Thanks a bunch for the ARC. I always love traveling to Nantucket via Hilderbrand’s books. Enjoyed the drama throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of this title. This is another beach read cranked out by Hilderbrand. The premise is catchy; a recent widow is inspired by an influencer to invite 5 friends from 5 different phases of her life for a weekend on Nantucket. The characters are interesting. I found one thing to be extremely distracting: the constant name-dropping of brands! There are so many brand names mentioned within the prose, that I was unsure if she was trying to inflate the word count, or is getting a "product-placement" fee. Like all of her books, this is a fairly enjoyable, quick read, but would be much more enjoyable without the pandering to specific places and merchandise.

From the first page you are hooked. You have just been introduced to these characters but feel like they have been your life long friends. Elin has such an amazing writing style. She grabs you from the start. You want to sit and read all at once, but don't want to be finished reading the book.
Such a great story about friendships over a lifetime and what each brings to your life. This book was even better than I expected. Another great Elin book!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. Hilderbrand does not disappoint. This book turned a snow day into a beach day! The characters were engaging and complicated. The local flair or Wellesley and Nantucket shined through. This book will make you smile any time of year!

I'm a menace to myself when it comes to these Elin advance copies – I always swear I'll wait until closer to pub date, and I never can hold out that long. I did manage to hold on to this one for almost a whole week before starting, though! Progress!

I love love love Elin's books, they're similar in feeling for me to Nora Roberts works – I know that no matter the story along the way, I'm going to love them and have a good time reading them. Seeing characters we already know and getting to check in with them again always warms my heart, and hearing the voice of the community as a character is such a hallmark of Elin's books that I look forward to every time.

The concept of the Five Star Weekend is a perfect example of what Elin brings to her books. It's not complicated, but it's going to make you look inward and consider your own life. I loved each of the women and their development throughout, and the growth in their relationships.

I know people are going to say beach read because it's Elin and a summer release, but it's an anytime read! You can't go wrong.

I love getting into summer while its still winter outside... thank you for the ARC.

Sometimes you just need a book. Sometimes the book needs you. For me, this book touched me at a deeper level than usual summer fluff. Its crazy, you know? How the book you need falls into your lap and hits all of the feels.

I needed a women empowerment novel that wasn't all about romance. I needed a book that faced death and grief and how to move on and shift the hole in your heart so that you can survive. I needed this book.

Thank you.

And the ending was corny as all and totally predictable but tied up the story in a neat little bow.. Which is something else I needed...closure.

I always enjoy Elin Hilderbrand's novels; in part because they are easy and fun to read but they also tend to transport the reader to the shores of Nantucket and provide a bit of escapism. The Five-Star Weekend was no exception. I found I enjoyed each of the women that were in Hollis' circle and parts of each of their personalities were relatable. Mending some broken friendships in the process of connecting with friends from various parts of your life not only made for a unique story, but a sweet one as well.

I enjoyed this book so much! I hadn't been crazy about some of Hilderbrand's recent releases (anything narrated by a ghost just doesn't do it for me), but <i>Five-Star Weekend</i> is her back in her best form. The characters were really complex and, at times really unlikeable and self-involved, but Hilderbrand is so good at creating characters that you can't help but root for. I think this one might be one of my favorites of hers.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this book.

My second Elin Hilderbrand and I really enjoyed it! I appreciated the complexity of the characters and situation. I somehow empathized and was frustrated with each of them. I didn’t want to put this one down and felt transported to Nantucket. The imagery was vivid and I felt my five senses come alive.

Loved seeing the friendships grow and evolve throughout the book.
4.5/5

Thank you to @netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for this ARC. Hollis' husband passes away. Hollis, a famous blogger "Hungry for Hollis" mourns for over seven months when she reads about a fellow blogger that hosts a Five-Star Weekend. It is a girls only weekend with one friend from each phase of her life - Childhood, College, Adulthood and finally a current friend. By some miracle, they are all able to come. Hollis promises to post everything to her blog after the weekend is over. Little does she know that everyone needs this weekend as much as she does. I love this story of friendship that only girls can provide, plus Hilderbrand is an amazing writer. #TheFiveStarWeekend #ElinHilderband #June2023

The Five-Star Weekend is a 5 star book! Lucky us! I didn’t expect any less from Elin Hilderbrand. The only problem I have reading an Elin book is that once I am done with it, I don’t get to read another one for an entire year! Unless we are fortunate enough for her to publish a holiday book, which she has done before.

Hollis Shaw is a fifty-something widow. She has a twenty-something daughter, Caroline, and together they are grieving the loss of Matthew (Hollis’s husband and Caroline’s father). She also feels she needs some excitement in her life so she invites four women from her past and present to enjoy a weekend with her. All expenses paid by Hollis.

Hollis has a famous blog, Hungry With Hollis, in which she posts exquisite photos of food and recipes. She enjoys this so much! She lives in Wellesley but has a beautiful home on Nantucket Island. She grew up on Nantucket. She has invited these hand-picked friends because they each represent a time in her life when each of them were her best friend. Although, Gigi is a new friend from her blog. She hasn’t even officially met her yet but has befriended her online. Hmmmm.

Once the ladies arrive at Hollis’s home, Tatum, Dru-Ann and Brooke have some old feelings of jealousy and anger arise between them from the past. Gigi is the unknown fifth star so she is curious to everyone but has no history with them yet. Or does she? The weekend continues with old memories and new issues popping up everywhere! Will this weekend work without any glitches? Probably not!

We get a few cameos by some Nantucket favorites and the overall feeling of this book is warm, sunny, full of feelings and curiosities, hope, love and friendship (and some prickly attitudes). There are many characters and they are all pretty likable or at least we understand them just fine. It contains great character development and an interesting plot. The five-star weekend concept is amazing and works so well. This is a quality fiction beach read by one of my top authors.

I love Elin Hildenbrand but I have to say this one was a little disappointing. I found it kinda boring. I got through it but would not consider this one of her best. With that being said she is still one of my favorite authors.

"The Five-Star Weekend"
by Elin Hilderbrand
Little, Brown, and Company
June 13, 2023
10-0316258776



Internet blogs have become popular, and Hollis Shaw, living in Wellesley, MA, is amazed by how her food blog, Hungry with Hollis, has taken off. With her physician husband Matthew, who is always working and leaving her alone, she has gained confidence by posting recipes and meeting folks from all walks of life. This pastime eases the tension between her and Matthew though she worries about their marriage. With their grown daughter Caroline away at college, her life with Matthew is much different from when they first married.

Hollis needs to meet with Matthew to talk about bringing back the romance and friendship they once shared, and after they quarrel before he leaves for work, she is adamant about patching things up. Imagine her shock when she later learns Matthew is in a car accident on an ice-slicked road while on his way to the airport—a fatal one.

With grief and remorse, Hollis sets about putting the pieces of her life together. Not only is Matthew gone, but Caroline has become more distant. Hollis is always the devoted wife and mother; but after Hollis’ website took off, Caroline believes she and her father took back seat to her mom’s new “hobby.” Now with Matthew gone, Caroline blames Hollis for her father’s death. What can Hollis do to get back into Caroline’s good graces?

Hollis has an idea to alleviate her grief. She will go to their home in Nantucket and plan what she calls a “Five-Star Weekend,” and invite her best friends from each decade of her life: her best friend growing up on the island, Tatum; her BFF from college, Dru-Ann; her Wellesley neighbor, Brook; and Gigi, a woman from her blog who reached out to her after Matthew’s death and with whom she immediately connected. She believes this is precisely what she needs to get back into life, and having her closest friends should help her through this transition. But will the five women all get along?

Each guest arrives with emotional baggage. Will confiding in each other help solve their problems or destroy what is supposed to be an idyllic weekend?

Tatum needs this time to escape from her anxiety over a recent breast biopsy but hasn’t gotten the results and fears she’s inherited the cancer rampant among her family members.

Dru-Ann, a wealthy and famous sports agent, recently pulled a faux pas, which may mean the end of the career she loves.

Hollis’s Wellesley neighbor, Brooke, is married to a jackass who treats her like dirt. She’s had it with her marriage, and she discovers the truth about herself while on the island.

Finally, there’s Gigi, exuberant and fun-loving, but the one with the most significant secrets she needs to get off her chest. Though she feels a bond with Hollis, can she reveal what she is hiding in front of all these women who have been Hollis’s friends forever and still keep their respect?

The weekend progresses with many plans, including sumptuous meals created by Hollis, different excursions on the island, shopping, dining, sailing, drinking, and more. All the while, Caroline is invited for the weekend to film everything to help with her budding career as a filmmaker. Hollis is praying this will bring them back together and she’ll have fun with Hollis’ friends.

Now that Hollis is widowed, Tatum and her husband Kyle plan to hook her up with Jack, her high school crush and first love. Though the four had made plans to attend the same college, marry together, and share their lives on the island, that did not happen. So now Tatum hopes Hollis and Jack can reconnect and maybe Hollis will stay on the island.

An exciting and fun-filled summer read, The Five-Star Weekend, offers a look into the lives of the well-to-do. Expect the unexpected and prepare for the emotional, personal, joyous, and heartbreaking escapades these women face.

The prose drags somewhat with point-of-view hopping and extensive name-dropping descriptions of expensive shops and restaurants. Still, it is comforting to see that no matter one’s socioeconomic situation, we all suffer the same troubles. This read makes the reader wish to be part of Hollis’s in-crowd. But after all, this is fiction! For those who ever wanted to visit Nantucket, this novel is like a travel guide to the charming, quaint, yet expensive island.

Elin Hilderbrand invites us back to Nantucket this time with a story of 5 women who get together for a "5 star weekend". While this can easily be labeled "chick lit" or a "beach read" it had great of depth to it. I found all of the characters likeable which pulls you to get invested in each persons back story. I always enjoy this author's descriptions of Nantucket and the little details about island life. If you have enjoyed her past books you will definitely want to read this one as well. Hilderbrand is a solid author who knows how to deliver a fun to read, entertaining novel.
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It's a cold, windy, and rainy day at my house, but that's ok. I spent the day at the beach house with Hollis and her friends. This is the perfect book to take your mind off the cold or to read while sipping something cool by the water on a sunny day. Elin Hilderbrand's newest, The Five-Star Weekend, is a great book for almost any time. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I love everything that Elin has ever written. So I will never give her a bad review. This one was just as good as her other titles. Although I must say this one didn't have anything shocking really, it was still wonderful. I love her writing style!! As soon as finished chapter one I felt like I knew who Hollis was and had known her for years.
Hollis has a lot going on for her, a great husband, daughter and website....but behind closed doors its a different story. Can Hollis keep up the with the JOnes' even on her Five Star Weekend?! A great novel!

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Little, Brown and Company for an advanced copy of this novel from the Queen of the Beach Reads.

As I get older I find that I value the friendships that I have made over the years more and more. Families are stuck with you, friends can make fun of you. The fact that with friends you can share the same embarrassing stories, the same jokes, the same aphorisms that stay as funny as they were the first time, is a precious thing. And yes they know what buttons to press, how to grate on nerves that are still raw from high school, or that first love, or that warning you gave before a wedding. Friends are even more now in this world of uncertainty. A cough can become a contagion. A phone call from a familiar number could be a police officer telling you they are never coming home. So having people even those you might not be as close with as you once were is critical to being not just happy, but to getting through life. Though this also comes with its own burderns as the protagonist of The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand learns

Hollis Shaw has it all. The has a very popular food blog, a husband who is a doctor, and a daughter, so Shaw's life is complete at least to those looking. Until the day an argument is followed by tragedy and the happy marriage, is gone, her estrangement with her daughter becomes more apparant, and Shaw is left lost in a world that is suddenly ugly and unfamiliar. In an attempt to find happiness Shaw reads about the Five-Star Weekend where a person invites their best friend from different points in their lives to have a splendid weekend reminiscing about the past, and connecting to those left behind. Hollis gathers a diverse group of people, friends, old loves, her daughter who will record the weekend for Shaw's blog, and a stranger or two, for good times and good tidings. However things go from fun to farce quite quickly, and the five-stars planned for might go to zero-stars quite quickly.

Elin Hilderbrand has been Queen of the Beach Reads for quite awhile, and shows no sigh of abdicating. This book has a lot of her themes, Nantucket, love, loss, and a tour guide to the item of products, but adding a far bigger cast and alot more farce to her fiction. There is a lot of miscommunication, phone shenanigans, secrets, lies and truth telling, but the story is fun and interesting and moves along quite well. Hollis Shaw starts off as annoying, but gets better as the book continues, and she kind of grows to be a better character. There is a lot of plot contrivance but it goes with the farce aspect of the story, and moves the story along. What I found annoying was the constant product placement. After awhile it was just like reading a TikTok influencer's Christmas list. However that is a minor quibble in a book that is perfect for the beach, or whatever summer place a person reads.

Fans will definitely enjoy the story, as the idea is funny, and fits well. A good jumping on point for new readers also. Plus the book can be used to tour around Nantucket and follow in the cast members steps.

Hollis's life seems ideal: she has a great husband, a heart surgeon, a beautiful summer house on Nantucket in addition to her Wellesley's home, and her humble food blog became so popular during the pandemic that now she has many followers who want to "cook with Hollis.". Sure, not everything is picture-perfect. Her adult daughter Caroline replies to Hollis's texts in monosyllables, and her husband Mathew has become distant, attending medical conferences more often and skipping their family's rituals. Still, Hollis thinks it's just a phase and nothing that a good summer at Nantucket can't fix. But then Matthew is killed in one car accident, swerving to avoid a deer, and Hollis's world falls apart. After a few months, she comes across a great idea: a weekend with her friends, one woman from every phase of her life. Five women whose only connection is Hollis, the five-star weekend in her summer house, filled with good food (Hollis makes excellent dishes, of course), sunbathing, shopping, dancing, and hopefully, reconnecting.

It's a risky idea. I remember a birthday party when a host invited her friends, whose only connection was her. It didn't work. We often tend to compartmentalize our relations: there are friends we meet for coffee, co-workers, and others we know from our book clubs or exercise classes. Hopefully, there are also friends we can count on, perhaps long-term friendships from our formative years. Hollis's friends are very different: they all bring to Hollis's home their own problems. And it may be too difficult to share them over a perfect sandwich.

I've seen Elin Hilderbrand's books, but this is the first one I have read. After some research, I discovered that the author has many fans, and some of them are real devotees who even gather once a year on Nantucket for their own five-star weekend, a simpler version with yoga, readings, and book trivia. It reminded me of the Jane Austen clubs over the country or the Wodehouse Society, although these two are much more developed and organized. The gatherings of Elin Hildebrand's fans look like fun. As the author said, they are not about her and her books but, ultimately, about women who come, just like "The Five-Star Weekend" is about women and how strong and vulnerable they are: how others and their friendships can make every problem easier.

Even though I found some aspects far-fetched, like Brooke's revelation, and it was a bit hard for me to relate to Dru-Ann, I really enjoyed this novel, filled with a feeling of summer, good meals shared with friends, and underlying optimism of getting a second chance in life.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy.

What a great read. I loved the premise of this book and I want to do the exact same thing and get my friends together like this.

Hollis is going through some things. Her husband died, but there was something a bit off with their relationship before he died. Her daughter has become distant, the only thing keeping her going is her blog. She reads somewhere about a Five-Star weekend so she decides she wants the same thing. She thinks it will cheer her up.

So she invites her BF from high school, her BF from college, her good friend now, and a new friend she found online to meet up in Nantucket for a fun-filled weekend that she will document for her blog.



It's a book about friendship and love.

Very convinced that Erin Hilderbrand can do no wrong. She does it again with this one! Gonna be popular this summer.