Review of The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

I’ve been reading Jennifer Weiner since the oughties and am always curious to see what she comes up with. Is The Breakaway a mystery like Big Summer, or issue-driven like That Summer or out-there like The Summer Place? I’ll tell you in my Review of the Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner!

Written and edited by Jen Ryland. Last updated on:

The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

To be published on August 29, 2023 by Atria.

Thanks so much to the publisher for the advance copy for review.

I read this book in August 2023.

Plot Summary for The Breakaway

Thirty-three-year-old Abby Stern has made it to a happy place. She’s got good friends and her bicycling club in Philadelphia. She’s at peace with her plus-size body and on track to marry Mark, her childhood summer sweetheart, a man she met at the weight-loss camp that her perpetually dieting mother forced her to attend.

Yet Abby can’t forget the memories of one thrilling night she spent with a man named Sebastian two years previously. When Abby gets a last-minute invi­tation to lead a cycling trip from NYC to Niagara Falls, she’s happy to have time away from Mark, a chance to reflect and make up her mind.

But things get complicated fast. First, Abby spots a familiar face in the group: Sebastian In spite of their undeniable chemistry, Abby is determined to keep her distance. Then there’s a surprise last-minute addition to the her mother, Eileen, the woman Abby blames for a lifetime of body shaming and insecurities she’s still trying to undo.

Over two weeks and more than seven hundred miles, Abby is forced to reconsider everything she believes about herself, her mother, and the nature of love.

Review of The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

What Genre of Book is The Breakaway?

Jennifer Weiner is a genre-jumper. Which is fun, but we all wonder: what has she written this time?

So, for those of you who have had mixed feelings about Weiner’s books over the last few years, The Breakaway is NOT a mystery or an issue book or a farce set during the pandemic.

But what is it? As I think about how Jennifer Weiner books have evolved, I have observations.

Weiner’s earliest books were both groundbreaking and very genre specific. Good in Bed, her first book, was classic chick lit, but with a plus size romantic lead. Back in the early 2000s, most lead characters were thin and white with gay male BFFs and dreamy bosses. Bridget Jones helped pave the way for a normal woman finding love, but even she had to undergo a makeover to be worthy of her Darcy.

Over the last few years, Weiner’s books have seemed much more idea and issue driven. Big Summer was a mystery that was based on a real true crime case. That Summer drew on the #MeToo movement that had recently emerged. And I am not sure about The Summer Place, except that Weiner said in her acknowledgments that it was a love letter to her late mother.

I feel like The Breakaway is a bit of a catfish book.

The synopsis makes it seem a Trish Dollar-style romance about a plus sized woman who finds love and empowerment through leading a bike trip. The book opens with a very steamy one-night stand, which makes it feel like a romance.

But after that, there are also a LOT of opinions and issues shoehorned into the story.

Issue-driven romance is a huge trend now, and I have mixed feelings about it. I love the idea of flawed characters who have real-life struggles and challenges, but if the issues overshadow the romance, that doesn’t work for me.

I think The Breakaway is not romance, but women’s fiction, or what I prefer to call female-centered fiction.

It’s an issue-driven book with a romance with issues, as I will discuss below.

What I Liked (a lot!) About The Breakaway

The themes of female empowerment through athletics. Taking a multi-day bike trip is daunting and Jennifer Weiner is an experienced bike rider who knows her stuff. Apparently she started biking during the pandemic.

Just like in The Float Plan, which this book did remind me of, it was fun to vicariously travel the biking route in the book, which went from NYC up the Hudson River to Buffalo.

The normalization of female reproductive health and rights

Don’t want to give spoilers, but I liked that a person’s right to bodily autonomy was such a matter-of-fact thing. It’s no one’s business!

What I Liked Less About The Breakaway

Here’s the thing. What I liked about the book, I really liked. And, you guessed it: what I disliked I REALLY disliked.

The Insta-Love

Abby and Sebastian have a one-night stand. They are together for just a few hours, enough time to have sex and eat pasta.

According to the book, their entire encounter happened between 2 am and 6:30 am (yes, I checked what time the sun rose in Brooklyn in April 2021.) That’s it. But they haven’t stopped thinking about each other since. Okay. The pasta and the sex are the best ever! For Abby, at least.

Then not to be judgmental but … Sebastian is a player, a serial shagger of women who doesn’t call, just gets off and moves on … to his next target.

This is not in dispute. He’s based on this real life guy which to me made it even less likely that Abby would have made such a lasting impression on him. He’s been with hundreds of women. Hundreds!

Side note: I will admit to watching FBoy Island on HBO and I am telling you that nearly 100% of women who claim to have had enough of FBoys and want a nice guy get played by the FBoys. I feel like guys like Sebastian don’t change. Sorry, Abby.

The cheating

This is such a hot button issue for romance readers that I have to mention it. It’s suggested in the synopsis. Abby unexpectedly encounters Sebastian when she is about to move in with (and possibly marry) a perfectly nice guy.

Abby! Just break up with Mark before starting something new with the Fboy. Please. Cheating on someone undermines their self-confidence and trust in others, possibly forever. This really turned me off Abby.

The judginess

Jennifer Weiner’s characters can be judgmental. I’m also a Jennifer and a bit judge-y. Reading this book with such a judgmental main character made me resolve to be better.

Here’s where Abby also annoyed me. She loved to eat and also was very physically active, which I admired about her. But she was really judgmental of others (like her boyfriend) who might make other choices for their bodies, like going carb-free. Or even getting bariatric surgery.

She hated that people made difference life choices. Let’s be consistent in our tolerance, please. She also hated that he didn’t like bike riding. So maybe … find a new guy. AFTER you break up with Mark. A guy who is NOT an Fboy.

I think The Breakaway Would Make A Great Book Club Book!

While I didn’t find this book a good romance, there is a LOT to talk about here. Like a LOT. So if you need a book club book, I recommend putting this on the list.

If you love books about female athletes, there are a lot in YA and I made a list!

Have you read this? Please talk to me in comments and if you include spoilers, give a warning. (Or I can add one if you forget!)