The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

 

Do you like to ride bikes?  What is the longest distance you have ridden?  I loved to ride bikes and used to ride a lot before I got married and had kids.  I sadly don’t get to ride as much as I would like to, but hopefully as the kids get older, I will ride more again.  I never used to measure the distance of my rides, but The Breakaway has inspired me to take a longer biking trip.

Abby is thirty-three and floating through life.  She hasn’t figured out what she wants to do for a permanent job and her apartment looks like she is still a college student.  She has reunited with her high school sweetheart and is trying to figure out what she wants to do with life.  She loves riding her bike on long bike journeys and helps a friend out by taking the leadership role on a tour that will go from New York City to Niagara Falls.  The group is a motley crew of a variety of personalities and age groups. Unfortunately, it also includes Abby’s mother who is very critical of Abby’s weight and a man she had a one-night stand with a couple of years ago.  Will she be able to make it through this trip and keep her group on track?

The Breakaway was immensely readable.  I took this book on our Labor Day weekend campout, and I couldn’t put it down.  I was especially caught up thinking about taking such a bike adventure and was inspired that people of all ages and body types were taking the trip.  I like how we get to know the other riders in the group as the book progresses as well. 

Weiner is aways great writing about body issues and this book was no exception.  Abby was raised by an almond mom who is very critical of what Abby eats and sent her to fat camp repeatedly when she was a teenager.  I will admit though of having a “first world problem” moment when reading this book.  In a flashback to teenage years, Abby is horrified about being sent to fat camp instead of drama camp in Maine and throws a giant fit about it.  I was sad for her about going to fat camp, but I never got to go to any camp because my family couldn’t afford it.  I was working in the fields as a teenager when Abby was throwing a fit about not getting to go to Maine.  I had a really hard time feeling empathy for her and thought she should probably not go to any camp and maybe work in the fields like I did to lose the weight her Mom wanted her too.  Kidding aside, I was horrified thinking about how this would really warp a teenager’s body image.

SPOILER ALERT

The section I had the hardest time with what Weiner’s attempt to put women’s issues into the book.  There are a mother daughter duo on the trip from a state where abortion isn’t legal.  The daughter is 15, pregnant, and plans to stop by an abortion clinic while on the ride.  She is sure her mother will not understand and does not talk to her about being pregnant or her plan.  I can understand that.  What I couldn’t understand was when several other members of the group find out about it and are helping the 15-year-old without talking to her mother.  They all judge and assume the worst about the mother.  I found it very cringy to have people helping an underage girl with such an important decision and leaving her mother completely out of it.  This entire side story felt forced and out of place.  The story line concluded in a satisfying way, but I was ready to throw my book for a large part of it.

I felt the same way about the romance in this novel.  While I could see that Abby’s teenage love might not be Mr. Right, I also didn’t like one night stand guy at all.  I wasn’t into this romance and the whole thing was cringe.

SPOILER END

I have mixed feelings about this book.  There were things I loved, storylines that I didn’t think worked, but overall, I couldn’t stop reading.

Book Source: I preordered this book on Amazon.com.

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner

 

Who is your favorite author to read in the summer?  Do you enjoy summer romances?

I have loved Jennifer Weiner’s summer books the past few years and her new 2022 novel, The Summer Place was the perfect summer read as well.

The Summer Place is a timely family drama.  COVID lock downs have ended, and Sarah Danhauser’s stepdaughter, Ruby, is now engaged to her lock-down boyfriend, Gabe.  As Gabe and Ruby prepare to marry at Sarah’s mother’s home on Cape Cod, a variety of family secrets are exposed.  Will the summer family gathering place be able to heal all wounds?

The Summer Place was a juicy family drama.  It was told through many points of views throughout the family.  Sarah, her husband Eli, her mother Ronnie, her twin brother Sam, Ruby, Gabe’s mother Rosa, and Ruby’s birth mother Annette all have chapters narrating their own stories and viewpoints.  It works and the interwoven story kept me riveted.  I love Weiner’s characters. They are interesting, fully fleshed beings.  I liked that it was an up-to-date story that included the pandemic.  It felt very relevant.  I also really liked how all of the storylines came together and the book tied them all up perfectly.

Favorite Quote:

“Marriages can survive a little resentment.  Marriages can survive a lot of things.”

Overall, The Summer Place was a great story about a family and secrets.

Book Source:  Amazon.com

Little Bigfoot, Big City by Jennifer Weiner

 

Title:  Little Bigfoot, Big City

Author: Jennifer Weiner

Narrated by:  Emma Galvin, Keith Nobbs, Jen Ponton

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 43 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.  Thank-you! 

Little Bigfoot, Big City is the wonderful follow-up novel to the Littlest Bigfoot.  Penelope and I really enjoyed the first book and were excited to read the second book. 

Alice Mayfair found at the end of the 1^st book that she is not exactly human. If she is not human, then what is she?  As Alice tries to investigate where she came from, her friend Millie, who is a little bigfoot, tries to figure out how to get on a singing show in New York City.  She uses her friend Jessica Jarvis to be her “face” while she provides the powerful singing voice.  Jeremy’s research into bigfoot has made him a target of a shadowy organization that is searching for the same thing.  Will our three heroes find their happy endings?

Penelope and I enjoyed this second book in the series.  The story is told in alternating chapters by the three different main characters.  Penelope really wanted to know more about what exactly Alice was and where she came. She said the mystery was her favorite part.  There were some satisfying answers, but the book ultimately was left with a cliffhanger.  We looked and didn’t see a book three.  NOOO!!!  I hope that a conclusion to this trilogy comes out at some point.  Penelope liked the friendship between Millie and Alice and the questions of belonging. 

My thirteen-year-old son Daniel listened with us as well.  He primarily liked Jeremy’s search for answers and the mystery.

That Summer by Jennifer Weiner

Daisy Shoemaker has it all.  A thriving cooking business, an independent teenage daughter, a successful lawyer husband, and a beautiful house.  Yet, she feels discontented.  She dropped out of college to marry her husband Hal and starts to wonder if she should have finished her degree and had more independence before she was married. Her daughter Beatrice has started to rebel and has been kicked out of her fancy boarding school.

 Daisy starts to receive emails that are meant for Diana Starling who shares a similar email address.  She meets Diana and is happy to find a friend.  Diana though has a secret of her own.  When she was fifteen years old, she spent the summer at Cape Cod as a babysitter.  She had a wonderful summer and met a special boy.  Unfortunately, her summer ends with a violent rape.  Now as an adult, she has decided to track down her assailants.  What does Daisy have to do with this situation and when will she find out the truth?

 That Summer is a very timely book that deals with the “Me Too” movement and how sexual assault effects not only those assaulted, but those that are involved in the assault.  It was sad.  This is definitely not a light beach read, but it was a very good book.  I loved the characters and their journeys.  My only complaint is that I wanted more character development for Hal.  He had turned a new leaf in his life, and I wanted to know more about that from his perspective.  I do believe that people can change for the better.

Warning:  Contains scenes of a violent sexual assault and also very detailed sex scenes.  I'm more of a closed door romance reader myself.

 Favorite Quote:

“Talking to Beatrice about privilege was like trying to explain water to a fish.”

 Overall, That Summer is a riveting drama that shows all sides of the “Me Too” movement.

 Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

Big Summer was the book I couldn’t put down over Memorial Day weekend.  I loved it!  I always enjoy Jennifer Weiner’s novels, but this one was just the kind of summer book I need right now.  A great story with interesting characters with a giant twist after the first act that I was not expecting at all.  With a refrain of “What just happened?” it was hard for me to put this book down until the mystery was solved.  This makes it somewhat difficult to review as I do not want to spoil the surprise of the novel.

Jennifer Weiner writes great characters that are believable and someone that you would like to be friends with.  Daphne Berg is a classic Jennifer Weiner character. She is a plus size social media influencer.  Daphne has had a tough time with her appearance, but after learning to accept herself, she has been able to try to help others feel good about their appearance as well.  Her best friend growing up was Drue Cavanaugh.  Beautiful and rich, Daphne felt privileged just to be in her circle although sometimes she felt the barbs that Drue threw at her.  After one fatal night where Drue told her exactly what she felt about her, Daphne hadn’t talked to her for six years.  She is stunned when Drue shows back up to ask her to be her maid of honor.  Swept back up into Drue’s world, everything seems perfect for the wedding of the year on Cape Cod . . . until everything goes wrong.  What happened?  What is the story of Dru Cavanaugh?

I loved how Daphne peeled back the layers of her own understanding to comprehend her friend better and to help solve the mystery of the novel.  I really like how the characters were multi layered.  It’s really easy in the “mean girl” kind of story to just have that girl be very mean and our heroine very good.  It was nice to learn the good and the bad of both characters.  I felt really sorry for Dru.  I loved how Daphne realized the good things she had in life.  The novel also took a good look at social media and the role it plays in our modern life for good and for bad.  I thought that was very interesting. The ending of this novel was perfect.

I loved the look at Daphne’s family relationships.  Her critical grandmother who cut her down for her weight felt very familiar to me as I had my own weight obsessed Grandma growing up.  It stinks to be the “fat” granddaughter.  Especially now when I look back at my old pictures and realize that while I was never skinny, I also was not fat.  I would call myself pleasingly plump – ha!!  I also loved the special relationship she had with her father and how he took the time to really listen to her and spend time with her.  It reminds me of how even though life gets very busy, it’s important to spend just quiet time with my kids.

I loved Daphne’s romance in the novel.  It was mysterious and hot.  I will say no more to keep the plot secret.  I am starting to feel old though.  I’m usually the age of Weiner’s heroines or younger.  Now the heroine is in her 20’s and I’m 42.  Time is passing me by!

Favorite Quotes:

“Even if things don’t get better, you can always make them look good on the Internet.”

“I thought of how awful Drue had been, how carelessly cruel, and , still, how much I’d loved her, how I’d been powerless in the face of her charms; how, as soon as I heard the familiar cadences of her voice, as soon as I felt her attention, her regard, all of that focused on me, I was ready to forgive her, to forgive everything, just to have her in my life again, because life with Drue was a good time, a memorable time.”

“In that moment, I felt a great enfolding sympathy for him, a sorrow so piercing and complete it was hard to breathe.”

Overall, Big Summer is the perfect book for the summer with great characters, story, and mystery.  I highly recommend it!

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com

---

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

Title: Mrs. Everything

Author: Jennifer Weiner

Read by:  Ari Graynor & Beth Malone

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 16 hours and 45 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.  Thank-you!

Mrs. Everything is an ambitious novel by one of my favorite authors, Jennifer Weiner, that tells the story of two sisters and the hurdles they faced growing up in the latter half of the twentieth century.   Jo and Bethie are two very different sisters growing up in 1950’s Detroit Michigan.  Jo is an athletic tom boy that constantly fails to meet her mother’s expectations, while Bethie is a perfect girly-girl who seems to have everything going for her.  When a series of events changes their world, the girls find themselves on different paths finding their way through life.  The novel follows their lives from the 1950s to present day.  What challenges will they face and how will their relationship fair?

Mrs. Everything was an excellent family drama. I liked the complicated look at motherhood through the years.  It was interesting that Jo had such problems with her own mother only to have her daughter have difficulties with her.  The novel also looked at sexual violence and the effects it can have through the years.  The book also showcased the difficulties that Jo faced as a lesbian woman unable to live the life that would fulfill her emotional needs.  There were a lot of heavy topics in this novel, but good topics to discuss.

 I liked that the names of the two main characters, Jo and Bethie – are names reminiscent of Little Women.  I’m assuming that is on purpose as their personalities even fit. Jo is the boyish one who wants to be a writer.  Beth is the more docile daughter that follows her mother’s wishes until a few tragic events change the course of her life.

This audiobook had two narrators to go with the alternating chapters and viewpoints, one for Bethie and one for Jo.  It worked very well. Narrators act out the conversations that take place in the audiobook and I greatly enjoyed that. I don’t think myself too prudish, but the sex scenes in this book were very descriptive so be forewarned.  I just find it really odd to listen to such scenes on audiobook. This book is set in the 1960’s and 1970’s so there is excessive drug use besides the very descriptive lesbian sex scenes.  The sexual violent scenes were also hard for me to listen to.  It was disturbing, but I think this would be a great book to discuss at a book club.

I loved the Detroit Michigan setting.  I am from Southwest Michigan originally myself and didn’t actually spend any time as a youth in Detroit, but my ancestors are from there.  In fact, my Great-Grandma was a model at Hudson’s, where Sarah works in the novel, in the 1920’s.  I enjoyed shopping there are a teen and young adult until the store sadly closed.  We just drove by the old store in Battle Creek when we were in Michigan visiting earlier this month and I was saddened to see how abandoned it looked. Having the constant Michigan references in the book just made me really happy listening to it.

 Overall, Mrs. Everything is a great novel that explores what it is like being a woman growing up in the Baby Boomer generation.  Women have had to face a lot of expectations and life doesn’t always go the way you have it planned.  It was a good book to ponder and I think it would be an excellent book club book.  This isn’t as light of a read as some of Weiner’s previous novels, but it was a great book to read as a woman.  I enjoyed it and highly recommend it.