I have read and enjoyed all of Jennifer Weiner's books, and this was no exception. She writes realistic fiction that rings true; the characters are relatable and the dialogue sounds natural.

While this book included elements that appear in her other books (e.g., main character struggling with her weight, romantic issues, and her relationship with her mother), they did not feel repetitive or stale. I did initially have a difficult time keeping track of all of the characters as their stories changed from one chapter to the next. I also thought that the theme of parental acceptance was overused. The same point could have been made as effectively through only one of the characters' story arcs instead of three.

Overall, if you enjoy realistic, contemporary fiction, and you want a quick, light read, you will probably enjoy this book.

This book is so fun! Abby and Sebastian’s will-they-or-won’t-they was super compelling, and I loved the details of the bike trip setting. This is a perfect summer book

The Breakaway was a surprising delight for me. I wasn’t sure this was a story that would hold my interest but it did that and more. I loved all the characters and the way they evolved. Abby is an overweight 34 year old without a solid plan for her future.but a passion for cycling. She leads a group of cyclists and a week long trip that covered hundreds of miles. The group she leads has a few surprises such as her mom, with whom she has had a fractured relationship, and a gorgeous guy that she had a one nighter with. She is living with a guy that she’s known since she was 13 who she met at fat camp and reconnected with later on. There are a cast of characters and problems that propel the story along. They struggle along the way with their personal problems and relationships as well as finding out who they are and what the future holds for them. Absolutely loved the story, the characters, and how the author resolves their issues. I will enthusiastically be recommending this one! #TheBreakaway #JenniferWeiner #NetGalley

I love this new book by Jennifer Weiner! Abby is 34 year old trying to find her way in Philadelphia. She can't quite find a career path she wants to commit to, but she has a perfectly lovely Podiatrist boyfriend whom she seems resigned to marry. The one thing in Abby's life she is passionate about is cycling. When she gets roped into leading a cycling trip through New York State, she nervously agrees. The trip contains a hodge podge of characters that Abby has to wrangle and cater to. One cyclist turns out to be a significant blip in Abby's past. Along the way, the reader learns of Abby's self-esteem issues due to her mother's constant weight critiques. Abby ends up being an amazing shepherd to her group, even asking her mom to help out when one of the young cyclist needs help securing an abortion that is not legal in her home state. The question is, how can Abby give herself the grace she gives others, and allow herself to be worthy of a great love?

I mean would you expect anything else from the queen of beach reads other than perfection. Because that’s what this is. It’s like a right of passage that you start every summer off with a JW book and this new one is absolutely amazing. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, get angry, get happy. All the emotions

Having long been a fan of Jennifer Weiner, this was a bit of a departure. But, once I thought about it, her characters are so well fleshed out, the plot is fun, and she manages to balance them in a way that is admirable. Not only am I not a bike rider, heck, I barely do any "sporting" type activity, I didn't even know the term "Breakaway." That said, you don't need to know anything about it, and you might learn something about a group of people that participate in this activity. Any one of these characters could have stood alone; I enjoyed them that much. It stands out as not only a great summer read, but for any season. You'll enjoy this book whether it's your first by the author, or you are already a fan.
Thank you to Atria Books, Net Galley and the author for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was lucky enough to win an e-ARC of THE BREAKAWAY by Jennifer Weiner in a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thank you for the early look, and have a safe and happy summer!

This is a perfect summer read! Breezy and fun. Jennifer Weiner fans will recognize Abby as a quintessential Weiner heroine.

As a non-biker, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy Jennifer Weiner's latest novel, but you don't have to be interested in cycling at all to enjoy this story. Like all of her novels, I was immediately intrigued by all of the characters and invested in their stories. I do wish a little more time had been devoted to some of the other characters on the trip, but overall it was an engrossing story; I felt like I was traveling along the cycling trip and experiencing all of the drama right along with them. Definitely a great summer read! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-galley!!

Abby is a plus-sized girl trying to find her way in the world. When she is asked last minute to lead a Cycling trip through New York State, she hesitates but could use some space to figure out some things, mainly how she feels about her perfect Boyfriend whom she met years ago while attending Fat Camp. Everything is going well until one of the participants turns out to be a guy she had a memorable one-night stand with two years ago. He’s not the only interesting person on the trip, and as they cycle through the state we meet some more interesting folks hiding their own secrets. And if that’s now enough, there is a surprise special guest along that really throws Abby off her game.

This book blends a little bit of romance with storylines from others on the trip to provide a story with a fun backdrop. I don’t care for romance and found myself skimming over that particular story, but I did enjoy Abby learning about herself and coming into her own skin. I like the flashbacks that really help round Abby out as a character, and we got a few of those from some other characters, but those chapters and stories felt a little “rushed.” However, I don’t know if Abby’s story was enough without making it more romance, so I felt that it was a good balance.

This book definitely has a political leaning and standpoint ( preaching to the choir for me), but it is a big plot of the book. Overall, I enjoyed this book, and this was one I read quickly because I was excited to learn what happened next. I wished there was more scenery throughout the other cities in NY, but it was fun to be on a trip with this group.

I am usually a fan of J Weiner, but I just couldn’t get into this novel. The characters were not very likable and I really didn’t like their storyline. I read about 1/4 of the novel before I DNF. I may pick it up again later in the summer, but for now it’s just not holding my attention.

Weiner has published maybe seventeen earlier novels, of which I’ve so far read about half, and I enjoyed the all. Her books have tended to be pigeonholed as “rom-coms” -- mostly, I think, because she’s a woman and because they always include a romantic theme -- but that’s unfairly limiting. Her books are in-depth stories about the lives of modern American women, usually in early maturity, usually East Coast Jewish, and generally possessing a voluptuous figure (what Yiddish-speakers would describe as zaftig). And her protagonists struggle with their careers, deal with their families, and attack and try to solve their problems. That may sound dull, but in this author’s skilled hands, I promise you, it isn’t.

Abby Stern of Philadelphia is thirty-three and while her college friends are now doctors and lawyers and CFOs, she’s still making just enough to pay her rent and health insurance with gigs looking after dogs and preschoolers, driving an Uber, and anything else she can come up with. She has always been told she needs to lose weight, by her mother, by doctors, by the world in general, but she’s actually strong and healthy. She’s just a big woman, not svelte, like her Mom. But she has learned to deal with that. It helps that she’s an avid cyclist, racking up a couple hundred miles a week, which makes her more athletic than most skinny women her age. In fact, taking off on a fifty-mile Saturday ride by herself is how she escapes the world’s problems.

Abby was packed off to “fat camp” by her parents at the age of thirteen, vehemently against her will, but things turned out most okay when she met Mark Medoff, heaviest boy at the camp, but also smart, funny, sweet-nature d, and he immediately fell for Abby. He was her first boyfriend, though she only saw him at camp for three years, and then she broke up with him. And now, fifteen years later, they run into each other again -- but this time, Mark is a hunk with an M.D., tanned and toned and drawing the eye of every girl who sees him. And he;’s still in love with Abby/ Could anything be better?

But at that point in things, while Abby is off at a bachelorette party in Brooklyn, she meets Sebastian at a bar, is instantly smitten, and goes home with him for the night. They have amazing sex and Abby slips away before he awakes the next morning, assuming he’ll regret the hookup when he seems her in the daylight. She doesn’t know that Sebastian has slept with half the young women in the borough, and never more than once. (He has his reasons.) Two years later, Abby (now well settled-in with Mark and considering moving in with him) is offered a well-paid last-minute gig to lead a two-week riding tour of a dozen cyclists from NYC to Buffalo via the newly-opened Empire Trail, so off she goes -- only to discover that one of the party is Sebastian, accompanied by his best friend, housemate, and fellow journalist, Lincoln. And he’s never forgotten Abby.

And that’s just the set-up. (Weiner does complex, multi-layered stories.) Over the following dozen days, the two of them will dance carefully around each other as Abby tries to decide if she should stay with the steady, reliable Mark or cast her lot with adventurous Sebastian, and as he tries to figure out if he has finally met The One -- and whether she would even have him, given the suddenly breaking scandal when his woman-collecting ways are published all over the Internet. There’s lots of witty dialogue and also lots of well thought out writing about women and body image, the meaning of love vs. just good sex, the often fraught relationship between mothers and daughters (which also brings in a coup of parallel subplots). This is very good stuff.

Yessss! The Jennifer Weiner I remember is back! This time with a story about forgiveness, loving oneself, and self-discovery. Abby has yet to find a purpose in the world, sure she has a very nice boyfriend, good friends, and her bicycle. Then she's asked to lead a group on a bicycle trip from New York City to Niagara Falls. It's on this trip that she comes to some realizations about her life and realizes she needs to make a big change. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book for my honest opinion.

Loved The Breakaway. Another winner from Jennifer Weiner. Abby was a fantastic main character. She was a great role model for girls today and Sebastian was my favorite male! All the secondary characters added positively to the story and the plot. It was a fun summer, beach read. You knew how it was going to end for Abby, but there were some twists added that I didn't see coming. I will read anything Jennifer Weiner writes and I thank NetGalley for allowing me to preview this book. I will be recommending it to everyone I cycle with.

I received an e-arc of this book through Netgalley. Jenniefer Weiner is one of my favorite authors so I was really happy to get the opportunity to read this book early. I enjoyed this book in so many ways. From learning about how parents bring their own unresolved childhoods into their kids' lives, family secrets, long-distance bike rides, how things that sound perfect on paper are not always perfect for us. Such a great book.

Abby is at a crossroads in her life. She works a series of part time jobs and has a comfortable relationship with a man she has known since her youth. She has a tenuous relationship with her mom and struggles with self love of her plus-sized body. She is also an avid cyclist and is given an opportunity to lead a two week ride. One of the participants is Sebastian, a man with whom she had a one night stand two years prior. During the ride, Abby is faced with a choice to continue in the road her life is on or take a leap of faith and explore new possibilities.

When I initially read the synopsis of this book, I wasn’t immediately hooked. I scrolled by it several times but something kept pulling me back. It was a quick read and I was interested in the storyline. I do feel that the author introduced too many different conflicts with the supporting characters; however, it was an enjoyable read and I especially enjoyed the ending.

Jennifer Weiner never disappoints. A great beach read for the summer or for a hot day under the umbrella. Finished in one afternoon

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book felt a little all over the place with what it was trying to accomplish. In my opinion, the author toyed around with too many serious topics to do any one of them justice. I really didn’t like how the MC treated her boyfriend, I and especially didn’t appreciate the love interest’s total disregard for the position he put her in. In addition, some of the time lapses seemed way to long to be plausible. I understand that there was past trauma the characters had to process through, but I was still left feeling like they were very immature their age.

The Breakaway started off strong for me. I was really into the book and around the midway I became frustrated with a predicament that a teenage girl had on the bike trip.

I wasn’t upset by the choice of this particular character, I felt she made the best choice for herself- but what upset me was that the mother of this character had NO idea what was going on with her daughter while most of the other women in the book DID know. The women who knew the young girl’s secret, just assumed that they girls mother wouldn’t understand so they kept the mother in the dark. In the end, the mother found out, and was understanding. I didn’t care for how that particular part of the book was glossed over, because when it was all said and done, the mother that they all felt was super conservative and not understanding- DID understand. I just felt that mother deserved more credit.

As for the rest of the book- it was just okay. The main character Abby was somewhat rude to her own mom at times, as well as to her boyfriend, Mark.

The parts I enjoyed were Abby’s friendship with an older woman named, Lizzy. Also, the spoken’ 4 and Lincoln were all entertaining and likable characters. I loved the food descriptions and the ending was also satisfying.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy.

Once again the classic summer beach read is brought to a much higher level as Weiner interlaces her romance with some serious topics. Healthy weight vs society’s view of women’s bodies, mother/daughter relationships and abortion for young women are all addressed along with a sparkly romance and Weiner’s obvious love affair with cycling. I devoured this book in two days.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC- my opinions are my own