Whatever Wednesday - The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits

 cover blurb - The Griffin Sisters were the soundtrack of  the early 2000s - until suddenly, they weren't. 

Two sisters bonded by music, divided by fame...silenced by tragedy. 

Now twenty years later, a new generation will try to reunite Cassie and Zoe. Can the love between sisters survive the secrets that remain?

Jennifer Weiner with The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits once again writes an excellent family tale with plenty of drama, mystery, love, and secrets.  I really enjoyed following  the tale of Zoe, pretty and adequately talented, AND Cassie, the prodigy voice and piano sister who hides behind her heaviness and lack of beauty. It's a brief stint as a band with plenty of drama, sleeping  around, a marriage, a death, a pregnancy, a talented kid named Cherry - niece, daughter, and kid trying to figure out the story. 

Can there be forgiveness?

Well written page turner - full  of family drama, angst, and emotion.  Thumbs up! 

Monday Moments - The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner

 I perused the  library shelves and found an older  Jennifer Weiner book of short stories.  The Guy Not  Taken has some familiar  characters and some new  ones.  Weiner's trademark humor shines through this collection as we follow love and relationships over time.  

Marlie is home with her new baby. She finds her ex's online  wedding  registry and ponders the "what ifs" of life. What if  she  had wound up with this  guy?

Bruce from Weiner's  novel Good in Bed is drunk and ready  to steal a rat terrier. The bachelor party night  becomes complicated.   

Jessica Norton lists her wonderful New York apartment hoping to win her broker's heart. (Silly woman!)

In the  eleven stories, you meet folks who feel familiar. Some  could  be friends, some enemies, and most are muddling  along. The author explores the hidden  corners of our common  experiences. (cover  blurb).   Thumbs up on  poignancy and laughter - a good combo.  

Finally Friday -The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

 Jennifer Weiner is a reliable author and when I pick up her books, I know I'll get a good tale, an interesting character, and be entertained. The Breakaway is another  winner.

Abby Stern is thirty three, comfortable in her  plus-size skin, does gig jobs, and has a childhood sweetheart. Good friends, her bike, and a Philadelphia cycling club keep her busy. 

cover blurb: 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.  

Abby gets a last minute invite to lead a cycling trip from NYC to Niagara Falls - a chance to get away and think about her life.  cover  blurb - things get complicated fast. Sebastian is on the trip, and her mother Eileen (body shaming past inflictions) shows up. 

Over two weeks and seven hundred miles, strangers become friends, hidden truths come to light, a teenage girl unites riders...and Abby is forced to reconsider everything she believes about herself, her mother, and the nature of love. 

Hop aboard this bike trip and see what happens. 

Wednesday Whoa - Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

 Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner is a perfect beach read about friendship and forgiveness set during  a disastrous wedding on picturesque Cape Cod. (cover blurb). It's breezy, gossipy, trendy, and good brain candy. You don't have to think much. Just enjoy the characters and Weiner's ability to keep summer plots swirling with rumors, failing businesses, infidelity, and a fatal hot tub incident. 

Daphne Berg, a plus-size Instagram influencer, has moved on from college and ex-best friend Drue Cavanaugh. Thus she's shocked when Drue contacts her, begs to meet, and then asks her to be her maid of honor. It's tough to resist Drue, and Daphne is pulled into Cape Cod drama, amidst hooking up with a really cute guy. 

I won't say more. Social media. Society life. Money. Jennifer Weiner creates a frothy cocktail swirl that's easy to swallow. Relax pool or beachside and dive into Big Summer. 

Book Review - Hungry Heart by Jennifer Weiner

Hungry Heart – Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing by Jennifer Weiner is heartwarming and endearing.  It’s like hanging out with a good friend who “gets” you.  She’s now a bestselling author (Good in Bed, In Her Shoes, et al), but she’s also a mom, daughter, sister, wife, and is a mix of Nora Ephron and Tina Fey. (That’s a good thing!)  From the cover – hilarious and moving, Hungry Heart is about yearning and fulfillment, loss and love, and a woman who searched for her place in the world and found it as a storyteller.

She always felt like an outsider, even in her own family. She was a “big” girl – healthy and athletic (competed in rowing), but loved to eat, loved to read, and just followed a different path.  She was smart and knew it and didn’t let it hold her back. She found her voice in a newsroom, then as a novelist, and now as an activist and New York Times columnist.  She worked hard at her craft. In a class with John McPhee she learned about revising and revising again.  P. 110 Every piece of prose had to be whittled and buffed, fine-tuned and reworked and rubbed down and polished again, until it was as close to perfect as you could get it.

I enjoyed this book – whether it was her describing living in Philly and dealing with her kids. Or it was divorcing and rebounding. I liked the chapter about her grandmother in the retirement home and the “mean girls” there. Nothing in life really changes. You have to learn to be part of a group whether you are a kid or a senior. Jennifer Weiner has learned to adapt and embrace her differences to be part of a group. She’s found her writing niche and keeps honing her craft. She embraces social media and tries her best to help for positive change.

P. 402  Keep swimming. Keep talking. If something’s wrong, speak up. I will always love you, and I will always see you, all of you, inside and out. And every single part of you is perfect.

Wise words from Jennifer Weiner.