Young Adult Novel Thrust into Cultural ‘Perfect Storm’
Long Beach, CA – Jennifer Banash’s young-adult novel Simply Irresistible has suddenly found itself in the middle of a cultural “perfect storm.” Consider the key elements of Banash’s story:
- The main characters become stars of a new TV reality series
- One of them is combination teen icon/diva bitch
- It’s the third book in a critically acclaimed YA series
Now consider the recent cultural developments that have come together to thrust Simply Irresistible into this perfect storm:
- TV reality series, once declared an endangered species, have surged back to the top of the broadcast TV ratings
- Hannah Montana the Movie ranked No. 1 on U.S. box office charts its opening weekend, and the plot centered around a teen icon/diva bitch who found redemption
- The final installment of Stephanie Meyer’s YA saga, Breaking Dawn, sold a record-breaking 1.3 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release
Combine that with the glowing reviews for Banash’s third book in The Elite series – the kind of reviews that even Stephanie Meyer didn’t enjoy for Breaking Dawn – and you have a recipe for success.
Seventeen Magazine praised Banash’s work for delivering “all the drama, scandal, and high-end fashion of Gossip Girl,” and Alexa Young, author of Frenemies and Faketastic, described Simply Irresistible as “an awesome tale of friendship and betrayal with just the right amount of humor and heart. Seriously irresistible, and impossible to put down.”
Banash attended high school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and found it fertile ground for the insights and imagination that led to her characters and events in the Elite series.
Simply Irresistible brings us more adventures from the spoiled, rich teens in Manhattan who nearly ate Casey McCloy alive when she first arrived from her small town of Normal, Illinois. Now Casey has had a big-city-haute makeover, courtesy of classmate and neighbor Madison McCallister, the teen icon/diva-bitch. Wearing the right clothes, saying the right things and meeting the right people have given Casey the look and the attitude.
But to Madison’s dismay, her rival climbs the social ladder in a big way and could end up just as popular as Madison when the two star in their own TV reality show, “De-Luxe.” Fame comes at a price, and Madison is one chick who is willing to do anything to become the next reality “it’ girl.
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TIP SHEET:
“The Elite is Pretty in Pink for the millennium generation.”–Romance Reviews Today
“If you love all the drama, scandal, and high-end fashion of Gossip Girl…you’ll want to check out…The Elite!”–Seventeen.com
“An awesome tale of friendship and betrayal with just the right amount of humor and heart. Seriously irresistible, and impossible to put down.”-Alexa Young, author of Frenemies and Faketastic
