The Five-Star Weekend

Hollis thought she had it all. A successful physician husband, a daughter, wealth, a magnificent summer home on Nantucket, and a very successful food blog, she being the online darling of women around the world. But her daughter is somewhat estranged from her and her husband tells her “you’ve changed; we’ve changed” as he prepares to fly off to yet another conference, missing their annual Christmas party which is the social event of the season. On the way to the airport, he is killed in a one car crash. Devastated, Hollis withdraws from her online presence to mourn. Months later, she decides a Five Star Weekend might be just the thing to help her snap out of it. She invites 3 of her closest friends from different eras to spend a show more luxurious weekend on Nantucket; the fourth invitee is someone she has never met but has grown close to through her blog. Drama is sure to ensue.

Fans of Hilderbrand will welcome this, her twenty ninth novel. There are secrets, long held grudges, reconciliations. Her vivid descriptions of the locale, food, clothing makes you feel you are really there along with the anonymous observer who makes an appearance from time to time. Charming may be a way to describe Hilderbrands books. It is a credit to her writing that despite finding so many of the characters annoying, I still enjoyed reading the book and didn’t want to put it down. At times, I felt as though I were reading about a bunch of seventh graders rather than mature mid 50s women.

Thanks to #netgalley and #littlebrownandcompany for the ARC. show less

If you like Elin Hilderbrand, then you will enjoy this book. After Hollis fights with her husband one morning, he has a car crash and dies. She is bereft, and posts on her popular blog that she is taking some time off to grieve. Prior to this, she met a woman on the blog, Gigi, who Hollis considered a friend. After 6 months or so, Hollis reads about a five-star weekend, where you invite people from each phase of your life to vacation with you. So, Hollis reaches out to her childhood best friend, her college best friend, her adult best friend, and Gigi, her newest friend. They join her and over the few days they are together, they reveal things about themselves and their friendships, their loves and their losses.
Typical Hilderbrand show more novel, an easy read-the reveal was no surprise to me. show less

It’s just not summer until I’ve read the latest Ein Hildebrand novel. There’s no better way to start the summer than beach or poolside with one of her books. The Five-Star Weekend got off to a rough start, but as I turned the pages, the book just picked up steam until the very end.

Hollis Shaw grew up in Nantucket, went off to college and only returned as a summer visitor. She meets her husband soon after college, they marry and have a daughter, Caroline. As Caroline grows older, Hollis starts a food blog and it really takes off. So much so, that her husband and daughter grow to resent it.

Then tragedy strikes, causing Hollis to rethink her entire life. She decides to have a girl’s weekend and invites a best friend from each era show more of her life. She includes Caroline to come along and document the weekend through photographs and film.

What makes this story pop is the fact that each woman who attends is bringing some drama along. Add to that, the fact that some of the women do not like each other. I was a bit skeptical of this at first, but things come together in a realistic and unique way.

By the end of the weekend some relationships have improved, some new friendships have been made and some old friendships have been renewed. Forgiveness is a major theme in the story and I just loved how each woman brought something uniques to the story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown & Company for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to offer my honest review and recommend this to readers. show less

Rounding it up to 3.5 stars.

I love Elin Hilderbrand's books which are always set in Nantucket. Who wouldn't want to be part of that crowd or there?

Hollis is the main character and after her husband dies, she gets an idea from an article she read, about bringing together four friends from previous eras in life, for a get together. She chooses 3 and decides to include a fan from her blog Hungry With Hollis. I knew there was a hidden “agenda” with Gigi and it came together quickly even before Hollis invited her. Pretty ingenius if you ask me though unfortunately, catty too. They all had their own quirks and sometimes secrets but they all seemed to have a good time and got along.

I enjoyed Caroline also, Hollis' daughter who was there show more filming the weekend and that she interviewed all the women who were there and had her own part in this book.

Not her best book in my opinion but it was entertaining as always.

I was shocked that in the epilogue on the next to last page, there was a big mistake in mentioning the wrong character. And it wasn't an ARC. I guess these things happe show less

Juvenile, self-reverential, phoned-in. Tedious stereotypes. The usual name-dropping. YES, we GET it: Chicken Box, Something Natural. When I think back to the earliest Hilderbrand books it's astonishing how far they've fallen. I see there's one more novel to come, and I think that's good: these jumped the shark about 6 books ago.

I am surprised at how much I enjoyed this book! The audio was great as was the narrator. It's a story of friendship, forgiveness, bonding, parenthood and so much more.

Hilderbrand writes escape novels and this is another one---just plain fun to read how she interweaves the lives of her characters and makes, really, every page interesting. Nice, too, that she adds an epilogue at the end.