Loved this book so much! Wonderful story of a family that vacations at the Cape each year as life goes on and they grow up. Loved how the "house" was part of the story as it sheltered, protected and loved each family member.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC of Big Summer. It reminded me of the days of reading Jennifer Weiner when she wrote Jemima J. If you like the early days of this author, you will like this book too.I was on the fence on giving it 3 or 4 starts, and rounded up. What I liked about this book was there was a twist halfway through, and a plot that kept me thinking. What I didn't like was how the plus size instagrammar fat shamed herself and the twist wasn't quite up to par with a psychological thriller. Although that was the direction Weiner headed with this new novel.

Daphne Berg has made a name for herself as a plus-size influencer. In spite of her success, she's thrown for a loop when her former best friend Drue walks back into her life. Their fallout was intense, but Daphne can't help but be drawn in by perfect Drue and agrees to be the maid-of-honor at her extravagant, fairytale wedding. As always, Drue's life is not what it seems and Daphne is drawn into a mystery she never wanted to be part of.

This story of female friendship, self-acceptance, envy, and resilience will delight readers with its heart and wit. The mystery will surprise. All in all, a fun, entertaining, and easy read.

Really enjoyable women's fiction with a mystery mixed in! A plus size Instagram influencer attends her ex-best friend's wedding extravaganza where her friend ends up murdered. I really enjoyed the mystery and the main character, Daphne, was very relatable. Highly recommend!

*Thank you @atriabooks for the #gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Talk about a plot twist! I only read the first sentence of the synopsis and thought this was going to be a book about a rekindling friendship and I was NOT expecting part 2 and the mystery that followed. I couldn't put this down and really enjoyed this. This is the definition of a perfect beach read.

It's been quite awhile since I read this book with my book club, over two years in fact, so the fine details are lost even though a more general sense of the book is still with me. Looking back, I gave it three stars, and given that it's a contemporary novel, not a genre that tends to be up my alley, three stars is pretty exceptional.

I recall liking the main character, Daphne, and I loved her acceptance of herself. The unexpected reconnection with her old friend was interesting and curious, and the overall storytelling was fun. The first half was great. However, there was a huge disconnect for me between the light, beach read feel of the first half, and the second half which was supposed to be a great deal more suspenseful, I suspect. For me, the transition was so clunky it was nearly non-existent, and for the second half, I really just wanted to get through it. Though beach reads aren't my thing, I suspect I would have gone as far as four stars if it weren't for the second half. Weiner is clearly a good writer, but the execution on Big Summer just didn't work for me.

The phrase over-egged pudding comes to mind. There’s a lot of book here. More than necessary and quite a lot of it repetitive. Having said that, Werner is a very capable writer. Funny and deft and very readable. But less would be better. Not that it matters. I imagine she’s doing just fine.

This one was not for me. I've been a fan of Weiner but this one fell flat. A very easy read, it was, unfortunately, equally forgettable.

I was excited when I saw that Jennifer Weiner had a new book. I had read Mrs. Everything and enjoyed it. I figured Big Summer would be just as good as Mrs. Everything, and guess what? I was right!! Big Summer was a perfect mix of mystery, thriller, and romance.

Big Summer had an interesting storyline. Daphne is an up-and-coming social influencer who has overcome body image/weight issues in high school/college. She is surprised when her ex-best friend, socialite Dru Cavanaugh, asks her to be in her wedding. Ask is not the correct word. Dru begs Daphne to come and offers to pay her. When Daphne agrees, she is immediately thrust back into the role of Dru’s best friend. But things aren’t what they seem with Dru. As the wedding draws closer, Daphne starts to see cracks in Dru’s flawless veneer. And when a murder happens the night before the wedding, Daphne is considered one of the main suspects. Can Daphne find the murderer and prove her innocence?

I liked Daphne, but she got on my nerves during the book. I liked that she had risen above the bullying and comments about her weight and turned it into something positive. But I wouldn’t say I liked that when Dru came back into her life, she immediately fell back into her old role as a sidekick. It made all that progress that she had made go down the drain. Daphne was also blind about Dru. I saw that Dru had something else up her sleeve when she begged Daphne to be in her wedding. It took Daphne until the wedding to realize that maybe Dru was using her again. Other than her willful blindness, I enjoyed Daphne’s character. She was positive, down to earth, and she knew she had come a long way from the girl she used to be.

I was not too fond of Dru as an adult and despised her as a tween/teenager. Let’s talk about Dru as a teenager first. Ever see the movie Mean Girls? She reminded me of Regina (the head of the group, The Plastics). She treated her friends, Daphne mostly, horribly. She would take pictures of kids and post them to an online burn book. She would alternately be all over Daphne or treat her like crap; there was no in-between. I did feel a little bad for her when the author revealed that her home life sucked and that she envied Daphne for her relationship with her parents. But still, it didn’t excuse what she did. Posting that video of Daphne freaking out at the club was unacceptable. Adult Dru was just as bad in my eyes. She used people to further her brand and didn’t care if it hurt them or the ones they loved. Dru was an actress who knew how to reel people in and get them to do what she wanted. She used even her ex-boyfriend (the one that Daphne found).

There are several triggers that I need to let you know about before continuing with the review. The author tackled issues such as fat shaming, online bullying, self-esteem, and body positivity in this book. The author doesn’t hold back regarding Dru’s treatment of Daphne or the video that resulted. It was raw and authentic, and unfortunately, keyboard warriors still think it’s ok to comment/make fun of another person’s weight. If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading this book.

The main storyline, Daphne being in Dru’s wedding and the backstory of their friendship, was well written. I could see why Daphne was so taken by Dru. She was a new girl in a new school and had no friends. I also could see how Dru kept stringing Daphne along until college. When she showed up at Daphne’s nannying job and begged her to be in her wedding, I was shocked by how ballsy Dru was. And I wasn’t surprised with how that storyline ended up. What did surprise me was Daphne’s dedication to finding who and why. At that point, I would have washed my hands of everything.

The storylines with the mystery woman and the little boy were left in the air for 75% of the book. It wasn’t until Daphne was in the Cape for Dru’s wedding that the storyline got rolling again. Once it was revealed who the little boy was and how the police handled the case, I felt awful for everyone involved. I also didn’t blame the officer for telling Daphne what he did. That was the one case he couldn’t solve, and he wasn’t going to allow a 2nd case to go cold either.

The storyline with the murder didn’t start until halfway through the book. I was gut-punched at who the murder victim was and how that person died. Daphne’s reaction was typical, but I loved how she got herself together and decided to investigate the case. Being the main person of interest did have something to do with it. I was shocked at who the murderer was and was sad about the motive. That was a twist in that plotline that I didn’t see coming, and the reason was awful.

There is a romance angle that I wasn’t a big fan of. I was thrilled that Daphne hooked up with someone who liked her for who she was. But that person ghosted her after their night together. Not a great way to start a relationship. Also, figure in Instalove. Daphne was head over heels for this guy, and she didn’t even know who he was!!

The end of Big Summer felt a little rushed, but the author did a fantastic job with the reveal of the killer. She also tied up the remaining storylines and gave them all great endings.

I would recommend Big Summer to anyone over 21. There is moderate language, moderate violence, and some explicit sex scenes. Also, see my trigger warning paragraph above.

I absolutely adore Jennifer Weiner books, so I was so excited when I received this advance reading copy. Sadly , this is my least favorite novel by Jennifer. It was dull. flat, and predictable . . I didn't really enjoy the main character at all. She was supposed to be all about positive body image because she was judged all her life about being overweight but she judged everyone she met based on their appearance, and it was usually always negatively. Every person she met, she described what they looked like in her head and it was always mean and judgemental like protruding ears, or a big nose that looked fine on her brother but not good on her, or that she was beautiful but she had her nose and breasts done. She even judged every room she walked into or outfit she saw someone wear . The cheesy insta love was also not for me. She totally fell for a guy she just met who she is aware used her and basically lied to her about everything. But he is really hot, so that's okay right?!? He had perfect abs and a tan. Also, it was weird how obsessive he was suddenly about leaving her side and needing to always protect her when they didn't even know each other, they just had a one night stand.

Daphne and Drue are friends from childhood who drift apart while in college primarily due to Drue’s mean girl tendencies. Reunited later in life at Drue’s impending wedding to Stuart, their story literally goes sideways.

WOW! I totally didn’t see the twist in this story coming! Admittedly, I went into it without reading much of the synopsis- and since I was so familiar with the author, I thought I knew what to expect.

After the twist, I enjoyed the second part of the book just as much as the first - when I thought this was going to be a light summer romance with a hint of conflict.

The number of possibilities of where I thought this was going are way too many to count - and most of what I came up with was completely wrong.

One of the best parts of this book was the second to last paragraph and the way those last thoughts came together was stunning!

I really enjoyed the build up of the drama related to the frenemies and their backstory in the first part of this book, however it was quite enough when the main character is complaining for at least the tenth time about her weight and comparing herself negatively to others. This blathering really put a bad taste in my mouth. In the second part of this book, the genre completely changes to a murder mystery out of nowhere. I had not clue that influencers were such astute detectives. It turns out they are not. I did not really get this book and this was definitely a first with this author as I have read most of her books. I would say skip this one. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

I received an ARC of this novel from Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange for my review. Jennifer Weiner always writes such engaging and timely stories and this was no exception! In this time of social media and influencers one has to wonder if anything is real or if everything is just clickbait for social media. That is the premise for this story. No one could be more surprised to be asked to be a part of the “wedding of the year” than Daphne Berg, a plus-sized social media influencer, but when Drue Cavanaugh asks her to be a part of the wedding party (even thought Drue and Daphne haven’t been in touch in years) Daphne says yes. What takes place next is an shocking wedding weekend of twists and turns that makes Jennifer Weiner books so fascinating to read! Don’t miss this one!

This novel is about 2 friends- Daphne, a plus sized Instagram influencer and Drue, an “It girl” who appears to have it all. I really enjoyed the first half. I rooted for Daphne and loved her voice. The second half somewhat abruptly changed into a different genre, more of a whodonit. I found the change somewhat jarring and it did not work for me. I do really love this author and will definitely read what she writes next.

I'm not quite sure what I expected, but Big Summer was not it. There were parts of the story that I really enjoyed and then other parts that left me scratching my head.
I enjoyed the first part of the story, but was very much thrown by the "twist".

So I thought this was going to be the perfect summer read. It has a little more of the big girl, frenemies vibe.

Ive decided that this author's style just doesn't mesh with me. It's a me issue, not a her issue. I know so many people who love her stories! Unfortunately, both the incorrect facts (no Mom was posting first day of school photos on Facebook in 2004) to half the story being explained by reminiscing with old stories each time a new character was introduced, to the silly solving of the mystery, I just never got into the book. Plus the three main chartered names are Daphne, Drue and Darshi....too much alliteration, it felt weird.

This book was very interesting and fast-paced, the author held my attention and the plot was very appealing. I would recommend this book to friends.

Good story as always!

Description
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the “nothing short of brilliant” (People) Mrs. Everything returns with an unforgettable novel about friendship and forgiveness set during a disastrous wedding on picturesque Cape Cod.


Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time—she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media—so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless.


Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.


On a perfect summer night, as generations of Cavanaughs descend on the family beach in Cape Cod, the cute guy materializes and a family feud erupts. With rumors swirling about everything from a failing business to infidelity, it’s clear why Drue wanted Daphne by her side. When Daphne wakes up the morning of the wedding to find that her crush has vanished and that something terrible has happened to her friend, it’s up to her to dig deep into Drue’s past, to unpeel the layers of illusion, and to find out the complicated truth about perfect Drue Cavanaugh.


A sparkling novel about the complexities of female friendship, the pitfalls of living out loud and online, and the resilience of the human heart, Big Summer is a witty, moving story about family, friendship, and figuring out what matters most.

I started reading <i>The Summer Place</i>, and realized that, as behind as I am on pandemic review writing, I hadn't given this book my proper attention. For me, the pandemic gave me a new focus on reading as much as possible (yes, sticking my head in the sand here), but the review-writing did not follow the same course. So let's get that resolved now, before I get to involved in her latest book.

You can probably guess that Weiner does not disappoint in this book, since I am onto the next one. She has jumped bravely into some dicey issues in this one, offering a typical mean girl plot and then turning it completely on its head. Weiner lets her character speak about social media, fat-shaming, and general meanness on the internet and beyond. After settling in on what I thought would be a fun summer read, Weiner offered more, and with a twist. I really don't want to say too much about the plot, it's complicated. All you need to do right now is order it from your favorite indie bookstore (or library), and pack it in your bag for your next long weekend. Or, settle into your cozy couch at home, if you're not ready to go out just yet.