Cover Image: Heat Wave

Heat Wave

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Member Reviews

I am so sad to see this trilogy come to an end. I have loved these ridiculous boys for so long but WOW what a send off. I should never doubt that TJ Klune will stick the landing because he always does.

The plot of this is a rollercoaster with so many twists and turns that I would never spoil in a review. What I will say is this. By the end of the first chapter, my anxiety spiked and it didn’t die down until the book ended. This is a compliment. It’s that I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know where the story was going to go or how characters could be… doing what they were doing.

If you love Nick Bell, you’ll love this. If you love Nick embarrassing himself and everyone around him, you’ll love this. If you’ve gone with this cast of characters for the first two books and understand how tongue-in-cheek yet genuine these books are, you’ll love this.

A beautiful way to wrap up this story.

5 stars

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Did I forget to post this review? Yup. I was scrolling through my Net Galley and saw whoops, never did this one. So here I am, trying to remember my July thoughts in March. ⁣

First, let me just say I loved The Extraordinaries series. Nicky, Seth, Gibby, Jazz all had my heart in their own special way. While the actual plot of Heat Wave really wasn’t my favorite, this series, this ending was wonderful.⁣

I’ll be honest, I was so confused the first 1/4 of the book. Is it a flashback? It is a suppressed memory? What is happening?! It makes sense after the big reveal but I wanted to throw in the towel because it was confusing. But I stayed, because dang it, I adore them. And I’m glad. I did. ⁣

The ending was beautiful. Ugh. It was so sweet. I love a full circle actual closure on endings to where I can’t quip with a “but wait you could do thisss and we could get another book!” TJ Klune said “this is the end and this is how it’s done” and it was done wonderfully. I had baby tears of joy that spread across my face. It was wonderful. ⁣

Overall, a great ending to a wonderful series. Heat Wave is out now. Thanks @torteen for the copy. Also, Michael Lesley is AMAZING on audio from @macmillan.audio if you have a chance to check it out.⁣ (I got to listen to a chapter after realizing I put it on hold with my library and @libby.app came through 😂)⁣

QOTD: Favorite superhero?

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TJ Klune's Heat Wave is a fun, satisfying conclusion to his YA trilogy The Extraordinaries. If you've read the first two books, you know what to expect here. Klune has revolutionized the genre by any means, but it's clear he cares for these characters and his readers. It's a fun time, and I continue to marvel at the frequency of his output.

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In all honesty, this one took me awhile to finish. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books of the series but this one I think took me at least half the book to truly get into and once I did, I flew through it very fast. The mystery of the return of Nick's mom was very interesting to unravel. Other than that, it was a very satisfying end to a great series.

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Boring. Not creative. Cliche. Almost impossible to finish. Don’t care for the characters, don’t care for the problems, don’t care for the writing style. Just not my thing.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and Tor Teen for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an absolutely amazing conclusion to an amazing series. This is definitely a series that I will be reading over and over again. Each book was better than the last and they were all so much fun to read. I had a hard time putting this book down and I basically read the entire book in one sitting.

I don't believe that the author has any plans currently to continue writing books set in this universe but if he ever changes his mind, I will definitely read them all. As soon as this book was published, I knew that I needed to get a physical copy as well and I am so glad that I was able to add this amazing series to my collection.

I highly recommend this trilogy and I hope that everyone enjoys these books as much as I did.

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Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this one. I wasnt quite a fan of this book and couldnt keep my interest unfortunately. It was definitely a slow burn and took me awhile to get through as I kept setting it down. Hopefully others will enjoy it more than me.

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A satisfying conclusion to this YA fantasy trilogy, I felt this matured with each book, as well it should as our teen hero Nick and his loyal friends all go through a lot, learning about life, love, and themselves!

When we last saw Nick and company, they were a solid incognito crime fighting team, and Nick was trying to come into his newly realized powers and potential responsibilities, all the while dealing with familial secrets and betrayals. Flash Fire left readers wondering about the future fate of all Extraordinaires as nemesis Simon Burke introduced a seemingly benevolent offer to cure their powers for the safety of the public, hiding a yet to be seen but inevitable sinister self serving plan. Toss in an off kilter ex-boyfriend who had escaped prison and an unbelievable cliffhanger reveal, and there were many questions left to be answered.

Though this plot line started out nebulous and confusing, what unfolds was a scary twist. Many might not like this crazy development, but I felt it ultimately played out nicely, forcing the gang and their wonderful parents, friends, and family to really band together to fight Simon Burke’s evil maniacal agenda.

What I truly appreciate about these 3 books is that with Klune’s deserved popularity and move into a more mainstream avenue, I’m grateful that a bigger publisher in no way impeded his unique and trademark brand of humor, style, and over the top brazenness. This doesn’t hold back on touchy topics, the uncomfortableness of growing up, the squeamish/embarrassing but relevant challenges that all teens face, and Klune does it with frankness, truth, and outrageous hilarity and always with plenty of heart. It’s been a hot minute since I laughed so hard that I was crying, and then I soon found myself crying for real because of all the feels.

Overall, though some things in plot execution didn’t pan out as I wanted (do they 100% truly ever?), this still had a fitting conclusion that fell in line with the themes and messages of each book. Things can’t always end perfectly (tho it was pretty darn close), and that’s how life goes - sometimes it’s tough, sometimes it’s really really great, and often it isn’t fair.

Sooooo bad guys are going to do bad. Good guys are going to their darnedest to stop them. There are certainly some setbacks, but this is fantasy fiction after all so don’t be too worried. Rest assured that our titular hero Nick definitely remains true to himself and learns plenty along the way as all YA stories go, leaving me with a big fat smile at the very end!

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I have always and will always be a fan of TJ Klune’s writing. The way he expresses love especially queer love is something that I don’t think any other writer I’ve come across can convey. Heat Wave is no different.

I really loved the progression of Nick and Seth’s relationship in the last book of this series. They’ve come so far from Seth pining after Nick to them finally getting together to sharing their first physical experience and it was tastefully done. I’m sure some people would be against a sex scene in a Young Adult novel but teenagers have sexual experiences and to completely ignore that especially queer experiences is detrimental to the teenagers that might pick up this book.

The thing I didn’t like about this book was the over use of comedic moments. It felt forced and cheesy most of the time. I get why TJ might have used an excessive use of comedy, this is a YA novel after all, but for me personally I got tired of them and it brought the rating down. For the first time I was skimming some parts of the book which I usually never do for a TJ Klune book.

The epilogue however. God that was so good. I loved the brief snapshot of their futures and what had happened in between the end of the book and the jump ahead. Such a perfect ending to the trilogy.

Overall still a solid book for me and Nick will always be a good time.

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This was touching and beautiful and fun, and I love how expressive TJ Klunes writing is. Can’t wait to read more of his works

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TJ Klune turns his considerable talents to the world of superheroes--and fan fiction--in this YA trilogy. Filled with big emotions, big action, and lots of affection for the genre this series has something for everyone. A great follow up for fans of Klune's adult market novels and a great starting point for readers who haven't found them yet.

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Heat Wave was the emotional, explosive ending to the Extraordinaries trilogy! I have had such a good time getting to know the characters and experiencing TJ Klune's trademark humor. In Heat Wave, Nick Bell is training to be an Extraordinary, which he actually gets to be now! His relationship with Seth is adorable, his friendship with Jazz and Gibby is fantastic, and we got to learn more about the side characters in this one! I have to say, I wasn't 100% thrown off or surprised by what happened in Heat Wave, but it's the way TJ Klune told the story that got me. I also think that he took the criticism of the first book and tried so hard to fix his mistakes in books 2 and 3, which also fit well into the story. (side note here, I'm not someone who can forgive what he was criticized for, but is definitely clear he listened!) He's one of my auto-read/auto-buy authors at this point! I highly recommend this series.

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𝘼𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙮!

I am not a big superhero fan, but I am a huge fan of TJ Klune so was so excited to read this series! Heat Wave is the third book in the trilogy and in this one, Nick & Seth finally get to team up to figure out if there’s a traitor on their team.

I have really enjoyed this series. Klune writes these stories with such care and his characters with such depth that he draws his readers in. It was nice to read Nick, Seth, Gibby, and Jazz grow up through these books. I’ve always been a big fan of the “Dad Squad” so was happy to see them back again!

If you’re looking for a superhero series that is full of humor and heart, I definitely recommend these books.

I received a copy of this book from Tor Teen and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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4,5/5

I had to switch from audio to physical because for some reason I couldn't handle it on audio this time around. I was so annoyed at everyone and everything by the end of the first chapter, I knew it wouldn't be fair to Klune, me, and these characters to continue. A couple months later I restarted it physically, and finished it in mere days.

Because of that rocky start, I can't give it a full 5 stars, because it somehow felt like Nick was even more obnoxious than usual. Once I got used to it however, I loved and devoured this book just like the first two, and I can't wait to reread the whole series again one day. At first I was also really confused at how this book doesn't seem to continue on from Flash Fire, and it annoyed me greatly, but it all ended up making lots of sense. Kudos for that, Klune. The whole thing was predictable to me (save for two things) but it just made me feel accomplished in figuring it out, haha!

A few things though:

1) please don't use an enema with saline. please don't.
2) after all the safe sex talks, they give each others blowjobs without condoms??? and it's not even mentioned that 'shit we should have'?
3) this book got a lot more nsfw than I had expected; luckily I'm a whole ass adult (ish) and didn't mind, but yeah. Be aware!
4) the acknowledgments are great, but I am very sad the 'turn the page, won't you' wasn't followed by an actual page turn. My own neurodivergent brain is very saddened at this at 3:30am.

I will miss these characters. In a way, I guess all of them are pretty cardboard in who they are, but fuck if I care. They didn't need to be any more, and they had enough character growth for it to not be a problem, in my opinion.

I should also thank NetGalley for approving me for an eARC, even if I ended up reading the finished copy. My apologies. I appreciate you approving me, and I'm sorry my massive reading slumps made me not read it until now.

Now give me movies, thank you.

P.S. ALL HAIL BURRITO JERRY

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This was just as hilarious as the previous books but also darker. I think the ending was missing something while also trying to do too much. It was still a satisfying conclusion to this story in many ways.

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What a series!

This book is the third installment of this series by TJ Klune, and let me say, I will read anything this author writes! I adored the Wolfsong series and devoured it, and a series about superheros?? Yes, please!

Read this for some fun times and superhero moments!

Thank you to NetGalley for the earc in return for an honest review.

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What a way to end it. I cannot wait to see what TJ Klune releases next. Definitely took criticism./feedback of his work. Well done.

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3.5 stars

This was a little bit of a letdown. I was expecting more fight scenes and action but it seems like this was just going about like nothing. The twist was pretty cool. I guess I was just wanting more. The ending was nice to see them a few years later and how everything was going.

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Overall a cute ending to the trilogy, but lacking in the fun of the first flow of the first book.
The characters were, as always, a lot of fun, but sometimes wandered a bit too far into cringe worthy awkwardness, even more than teenagers do in real life. Do safe sex talks happen in real life between parents and children? Sure. Do we have to be subjected to the excruciatingly, exaggerated detail of it? Especially when I'm much more interested in what is happening with the Extraordinaires and their enemies? Maybe not.

I am definitely much more a fan of Klune's adult books

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I was satisfied with the finale of The Extradordinaries trilogy. T.J. Klune brought Nick and his friends and family to life through his writing and I am sad that I will not read any other books featuring this cast of characters. However, I do think Heat Wave wrapped up their stories well. There was one plot line in this final book that I didn't love, but it wasn't big enough to affect my ultimate rating of the title. While the first book is definitely my favorite, I do recommend this series as a whole to both teenagers and adults.

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