Fans of The
Hot Flash Club
will be pleased that Shirley, Faye, Marilyn and Alice are doing fine—although Marilyn still needs nudging about her dowdy wardrobe and Alice's Thanksgiving was a headache. But in this sequel, the fab menopausal four serve only to bring together a new quartet of gals who bond at Shirley's Boston-area wellness center, the Hot Spot Spa. The theme is in-laws. Polly is trapped into service to her late husband's granite-hearted mother, who is determined to die elegantly, while Polly's daughter-in-law, who has just given birth, is equally determined to keep Polly at arm's length. Delicate Beth has won the heart of rugged Sonny but not that of his mother. Julia is a dream stepmother to Belinda, who hasn't spoken since age five, when her mother died, but Belinda's grandmother hates Julia for stepping into her deceased daughter's place. Rich Carolyn is finally pregnant at 37, but the high blood pressure that brings her to the spa isn't her only problem: her widowed father's new wife, giggly, thick-ankled Heather, can't wait to get her hands on his checkbook. The ladies find one another's problems welcome relief from their own, and they plunge right in to expose Heather and sandbag Sonny's mother. The story moves along, but without the brass, bawdiness and heart of the flawed but lively first. Agent, Meg Ruley. (Dec.)
