About the Book
Thirty-three-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’s just moved in. But she’s got good friends, her bike, and her bicycling 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 Mark Medoff, her childhood sweetheart, a man she met at the weight-loss camp that her perpetually dieting mother forced her to attend. Fifteen years after her final summer at Camp Golden Hills, when Abby reconnects with a half-his-size Mark, it feels like the happy ending she’s always wanted.
Yet Abby can’t escape the feeling that something isn’t right…or 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, the one-night stand she thought she’d never see again. Sebastian is a serial dater who lives a hundred miles away. In spite of their undeniable chemistry, Abby is determined to keep her distance. Then there’s a surprise last-minute addition to the trip: 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, strangers become friends, hidden truths come to light, a teenage girl with a secret unites the riders in unexpected ways…and Abby is forced to reconsider everything she believes about herself, her mother, and the nature of love.
My Review
Timely, relatable and heartwarming all at once, The Breakaway is Jennifer Weiner’s latest offering and not one to pass over. We follow Abby Stern, thirty-three years old and still unsure what she wants to be when she grows up, but she’s happy enough with her plus sized body after years of scrutiny courtesy of her mother, and a steady boyfriend she’s known since her childhood weight-loss camp days. When Mark pitches moving in together (with marriage surely up next) Abby can’t figure out why she panics instead of jumping at the chance. When the opportunity to host a cycling class from NYC to Niagara Falls comes up, Abby decides to get out of her comfort zone and lead it – mostly to give her time to think over where her life is going and how happy she really is with it. Is she with Mark because she believes no one else could be attracted to her?
The bike trip begins to fall apart when she sees Sebastian in attendance – a one-night stand she thought she would never see again. Seeing him stirs up feelings in her that she thought she had pushed away when she became a couple with Mark – and now she’s more confused than ever. Add to the fact her mother has somehow joined the cycling group as well, always watching Abby closely on what she puts in her mouth, and the trip is starting to look like a nightmare.
I thought it was interesting that we got not just Abby and Sebastian’s perspectives, but insight from the other cyclists as well. From a mother and teen daughter with their own struggles, a mother and son trying to do the right thing, and a foursome of senior citizens with their own unique scenarios, I felt like I was on the cycling trip with everyone else. This book touches on a several deep topics ranging from body issues to abortion, and Sebastian’s own brush with being canceled via the internet and a viral tiktok. No matter which character was being discussed, I was interested in their story and what their decisions were going to be. It was tough to put this one down, and I highly recommend to finish off your 2023 reading list.
4.5 stars
