The Breakaway was a bit of a sleeper for me. It didn’t grab me like Weiner’s books usually do. I liked it but I really wanted to love it. The characters are quirky and the messages throughout are well written. Abby is relatable and I admired her growth.

A solid read, just not my favourite by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. This was a good, but not great read. I loved the plus size representation. It was a light hearted fun read that people should pick up.

The story centers around Abby Stern, a 33-year-old woman who, despite having a seemingly content life with gig jobs, a bicycling club, and a boyfriend, feels something is amiss. The novel explores themes of love, family, friendship, secrets, and personal journeys.

Abby's character is portrayed as being at peace with her plus-size body, yet she harbors insecurities stemming from a lifetime of body shaming and societal pressures. The story gains complexity when Abby, leading a cycling trip from NYC to Niagara Falls, encounters Sebastian, a one-night stand from her past, and her critical mother, Eileen, joins the trip unexpectedly. This setup leads to a narrative that delves into mother-daughter dynamics, body positivity, mental health, and a woman's right to choose.

Weiner's storytelling is known for tackling tough topics inside highly readable page turners. Abby's journey is not just about romance; it's about self-discovery, confronting past traumas, and navigating complex relationships. I've read her books covering similar issues of body image, body positivity, bodily autonomy, body politics, etc, before but this one really hit home. Possibly because I've been reading a lot of Aubrey Gordon's work on anti-fat bias recently, but this story made me feel more sympathy for the roles our mothers play in handing down body image ideals and societal pressures.

As readable as a beach book, and as thoughtful as an essay

This heartwarming story is about Abby, who is asked to lead a bike packing trip through New York State, Mark (her boyfriend), Sebastian (the familiar stranger that ends up on the trip), and the cast of riders surrounding them. Throughout the two weeks, Abby and her crew learn that sometimes you just don’t know the full story of the ones you love, it takes guts to do the hard things, and it’s important to love yourself before loving someone else. Sweet story with some good lessons

The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner was a book that I did not connect with. The characters were not as interesting as. I was hoping and it was difficult to make connections with them and the story. A little all over the place and hard to follow at time, but that could just be me because I had to reread pages again since I kept losing concentration. Not my favorite Jennifer Weiner book but thankful to NetGalley and Atria Books for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I felt like this book was a little all over the place. It was trying to do so many things all at the same time that it didn't really settle squarely on one main idea for the plot. I love a compelling book with multiple characters as much as the next reader, but the book has to know for sure what it's point is going to be. I didn't know if this book was supposed to be about body issues, women's rights, men's rights, generational trauma, the effects of alcoholism, all of the above, only some of the above, some of the above dialed up and down at different points in the novel...? It was just confusing.

It also felt incredibly predictable. The rom-com portion felt predictable. The "mothers-hiding-secrets-that-they-share-with-their-daughters-and-forge-a-new-bond-with-them" felt predictable. Even the sections dealing with body issues felt predictable. I really only was surprised by one or two minor parts of the book, and they were tucked in kind of like an afterthought.

I also think that making Abby the POV character and then expecting readers to accept everything she said as the truth of her life -- when said truth was proven false later -- was a lot. Any book functions as a collection of layers. If we're given the layer that Eileen, Abby's mom, just wants her to get skinny and that layer is put down over and over without anything to refute it, it becomes really hard -- almost impossible, in fact -- to believe anything else.

That's why I really wasn't buying into Eileen's "transformation," and we're never really given a clear reason why she decided to do the biking trip in the first place. "I wanted to spend time with you" isn't a strong enough reason when the only information readers have gotten is that Eileen's sole purpose in every interaction with her daughter is to remind her she needs to lose weight. I kept waiting, all the way until the end, for her to say she was dying, even though she makes it clear in the opening pages she most certainly is not. So then why the sudden change of heart? Characters -- and people in real life -- don't flip like that without some concrete reason.

I also found the whole storyline with Morgan problematic only because the adults around her are encouraging her to lie and keep a secret from the parents responsible for her. It's true that young people need trusted adults around them who aren't their parents, but those trusted adults are typically people the teens have known for a while and not adults they just met for the first time. Morgan is a teenager going through something terrifying, and she manages to convince every adult around her that they need to go along with her plan instead of them sharing with her the long-term consequences of that plan and explaining that she really does need to take a minute to consider who she's lying to and what might happen to her health if something were to go wrong. I'm not talking about the choices she's making -- I'm looking at the larger ramifications of how the people around her are behaving and the fact that they let a 15-year-old talk them around so fast.

I also forgot about the majority of the bike riders on the trip and kept struggling to remember names and whether they were important and if I needed to spend so much energy on them. Why have characters there if they're not going to contribute anything whatsoever to the overall plot?

I'm sure a lot of people might have enjoyed this book, but it really wasn't for me.

While I haven't read a ton of Jennifer Weiner's books, the ones I've read have always felt light, and fun with elements of mystery and romance. The Breakway felt different than other books I've read by her. It dug into some tough issues including weight and body image, diet culture, abortion, religion, and so much more. I felt that this book was incredibly poignant, while still being easy to read and digest.

Per usual, Weiner's characters were fabulously developed and they completely came off the page. I loved Abby, and love that Weiner always has a plus-size character featured prominently in her books. It's so important to normalize that every body is beautiful no matter the size, and I love how she always does this. It means a lot to me, especially as a plus-size curvy woman.

This was dramatic, raw, and incredibly well-written, and I enjoyed every second of it.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
4.5/5 stars

Another gem by Weiner. I enjoyed The Breakaway and its modern take on living in a larger body in this society.

When Mark and Abby met, they were teens at a weight-loss camp. When they reconnected 15 years later, Mark was half the size he was when they met, and Abby is (mostly) at peace with her plus-size body. The two fall fast for each other again and are on the track to happily ever after.

Only, Abby can't quite put her finger on why this doesn't feel *quite* right. Or why she keeps thinking about a sexy one-night stand she had two years ago with a man named Sebastian.

When she's asked to fill in leading a cycling trip, she jumps at the chance for some time away to clear her mind and figure out what, or who, she really wants. Things get complicated when Sebastian shows up as one of her cyclists. And they get even more complicated when Abby's mother signs on as a last-minute participant.

The group will pedal 700 miles together, where more than one secret will come to light. At first glance, this may seem like "just another rom-com," but Jennifer Weiner does a fantastic job writing about the complicated nature of life, love, and mother-daughter relationships.

I’ve been reading Jen’s latest The Breakaway, and loving it as I have all her books! Her novels feature body positivity, believing in yourself, and finding those positive friendships and relationships. The Breakaway is a story of motherhood, raising daughters, women’s rights, and finding your own strength. A fantastic book for the time we are in now, with all the heartfelt issues of real life.

The plot veers on too far fetched and not believable. But the the steamy scenes are well written and will get your heart rate up’

Such a cute rom com! I love every single book that Jennifer Weiner publishes, and The Breakaway was no different. Love the conversation around the plus size character!

Thank you for allowing me to read this book as an ARC.
I have always liked Jennifer Weiner's books and this one is no exception. Cute story that reads quickly but provides a powerful message. I loved the characters and the story of the protagonist becoming the bike tour leader and, not to give anything away, what she does with her hobby and enjoyment!
The book reads fast and is fun yet pushes the reader to see what a 'bigger' girl might be exposed to from others and how it makes her feel. I also loved the 'reveal' towards the end and how it makes our protagonist feel.
What I didn't enjoy and what I hate with every book I read...authors need to leave their political opinion out of books! It has no place and shouldn't be there! It makes me rate the book lower than I would have done otherwise.

This was a light-hearted, though not frivolous weekend read for me and though I didn't connect all that much with the characters, it certainly kept me entertained from beginning to end!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

Unfortunately this was not my favorite and I was not able to get into it. I wish the author much success with this novel.

First of all, thank you so much to the publisher for sending this my way! I absolutely love Jennifer Weiner so I was eager to read this book. It was a great read with a fantastic storyline- highly recommend!

Jennifer Weiner successfully explores many of the similar themes of her previous books with fresh eyes. Abby Stern is a thirty three year old woman who has checked all of the boxes of her life necessities but she still feels that something isn’t quite right. The book has a strong focus on body positivity and mother/daughter dynamics. It is well written and really shows that there is often more than meets the eye.

3.5 stars - I liked this one much more than Jennifer Weiner's last two books. It started out pretty strong, but I think in the middle it got lost to just doing too much. I also had a hard time with how the main character treated people. Without spoilers, I felt like she made some selfish choices because of her self-loathing, and it wasn't cute. It really annoyed me, so I couldn't bump this one up to 4. But overall, it was an easy, quick read and showed some of the charm that I've come to love from Weiner's books in the past. This makes me hopeful that Weiner is getting back into her groove again.

I absolutely loved this feel-good fiction. Abby Stearn has good friends, her bike, her bike club, and has come to terms with her plus-size body. When she is given the chance to lead a group bike trip from New York City to Niagara Falls she is happy to have the time to make some hard life choices.

She loves her fiance but cannot help questioning if he is the man for her. And if he is, why is her one-night stand from years ago still haunting her thoughts? When he shows up on the bike trip and her mother shows up as well, Abby will have to deal with a lot of truths.

This is a book that deals with body image and mother-daughter relationships with Weiner's signature charm and humor.