always had a preference for books with a fictional setting, especially love stories, but this one changed my mind. The feelings I had while racing through the pages were overwhelming and to be honest, it caused me to freak out multiple times. Although I wouldn't consider this "good literature" by the books, it...more
Aug 12, 2009
Jackie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Bridget Jones fans, Kinsella fans, etc
Recommended to Jackie by:
Dominique and Heidi at Sourcebooks
Lola and Dougie fall in love in high school, much to Dougie's mother's dismay. He's from a rich family, Lola is working class. So, the summer between graduation and college, Dougie's mother offers Lola 10,000 pounds to break up with Dougie without telling him
about the money. A horrifying offer that Lola wants to refuse, but at the same time her beloved father has gotten himself into money troubles that would break up her own family. She takes the deal. Flash forward 10 years and Lola and Dougie...more
about the money. A horrifying offer that Lola wants to refuse, but at the same time her beloved father has gotten himself into money troubles that would break up her own family. She takes the deal. Flash forward 10 years and Lola and Dougie...more
Now that I've read quite a few of Mansell's books, I can see a pattern: the hero in her main plot lines is typically quite underdeveloped, often making the second and third romance pairings far more interesting to read than the main one. This book was a perfect example of this trope. Lola, our female lead, was fun to read about, but as we never get inside Doug's head, and since he and Lola are estranged for most of the book, readers don't get to see his reactions to the romance, and thus the mai...more
I am a big Jill Mansell fan, but this one was just off to me.
Lola and Dougie are in "young love." Dougie's wealthy mom tries to buy Lola off. Lola steadfastly refuses...for about 12 hours.
She finds out the family needs money, she sacrifices her happily ever after and takes the money, buys the family out of the problem and moves abroad.
This is one of my least favorite tropes, so that was kind of an initial downer for me. I will say Ms. Mansell handled the setup very nicely and succinctly. There...more
Lola and Dougie are in "young love." Dougie's wealthy mom tries to buy Lola off. Lola steadfastly refuses...for about 12 hours.
She finds out the family needs money, she sacrifices her happily ever after and takes the money, buys the family out of the problem and moves abroad.
This is one of my least favorite tropes, so that was kind of an initial downer for me. I will say Ms. Mansell handled the setup very nicely and succinctly. There...more
An Offer You Can't Refuse is the 7th Jill Mansell novel I've read in the past two years. Obviously, she's become one of my favorite authors especially when I'm in the mood to relax on the beach or curl up by the fire with lighthearted book. An Offer You Can't Refuse is definitely one of my favorites out of the seven that I've read.
Meet Lola Malone. At 17, Lola was deeply in love with Dougie Tennant. Nothing could tear them apart so when Dougie's mother offered Lola a bribe to break up with her...more
Meet Lola Malone. At 17, Lola was deeply in love with Dougie Tennant. Nothing could tear them apart so when Dougie's mother offered Lola a bribe to break up with her...more
Mais um exemplar de como Jill Mansell, com as suas histórias do dia a dia e tão possíveis de nos acontecer, nos faz rir com pouca e muita coisa.
Para além de uma troca de nomes entre Gabe e Douglas e de uma certa "comichão" na tradução de "hurt" para "aleijar", este livro é lido de uma ponta a outra sem os nossos olhos pararem e sem as nossas mãos largarem. Totalmente viciante. Não digo que seja o melhor, mas a história de Lola com a sua persistência em conseguir reconquistar Douglas é tão querid...more
Para além de uma troca de nomes entre Gabe e Douglas e de uma certa "comichão" na tradução de "hurt" para "aleijar", este livro é lido de uma ponta a outra sem os nossos olhos pararem e sem as nossas mãos largarem. Totalmente viciante. Não digo que seja o melhor, mas a história de Lola com a sua persistência em conseguir reconquistar Douglas é tão querid...more
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Jill Mansell lives with her partner and children in Bristol, and writes full time. Actually that’s not true; she watches TV, eats fruit gums, admires the rugby players training in the sports field behind her house, and spends hours on the internet marvelling at how many other writers have blogs. Only when she’s completely run out of displacement activities does she write.
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“Last night. I couldn't put that book down. I was awake till four this morning finishing it. I didn't know reading could be like that, I had no idea.”
—
7 people liked it
“Desejava uma verdadeira livraria tal como um viciado deseja uma dose. Não havia mesmo nada melhor do que aquele maravilhoso cheiro a livros novos, tocar nas capas e folhear um livro, cujas páginas, se calhar, nunca tinham sido folheadas.
(...)
Há pessoas obececadas e apaixonadas por sapatos. Os sapatos eram bonitos, mas não se podia ficar a noite toda acordade a ler um par, pois não?”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
(...)
Há pessoas obececadas e apaixonadas por sapatos. Os sapatos eram bonitos, mas não se podia ficar a noite toda acordade a ler um par, pois não?”
