Book 1

Hot Flash Club

by Nancy Thayer

Published 30 December 2003
Meet Faye, Marilyn, Alice, and Shirley. The four founding members of the Hot Flash Club, where the topics of motherhood, sex and men are discussed with double servings of chocolate cake. FAYE is an artist and a determinedly cheerful widow. Now she's got a tricky problem to bring to the club's table: how can they catch her perfect son-in-law cheating on her daughter ? SHIRLEY is a healer. Though her yoga-slender body belie her years, dating one too many losers and the strain of being broke make her feel her age. Shirley has a secret dream: to own a spa. But first she needs to believe in herself, in her abilities, and in her friends at the club. MARILYN is a palaeontologist who has spent so many years looking at dried-up fossils, she feels she's in danger of becoming one herself. Worried that her son is about to marry the wrong woman, she gets some help from her friends. ALICE, the executive, has soared to the top of the corporate ladder. Now her shoes are killing her and the younger jackals are circling in for the kill. But as the inspiration behind the Hot Flash Club, she's about to discover something extraordinary: contentment. .

Book 2

The fabulous women from The Hot Flash Club are back in top form, welcoming the stressed-out and pampering-deprived through their discreet spa doors–as Nancy Thayer returns with a witty, sexy, and heartwarming novel. The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again also introduces four new women, ready for massages and seaweed wraps, each struggling to reconcile her secret dreams, biggest fears, and deepest feelings as topsy-turvy events shake up her life.

After eighteen years of trying to make peace with her husband’s cold-as-ice mother, Polly vows to be the perfect mother-in-law: loving, accepting, and determined to keep her mouth shut. Then her son marries Amy, a Birkenstocked gal whose organic farm and family ooze a rather creepy serenity. Ever the optimist, Polly puts her best foot forward . . . so why does it end up in her mouth?

A shy and brilliant professor-to-be, Beth has lived a sheltered life. Then she meets Sonny, a rugged, sexy carpenter who sweeps her off her feet. The problem? Beth may not survive his loud, affectionate, athletic family–especially when the very beautiful and earthy woman everybody wanted Sonny to marry is still hanging around the family dinner table.

Heiress to one of New England’s oldest paper companies, Carolyn is the driving force behind the brand. Now, at thirty-seven, the workaholic executive is finally pregnant with her first child, and high blood pressure is forcing her to do something totally alien: relax. But how can she let down her guard when her seventy-something father has gone and eloped with a young bank clerk named Heather, whose rather plain looks and unassuming nature still manage to fill Carolyn with suspicion.

A free-spirited photographer, Julia has married a man she loves, but he’s come packed with baggage. Tim is a widower with a young daughter, and Julia has bravely stepped up to the plate, doing her best to provide maternal support. But as if being pinned down by the child’s slightly manipulative ways and (dare Julia say it) spoiled behavior wasn’t enough, there’s Tim’s ex-mother-in-law, whose meddling is getting nastier by the week.

For Polly, Beth, Carolyn, and Julia, the time has come to stand up for what matters–for their passions, their hearts, and themselves. As they maneuver through family drama and embrace unexpected change, they come to find that life is much easier (and a lot more fun) when you’ve got friends, wine, and chocolate along for the ride.

Book 3

Hot Flash Holidays

by Nancy Thayer

Published 1 November 2005
The intrepid women of The Hot Flash Club are back for the holidays, soothing jingled nerves and stressed shoppers in their exclusive spa and celebrating the joys of the season. In her witty and delightfully wisecracking prose, Nancy Thayer tells a heartwarming tale packed with fun, secrets, romance–and an ample dose of good cheer.

When the Hot Flash friends gather at the spa to trim the Christmas tree, they share steaming mugs of hot chocolate, a few laughs, and a vow to make this holiday one to remember. And it is–but not in the cheerful, ho-ho-ho way they expected. Instead, Christmas brings family conflicts, household accidents, plane delays–and that’s just the beginning.

After a hazardous holiday season, the women make resolutions that they intend to keep . . . in a perfect world. But life–and their friends and relatives–cause complications. Shirley lends financial support to her boyfriend’s schemes, which infuriates Alice, whose own son commits an act she’s not sure she can accept. Marilyn travels to Scotland and falls in love, but her octogenarian mother needs her at home. And when Polly and Faye find themselves pitted against each other by a younger woman, an they overcome this clash to make a new, entrepreneurial dream come true? Then real disaster strikes, bringing new challenges and surprising revelations.

Just as every month of the year throws new problems at us all, so too does the end of the year give us the chance to reunite and put these problems
into their proper perspective. And when the Hot Flash Five get together for the holidays, we should expect nothing less than the unexpected.

Book 4

The Hot Flash Club Chills Out

by Nancy Thayer

Published 1 January 2006
Since opening up their day spa, The Haven, the wonderful women of the Hot Flash Club have been busy indulging the beleaguered, nerve-frazzled throngs. Now, in Nancy Thayer’s hilarious new Hot Flash novel, it’s the friends’ turn to grab some soothing, and much-deserved R&R.

When a long-time Haven client asks the gals to housesit her Nantucket hideaway for the summer, they’re beyond thrilled; the cozy island enclave is the perfect place to shop, swim, chill, and plan Marilyn’s upcoming wedding to Ian, her Scottish fiancé. And Marilyn desperately needs the break, since Ian’s grown son has crashed at the couple’s place with no departure date in sight.

Soon after they arrive, the other hot flashers surrender to their own summer flings: Shirley entertains a steamy dalliance with a scruffy, sexy local fisherman that could lead to something deeper; Faye finds her dream house, but restoring it could be a costly nightmare; craft-maven Polly is enthralled by the island’s bounty, from shell art to lightship baskets; and even hardboiled Alice swoons with romantic adventure–or is it seasickness?

But this lovefest among the sand and ocean breezes is not without its consequences. Each woman must determine for herself what she is willing to give up in order to hold onto what she has found–and all of them fear that Shirley is on the brink of making a huge mistake, one that threatens their harmony and their business. But these concerns may be eclipsed by the mystery surrounding the disappearance of family heirlooms at the house where they are staying, and rumors that the place harbors spirits other than Grey Goose and Tanqueray.

Nancy Thayer continues her hugely successful Hot Flash series with this wickedly funny, delightfully bawdy tale. These irresistible women spring to life–along with their passions, their sorrows, their joys, and, most importantly, their friendship. So pack your bags and join these fabulous five for a season of fun, sun, love, sex, and estrogen therapy.