I have a confession - I requested an ARC of The Last Bathing Beauty from NetGalley based mostly on the cover. I was born in the early 1950's, and much of my childhood was spent on the beach playing with beach balls like the one in the picture, and my older sisters wore swimsuits of this style back then. But I was also interested in the synopsis of the story, although this isn't the type I would normally choose.

Very well written, the story kept me interested throughout, even though it seemed basically what is referred to as "women's fiction." But hey - I'm a woman, so there! The story takes place in South Haven, on Lake Michigan, at a Jewish summer camp. The Stern family, comprised of Betty (also known as Boop) and her grandmother and grandfather, live there year round, and own and run the camp in the summer.

In 1951, Betty is eighteen years old, and determined to have her first summer romance before she heads off to college in the fall. Instead of just a summer romance, however, she falls deeply in love with one of the young men working at the camp that summer. What transpires over that summer will have repercussions for the rest of her life, and leave her wondering if she made the right choices when she was young. At age 84, living once again in South Haven, her granddaughter and her two best friends help her come to terms with how her life turned out.

The story may seem somewhat simple, but the author was skillful enough to leave me guessing at a couple of situations throughout. I did find the ending to be a little bit cloying in its sweetness, but overall, it was a pleasant and endearing read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this novel because it is charming and takes place in the context of America in the 1950s which I especially like. This is the story of  Betty and the summer when she grew up. Living in the Catskills of the Midwest, South Haven Michigan, Betty had a summer romance which came to a predictable 1950s close. 

The reader has the opportunity to relive this when Betty (unfortunately, now called Boop) relives those months with her oldest friends and granddaughter. Certainly, young women will enjoy reading about life in the 50s and understanding the constraints that society placed on women. 

Thank you Netgalley for a delightful read during these tough days.

Betty is a teenager living with her grandparents in the early 1950’s. The grandparents run a Jewish resort and this is the story of her romance the summer of her senior year in high school. The storyline alternates between the 50’s and today. The resort reminded me of the movie, Dirty Dancing. It was a quick read and would be the perfect beach book

The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan is a wonderful historical fiction novel. I love the 1950s and the whole essence of this story is just so perfect. A huge fan of books that take place in the 40s/50s/60s, I was so excited to read this book.

Look here:

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.

The story has a dual timeline of past/present and it works well in this book. The setting of a summer resort similar to the Catskills reminded me of the movie Dirty Dancing! It’s not hard to close your eyes and put yourself there. I loved how Betty’s story was told, her lifelong friendships, plus her relationship with her grand-daughter. This was such a good book, the perfect break from all of the heavier suspense novels I’ve been reading.

Get it right now! Go here to get it on Kindle.

This was a very enjoyable book with a nice story. I loved reading about all the 59’s fashions. My only complaint was that the story was very predictable.

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 1051 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.

The Last Bathing Beauty is an engaging story told in two timelines, one of which takes you to the summer of 1951, when 18 year-old Betty is summering/working at her grandparents resort before she heads of to college in the fall, and in 2017 as an 84 year-old  looking back on her life as  it come full circle when her granddaughter Hannah shows up unexpectedly and in need of help.  This was a wonderful read, especially in times like this when you'd like to escape the current news for awhile.  Definitely recommend!

What a lovely escapist piece of historical fiction. 

The Last Bathing Beauty did a wonderful job of transporting me away to South Haven, Michigan, in 1951, at a Jewish summer camp where Betty Sterns and her friends are spending their last summer before heading off to college - it's all about friendship, romance and competing in a beauty pageant....

In a more current storyline, Betty is now an elderly woman (in her 80's) and is reflecting back on that time - forced into facing the secrets and memories that have been buried away from that summer.

The Last Bathing Beauty is a story of  friendship, true love, 'what if's' and second chances - I loved the dual timeline, but particularly the 1950's part - I'm always drawn to that period of time - it's a time I'd of loved to live through and experience more than any other, and the summer resort vibe vividly brought to life in this novel swept me away to a summer full of fun, cocktails. dancing and falling in love. 

If you enjoy dual timelines and coming of age stories and are looking for something to get lost in for a few days then The Last Bathing Beauty would make a great choice.

Betty Stern, or Boop as her friends call her, is an eighteen year old girl being raised in 1951 by her Jewish grandparents. She spends her Summer days working at her family’s lakeside resort and has her future all planned out. During her last Summer at home before college, she meets a boy and has dreams to win a local beauty pageant. Both these events will affect the course of Boop’s life. 

I love that this novel goes between 85 year old Boop’s life and Betty’s 18 year old life.  Her story of that Summer of 1951 is both sweet and bittersweet.  This would make a great beach read and allows the reader to experience life as a teenager almost 70 years ago.

The Last Bathing Beauty is an absorbing, heartwarming tale that takes us to the shores of South Haven, Michigan during 1951 when Jewish summer camps in the Catskills of the Midwest were the place to be, girls were excited for more than just marriage, and Betty Stern and her family would never be the same.

The writing is vivid and expressive. The characters are authentic, vivacious, and sympathetic. And the plot, using a past/present, back-and-forth style is a delightful mix of summer fun, friendship, family, coming-of-age, secrets, heartbreak, forbidden love, familial expectations, and second chances.

Overall, The Last Bathing Beauty is a heartfelt, beguiling, charming tale by Nathan that not only reminds us that everyone that enters our lives impacts, shapes, and defines it but that love is truly ageless.

Thank you to Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review

This is a bittersweet love story from a nostalgic time period. The author does a great job transporting us into the 1950’s. The setting is a Jewish resort area in the Midwest with rich characters and descriptions. This story doesn’t limit itself to a certain heritage but instead to a time period with rigid parental guidelines to dating and marrying alike. While reading the story I remembered a great aunt asking me if my boyfriend, now husband, was Polish. Great job by a talented author!

This wonderful new novel by Amy Sue Nathan is all about the 'what ifs' of life -- the days we all look back on and wonder how out lives would be different if only we had chosen another path. It's full of friendship, love, family and regrets. I have read and enjoyed all of the books by this author but this one is my new favorite. First, because it takes place in Michigan along the Lake Michigan shoreline near where I spent all of my summers growing up. Second, it stresses the importance of friends, not only as teenagers but real lifelong friends.

This is a dual timeline novel about Betty at 18 ready to go to college and begin her life. She and her two best friends enjoy themselves as Betty joins the pageant to become Miss Grand Haven and more importantly she falls in love with a college student. The other timeline is Boop (as Betty is now called) now in her 80s and looking back at everything that happened during the summer of 1951.



I loved the characters in this novel especially Betty/Boop. This was a real coming of age novel, even though she is in her 80s, it's never too late to reconcile current life and memories. I loved the friendship between the three lifelong friends and the love that they felt for each other. Often in a dual time line novels, one story will be more interesting than the other but in this novel, I enjoyed both story lines and enjoyed Betty as a teenager as much as Boop as an older woman. Betty wanted more out of life than becoming a wife and mother, even though that was the goal of most women in the 1950's. She is a strong woman in her 80's and she and her friends show that life can be as exciting for women at any age as long as she has her friends.

An amazing read!!, filled with a rich story and wonderful characters! Highly recommend! This was a perfect read when things are stressed and you need an escape!

Amy Sue Nathan’s THE LAST BATHING BEAUTY was the perfect read at the perfect time, allowing me to escape my home and visit South Haven, Michigan. Told in a dual timeline, we meet Betty “Boop” Stern at two turning points in her life: 1951 at 18 and a recent high school graduate with plans for the future and 2017, 85 and getting ready to leave behind everything she knows and join her son in California.  Before she leaves, she wants to enjoy her lifelong friends with their last visit to her childhood home. When her granddaughter arrives unexpectedly, looking for a haven and advice, it stirs up Boop’s memories of the fateful summer when her life changed in ways she could not expect.
There was so much about this novel that warmed my heart, especially how present-day Boop faces her past and the decisions she made, both on her own and those forced by fate. Nathan takes us back to the far-off summer at the Stern family resort on the lake where Betty is on the verge of stepping into her new life and following the path, she had dreamed about all her life.  As the summer progresses, we see just how it is to grow up a woman in the early 1950’s, with family expectations, both as a female and with ethnicity. Although you hear about it still, it is eye-opening to see deeply rooted the individual cultural aspects were and how little choice Betty actually had in her future.
The story is beautifully written with characters I became instantly invested in. The setting was gorgeously described, and I felt like I was there with them. Though I love “Dirty Dancing,” the concept of regularly spending the summer at a resort like this was foreign to me, so I found myself sitting back and enjoying the visit.
This was the first Amy Sue Nathan novel for me, and it has left me wondering how I missed her previous ones. This will be a wonderful summer read, but is great any time, especially if you need an escape from daily life, like we currently do at release date.
Thanks to NetGalley and he publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
#TallPoppyWriter #BloomReads #TallPoppyBlogger #LakeUnionPublishing #TheLastBathingBeauty

This cover really drew me in when I first saw it and I knew I wanted to read it. I loved the dual timeline of the story. In 1951 Betty Stern is where she always is, working at her family's summer resort where Jewish families escape the heat of the cities. South Haven, Michigan -  known as the "Catskills of the Midwest".  Betty and her best friends are working and enjoying their last carefree summer. Life is filled with possibility and maybe love. Betty is determined to become a career girl. First college in New York, then a job at a fashion magazine, but she can't help falling for a good looking college boy working as a waiter at the resort. Then present day we see Betty (Boop) and the same friends, gray haired and elderly, still getting together. But there are secrets that might keep them tied together or might just tear them apart. This book has what I love most, excellent and well drawn characters. I found myself wanting the best for them. As teenager Betty prepared to compete for the crown and sash as Miss South Haven 1951, I felt goosebumps as she walked across the stage. The whole story comes together so well and it has a wonderful ending. Bravo! Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and author Amy Sue Nathan for the ARC.

An easy, nostalgic read that was just the thing to keep on my nightstand when I needed to escape the reality of the current news cycle: In THE LAST BATHING BEAUTY, Amy Sue Nathan transports you to simpler days on the Michigan shore—another place, another time, with characters who feel real—in friendship, in love, in family and loyalty and compromises and decisions and dreams, all of it bittersweet. The ending was just what I hoped for, even as the sigh of what might have been lingered. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an early peek.

Heartwarming and captivating journey with fabulous characters. I will be recommending this to every woman in my circle--especially those who believe in second chances, hope, resiliency, and happy endings. It's one that had me smiling and celebrating inside as I gently closed the back cover. This light fictional read during these heavy emotional times in our world was just what my heart needed.

If I could go back in time, I think hands down I would choose summertime in the fifties. Preferably at a resort where I'd sip cocktails and take salsa dancing lessons, eat midnight buffets and fall in love. :) There is a reason Dirty Dancing is one of my all time favorite movies and the episodes of Mrs. Maisel in the Catskills are my absolute favorite. The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan has ALL of those things which is why I adored it.  Not only does the gorgeous cover scream summer, so does the story!  

Following the story of Betty (in the past) and Boop (Betty of the present day), you get to meet her friends, her family and the learn why summer of 1951 changed her life forever. The alternating chapters between past/present, the long lasting friendships and overall atmosphere of the story checked all the boxes for what makes a perfect summer read! First love! Best friends that are there for you no matter what! If you need something to get lost in for a few days, dreaming of the perfect one piece bathing suit and summer sunset walks, THIS IS IT.

This is the story of Betty Sterns who was raised by her grandparents fell in love with a non-Jewish man and then married a Jewish man.   I was intrigued by how she told her story.     She tells it to her family as they come to visit her, feelings come back, and life’s choices are second-guessed. 

I always find it interesting when someone retells their lives story.   They are able to look back and see how choices could have been different, how the choices they made changed the lives they are living now and see how different feelings made a difference in the choices they made.   This is true of Betty.   While living an amazing life with her grandparents she wanted a different life.   She wanted a life where the hired help of the summer would include her, she wanted to love a boy that her grandparents would not accept, and she wanted to win the Miss South Haven pageant.   But as she tells her story she realizes that life she did have was wonderful also.   She loved her husband, she had an amazing family, and she had a good life.  

The dual timelines were easy to follow, the story came together perfectly, and I thought 0f the characters as my friends.   I was interested in learning the rest of Betty’s story and I wanted her family and friends to accept her story and make her be okay with what she was remembering.      I have become a fan of historical fiction books and this one was exactly what I was looking for.

I LOVED The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan. An excellent story, told in dual timelines, one in the 1950's, at a Jewish summer resort in Michigan, and the other timeline, in current day, as Betty, now an old woman, facing her past, regrets and secrets through a beautiful relationship with her granddaughter and best friends. Very well put together, full of wonderful characters. Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the Advance Reader Copy, all opinions are my own.