4.5 stars Daphne and Drue were best friends until Daphne realized that Drue wasn’t really a friend to her. Flash forward six years and Drue reaches out to Daphne, wanting her to be a bridesmaid at her wedding since she has no other real friends Daphne is a successful Instagram influencer and agrees to it,, although with strong reservations. A story of secrets, lies, female friendship,family, and empowering one’ self.

I usually like Jennifer Weiner books, but this one left me with a "meh." The first half is slow as we delve into Daphne's angst over her plus size body and self-esteem. Her childhood friend Drue is a sweet friend one minute, and a "mean girl" bully the next. There are a boatload of descriptive passages which didn't hold my interest: social media influencing, self absorbed lifestyles of the wealthy, weird discussions of food types I've never heard of in my life, and "fat girl" self flagellation..

In a complete turnaround, the second half devolved into a murder mystery! Who would have guessed? Like I said, lots going on here. It got better as it went along, but overall I was disappointed. One bit of irony I did find amusing: Daphne's hated large thighs ended up saving her life.

Thanks Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review.

This rating is probably more like a 3.75. I really enjoy her books but this felt a little different for her with a move more into the murder mystery genre. The main character, Daphne, was very likable. The stories included about her background that made her well rounded (no pun intended!). I loved the enduring friendship with her roommate and the fact that they emphasized being an influencer can be tough work. You could tell that she worked really hard at it and felt strongly about the little ones who followed her. Drue was a little more one sided but that is to be expected because it wasn't from her perspective. Given how much she hurt people and took them for granted, it was hard to feel sorry for her. I was very surprised by the murderer, did not suspect the person responsible. It did seem very fitting these days given what has been in the news.

There were just a couple things that didn't come together for me as much.
- The foreshadowing in the prologue seemed disconnected, especially since once explained what happened to her, it was so random.
- The love story seemed a little too convenient to throw the characters together. That being said, I was totally cheering for them!
- I was surprised by Drue's "true love". He didn't seem to fit and didn't hear enough about their relationship to explain it.

I got a lot more from this book than I expected. I expected good writing, very interesting characters, and some emotional reading. All which were here in full. I didn’t expect plot twists and turns and the fun that brings. Well done! I enjoyed this book quite a lot and expect to see everyone reading it all summer!

Wow! Fat-shaming, dangers of social media, frenemies, entertaining, riveting, interesting plot with well-developed, impeccable characterization and it’s Jennifer brilliant Weiner’s book! There’s nothing more to say! I’m all in!

Two things I adored about the book:
1) Our MC Daphne, her struggles, family relations and her fight against self-loathing, learning to self-respect, turning it into a shining, growing, successful business opportunity. Yes, she is social media influencer, she’s smart, she is beautiful, she is powerful and strong woman.

2) Intriguing progression of the story, unexpected twist makes you feel like the rug pulled out from under you and genre’s whirlwind change.

Yes, ladies and gentleman, first part of the book is women’s fiction and chic lit and it is totally branded Jennifer Weiner’s writing style but when you reach to the second half, the story turns into a MURDER MYSTERY! I didn’t see it coming and my spidey senses left the building so I left in the dark. And guess what? This mysterious half is also captivating and entertaining.

A brilliant author can manage to bring out different tastes to serve her readers and you gotta get ready to devour these delicious parts at one bite. It’s truly worth it!

Let’s take a look at the plot:

Our main character Daphne is being humiliated, teased because of her appearance throughout her life. Especially the epic fight she had with her wealthy, blonde, skinny, shiny best friend Drue and her cruel, harsh words which marks a milestone of her youth. ( Because she didn’t belong to the plastic surgery icons’ fake, perfect, selected world. And her family is not rich enough to send her college so she got her scholarship and did her best to adapt with her inner circle didn’t treat her so well.)

Daphne gathers her wits and turns her insecurities, years of humiliation into a career opportunity and she becomes a social media influencer! But her mean girls’ Broadway musical cast choice Drue connects with her after six years of silence. And she wants her to be her maid of honor( seems like being Cruella didn’t give much power to her throughout the years! Now she’s seeing a therapist and trying to make things right!) and she even offers her money so biased and bribed Daphne finally accepts the offer. And then? I’m stopping right there because that’s the part the story is going to the different direction. You gotta read ASAP to learn more juicy details.

The only thing that really irritated me about the book, the over emphasizing Daphne’s weight at each chapters, comments of the people she related or connected and in her inner thoughts! At some parts I want to stop reading and screaming: “Oh come on! Why is she only defined by her weight as if she should be shunned! Being overweight is not a disease! It can increase the risk of so many health problems but being unhappy kills you faster than the fat surround your bodies! It’s a fact! Eat carbs, chocolate and drink wine! Just be happy and stop judging yourself! Even supermodels have anxiety crisis and feel themselves ugly! Everything ends in your mind!”

Weiner’s approach to the social media and the way she manifests threatening harsh comments’ dangerous effect on the people’s psychology are brilliant but I think she didn’t treat fair to her MC.
I loved her subject choices but I didn’t like some of her point of views and expressions. So I’m cutting one and half points and giving 3.5 starts (of course I’m rounding them up 4 because it’s still amazing reading)

An entertaining, riveting, though-provoking, hilarious, questioning, well-written novel is highly recommended to be at your beach bag!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books , dear Ariele Fredman for sharing this enjoyable page-turner ARC with me in exchange my honest review. I always have memorable time when I read one of my favorite authors’ novels.

Big Summer was not the book I expected, but I loved the story it turned out to be! Part One introduces us to Daphne, a plus-sized Instagram influencer living in New York. Suddenly, her former friend Drue shows up, asking her to be part of her extravagant Cape Cod wedding. Drue has always been rich, beautiful, and confident, the opposite of Daphne in seemingly every way. Daphne is not sure that she can trust Drue, after a friendship-ending betrayal years ago, but decides to be part of the wedding as a way to build her brand.

Like always, Jennifer Weiner tackles a lot of issues: body image, toxic friendships, and the comparison culture that has been intensified by social media, and she handles them well. Her fiction is the perfect balance of fun and real. Part One was a little slow moving for me, but by Part Two the plot had intensified to the point where I couldn't put it down! If you are a fan of Jennifer Weiner's other books, I think you will enjoy this one. If you haven't read Jennifer Weiner, now is the time to check her out. Big Summer is a high-quality summer read.

Four stars

This is my first Jennifer Weiner book (!!!!), and - based on the cover, title, and random musings I've encountered about Weiner's work previously - I was expecting a relatively light summer read. Fortunately, _Big Summer_ is much more than that.

The main character, Daphne, has been shaped by three main issues and their offshoots: (1) her body, (2) her healthy relationship with her parents, especially her father, and (3) her unhealthy relationship with her friend/enemy/frenemy, Drue. Daphne's interactions with social media are timely and fascinating. For her, bad situations become both worse and lucrative as a result of her status as a lay person who ends up in a viral video and as an influencer who is up and coming. As much as I despise social media and am a hardcore nonparticipant, I really enjoy the role that it plays in each character's experience and in the novel overall. It's not heavy handed, but it is present. The commentary about relationships between women-identifying folks is also really well devised. Here, women-identifying characters are not portrayed in their archetypal binary roles. Instead, they are capable of having healthy and nurturing relationships, incredibly unhealthy and damaging relationships, and - of course - relationships that run the gamut of possibilities. There are also many instances in which the characters here define themselves through their relationships to others, and I think this speaks very much to a realistic experience that people have as they reflect on their own pasts. On a related note, the male identifying folks are more complex than they are often portrayed in contemporary fiction written by women, too. Though I do not find this novel particularly suspenseful, the uncertainty that comes from these round characters facilitates a more enjoyable read. Sure, readers can make some correct logical guesses, but with more realistic (i.e. flawed) characters all over the place, the options are more abundant than usual.

Overall, I enjoyed the main character's perspective and experiences very much here, and I like the modernization of the characters and social aspects over time (i.e. over the span of the novel). There are elements of a beach read here, but this novel shouldn't be oversimplified as only that.

I thought this was a delightful break from Jennifer Weiner's other recent novels (which I very much enjoy as well). The story of Daphne's complicated relationship with her high school best friend is one that I think anyone in high school could easily identify with. High school popularity and friendships are always tenuous, and I loved Daphne's overcoming her own beliefs about herself and her circumstances to find unexpected successes.
I am a huge fan of mysteries, so I loved that element of the story, but mostly I enjoyed the themes of shedding the stories we tell ourselves about other people's lives, and of looking past the world's that social media present to the real-life story. I thought "Big Summer" was a fantastic reflection of relationships in the modern, social-media focused age.

I liked the way this book started out, but then I felt less interested when the story changed gears. It definitely shows how social media has an impact on our society.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC. I kind of felt like this was almost two books in one. It starts off with Daphne, who is an influencer and how she had gotten started in the business and why she is doing what she is doing. Then a mystery pops up in the middle of the book. I was a little thrown off at first but actually really enjoyed trying to solve the mystery. I'm a big fan of Jennifer Weiner and was very excited to be given the opportunity to read this early. A good start of the summer read!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It did not influence my review in any way.

The book started with a prologue that only slightly relates to the rest of the book. This part should either be removed from the story or emphasized a bit more throughout. I did not even remember that it was there and that it had anything to do with the story until I read a review that mentioned it. I went back to re-read it and can't really see the need for it.

The first half of the book is a basic chick lit book about Daphne, a plus-sized girl who is an Instagram Influencer. She has recently reunited with a high school friend who did her wrong. I was just starting to get bored with all the references to social media and comments about Daphne being fat when there was a big twist. I did not expect it at all, so it was a big shocker. I'm glad the description of the book did not mention this part because I enjoyed the shock. The book abruptly switched to a mystery which I thought greatly improved the story. It was light and fun and I really enjoyed it. This was an ARC so there were several typos and errors that I'm sure will be fixed in the final edition. Overall it was a fun book. If you like Jennifer Weiner, I think you will enjoy this one.

This book, Big Summer, was totally different than I thought. I have all of Jennifer Weiner’s books and this one is the most different from the others. First of all, she integrates mystery with humor and also women’s fiction. Her characters build slowly with a lot of backstory bringing the story to present day. At first I thought maybe some of the backstory wasn’t necessary however, as the story progressed I saw how pertinent it was to each aspect of the storyline. That is Jennifer’s style though. All things are necessary to bring her story full circle.

Daphne is a plus size influencer on the social media platform. Daphne is fun-loving and kindhearted and had a loving household growing up. She has a best friend, Darshini (Darshi) and a friend from high school, Drue, who was her frenemy.. There is a lot of history between the three.. Daphne is contacted by Drue and asked to be in her expensive, over-the-top wedding which is a surprise to Daphne since their history dictates that Drue would never stoop so low as to ask Daphne to be a part of anything in her life these days. Darshi always has Daphne’s back even when Daphne doesn’t want to listen to Darshi.

The story has many ups and downs, happy and sad moments for all characters. Let’s just say there are no dull moments in this story. Daphne is so in tune with herself. She works on herself always and uses self talk to get through agonizing moments. I wanted to find her when the story was finished and befriend her. She tells herself, “Name five things you can see” in order to bring herself back to the moment by diverting her attention and to not get lost in emotion. I learned from Daphne as if she really existed.

Big Summer provides insight into many things human beings encounter throughout life such as love, friendship, bullying, forgiveness, acceptance, tolerance, and the human condition. One of my favorites.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Inc., Atria Books, and NetGalley for the ARC. I am thankful for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was so excited to receive this preview of Big Summer from NetGalley. I couldn't put this novel down as it covered several big topics, friendships, betrayal, body image, women empowerment, and of course a murder mystery.

The book walks through the lives of Daphne, a plus-size influencer, and Drue a beautiful, rich, seemingly has it all woman. Daphane and Drue were friends in high school, but after Drue's cruel actions they drifted apart. All was fine until Drue begs Daphane to be part of her wedding.

This was excellent and I hope everyone has a chance to read such an entertaining book this summer!

Jennifer Weiner has done it again. I read Good in Bed and In Her Shoes they were first published. After those two books her writing styled changed to “mom” books which weren’t to my liking. I loved Mrs. Everything. It’s wasn’t chick lit and it was women’s fiction which surprisingly was characterized as “historical fiction “,
Back to Big Summer. Weiner is back to her chick lit roots. I can picture Cannie from Good in Bed time jumping; swapping her newspaper job in 2002 for blogs and Instagram in the year 2018. . Daphne Berg is plus sized , she has felt ostracized her entire life. Who hasn’t felt that way before??
Daphne’s Internet presence years earlier when Ia video of her fight with a very bad date appears on YouTube . Daphne embraces her new found fame with a rewrite of her biography on her YouTube channel as fierce fat girl and adds the hashtag #sorrynotsorry and #asiam.
Daphne reconnects with her former BFF . Drue who wants /needs Daphne to be a bridesmaid at her very public wedding on Cape Cod. Daphne agrees and it’s off to Cape Cod. Along the way Daphne finds romance. Who is this mystery man ??
Part way through the novels turns to a murder mystery tale with Daphne trying to solve the murder.
I enjoyed Big Summer. It’s out in May. It will be a perfect beach read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the review copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Simon and Schuster for personally emailing me with an invite to read this book! I was really looking forward to it and based on the synopsis it seemed like it would be like Jennifer Weiner’s other books.

The book seemed to be like two different books in one. The first half was what I’d usually expect and I was really enjoying the Daphne character and her Instagram presence and her relationships, etc.

However there is a change of course abruptly in the book and it doesn’t seem to fit and it doesn’t seem necessary. I really wish this would’ve been like Jennifer Weiner’s other books. The first part was great. The second part to ending- not so much.

The promise of a Jennifer Weiner novel is like a visit with a charming storyteller in a perfectly appointed, amazingly comfortable room with very few distractions. As a reader, I have a fairly good idea what I will receive in terms of a story but I also know that I will enjoy every minute of the tale. So it is with BIG SUMMER, Weiner’s newest and most up-to-the-moment tale with a heroine steeped in Instagram and moving up the Influencer scale with her ever-increasing number of Followers. Yes, she is still a Weiner heroine, plus-sized and grappling with her self-worth in a skinny-centric world. But as readers we love this set-up and can’t wait for the size zeros to get their just desserts, ahem. Weiner has built in a mystery and it occurs mid-way through the book and our heroine wanders into detective mode. This novel is a joy and sure to please Weiner’s many fans. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Thank you to Atria Books for the opportunity to read this ARC. I cannot day enough how much I loved this book. I am a huge fan of Jennifer Weiner, and I think this might be my favorite book I’ve read if her’s.

The story centers around Daphne, who has suffered from body image issues her whole life, which I could definitely identify with. She has sass, and humor, and such a self awareness while still being vulnerable, that I couldn’t help but wish she was part of my friend group.

The imagery of Cape Cod is making me want to book a vacation there this summer. I loved that there is a mystery but it doesn’t take over the book. For me, the book was still more about Daphne’s experiences rather than all about the mystery.

I couldn’t wait to finish it to see how it wrapped but, but I wish it didn’t end.

I’m a big Jennifer Weiner fan. This is the perfect beach read !! Definitely pick this up if you need something light that you can devour.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

I'm a Jennifer Weiner fan and Big Summer did not disappoint. I loved the characters and the mystery (which I did NOT see coming at all) and the way Drue was never immortalized. I did find a few typos and at times the transitions between times/settings were a bit off for me (it took a very, very long time for the prologue to become relevant to the story) and some bits were a bit corny but I liked this book a lot. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Beautifully written, heartfelt story of Daphne Berg. Daphne is a plus sized Instagram influencer who has experienced body shamming and discrimination through out her life. When Drue, a former “friend” comes back into Daphnes life, she must decide if she should let her back in and agree to be part of her fancy Cape Cod wedding. Ms. Weiner is the only author that has made me reread her books right after I have finished them because the characters feel like friends that I am not ready to say goodbye to yet. Excellent story of the important things in life. Highly recommended.