Nancy Thayer

Book on CD narrated by Tanya Eby

From the book jacketIn this enchanting holiday novel, … friends and family gather on Nantucket for a gorgeous winter wedding with plenty of merry surprises in store.

My reactions:
‘Tis the season for improbable holiday romances with ice skating, decorating a Christmas tree, hot cocoa, snow, at least one person who is “not into Christmas and/or kids,” and one or more missteps on the road to that happy-ever-after ending.

I have to admit that Jilly, the show more mother of the bride, irritated me no end with her histrionics. The bride, youngest daughter Felicia, knew how to handle her, especially with the help of her older sister, Jilly’s “perfect” daughter, Lauren. The men were less irritating, but also less present. They tended to go off on poorly thought-out adventures with resulting trips to the ER. But all’s well that ends.

If it isn’t already a Hallmark Christmas movie, it would make a good one. Fun, fast, holiday read.

The audio version is capably narrated by Tanya Eby. She has clear diction and set a nice pace. Once or twice I was a bit confused about who was speaking, but it didn’t take long to catch up. show less

Wouldn't we all love if someone told us we had to stay in a beach house in Nantucket for free for three months?

Sounds like a great idea. But it's not quite that simple. When their dad Rory dies, he says in his will that his three daughters have to share the family beach house for three months before they can sell it and split the money.

There is a lot of family drama in their past. Arden is the oldest daughter, her dad left her mom for another woman and they had Meg together. Then, he left show more Meg's mom for another woman who had a little girl of her own. Her daughter is Jenny. She is the same age as Meg and the girls' dad adopted her.
Everyone got along decently well, given the situation, until Jenny's mom accused Arden of stealing jewelry from her. She insisted that Arden and Meg no longer be invited for summer visits to the Nantucket beach house.
As a result, drama grew between the family and the three girls grew up barely seeing each other.

Now the girls are all in their 30's and reunited for another summer together in the family beach house.

I think this was really well written. Each girl had their own unique personality and their own issues. You could see why they disagreed, but you could also tell there was love there. You really root for the girls to wind up close again by the time the summer is out.

Nice, happy read :) I enjoyed it a lot. And I like this a ton more than her book Beachcombers. show less

All the Days of Summer by Nancy Thayer transports readers to Nantucket. I enjoyed the author’s vivid word imagery of the island. I could imagine the ferry ride to the island, the beaches, the bumpy road to Heather’s summer oasis, the rundown condition of Heather’s summer rental, the charming town, and the Essex’s gorgeous home. I also enjoyed the depictions of Heather’s beautiful Victorian home in Concord, Massachusetts. I want to live in that home (I love Victorian homes). Her show more marriage has fizzled out. Her husband goes to work at the hardware store he owns and then comes home to plop himself in front of the television. They have grown apart. The spark is gone along with the love. Now that Heather’s son is graduating from college, Heather wants to discover what she wants to do with the rest of her life. I am sure there are women can relate to Heather’s situation. Heather is forty-seven, but the way the character is written, she comes across as older (makes it seem she is ready for retirement at times). Other female characters around the same age are similar (they seemed older). It was always the families plan for Ross to return to Concord (Ross was on board with it before his senior year of college) to help his father run the hardware store. Now that he has a serious girlfriend, Heather figures he will bring the lady home with him. Heather rents a rundown home in Nantucket for three months (at $10,000 a month). Then she learns that Ross, her son, is not returning to Concord. Ross and his girlfriend, Kailee Essex are heading to Nantucket where they will work at her father’s business, Essex Construction. Heather is not a fan of Kailee and I do not blame her. Kailee is a spoiled lady. Her parents are rich, and they have always given Kailee what she wanted. Kailee made the story hard to read. She is spoiled, selfish, insecure, and immature. Kailee wants to keep Ross to herself (she reminds me of a child who does not want to share er favorite toy). She does not want to share Ross with his mother. The point of view switches between Kailee, Ross, and Heather. I would have preferred the story to be told in the third person. I did not enjoy the sections told from Kailee and Ross’s point of view (I ended up skimming to get through them). Ross is a good person, but love is blind. He does not see Kailee’s faults. I found the story to be predictable. I wish the author had let Heather become her own person without the added romance element. The story does have a feel-good ending. All the Days of Summer is a story to read while lounging by the pool or relaxing on the beach. All the Days of Summer is a beach read with a lonesome marriage, an unfriendly girlfriend, a ramshackle cottage, a discovered dog, beautiful beaches, and a blissful future. show less

SOME SPOILERS - BUT NOTHING THAT WILL RUIN THE BOOK ;)

When four women in their 50s-60s meet by chance at a mutual acquaintance’s retirement party and duck out for some real fun (cocktails and chocolate), they find themselves commiserating over their mid-life issues. Deciding each one could play a part in helping the other through their difficulties, they form the HFC - The Hot Flash Club.

We then follow Faye, the recently widowed artist who is tapped to become a live-in housekeeper for an show more uber wealthy family to see if their daughter truly loves the son of HFC member Marilyn. Marilyn in turn, who is a tenured professor at MIT, takes on the role of assistant to Alice, the fierce executive to find out if Alice’s job is at risk. Alice assists Shirley, the flighty, hippie-dippie masseuse create a business plan to open a retreat, and Shirley spies on a young woman having an affair with Faye’s daughter.

While like any book where there are multiple protagonists, it takes a minute to keep the characters straight, but Nancy Thayer does an excellent job with that and with keeping the storyline moving quite cohesively. The downside for me was I really wanted more ‘hot flashishness.’

Written in 2003, The Hot Flash Club just sort of faded off into the reader’s imagination as the ending, which was a typical style of that time. This leaves the reader wondering about, well, everything. Did Faye’s daughter and her philandering husband work things out? Is Alice going to stay with the man whom she just met but confessed to having recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer? Will Shirley get the retreat up and running? And will Marilyn settle down with her co-worker? I’m not a fan of the fade to black ending as it leaves people like me with an innate need for clarity too many sleepless nights.

All-in-all, a fun, well-written, easy-to-read page-turner. (And for those of you who actually read reviews, that was likely the most hyphens I’ve ever used in one sentence!) show less