The Hot Flash Club

By: Nancy Thayer

Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie

From the best-selling author of Between Husbands and Friends and An Act of Love comes a wise, wonderful, and delightfully witty coming-of-age novel about four intrepid women who discover themselves as they were truly meant to be: passionate, alive, and ready to face the best years of their lives.

Meet Faye, Marilyn, Alice, and Shirley. Four women with skills, smarts, and secrets - all feeling over the hill and out of the race. But in a moment of delicious serendipity, they meet and realize they share more than raging hormones and lost dreams. Now, as the Hot Flash Club, where the topics of motherhood, sex, and men are discussed with double servings of chocolate cake, they vow to help each other...and themselves.

Faye, the artist. A determinedly cheerful widow and connoisseur of control-top pantyhose, she's struggling with creative block and an empty, lonely house. 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 only daughter, Laura?

Shirley, the healer. Though her yoga-slender body belies her years, decades of dating losers and the strain of being broke make her feel her age. Shirley has a secret dream: a wellness spa that nurtures body and soul. But first she needs to believe in herself, in her abilities, and in her friends at the club.

Marilyn, the brain. A paleontologist who has spent so many years looking at dried-up fossils, she's almost become one herself. Worried that her brilliant but nerdy son is about to marry the very wrong woman, she gets some help from the HFC, who transform her from a caterpillar to a butterfly, with amazing results.

Alice, the executive. Black and regal, she soared to the top of the corporate ladder. Now her shoes are murder on her arthritic back, and the younger jackals are circling in for the kill. But as the inspiration behind the HFC, she's about to discover something extraordinary: contentment.

For Faye, Shirley, Marilyn, and Alice, the time has come to use it or lose it - be it their bodies, their brains, their spirits, and their sense of fun. Together they realize that they can have it all, perhaps for the first time in their lives. And though what sags may never rise again, feeling sexy has no expiration date - and best of all, with a little help from her friends, a woman can always start over...and never, ever give up what matters most.

©2003 Nancy Thayer (P)2017 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

" The Hot Flash Club is a fun, fast-paced novel about four women discovering the joys of friendship. Warm, lively, wise, and as much fun as a girl's night out, The Hot Flash Club is sure to be a hit." (Kristin Hannah, New York Times best-selling author of Between Sisters)

Took me a minute then love love

Took me a minute to get into it then I listened in the car before bed when I would wake up in the middle of the night! Going to start 2nd book now bye!!!! oh it's 5am

Good book

Love this book good humor,friends,and family
Will read more of the series
Hope it continues

Fun listen

Fun and easy listen particularly for those of us in our glorious 50 and on up. Found myself randomly chuckling throughout the listen.

nancy thayers best series..especially om audio

narrator does a great job with different characters. I really love this series and ha e listened to it several times. nice to hear stories about women's friendship in their 50s snd 60s

Just what I need. Good clean fun.

I really loved this novel as I am just knocking on the door of the hot flash club. Great friendships I have nowhere family loved it. Can’t wait to listen to rest of the series.

Wasted time and money

I thought this would be such a funny story, but it was not! I couldn’t even make it through Book 1. Some of the language was horrendous!
Sadly, I purchased the entire series and threw away $50! No more Nancy Thayer for me.

Awful tripe

I HATED this. Why is it that there is so much fiction about middle aged women that are bitter and twisted and want to bring down the younger generation? Ugh! I thought this would be different, it isn't. It isn't well written either, it reminds me so much of the formulaic tripe that is Mills and Boon.