The Last Bathing Beauty
By
Amy Sue Nathan
Betty Stern has so much hope and excitement for the summer of 1951! She's graduating high school and has plans to attend Barnard College in New York to pursue her dreams of becoming a fashion editor in the fall...but first she has the whole summer ahead to have fun and make lifetime memories at her grandparent's summer resort, Stern's Summer Resort, where she works and helps them out. Her grandparents have raised Betty since she was a very small girl after her parents abandoned her with them. "The summer Boop was four, her parents had dropped her off in South Haven for the weekend-a weekend that lasted seventeen years." She is so excited to be spending her last summer with her best friends, Georgia and Doris before going out on her own. The summer has so much promise for a young woman and maybe catching the eye of "a boy who made her heart shudder". This is her summer with Abe Barsky.
Flash ahead to 2017. After a lifetime of family and life, Betty, who is known as Boop, is together with her best friends once again reminiscing about the summer of 1951 and the events that took place. Her granddaughter, Hannah, is also part of this little group as the memories are being recollected. There are secrets, mystery, and surprises I didn't expect. The question of what actually happened that summer. What were the events that lead up to the "Miss South Haven" bathing beauty contest and why was it the last one ever held? The story is intertwined between the two time lines in an intriguing and page turning blend with a need to find out what happened.
I love the characters in this book. Betty, as a young girl with zeal and love of life to when she's an older woman, Boop, who has questions and a desire for Hannah's life to be different than what hers became. The supporting characters are perfectly intertwined to create a story of connections and relationships that tugged at my heart. As others have said, this story has a Dirty Dancing aura in the resort atmosphere. The writing took me into the scenes and held me there as if I were experiencing it myself. Then jumping into the story of 2017, I felt the emotions of Boop as she faced her past with resolve, painful memories and the desire to bring the truth out after all those years. Ms. Nathan beautifully wove the two stories together to bring it to a surprising ending that touched my heart.
I enjoyed reading this book so very much. It was a great way to escape into another time and place for me. It is wonderfully written with so many passages that speak of what "life" is and what choices can result in the direction a life can go. These two passages were profound to me:
You should own all pieces of your life, good or bad," Hannah said. "They make up who you are."
"Sometimes it takes a long time to get things right." Boop said."
I want to thank Netgalley, Lake Union and Ms. Nathan for the honor and privilege of reading this wonderfully touching and special story of relationships, family love, forgiveness and hope. All opinions and thoughts in this review are my heartfelt own.
Flash ahead to 2017. After a lifetime of family and life, Betty, who is known as Boop, is together with her best friends once again reminiscing about the summer of 1951 and the events that took place. Her granddaughter, Hannah, is also part of this little group as the memories are being recollected. There are secrets, mystery, and surprises I didn't expect. The question of what actually happened that summer. What were the events that lead up to the "Miss South Haven" bathing beauty contest and why was it the last one ever held? The story is intertwined between the two time lines in an intriguing and page turning blend with a need to find out what happened.
I love the characters in this book. Betty, as a young girl with zeal and love of life to when she's an older woman, Boop, who has questions and a desire for Hannah's life to be different than what hers became. The supporting characters are perfectly intertwined to create a story of connections and relationships that tugged at my heart. As others have said, this story has a Dirty Dancing aura in the resort atmosphere. The writing took me into the scenes and held me there as if I were experiencing it myself. Then jumping into the story of 2017, I felt the emotions of Boop as she faced her past with resolve, painful memories and the desire to bring the truth out after all those years. Ms. Nathan beautifully wove the two stories together to bring it to a surprising ending that touched my heart.
I enjoyed reading this book so very much. It was a great way to escape into another time and place for me. It is wonderfully written with so many passages that speak of what "life" is and what choices can result in the direction a life can go. These two passages were profound to me:
You should own all pieces of your life, good or bad," Hannah said. "They make up who you are."
"Sometimes it takes a long time to get things right." Boop said."
I want to thank Netgalley, Lake Union and Ms. Nathan for the honor and privilege of reading this wonderfully touching and special story of relationships, family love, forgiveness and hope. All opinions and thoughts in this review are my heartfelt own.
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