Grace Cavanaugh is working on her PhD in women's studies. Grace's dissertation is based on the premise that being beautiful leads to an unhappy life. The summer before she finishes her PhD she is invited by her great aunt Sophia to stay with her as she convalesces from hip surgery. Grace is hoping to use her great aunt as a subject for her dissertation as a former bombshell and B-movie star who is now old and virtually alone ostracized from family and having no real friends.

When Grace arrives at Sophie's Pebble Beach estate she isn't prepared for the force that is Sophie. Her great aunt challenges her to try and become a bombshell and see for herself if beauty equals misery. Sophie claims that the happiness and self-confidence found in beauty is not just skin deep but how you carry yourself and feel about yourself. Grace starts to tell Sophie what she can do with her challenge but then Sophie raises the stakes and offers to give Grace the money she needs to pay for her school loans which is something Grace can't refuse.

During her transformation Grace attracts two attractive men. Each man has their strong points. Declan is smoking hot and the potential for steamy sex is something Grace finds hard to resist. Dr. Andrew is intelligent and treats her with respect and has the potential to offer her a nice comfortable marriage. As the summer progresses Grace goes through a drastic transformation but now she isn't sure if she is becoming Sophia or if she is finding the woman that was always inside her.

GREAT AUNT SOPHIA'S LESSONS FOR BOMBSHELLS is hilarious and entertaining. The relationship between Grace and Sophia is charming. I loved the battles between the two, my favorite was when Sophia buys Grace lingerie and expects her to wear a corset. Grace and Sophia have witty banter and we also are treated to Grace's journal where we get her internal monologue about the bombshell transformation.

GREAT AUNT SOPHIA'S LESSON FOR BOMBSHELLS teaches readers that not only is beauty only skin deep but you should never judge a book by a cover. There are plenty of surprises that I never saw coming, which helped make this book a summer sleeper for me. I expected a simple sweet story and what I got was so much more. Thank you, Lisa Cach for this delightful and fascinating story; you have a new fan in me.

Book Summary

A Ph.D. in sex appeal ?

Grace Cavanaugh is hell-bent on proving her Women’s Studies dissertation thesis that beauty only leads to misery. And what better research subject than her great-aunt Sophia, a former B-movie star? Now eighty-five and facing surgery, Sophia has asked Grace for company. . . .

Grace imagines a helpless, lonely old woman, forced to turn to a great-niece she barely knows. Instead she finds the aging diva holding court in a Pebble Beach mansion, oozing a bombshell-itude—arthritis and wrinkles be damned—that captivates every male in sight. To Grace’s dismay, her greataunt decides a perfect distraction would be transforming the frumpy feminist into a femme fatale who purrs for her suitors . . . or devours them. She ordains classes in everything from carb cutting to lingerie, culminating in a challenging final exam. The newly svelte Grace must test her wiles—on both devilishly handsome and morally corrupt Declan and sensitive but painfully awkward Dr. Andrew.

Newly unleashed desires—and the discovery of a closely held family secret— threaten the bookworm-turned-babe’s entire feminist upbringing. Her thesis gone sadly awry, Grace wonders if her great-aunt is right: Will trusting her heart lead her to find beauty in the most unexpected places?