A brilliant story following Daphne, a plus size influencer, in the lead up to her wedding. All about friendship and forgiveness, this glossy, escapist read immerses you fully in the story. The characters are so well written. Brilliant read

Jennifer Weiner is escapism at high level, highly entertaining stories with sharp social observation and interesting setting.
This story is no exception: it's engrossing and highly entertaining but it's also an interesting description of the world of influencer.
The characters are fleshed out and well written, the plot kept me reading and I laughed a lot.
I was a bit confused at the beginning but I persevered and thoroughly enjoyed it
A good, interesting and fun story.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review - Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

This review has been made possible thanks to @NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing me with an Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review. This review is also posted on my Goodreads, blog and Instagram.

Big Summer is about plus-size influence Daphne, who rekindles a friendship with her high school bestie Drue, just before her wedding. Everything that can go wrong does and Daphne is looking into Drue's past, trying to find out how she went from high school mean girl. This is a story about friendship, forgiveness, and a search into Drue's family and her secrets.

I love the tie-ins with social media content, the social commentary and discourse about attitudes plus-sized women receive from 'well-meaning' friends. It's also an insight into how mean girls grew up, how their actions had consequences on other people and even how actions can come back to bite you. I was expecting a lighter story, something like an easy read, but the story was much more complex and I really enjoyed it!

The writing in this book flowed really well, I enjoyed the content and I would read it again, though I feel like the surprises would be spoiled for me, but I would be able to trace all the hints and foreshadowing from the start. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a mysterious story about female relationships and friendships. There is a lot of diversity and I think this book does a lot in representing people who don't usually take centre stage in stories.

Oh my goodness! This was my first Jennifer Weiner book and I am head over heels in awe of her talent. I thought I was getting a fat positive summer romance. I did but so much more besides. I had no idea this book was going to take the direction it took. If the rest of Jennifer’s books are this good I’m going to be simultaneously kicking myself and 1-clicking all of her work!

Big Summer is easily my favourite book of the month and I think could end up being my favourite of the year. Gosh I am so excited to know I have an extensive back catalogue to work through!

I'm a longtime fan of Jennifer Weiner going right back to 2001 when she published her debut, Good In Bed. She writes believable and relatable characters married to plotlines that, while they might initially feel superficially light actually tackle thorny issues around identity, class, religion, family, friendship and - always - body and fat politics.

Big Summer begins in typical Weiner fashion: fat fashion influencer Daphne has recently landed a huge contract working for a new fashion line, meanwhile her ex-best friend and former high school mean girl Drue is back on the scene and begging Daphne to be a bridesmaid at her upcoming wedding. There's lots of beautiful rich people being rich and beautiful in New York and Cape Cod, and some back story about Daphne and Drue's childhood friendship. All good, a perfect light beach read.

And then, about 40% of the way in, the story suddenly takes a huge twist, becoming something else entirely. And I can't say much else because that 'WHAT!' moment was so great.

A really enjoyable, tightly plotted read: highly recommended.

Big Summer is truly the quintessential summer novel, full of sun, friendship and flirting - but at the same time, it does not shy away from more complex issues. A wonderful and insightful novel!

I have loved all of Jennifer Weiner's books in the past and this was no exception - a fabulous read. Drue and Daphne are best friends who have fallen out and not spoken for 6 years - until the invitation to be Drue's maid of honour arrives. Their friendship is rekindled but can they put the fight and all that was said behind them? A perfect holiday read, enjoyable from start to finish

This was my first Jennifer Weiner novel, and I can assure you that it won’t be my last. What a perfect escapist read! It has everything: a strong, feisty heroine; a fabulous location; and an immersive storyline than blends women’s fiction with mystery, romance and a cheeky bit of steam. I loved it!

Daphne Berg is a plus-size Instagram influencer, obsessed with building her brand and followers. Drue Cavanaugh — a rich, entitled user — is her former best friend, turned arch enemy, after a fat-shaming incident in high school. The two haven’t spoken in years, when out of the blue, Drue contacts Daphne to beg her forgiveness and ask her to be bridesmaid at her forthcoming society wedding on Cape Cod.

First of all, Weiner does a fantastic job exploring the cynicism and fakery surrounding social media — the self-obsession, the importance of image over reality, the monstrous power of it. It’s a topical, relevant issue, and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t catch tiny glimpses of myself in Daphne’s behavior (show me a Bookstagrammer who wouldn’t!).

But Daphne is much more than just her brand. She’s a fabulous character altogether. I loved that she’d accepted her “weakness” and turned it into a strength; that she was bold and confident but still had niggling insecurities; that she was generous-hearted, kind and forgiving. I was totally invested in her story — which is narrated in the first person — and rooted for her all the way.

The plot is brilliantly executed. The blurb gives nothing away, so what you’re expecting is not what you get: feel-good turns dark very quickly. I saw none of the twists coming and absolutely loved the unexpected little bit of steam, which was perfectly judged, but still had to be read twice (or maybe it was three times!). Okay, so I might even have bookmarked it.

It’s not every day that you finish a book with an enormous sigh of satisfaction. This one, I did. I’ve just discovered a new auto-buy author, and I’m adding her whole back catalogue to my wishlist.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

When the tagline for a book is “the best escape you’ll have this year” how can you resist? Thank you to @PiatkusBooks and @jenniferweiner for this advanced copy of Big Summer in return for an honest review. Big Summer is due to be published on 13th May 2021 and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

Daphne and Drue became friends in high school but their relationship wasn’t always healthy and ended with a huge argument after Drue humiliated Daphne in front of the world. Six years after they fell out, Drue makes a return into Daphne’s life, asking her to be maid of honour in her wedding.

Daphne is not sold on the idea to begin with. Her life has moved on and she’s not the same person she was when she was younger. She has an established career as a body confident Instagram influencer and has learnt to love herself. Does she really want to revert back to Drue’s sidekick? After some persuasion and an offer she can’t resist of luxury and single guys, Daphne agrees to be in the wedding and ends up being involved in much more that she didn’t anticipate.

General Thoughts 🤔

Firstly, the bright coloured cover and the tagline was what attracted me to this book initially. When I saw that the genre was women’s fiction, I think I was expecting an easy going chick lit read with some romance and some humour. The book definitely wasn’t what I expected and ended up being a kind of soft thriller/investigative book in my opinion.

It wasn’t just that though. I enjoyed the social media and self-love themes of the story. There are plenty of plus sized, body confident Instagramers out there who portray a certain lifestyle and attitude. I found it interesting that Daphne was one of those but was also victim to portraying the best version of herself and faking bravery and confidence at times. I’m sure many of us fake it till we make it at times, but not all of us are being watched and judged by thousands. I always wonder whether influencers just want to have a few days where they don’t share the highlights from their lives and just laze around and I had the same curiosity about Daphne.

Characters 👭👫👬

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t feel like I could relate hugely to any of the characters in the book. I felt like I only got to scrape the surface of what they were really like and about. Daphne was the main character but I personally thought she was written with a lack of depth and a bit one dimensional. A woman who didn’t realise her self worth and although she preached body confidence and self love, hadn’t quite got to a point where she embodied those values completely.

Drue was kind of the stereotypical rich New York girl. On first impressions, she was the girl who had everything and used everyone to get what she wanted. I would have liked to have known more about the real Drue but then again, maybe the point was that nobody knew the real Drue; least of all herself.

Writing Style ✍️

The book is written from Daphne’s point of view but as I said above, I don’t think I knew her that deeply even after reading through her voice. It’s a pretty linear storyline with a few flashbacks to the girl’s high school years so it’s not a complicated storyline to follow.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖️

Having been drawn to this book because it was badged as an escape, I can say that it did act as a small escape. I found it to be an easy going story to lose myself in but not all encompassing and gripping. Although I felt like it lacked some depth, I didn’t dislike reading it and would recommend it for a laid back beach read.

Big Summer....
A disastrous wedding and a toxic friendship. Character driven tale exploring relationships and self. Takes several turns along the way. An interesting read with a lively backdrop which makes for some needed escapism.

'Big Summer' was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I'm so upset that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. It was simply an okay book for me. It wasn't terrible but I also wasn't obsessed and in love with it. I found myself getting bored very easily and kept putting the book down as it wasn't keeping me interested and I couldn't find the motivation to pick the book up again.

I was definitely intrigued by this book because of the big 'plot twist' that happens half way through and I wanted to know what this plot twist was. However I think knowing that there is a plot twist going to happen meant that I was less impressed when it actually happened and therefore spoiled the book for me.

I also could not connect with the main character at all. I found her incredibly boring and did not want to read about her because I just didn't find her interesting.

I did really want to know the ending of this story and I would say that the ending of the book was a good ending and I did enjoy the overall conclusion and wrap up of the story, but it did not redeem itself from the boredom that I felt reading the rest of the book.

I'm sure this book would be one that someone else would enjoy a lot more than I did. It's not a bad book at all, it simply did not keep me hooked the whole way through. I am really upset that I did not enjoy this as much as I was hoping I would as I was so excited for it.

Thank you to Little Brown Book Group for providing me with an advance copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book by Jennifer Weiner and I loved it, such a beautiful story. Kept my interest throughout. Would definitely recommend!

Gripping and thought provoking. This book had me hooked and unable to put down until the end. The story follows Daphne and her life as an instagrammer after an upsetting event where her ‘best friend’ Drue fat shamed her. Drue and Daphnes friendship is the focus of the book and the toxicity of it vs the genuine side. I wasn’t expecting it to turn into a mystery but I enjoyed that side too. Great read

Six years ago wealthy Drue Cavanaugh and Daphne Berg have a serious fall out over something potentially unforgivable that Drue set up for Daphne and they have not spoken since. In the present day Daphne has carved a good life for herself as a plus size Instagram influencer. Out of the blue Drue gets in touch and begs Daphne to be her maid of honour at her Cape Cod wedding. What should Drue do? As her loyal friend Darshi rightly points out Drue is Daphne’s kryptonite. The developing story deals with several issues and becomes an intriguing mystery too.

Initially I find the book is all over the place with timelines that seem very random and I’m confused and struggling to follow the threads. However, once it gets going it’s a very entertaining and easy to read novel which has a good pace, has some well placed humour and clever twists. The premise and themes are good with, amongst other things, some tangled webs and deception. The friends to enemies to maybe friends keeps you wondering too - who or where is the real Drue? Is she a false friend, a user or for real? The body image focus is thought provoking although it’s over empathised way too much about Daphne’s size. Yes, thank you, got it, message received and understood. I think it’s counter intuitive to keep hammering the point home when the author is trying to get across that it’s about acceptance. There’s fake it til you make it of the Insta influencer, with the pitfalls of social media and horrible, cruel trolls hiding behind the anonymity- though there’s nothing unique here, it’s a fact. There’s some romance in the mix and just a bit of steam 😳.....

The storyline gets darker as it progresses and as more about the Cavanaugh family is revealed - oh boy, there are some cold hard hearted people there. Drue’s portrayal is very good, making you angry and sad in equal measure. Daphne is very likeable and her parents are wonderful. The contrast between them and Drue’s family could not be starker, you can have all the wealth in the world and yet lack so much. The setting in Cape Cod is wonderful, there are some great descriptions which takes me back to a terrific holiday there, including P’town and seeing the dancing policeman!!

Overall, there are lot of positives in this book, it’s entertaining, puzzling, thought provoking and once it gets going it’s a compelling read.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Little, Brown Book Group, Piatkus for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Beach read meets mystery in Jennifer Weiner Big Summer. Daphne Berg is a plus-sized 'influencer' (I have a hard time using this word unironically) who after years of being subjected to all sorts of body-shaming (from strangers on the internet to her own friends and relatives) has finally started to become more confident in her body. While in many ways she loves her 'community', since it encourages her and others to love themselves and their bodies, the influencer lifestyle isn't all its cracked up to be.

“The trick of the Internet, I had learned, was not being unapologetically yourself or completely unfiltered; it was mastering the trick of appearing that way.”


The first of the novel focuses in particular on Daphne's relationship with her body over the years by giving us some snapshots from her childhood (her grandmother is monstrous towards her). There are many painful moments in which readers become intimate with Daphne's most innermost thoughts and fears. We're also introduced to her former best friend. Drue is conventionally beautiful and comes from an incredibly wealthy family. Their friendship is not an easy one as Drue toys around with Daphne's feelings, treating her as her closest confidant one moment and pretending she doesn't exist the next. Unsurprisingly, after a particularly cruel night, Daphne finally calls out Drue on her behaviour and cuts ties with her.
Years later, when Daphne's is a successful influencer, Drue shows up again in her life and asks her (begs her really) to be her bridesmaid. In Cape Cod, the wedding location, the novel shifts gears. [The murder mystery wasn't completely unexpected given the 'mysterious' prologue but it felt far more run-of-the-mill than the first half of the novel. Also, the storyline from Drue's death onwards is entirely predictable: we have the hot guy who may or may not be involved, some false leads (who are clearly not guilty), the heroine who turns into an amateur detective with her bff and love interest as her sidekicks, the clichéd police detective (who was perhaps the most unbelievable character in the whole book. That scene in the church...really?). Not only did I predict two major twists but I found that final face-off scene to be far too unoriginal. (hide spoiler)]
While I appreciated the complexities of Daphne and Drue friendship, and the way in which Drue wasn't painted in an entirely negative way, as well as the novel's early discussions around body positivity, I just did not care for the mystery (which was predictable at every turn). The love interest was a very dull character indeed (did we really need him in the story?).

While for the most part I enjoyed Weiner's prose I did find the constant descriptions of her characters' physical appearance to be tiring. Even characters who make small cameos are described within an inch of their life (their eyes, teeth, skin, legs, arms, stomachs). While I could accept that Daphne has an eye for other people's clothes (due to her job), the detailed, and often exaggerated, accounts of random people's appearances added little to the story.
Still Big Summer is far more thoughtful than other 'light' reads.