The Breakaway
A Novel
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4.2 • 42 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner comes “a zippy rom-com with genuine heart and soul” (People) about love, family, friendship, secrets, and one woman’s life-changing journey.
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 that she met at the weight-loss camp that her perpetually dieting mother forced her to attend.
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. Despite 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The path toward love and self-acceptance is scenic, fun, and very bumpy in hitmaker Jennifer Weiner’s heartfelt romantic comedy. Thirtysomething Abby is finally happy with her full-size body, her cycling club, and her formerly overweight boyfriend, Mark. So why can’t she stop thinking about that one sizzling night she spent two years ago with a hot guy named Sebastian? When Abby sets off to lead a 400-mile cycling trip to Niagara Falls, she discovers she’ll be accompanied by—you guessed it—Sebastian. We loved that Abby’s struggle isn’t really about choosing between two guys—it’s about realizing her own value and what kind of love she deserves. The Breakaway is an unabashedly sexy and empowering read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Weiner's charming latest (after The Summer Place) follows a cyclist as she contemplates her life during an upstate New York bike tour. Abby Stern, 33, began cycling years ago to fight negative feelings about her weight, which had been exacerbated by her mother, Eileen, who made Abby attend a "fat camp" when she was a teen. Now, she bikes to forget her ambivalence about her boyfriend, Mark. Eileen joins Abby on the trip, as does Sebastian, a man she once hooked up with. Along the way, Abby deals with Eileen's judgment and is still drawn to the charismatic Sebastian, though he was recently outed on TikTok for being a player. Still, he seems to genuinely like Abby, and the feeling is mutual. Abby and Sebastian's lively banter reels the reader in, as do the fine-grained details from the trail (the rattling Walkway Over the Hudson, the "scrubby backyards," and an honest depiction of touring bike frames: "They weren't pretty, but they got the job done"). Abby's development feels genuine, as she learns to define herself on her own terms. This breezy outing goes down easy.
