Review: The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan

Title: The Last Bathing Beauty

Author: Amy Sue Nathan

Published: April 2020, Lake Union Publishing

Format: Paperback, 304 pages

Source: Author

Summary: 

A former beauty queen faces the secrets of her past—for herself and
the sake of her family’s future—in a heartfelt novel about fate,
choices, and second chances.

Everything seemed possible in the summer of 1951. Back then Betty
Stern was an eighteen-year-old knockout working at her grandparents’
lakeside resort. The “Catskills of the Midwest” was the perfect place
for Betty to prepare for bigger things. She’d head to college in New
York City. Her career as a fashion editor would flourish. But first,
she’d enjoy a wondrous last summer at the beach falling deeply in love
with an irresistible college boy and competing in the annual Miss South
Haven pageant. On the precipice of a well-planned life, Betty’s future
was limitless.

Decades later, the choices of that long-ago season
still reverberate for Betty, now known as Boop. Especially when her
granddaughter comes to her with a dilemma that echoes Boop’s memories of
first love, broken hearts, and faraway dreams. It’s time to finally
face the past—for the sake of her family and her own happiness. Maybe in
reconciling the life she once imagined with the life she’s lived, Boop
will discover it’s never too late for a second chance.

My thoughts: This is the first book I’ve read by Amy Sue Nathan and it definitely won’t be the last. I was completely captivated by this novel and my only complaint was that I wasn’t reading this while sitting on the beach!

I loved this book…I loved the characters and the dual timeline and the messages that it conveyed…I loved everything about it and I absolutely finished this book with a few tears in my eyes. It was the perfect book to lose myself in with everything happening right now and I find myself gravitating towards these kinds of books more and more at this point. 

I’m always a sucker for a really good story about family secrets and this one is chock full of them, and I loved the way it played out. Moving seamlessly back and forth between the present and 1951, we find out what happened to derail Betty Boop Stern’s life that she had planned so carefully at 18. She loved one boy and ended up marrying another and abandoned her plans of college and career. What happened to cause this?

I love when we get to hear characters reminisce about their earlier days. It reminds me of my grandmother and her friends, when we would listen to them tell their stories of their younger days. And this one did not disappoint. While I had some guesses as to what happened here, I was not able to put all the pieces together, but that didn’t matter. This wasn’t a mystery so much as understanding why Betty did what she did. It’s about second chances and forgiveness, love and understanding, and I think as Betty retells her story, she realizes that she has all that and more.

I highly recommend this book and know that I will definitely be checking out the author’s other books.