Heat Wave by T.J. Klune
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This hurts me, so I’m not going to beat around the bush. I am just going to say it. This was not it for me. I feel let down after anticipating this release for so long.
When I read the first book in this series, The Extraordinaries, in 2020, I was blown away. It was my first time reading from this author and I loved how rapid-fire and intelligent the writing was.
It was such a fun story and concept, with a great friendship group at the middle.
The second book in the series, Flash Fire, which I read in 2021, wasn’t quite all the stars for me like the first book, but I still really, really enjoyed it.
While it started out a little slow, by about 40% we started getting some startling new revelations that really helped to build the intensity. Additionally, I was having a lot of fun just being back with the characters I had grown to love.
There was a cliffhanger ending to the second book that left me with hives and my jaw on the floor. It was so shocking and exciting. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next book in the series. I needed answers!!
I picked Heat Wave up on July 2nd and finished it this morning. Taking over 20-days to finish a book in this genre is pretty unusual for me. The beginning was so slow. I just couldn’t get into it and also, I was confused.
All I could think about was that amazing cliffhanger from book two. I wanted to know what happened from there. It didn’t seem to be touched upon at all.
I started to think maybe I was misremembering the end of the second book. Had I somehow imagined it all? Did I make it all up in own head?
Eventually it was revealed why it wasn’t making any sense to me and I was so disappointed. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. I was just like, nooooo, that can’t be it.
After that disappointment, I switched to the audiobook in the hopes of being able to get through it more quickly. I was just about ready to give up.
Thankfully the audiobook narrator was freaking fantastic and breathed new life into the story for me. Also, the action definitely picked up in the later portions of the story.
So yeah, at the end of the day, I’m sad about this one. The ending was cute, but this isn’t how I wanted this experience to go. I still love Nick, Seth, Gibby, Jazz and the Dads. I just wish we could have had a better time together.
Overall, I still would definitely recommend this series as a whole. I know I am going to be in the minority opinion on this one and that’s okay. Different stories work for different people and at different times.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Teen, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate it very much and look forward to reading more from Klune.