Heat Wave

A Novel

By: Nancy Thayer

Narrated by: Kathe Mazur

Unerringly perceptive, superbly written, every page packed with the warmth and compassionate wisdom that have become Nancy Thayer’s trademark, Heat Wave tells the moving story of a woman who, after her seemingly perfect life unravels, must find the strength to live and love again.

Making the startling discovery that her family finances are in dire straits is only the latest shock endured by Carley Winsted after her husband’s sudden death from a heart attack. Resisting her in-laws’ well-meaning overtures to take in Carley and her two daughters, the young widow instead devises a plan to keep her family in their beloved home, a grand historic house on the island of Nantucket.

The solution is right at Carley’s front door: transforming her expensive, expansive house into a bed-and-breakfast. Not everyone, however, thinks this plan prudent or quite respectable—especially not Carley’s mother-in-law. Further complicating a myriad of challenges, a friend forces Carley to keep a secret that, if revealed, will undo families and friendships. When her late husband’s former law partner keeps showing up at the most unexpected times, Carley must cope with an array of mixed feelings. And then, during a late-summer heat wave, the lives of Carley and her friends and family will be forever changed in entirely unexpected ways. Lyrical, emotional, dramatic, and ultimately wonderfully uplifting, Nancy Thayer’s latest novel is compelling from its first page to its last.

©2011 Nancy Thayer (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

“This well-wrought, appealing book [is] packed with literally down-to-earth charm.” (The New York Times)

“Thayer’s gift for reaching the emotional core of her characters [is] captivating.” (Houston Chronicle)

great summer read

this book was a nice lovely beachy summer book. I am enjoying Nancy Thayer very much this summer

Couldn't put this book down!

Would you consider the audio edition of Heat Wave to be better than the print version?

After reading some book reviews it definitely seems the audio edition is better because it was hard for me to quit listening! I felt a part of everyone's life. I thought the story line was excellent..I did however start it once and found right away there was a death and not wanting a sad audio I went to another but I should have stuck with this as I did not find it a sad read.

What other book might you compare Heat Wave to and why?

The only one I can think of is Four Friends by Robyn Carr because this too was about friendship and trials of getting through on a positive note.

What does Kathe Mazur bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She brings life to each character as if watching a great movie without the picture. She is excellent!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A must see!

Any additional comments?

I found this a wonderful audio. A great story line filled with emotion of family and friends and how they work out their situations. An easy listen. I super enjoyed!!

Good read

As a woman I really loved this book. It is a story about families, women, and has a ring of real truth in it's events. It is a laughing, crying,life story. If you want an epic romance...it's here but not the main ingredient, and it is much more realistic. Loved the main character.

Not horrible

I didn't mind the story, but the wording the author used seemed outdated for how young the character was. She used the same phrases my grandmother used before she passed, and she would now be close to 90.... it didn't fit.

good story bad narrator

I would have enjoyed the story more is it weren't for the narrator. Her voice was to weak and very annoying at times.

Very interesting story!

I really enjoyed listening to this! An excellent story, certainly kept my attention, I loved it. I am re-listening to several of Nancys books. The main complaint I have with Nancy is that she isn’t always good at choosing her narrators, there are some that I simply cannot tolerate so I don’t, so I hate missing out on that story, but who can stand to listen to somebody they don’t like for many hours? This narrator, I thought was very pleasant and I like her a lot.

Cute fun summer read

I liked this book. Character development was good. Overall, nice to listen to. Would recommend to someone who likes chick lit.

Awful narration, annoying characters

I think I might have given this book 3 stars overall, since I like happy endings in general, but the histrionic and over-dramatic narration was so annoying that I found myself wanting to throttle the main character most of the time. The narrator would utter a sentence like, "It's so hot outside" with the kind of traumatic distress you'd expect from someone saying, "My baby has cancer!" Only with more of a plaintive whine. And this whining happened every minute or so!

Worse were the ancillary characters devoid of any kind of common decency (I'll steal my best friend's husband! My baby won't need to know who his father is because I can't be bothered!) who were supposed to like and empathize with but who I loathed. The "bad guys" (the in laws) completely disappear 2/3 of the way through the book, and then a major character dies out of nowhere to make the main character's life better. If I wasn't so stubborn I would have stopped reading after an hour, but please save yourself the annoyance. This is the most whiny awful book I've read in years. Skip it.

a bit too boring

Boring boring boring if it wasn't for all the boring this story still would have been boring.