I try very hard not to stick authors into any sort of box, but I have been known to label authors from time to time. And the label I use is “surefire hit.” For me, Jennifer Weiner falls into that category. Whenever I hear that Weiner has a new novel coming out I think—well that is no-brainer. That will be a surefire hit and I know I will love it. So I tend to save those books for long travel trips or vacations on the beach when I know I’ll be a good distance from a bookstore. I can trust that Weiner will take care of me on my journey. To celebrate the release of her gorgeous new novel MRS. EVERYTHING, I thought we could take a look back at some of my favorite Jennifer Weiner books. This isn’t her full catalog, but just a few that stuck out to me.
5 Must-Read Jennifer Weiner Books for True and New Fans
Weiner’s most recent fiction release focuses on two characters, Rachel Blum and Andy Landis, who meet one night in a hospital emergency room. Rachel is a veteran ER patient having a congenital heart defect, and Andy is the newcomer having just broken his arm. What follows is a lifetime of chance encounters and searing events that change and influence the course of their lives. For fans of the show This Is Us and the novel ONE DAY, this sweeping love story across time will leave you reflective, hopeful, and inspired to look at those around you who have shaped your own life by simply crossing paths. Do soul mates really last? Well, why don’t you read this book and then let me know?
WHO DO YOU LOVE is a warmhearted, intimate modern-day fairy tale about the passage of time, the way people change and change each other, and how the measure of a life is in the people you love.
A seminal summer bookclub favorite, Weiner’s skills as a capturer of real women with relatable issues are on full display in this tale of two friends who test the limits of friendship and look to understand just how much strength their bond can hold. Addie and Valerie believe when they are nine that they will be best friends forever. However, in a familiar story of betrayal, Val will be welcomed by the popular girls in school while Addie will be shunned. As the years pass, Valerie earns a spot as the local weather girl, and Addie is still stuck at home playing caregiver to a sick brother. One night Addie returns home to find Val standing in her living room with blood on her hands and coat. She looks at Addie and says, “Something terrible has happened and you are the only one who can help.” NPR has called the book “A smart, witty fairy tale for grown-ups” and USA Today said “One of our favorite heroines of the summer.” This is perfect for those who enjoy Alice Hoffman, Jodi Picoult, and Celeste Ng.
This heartrending novel charts the longtime friendship between Val and Addie, two young girls who grow up to be very different women: one achieving fame and fortune, one staying behind.
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This was the one that started it all for me. I picked up IN HER SHOES never guessing that it would begin a lifelong relationship with Jennifer Weiner novels (I love when that happens!). In Weiner’s second novel we meet Rose Feller, a high-powered attorney with a passion for romance novels and impeccable taste in shoes. She has a closet full of them, only problem is she never wears them out in the world. In that closet they sit. However her sister Maggie is quite the opposite. She is someone who knows how to get out there. She dreams of being a star and everyone tells her she has the looks and the charisma to make her one. The two sisters could not be more opposite, and they could not need each other more. Weiner shows in the two sisters a dichotomy that is often found in siblings. When it comes to sisters—they are often the yin to your yang. This particular one is best for fans of Liane Moriarty and Elin Hilderbrand. If you are just getting started on your Jennifer Weiner trail, I say start with this one and you wont regret it.
From Jennifer Weiner comes a story of two sisters with nothing in common but a love for shoes learn they are more alike than they thought possible.
Meet Rose Feller, a thirty-year-old high-powered attorney with a secret passion for romance novels. She has an exercise regime she's going to start next week, and she dreams of a man who will slide off her glasses, gaze into her eyes, and tell her she's beautiful. She also dreams of getting her fantastically screwed-up, semi-employed little sister to straighten up and fly right.
Meet Rose's sister, Maggie. Twenty-eight years old and drop-dead gorgeous. Although her big-screen stardom hasn't progressed past her left hip's appearance in a Will Smith video, Maggie dreams of fame and fortune -- and of getting her big sister on a skin-care regimen.
These two women, who claim to have nothing in common but a childhood tragedy, DNA, and the same size feet, are about to learn that they're more alike than they'd ever imagined. Along the way, they'll encounter a diverse cast of characters -- from a stepmother who's into recreational Botox to a disdainful pug with no name. They'll borrow shoes and clothes and boyfriends, and eventually make peace with their most intimate enemies -- each other.
Weiner veered into suburban neighborhoods with this murder mystery set in Connecticut. When Kate Klein agrees to move to the suburbs with her husband to raise their family, she never expected to be so utterly bored. That is until one of the neighborhood supermoms winds up dead. Curious about this new excitement in her sleepy town, Kate launches an amateur sleuth investigation while her youngest ones are in nursery school. What she uncovers in the murdered woman’s past seems to spiral day by day into a dark secret picket fence façade world. The Baltimore Sun called it a “humorous take on hearth, home and homicide.” This is perfect for fans of Desperate Housewives or BIG LITTLE LIES.
New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner’s unforgettable story of adjusting to suburbia—and all the surprises hidden behind its doors.
For Kate Klein, a semi-accidental mother of three, suburbia has been full of unpleasant surprises. Her once-loving husband is hardly ever home. The supermommies on the playground routinely snub her. Her days are spent carpooling and enduring endless games of Candy Land, and at night, most of her orgasms are of the do-it-yourself variety.
When a fellow mother is murdered, Kate finds that the unsolved mystery is the most exciting thing to happen in Upchurch, Connecticut, since her neighbors broke ground for a guesthouse and cracked their septic tank. Even though the local police chief warns her that crime-fighting's a job best left to the professionals, Kate launches an unofficial investigation -- from 8:45 to 11:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, when her kids are in nursery school.
As Kate is drawn deeper into the murdered woman's past, she begins to uncover the secrets and lies behind Upchurch's picket-fence facade -- and considers the choices and compromises all modern women make as they navigate between marriage and independence, small towns and big cities, being a mother and having a life of one's own.
The book that the Philadelphia Inquirer called Weiner’s “best book yet,” is a humorous and daring look at a modern-day problem. When Allison Weiss looks around, it would appear she got the fairytale. A handsome husband, an adorable daughter, a great job, and a great big house in the suburbs. Then one day while waiting in the pediatricians office she reads a magazine article highlighting drug dependency. Her mind begins to spin as she recounts the numerous times she pops a pill when her husband ignores her or when she is trying to unwind after a long day. Some people drink a glass of wine, why is this so different? Told with grit and wit, Weiner explores the opioid epidemic that plagues the country as told through the eyes of the woman next door. It is graceful and heartfelt. Perfect for bookclubs of any size.
From a #1 New York Times bestselling author comes her “best book yet” (Philadelphia Inquirer), a “compulsively readable” novel that shows “there’s no doubt Weiner knows how to deliver a certain kind of story, and well” (The New York Times Book Review).
Allison Weiss got her happy ending—a handsome husband, an adorable daughter, a job she loves, and the big house in the suburbs. But while waiting in the pediatrician’s office, she opens a magazine to a quiz about addiction and starts to wonder…Is a Percocet at the end of the day really different from a glass of wine? Is it such a bad thing to pop a Vicodin after a brutal Jump & Pump class…or if your husband ignores you? She tells herself that the pills help her make it through her days…but what if her increasing drug use, a habit that’s becoming expensive and hard to hide, is turning into her biggest problem of all?
Hailed as “a witty, realistic criticism on the modern age” (Boston Herald), this remarkable story of a woman’s fall into addiction and struggle to find her way back up again is Jennifer Weiner’s most masterful, moving, and celebrated work yet.