From the back of the audio case: Making the discovery that her family finances are in dire straights 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.
Read by: Kathe Mazur
My thoughts: This is the second book I’ve read/listened to by Nancy Thayer and she is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I love how her books seem to all be set on Nantucket – one of my favorite places to read about (just like Elin Hilderbrands’ books).
Heat Wave tells the story of Carley Winsted, a recently widowed, young mother of two. Carley is the kind of woman we’d all love to have as our best friend and it’s easy to empathize with her as she deals with the death of her young husband and the challenges of raising her 2 daughters alone and finding a way to support herself and the girls. Her relationship with her in-laws and her decency and integrity in her dealings with them, even when they are both difficult and critical of her decisions, is an interesting counterpoint to the loving, close relationship she has with her girlfriends, nicknamed Las Tres Enchilladas.
I really enjoyed this book. I found myself going through a whole slew of emotions while listening – it made me laugh, it made me angry, and then it made me cry. In the end I felt joy and fulfillment on behalf of Carley’s courage to begin life anew.
(I borrowed this audio book from the library.)
