I basically liked the story, but it would have benefited from tighter editing. The characters seemed oversimplified, but the place descriptions were wonderful and made me wish I could visit Santa Cruz, and the story wasn't quite as predictable as it seemed like it was going to be. I wonder if one of my kids might want to go to college in Santa Cruz when they get older. ( )

I was intrigued by the premise of this book and had previously read a book by this author and knew I liked her writing style, so I was eager to read this book. Color me surprised when I found I was simply unable to get into this story. Was it well written? Yes, based on the little that I was actually able to complete (I tried reading this several times over various seasons and never made it past the first 50 pages). Were the characters and action intriguing? Again, yes from all appearances, but there was just something about this story that I failed to connect with so I'm putting this back on the shelf with the hopes that I'll be able to grab it in the future and finally finish reading it.

Mari lives in Santa Cruz, where generations of her family lived. She begins work on a historical research project and uncovers the story of an beauty queen named Violet.

Chapters alternate between Mari’s story, taking place in 2007, and Violet’s story taking place in 1940.

Violet was the winner of a beauty contest in 1940, she had big dreams of stardom. But her husband made her rescind the title.
It doesn’t take long to realize she’s in an abusive marriage.
That might be a spoiler, but I’m saying it anyway in case someone wants a warning of that upfront.

Mari had a locally famous grandfather, who worked on the boardwalk in a danger act. When she finds a link between Violet and her grandfather, she throws herself into researching Violet’s story.

The story says that Violet won the beauty contest, gave back her title, went to Hollywood for two months and got a tiny part in a movie. Then she came back home and committed suicide.

Mari doesn’t feel like the story makes sense. She’s not sure if Violet really killed herself.
Meanwhile, Mari has just met an interesting new man and she might be falling in love.

I did win this book but it wasn’t an early copy. I noticed an error in the book and I almost wish my copy was an early one so I had a chance to point this out before the book was released.
Anyway...the character Jason says he’s an only child on page 150. It’s part of the reason that he bonds with Mari. On page 175 Jason says he has an older sister who, like Mari, is also a single mom.
I’m really surprised an editor or proofreader didn’t point this out.
It’s like the author was trying to decide whether Jason bonds with Mari because he understands being an only child or because he understands her being a single mom. And then both storylines stayed in the book.

Oh well...onward :)
I enjoyed the book. I really liked the boardwalk setting and I probably like Mari’s grandfather best of all the characters. Mari and Violet are both likable characters. You may figure out the big surprises before they happen but I don’t think that takes away anything. ( )

It's 1940 and Violet Harcourt has entered the Miss California contest. Her ultimate goal is to become an actress in Hollywood. But there's one problem. You have to be single to be Miss California and well, she isn't. She is married to Charles, a good looking and wealthy businessman who seems to be perfect, but underneath the facade is an abusive jerk. Once he finds out that Violet is competing, he is going to make her pay. Fast forward to 2007 and we meet Mari Cruz, a young single mother who works with the local museum in Santa Cruz. Officials want to tear down the town's historic gazebo, but it holds a special place in Mari's heart as it's part of her family's history. When studying her family's history as well as the town's, she comes across information about her grandfather and his connection to a beauty queen, Violet Harcourt. Violet made headlines when she died an untimely death in Santa Cruz. How is her grandfather connected to Violet and what exactly happened to her? Boardwalk Summer by Meredith Jaeger has everything that I enjoy in a historical beach read.

When authors have two different storylines that they weave together, I oftentimes find myself drawn to one character over another and that was the case here in Boardwalk Summer. I found Violet's storyline to be way more compelling than Mari's. Who doesn't love an Old Hollywood vibe and that was definitely present in Violet's plot. Once things start to become clear regarding who Charles really is and what kind of husband he is, I was hooked. I wanted Violet to escape his clutches, but I knew it wasn't going to be easy.

Mari's storyline just wasn't as compelling, which is why I didn't give Boardwalk Summer a higher rating. It felt a little bit unbalanced. You can't really complete with a budding Hollywood starlet can you? So, Mari was definitely in Violet's shadow. What I did want to know was how Mari's grandfather had a connection with Violet and what exactly happened to her?

I did like the coastal setting of Santa Cruz and I appreciated Mari's interest in the town's history as well as her family's history. Santa Cruz seems like the quintessential California coastal town steeped in history and beauty.

Jaeger does weave togther the two storylines well and things do come together for the reader. While I didn't appreciate Mari's storyline as much as Violet's, I did like how she tied it all together. I think fans of historical beach reads will appreciate Boardwalk Summer the most. ( )

As the days get hotter and you start to pack your beach bag, you'll want to find appropriate reading and what better to read than a book with a beach on the cover, set in Santa Cruz, California and its boardwalk? Meredith Jaeger's newest novel, Boardwalk Summer, is that book and good for women's fiction fans looking for an easy and quick read while parked on the sand with the sun on their faces.

When Violet Harcourt is crowned Miss California in 1940, she's certain she's on her way to the Hollywood career she's dreamed of forever. There's just one problem. Violet is married to a wealthy and connected but abusive husband who will never agree to her pursuing her dreams. Of course, just being married disqualifies her from the pageant but she's willing to lie for a chance at being discovered. Until her husband Charles finds out, that is.

In 2007, Marisol Cruz is a single mother, living at home with her parents, and waiting tables, having given up her dreams of graduate school after a drunken one night stand at the end of college resulted in a pregnancy. Four year old Lily is the love of Mari's life and while she mourns the loss of the life she thought she'd be leading, she adores her little girl. Mari has always loved history and when she has the chance, in addition to her waitress position, she takes on a part time job with the local museum in the run up to the area's Centennial Celebration. While staffing the museum's booth on the boardwalk, she learns of plans to tear down the old gazebo and replace it with expensive condos. She's outraged and determined to find a way to save the place that her grandparents once danced. In the course of her research, Mari learns more about her grandfather, a Mexican immigrant who was once a stunt diver on the boardwalk and his unexpected friendship with Violet Harcourt.

The novel has a dual narrative structure, jumping back and forth between Violet in 1940 and Mari in 2007. As Violet runs away to Hollywood and encounters the soul destroying, seedy underbelly of the movie business, Violet is in a race against time to save the gazebo even as she is captivated by this talented beauty queen who died so young, researching Violet's life in between her research into the history of the gazebo. Violet narrates her own story line in first person while Mari's story is told in third person. This serves to make the abuse Violet suffers at her husband's hands and the terrible situations she finds herself in in Hollywood that much more visceral. Both characters are drawn as strong women, determined to make a life for themselves: Mari as a single mother who, while she might have temporarily lost her way, eventually finds her way back to her love of history and the preservation of the past, and Violet in escaping a controlling husband who might just kill her if she doesn't break away forever. The connection between the two women, through Mari's grandfather, is well done and resists the obvious although there is another enormous coincidence that does stretch credibility later on in the story. There are parts of the story where plot lines are raised and then dropped, such as when Mari thinks she should look into the unexpected charitable donation the late Charles Harcourt made during WWII and his sudden Quakerism. The story behind this is explained in Violet's narration so Mari never goes back to it, despite the fact that it is the reader, rather than her character who discovers the truth about it. Also, Mari's grant project concerning the gazebo is only mentioned very superficially but the idea behind it (its importance to the marginalized Latinx and working class community), had it been elaborated on even slightly, would have added some nice depth to the story. There are hard, discussion worthy topics here, spousal abuse, casual racism, chasing dreams, sexual politics, and single parenthood but they are handled lightly. The book reads quickly and although it isn't hard to guess most of the plot twists, readers will race through the pages to confirm that they are in fact right, to find out the end to Violet's story, and to see how Mari's life is changing. Definitely a book for summer beach blanket reading. ( )