Kentucky Heat [Large Print] [Paperback]

Fern Michaels (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2002

A New York Times Bestseller

Nealy Coleman Diamond rides fast, loves hard, and lives with an appetite for winning no one can match. With Nealy, horses come first. So when her two grown children's irresponsible acts nearly cost her Shufly, the foal that carries all her hopes for the Triple Crown, she throws them both off Blue Diamond Farm, a decision that changes their future and her own. To the world, Nealy looks unbreakable. Inside her heart has shattered. Estranged from her daughter Emmie and son Nick, she struggles alone to build her racing stables into the best in Kentucky -- and Shufly into the horse of the century.

Raw with emotion, and yet filled with an unstoppable energy, Nealy will face bitter disappointments, exhilarating triumphs, and a night of bloodcurdling terror-- one that could mean the end of her dreams . . . and maybe her life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Building on the success of her Vegas and Texas series, Michaels (Kentucky Rich) enlarges the Coleman and Thornton family legacies in her second novel set in bluegrass country. The indomitable Nealy Coleman Diamond Clay has her hands full: the foal that carries her hopes for the Triple Crown is born early while her grown children and helpmeets are away. When they return with news (her son has eloped with the family's cook and her daughter's husband abandoned her on a cruise) Nealy is furious as far as she's concerned, they were due home a week ago. "The horses always [come] first," sighs daughter Emmie. The multiple catastrophes strain plausibility, but the stalwart Michaels, whose plots are chock-full of dramatic tension, knows how to pull off the impossible. Nealy meets her match in her late husband's former law partner, Hatch Littletree, a larger-than-life Native American whose physical magnitude and considerable wealth is matched by his big heart and largess. The internecine family feuds, present and past not to mention the author's compulsion to fill in the blanks about the Thorntons and Colemans and their stormy histories takes away from the larger story about the developing relationship between Nealy and Hatch, and her endeavors toward a second Triple Crown sweep. In addition, a subplot involving a potential movie about Nealy's life (introduced in a rambling prologue and inexplicably ignored for over 200 pages) fails miserably. The brisk narrative also goes awry when a sudden cataclysm following a thrilling race victory robs the climax of its punch, dragging out the final section of the book to its inevitable happy conclusion. National advertising.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Continuing the saga begun in Kentucky Rich, Michaels rejoins Nealy Coleman Diamond Clay several years after her Triple Crown win. Though she is comfortable with her horses, Nealy struggles with personal relationships at all levels. At first, she appears so rigid and harsh that it is difficult to sympathize with her. Even a later explanation that she drove her adult children away out of love fails to counteract this first impression. For most of the book, Nealy works her way to self-understanding and real happiness, but just as it seems she has succeeded, Michaels inserts an almost unbelievable event to rip her life apart again. Nealy's sudden reversion to self-isolation and a subsequent return to happiness seem rushed, with little plot or character development. Stilted dialog, frequent encounters with the spirit of Nealy's dead husband, and the appearance of characters from the "Texas" and "Vegas" trilogies serve only to muddy the plot. These flaws do not seem to bother her fans, however. Public libraries where Kentucky Rich was popular will want to purchase. Barbara E. Kemp, Univ. of Houston Libs.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Large Print Press; 1 edition (October 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410400476
• ISBN-13: 978-1410400475
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,320,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Fern Michaels is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Fool Me Once, Sweet Revenge, The Nosy Neighbor, Pretty Woman, and dozens of other novels and novellas. There are over seventy million copies of her books in print. Fern Michaels has built and funded several large day-care centers in her hometown, and is a passionate animal lover who has outfitted police dogs across the country with special bulletproof vests. She shares her home in South Carolina with her four dogs and a resident ghost named Mary Margaret.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kentucky Great!, October 27, 2002

By 

Cindi B. Graham (Montgomery, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kentucky Heat (Hardcover)

This book was my first Fern Michaels book, and it will definately not be the last one i read!
Nealy Diamond Clay is a famous jockey that owns and runs Blue Diamond Farms, a top horse racing farm in Kentucky.
Nealy's children, Nick and Emmie, had finaly convinced their mother to let them have a week off for vacation, which Nealy never had allowed. So when they both took an extra week off (without telling Nealy!) and one of the farm's mares had complications foaling, Nealy was angry. To her the horses came first, so she kicked them off the farm. Later in the book you find out that Nealy really kicked them out because deep down she knew knew that they would never create a life of their own if she didnt push them away from the comforts of Blue Diamond Farms.
Through this rough time, Nealy also meets up with her dead husband's best friend, Hatch, Nealy tries to fight it, but through it all she knows she has romantic feelings for Hatch.
Also, Nealy is entered to ride Shufly, her champion horse Flyby's son, in the Kentucky Derby. But Nealy is woman in her early fifties, and many people doubt her. Can she and Shufly win the triple crown races against all odds?
For awhile everything is great for Nealy. She is in love with Hatch, has reunited with her children, has had a good horse racing season, and has traveled the world with her new fiance. But can one dreadful night destroy everything for Nealy, and maybe even cost her life?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You have to read the other series to follow this one, April 26, 2006

By 

kozar23 "Beth" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kentucky Heat (Paperback)

Ok I loved this series and in between books, I read the others to catch up on characters and it made everyone of them fall into place. Texas & Vegas series help you with the characters in the Kentucky series and I thought all of it was good I couldn't put the books done.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Racing Without Running, June 18, 2002

By 

Sharon Munro (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kentucky Heat (Hardcover)

Trying to race through each new and incredibly exciting chapter of Fern Michaels' Kentucky Heat, the 2nd book in her 3-book series, while experiencing the emotional ups and downs of the Coleman family, et al., was the most fun I've ever had. Reaching the last chapter, knowing I was nearing the end, and would have to wait until October for the 3rd and final "Kentucky" series book, was the least fun I've ever had.
Nealy Coleman Diamond, Kentucky Heat's main character, and one of the many strong women Fern writes about, knocks your socks off every time she turns a corner. Her family and friends become your "best buds" as you read about them and grow to know and love them. Woven within the story of the Colemans are several smaller threads of stories that nab your attention as you turn each page. The smaller threads are no less exciting than the main story. Don't second guess Fern's endings -- she is the inveterate surprise ending queen. Read the book. Love her characters. Cheer them on. Then impatiently wait for her next Kentucky novel.