Big Summer: A Novel

I liked it up until part two. The it just went downhill. I actually skimmed the last five or so chapters.

Spoiler alert!! It is here so if you don’t want to know, stop reading!! You have been fairly warned. You can still stop if you don't want to know the spoiler.... okay, read at your own risk....
Here are the key players:
*Daphne - Protagonist and now a great IG influencer and blogger for “fat girls loving and accepting themselves” after Drue fat shamed her and it went viral. Drue asked Daphne to be in Drue's wedding party as the bridesmaids. Daphne literally just got hired by Leela, to wear her clothes and get photographed in them for Daphne’s IG. Heck, why not? Go to that gorgeous destination and get paid to go and get another paycheck for wearing Leela's clothes. #luckyDaphne #moneymoneymoney
*Drue - self absorbed bride who literally has to pay people to show up to her wedding. She’s having most of her wedding sponsored as both she and her fiance Stuart both amassed a great following on IG. Why after all these years does the Queen of Mean have to pay people to come? What’s in it for her? Is she being genuine or genuinely plotting another fat shaming event for Daphne? Can a scorpion change into a nice opilione?
*Stuart - The groom-to-be. Drue left him not once, but twice. Will the third time be a charm or will he finally have the last laugh? Wait, Drue invited his ex-fiance to the wedding too? Didn’t you break it off with that “The Single” similar to The Bachelor just to be with Drue? Oh the stories the wall could tell.
*Korrina - The ex-fiance of Stuart’s. She gets jilted and the entire reality TV world knows it. How is she still so bubbly with that adorable baby-voice? Or is this just an act?
*Nick - He seems too good to be true as he fully accepts Daphne for how she is (plus sized) and does the horizontal dance with Daphne after a nice dip in the hot tub. But is he real or just possibly a paparazzi? Why is he so full of questions but so evasive about himself? What do you mean you have no social media? Like none?! #Shocked #ForReal?
*Darshi - Daphne’s high school friend, current roommate, and former friend of Drue. She never forgave Drue and will always have Daph’s back. Question is, does she have a knife to stab her with?
*Leela - Aren’t you the perfect designer for plus sized women. How does a skinny lady like yourself know exactly how it feels to be fat? What’s up your sleeve?

Now that you know the main cast, I can say it’s a fun read. At first when you read the prologue, you are wondering who that mother is. As the story slowly opens up like a flower in the morning, you realize who it is and your heart just melts.

Our protagonist, Daphne who rose to fame because when she was younger, she wanted to go to a bar and just have fun with her friends. She meets a guy and later finds he was set up to be the wing man but the wing man doesn’t find Daph appealing, at all. She overhears the entire conversation and is angry that he is judging her. He acts like a douch and expects her to be happy he’s even paying attention to her. To make things worse, it was all set up by Drue thinking Daphne should be grateful. "We all just felt sorry for you! You should be grateful!" says Drue and Daphne is leaving the bar after a huge humiliating moment. To top it all off, she sees someone filming it on their phone. Daphne’s rejection of the douch goes viral and her IG has now skyrocketed. Instead of sitting there with a tub of ice cream, she begins to embraces her curves and has sponsors and tries to maintain a healthy living both physically and spiritually. There are literally many who pay her to wear their clothes even. Enter Leela, fashion designer who is slim and gives off a beautiful hip and zen vibe who totally embraces not just a line of women's clothing for slim but for plus sizes as well. She knows how to construct the outfit to lay so that all the clothes compliment the plus size ladies out there. Perfect because Drue after all these years waltzes back into Daphne’s life to ask her to be Drue’s bridesmaid. It turns out she is in fact paying most of her guests just to come to her wedding. Drue and Daphne used to be good friends but after all that has transpired between them, Daphne truly is doubtful but winds up saying “yes” to Drue out of wanting to believe Drue has changed for the better.

They go through the wedding where they both have fun together and Daphne starts to really enjoy herself. She winds up getting some great shots of her new outfits from Leela and has to also post the pictures of whatever Drue puts into the scene and requests all quests to put the respective hashtags of the companies, hotel, location, drinks, etc. 50% of the book finally comes the big murder. The bride to be is found floating in the hot tub. Poor Daphne is the one to find her as she was actually looking for Nick, one of the guests who loves to talk all about Daphne and Drue’s relationship, as he suddenly is missing after a passionate night of the horizontal dance. Hmmm, I knew something was just off about him. Then you have Ryan McMichaels who is the detective who doesn’t seem very sharp and just wants to pin the murder on the most convenient person: the one who found the body! Now we have a murderer afoot! It's a real 'Who Done It?" mystery. Daphne becomes the prime suspect so it is up to her and her Scooby Doo gang to solve the mystery. Provided that they stop questioning each other.

The ending truly ties up all the loose ends and for me, it was a satisfying ending. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Wow! What a read!
There are so many elements that make this such a great read. We have the contemporary elements of everyday life, that any millennial is currently living. The author incorporates social media and all the filters it entails to portray yourself in a certain light.
You have self esteem and self image. The main character is plus sized and an instagram influencer. The constant struggles that I am slightly aware of as I follow many plus sized influencers struggle with, are brightly portrayed in this as well.
The second guessing and having to prove yourself even more when you are the plus sized friend is also extremely accurate. (I can def attest to that.)
There is also a huge element in this story that the shortest quickest way I could describe it is, It's "all grown up-Mean girls" type of vibe. Those complicated friendships that is "frenemies" being ogled and "liked" by the popular girl. But that popular girl isn't someone trustworthy.
Recovering from the betrayal from the popular friends can be a lot for people, when you have been embarrassed by those mean girls, it makes a big mark on the soul, as much as we "bounce back," that scar persists. I love that Weiner found a way to weave that into the heart of the story. It explains why so many of the characters act the way they act.
Then you have the BIG HUGE ELEMENT of a big 'ol plot twist that happens right in the center of the novel. And wow, that plot twist gives you the biggest whiplash of all time!
But I say that in a good way. That twist in the story really is unexpected but as things unfold, it is very welcomed! Wow. I am still tantalized by it all as I type this.
I highly recommend this book to everyone, anyone. It has all the elements that we all are craving these days. I kinda want Netflix to notice this and make this into a movie. It's so damn good. This book easily gets 5 stars from me and all the recommendations as well! The ultimate summer read!

Thank you to Atria for sending me this book, I won it as a giveaway in which I never have such luck. This review is in exchange for such luck!

I only got to page 16. First, she used "fashion" as an adjective. Then on page 15 a person says they use "fabrics from natural, sustainable materials." The next page, someone else describes a fabric as a blend of "cotton and something stretchy and synthetic." I'm done. Her first few books were excellent. Her last several have been terrible. Not sure why I keep trying.

Big Summer, by bestselling author Jennifer Weiner, opens with a foreboding prologue set in 1994 involving a young woman named Christina who is happy raising her son on her own at her family's cabin on Cape Cod. "Her story was almost at its end, but that night, she had no idea" as she sang to her four-year-old son. The story then advances to 2018 and the focus shifts to Weiner's protagonist, Daphne, an up-and-coming plus-size Instagram influencer who has been offered a chance to showcase the clothing of Leela Thakoon. Daphne is thrilled when the attractive garments fit perfectly and make her look and feel "like the best version of" herself. A collaboration is born.

In her first-person narrative, Daphne relates how she came to be a young woman who has eschewed dieting and is determined to simply be true self. As the only child of doting parents, she had no idea she was overweight until a fateful weekend with her body size-obsessed grandmother. That was the point at which her psyche was irrevocably altered, and from which she gradually "learned every trick for taking up as little space as possible and not asking for much." She describes her first day at the exclusive new school where her father taught, but a scholarship was required in order for her tuition to be paid, and meeting the other students. Two in particular play prominent roles in Daphne's story. Darshi, who, as the story opens, has been her faithful friend for many years and her roommate for the past four. And Drue Cavanaugh.

Weiner describes Drue as a "thinly veiled Ivana Trump-like" character -- the wealthy and glamorous girl who is the most popular in the school. The other girls emulate her, craving her attention and approval. Shockingly, Drue embraces Daphne on her very first day at school, even inviting her to eat lunch with her and her friends. But Drue is manipulative and calculating, and Daphne details specific instances of Daphne using and abusing her. Still, Daphne remained her loyal friend throughout school, writing papers for her, keeping her secrets, covering for her when she cut class or was too hungover to function. The friendship, such as it was, endured because even though Drue repeatedly abused Daphne's generous spirit and her trust, Daphne still wanted to be like her: beautiful, funny, self-assured, and decidedly cool.

At long last, however, Drue goes too far and a particularly cruel machination causes Daphne to stand up for herself and declare she has had enough. The incident is videotaped and goes viral, transforming Daphne's attitude and life. She changes the name of her blog from "Daphne's Craft Corner" to "Big Time," vows to focus on her health and well-being, rather than her weight, and six years pass during which she has no contact with Drue.

But Drue reemerges, appearing in person when Daphne ignores her emails and texts. And she has a surprising request. She wants Daphne to be her maid-of-honor when she marries in a lavish ceremony on Cape Cod. She pitifully insists that she has no close female friends, has missed Daphne, and acknowledges that her past behavior was horrible. She blames, in part, her parents' dysfunctional marriage and her lack of a relationship with her dismissive father, who has had multiple affairs over the years. She even offers to pay Daphne. Daphne is torn -- resolved not to get reeled back into Daphne's life and the drama their friendship inures, but ultimately swayed by happy memories of time spent together as young girls.

Daphne also recognizes that she can parlay the event into Instagram posts featuring photos taken in a stylish setting at one of the biggest social events of the summer. She relents, despite her misgivings and a strong hunch that she is being used by Drue. Daphne's number of Instagram followers grows as soon as Drue begins posting about the wedding and Daphne's role in it, and Daphne struggles to escape her uneasiness. But Darshi is direct, warning Daphne that Drue will hurt her again and when she does, she will not be there to comfort Daphne, aptly calling Drue her "Kryptonite."

The story veers in a direction most readers won't see coming. The party at the estate the night before the wedding proves to be a magical one for Daphne when she meets a handsome and charming man who wants only to spend time with her. But the party is disrupted by a loud argument between Drue's parents that sends the bride-to-be retreating to her room. The book shifts from women's fiction to a murder mystery, with Daphne searching for two mystery men: the one she caught lurking outside Drue's door the previous night, as well as the one with whom she spent the night who disappears before she wakes up. Worse, Daphne, like all of the other guests, is questioned by the police, and becomes convinced that she could be viewed by the authorities as a suspect. The police are motivated to find the killer quickly, after being embarrassed by their incompetent handling of a murder that occurred in the area years ago. Darshi, being the loyal friend that she has always been, rushes to Daphne's side and they begin sleuthing, determined to unmask the murderer.

Weiner pulls off the genre-switch seamlessly, her cleverly-constructed, intricate plot unfolding during the latter half of the story. She examines the dark side of social media in a credible manner, revealing the ways in which some of her characters connive to use their status as influencers -- and other characters -- to attain fame and wealth. She deftly pulls all the loose threads into a cohesive story in which every character's significance becomes apparent -- including Christina and her son, Aidan, the subjects of the prologue that most readers will have forgotten all about by that juncture.

Daphne and Drue are fully developed characters, and as the story progresses, Weiner highlights the traits that differentiate them, as well as their common humanity. Weiner makes Drue a sympathetic character by exposing the truth about her family and upbringing, illustrating that outward appearances are, of course, deceiving. Readers come to understand the environment and lessons that made Drue who she is. Daphne's narration hits all the right notes as she describes her own familial relationships and home life, as well as her internal struggle to accept and love herself. Daphne is intelligent, self-deprecating, insecure, tenacious, and, most importantly, highly self-aware. She is likable, and has a strong moral center and commitment to justice. Female readers will recognize aspects of themselves in Daphne, whose emotional battles are almost universally relatable. The complicated, sometimes hilarious and frequently heartbreaking relationship between Daphne and Drue is believably and compassionately portrayed by Weiner as is her depiction of the love, envy, exasperation, and, finally, understanding and empathy Daphne feels for the woman who is so consequential in her life.

Weiner has succeeded at making Big Summer a witty and enjoyable beach read, as well as an engrossing exploration of the contradictions between real and virtual life. The book is also a surprisingly thought-provoking examination of friendship and how profoundly the friends we choose can impact our lives.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.