The Breakaway

The Breakaway is a character-driven story that features Abby, a 34-year-old woman who is content with what life has given her. She is in a relationship with her childhood sweetheart, she's got a few part-time jobs to pay her bills and is comfortable in her plus-sized body, despite her critical mother's constant harping on how she could lose weight if she tried. To help a friend in a tight spot, Abby, an avid cyclist, takes a last-minute job as a tour guide that will take a group of cyclists (of varying degrees of skill) from NYC to Niagara Falls.

As in many of Weiner's books, she focuses on romance and weight shaming/self-esteem, but in this book, she also includes several other topics: women's reproductive choice, infidelity, mother-daughter conflict, mental health and serial dating to name a few. 

This story has a large cast of secondary characters, two of whom Abby doesn't expect and a few who share their POVs which provide fodder for secondary plot points along the way. There is a lot going on - perhaps a bit too much. There are a lot of topics, a large cast to keep track of and the story felt overly long at times, but overall, I enjoyed the journey and appreciated the satisfying finish. 

You don't have to know how to ride a bike to enjoy this coming-into-herself story. Fans who follow Weiner on social media will know she is an avid cyclist and I loved how she included one of her passions into her latest story. I've recently enjoyed biking my local 'rail trail' paths which made this book even more enjoyable. 

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for the complimentary advanced copy which I was given in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Jennifer Weiner

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Type and Source: ebook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Atria Books

First Published: August 29, 2023

Book Description from GoodReads: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner comes a warmhearted and empowering new novel about love, family, friendship, secrets, and the power of a trip to change your life.

Thirty-four-year-old Abby Stern has made it to a happy place. True, she still has gig jobs instead of a career, and the apartment where she’s lived since college still looks like she just moved in. But she’s got good friends, she’s got her bike, and her bike club in Philadelphia. She’s at peace with her plus-size body—at least, most of the time—and she’s on track to marry her childhood sweetheart. Abby and Mark met at the weight-loss camp Abby’s perpetually-dieting mother, Eileen, forced her daughter to attend. Fifteen years later, when Abby reconnects with a half-his-size Mark, and finds out that he still adores her, it feels like fate.

Yet Abby can’t escape the feeling that something isn’t right…or the memories of one mind-blowing night spent with a man named Sebastian two years ago. So when Abby gets a last minute call to lead a group bike trip from New York City to Niagara Falls, she’s happy to have time away from Mark, and a chance to make up her mind.

But on the first day, Abby is shocked when she sees a familiar face in the tour group—Sebastian, the one-night stand she never thought she’d see again. As a serial dater who lives a hundred miles away, Sebastian is far from Mr. Perfect, and Abby is determined to keep her distance, even if their chemistry is undeniable. To make things even worse, there’s a last-minute addition to the trip—Abby’s mother, Eileen, whom Abby blames for a lifetime of body shaming and insecurities she’s still trying to undo.

Over the next two weeks, strangers become confidantes, hidden truths come to light, and a teenage girl with a secret will unite all the riders in surprising ways—while all of Abby’s certainties about herself, her mother, and the nature of love are challenged.