Hot Tropics and Cold Feet

by Donnawyn Coker

If you like the beach, Donny Osmond and Christian fiction, then the book Hot Tropics and Cold Feet, by Diann Hunt, is for you. In this book, Ms. Hunt combines a bride with cold feet, hot flashes, a baby boomer heartthrob and Florida beaches in a funny look at getting older and changing lives.

Maggie Hayden, Lily Nugent, Jill Graham, and Louise Montgomery call themselves the Latte Girls and are a group of middle-aged friends who meet at a coffee club. When Lily's fiancé, Ron, aka Captain, calls Maggie to ask the group for help to calm Lily's pre-wedding jitters, they spring into action. They make plans for a getaway at Jill's vacation condo in Siesta Key, Florida. As an added influence, Maggie's favorite singing heartthrob, Donnie Osmond, is giving a benefit concert in nearby Sarasota, Florida. So with concert tickets in hand, off they go on a two-week beach vacation.

But even on vacation, problems are still very much on their minds. From Lily's preoccupation with her wedding, to Maggie's college-aged son who has moved back home and does nothing but eat and sleep, to Louise's husband and his midlife crisis and Jill's possible pregnancy at forty-five, the girls have a lot to talk about.

Stalking Donny Osmond, weathering hot flashes, evading Jill's over-aggressive admirer and putting up with an aging alligator named George keeps the girls on their toes. But through it all, laughter, faith, and friendship hold the Latte Girls together.

Diann Hunt gives a humorous look into the problems of growing older, changing lives and the everyday challenges women face. Other books by Diann Hunt are available at the Rapides Parish Library, including Hot Flashes and Cold Cream and RV There Yet?. The library has a large selection of books to let you relax on the beach this summer. So take advantage and go online to www.rpl.org or go to your favorite local branch of the library.

Donnawyn Coker is a Circulation / Reference Clerk at the Glenmora Branch Library.