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4.5 second-chance stars

This is a wonderful story that follows Augusta Stern's life in an alternating timeline. We meet Augusta as a young woman in 1920s Brooklyn. She lives with her family above the pharmacy they run. Augusta’s father, Solomon, is the pharmacist, and her sister also works in the store at the cosmetics counter. When Augusta’s mother dies, Great Aunt Esther moves in to keep the household running.

The alternating storyline features Augusta, at the end of her working career at age 80, and her move to a Florida retirement community. She loves the pool but is shocked to discover that Irving Rivkin also lives there. He was the delivery boy for the family pharmacy, and Augusta thought they were in love. Irving surprisingly marries someone else and moves to Chicago.

We learn more about Augusta’s early life and the alternate medicine that Aunt Esther uses with her chicken soup when traditional methods have failed. Augusta helps her father in the pharmacy while being interested in Esther’s practices.

Irving and Augusta seem to still have feelings, but they are stubborn! A love triangle crops up with another man from their past in Brooklyn. Will there be a second chance at love for Irving and Augusta if they talk through their past? Why did Irving abandon her all those years ago?

I love this author and I'm on a quest now to read one of her books that I missed. This made for a great buddy read with Marilyn. Be sure to check her review to see if she agrees with me.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and honestly review this one.