Nancy Thayer Hot Flash Holidays

Hot Flash Holidays

Nancy Thayer

Ballantine, Nov 2005, $16.95

ISBN: 0345485513

The Hot Flash club musketeers Faye, Alice, Marilyn, Shirley, and the last recruit Polly go to unwind at Shirley's Haven, a spa whose clients are older women. They enjoy their time there, but soon each returns home to the reality of a Yuletide with enemy combatants, their battling relatives.

Taking no prisoners the give me menopause team prepares for the invaders. While cooking a meal for her son, finicky daughter-in-law, and grandchild, a distraught Polly sets her kitchen on fire. Faye rushes to the airport to meet her grandchild, but breaks her ankle in her haste when she slips. Alice feels an all round depression as her family grows especially out of control. Marilyn struggles with caring for her elderly mother, but not as much as what to do when her boyfriend suddenly asks her to marry him. Finally Shirley, hoping to encourage her younger boyfriend to propose, gives him money to self-publish his novel. The holidays are a disaster for the Hot Flash Club members, but they all look forward to January when they can get together in good cheer, peace, and gossip for all.

The third Hot Flash tale (THE HOT FLASH CLUB and THE HOT FLASH CLUB STRIKES AGAIN) is a fine story that once again pokes fun at family relationships as seen by the quintet. Each of the fearsome "fivesome" is unique and remains consistent to their behavior in the previous novels. Though at times the humorous asides seem bah humbug stale having heard the cranks and moans before, fans will enjoy the nickel defense as the membership survives the latest holiday escapades of surmounting the family feuds with love and understanding.

Harriet Klausner