It’s not summer without Elin Hilderbrand! I specifically saved this book to read on my vacation to Cape Cod. And I took my mom to meet Elin in person back in June and she was just so nice and lovely. We had the color jade green to wear!

Hollis has a picture perfect life: a handsome doctor husband, one college age daughter, a cute pooch, and a dream house in Nantucket. Her blog, Hungry with Hollis, has gone viral and she loves to party prep and cook for her website. But all it flipped over when her husband is killed in a car accident just before Christmas. She lost her own mother very young and now her husband too.

She decides to host a 5 star weekend with 5 of her best friends from her life to help cheer her up. Tatum is her oldest friend, but she feels out of place among these rich women. Dru-Ann is her college friend going through a tough career moment, Brooke is her best mom friend, who tried hard to fit in and is hiding a secret about her husband, and lastly, is Gigi, a friend she has never met in person, but has talked many times with and met through her blog. Gigi is the random wild card who brings a fresh energy to the weekend.

Hollis asks her documentary filmmaker daughter, Caroline to film her friends weekend, but she also hopes it reconnects their relationship. The local townspeople are excited to see the quintet out on the town in their coordinating colors. I love all the descriptions of their outfits and the food. I have been to Nantucket a few times and Elin had painted the island exactly like I remember.

I really enjoyed this book and all its secrets. It was the perfect book to read in Cape Cod.

The Five Star Weekend is about Hollis Shaw, famous online foodie, and her plans for a five star weekend. Hollis invites one friend from each stage of her life for a girls weekend. She’s hoping this will be fun for everyone, and healing for her since her husband died in a car accident a few months before. Little does she know, this will be a weekend of a little drama, lots of healing from the past, and so many different things her friends are going through. She has a full schedule and menu planned for the weekend, and her followers can’t wait to hear all about it. Hollis also hires her daughter Caroline to film the weekend and make a short film for them. The weekend is interesting in many ways. Hollis’s friends become friends, she finds out one of them has betrayed her, and she learn just how good of friends she has had throughout life.

I really liked The Five-Star Weekend. The background of Hollis and her friends was interesting and made each of the women more real. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Elin Hilderbrand brings back her signature Island-style writing and we're treated to a few cameos from several characters from previous novels (you won't need to have read any to enjoy this one). The story is written in a carefree, gossipy way that lures you in and doesn't let go until literally the very last page.

The character growth in this book is HUGE. Each of the "stars" has personal drama that we follow and their development has you cheering for them the whole way. There's also enough conflict between the women to keep the story moving along and never, ever dull.

Verdict: The Five-Star Weekend gets Five Stars from me!

Elin Hilderbrand never disappoints. This book is full of Nantucket sights, sounds, and amazing food descriptions. It was all I could not to rush out to find a morning bun to devour. The whole idea of a Five Star Weekend is fascinating and would be just as much fun in real life as it was to read about one.

Another home run by Elin Hildebrand! Queen of the emotionally charged beach read, this is a story of a woman who invites 4 friends from completely different stages of her life to spend a weekend with her on Nantucket in her mansion. Obviously this turns into a trip full of personality clashes, some truly shocking secrets, and women discovering things about themselves as they face challenges head on. There is an element of romance, but not enough that it impedes on the central themes of friendship and women.

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand was an enjoyable read but didn’t compete for a favorite slot among other books by her that I loved. Overall it was a fun summer beach that had me dreaming of a Nantucket vacation with my girlfriends.

For the most part I liked the big cast of characters and the multiple POVs but at times it seemed like there was almost too much going on. I loved the concept of inviting friends from different periods of your life, but I don’t think we necessarily needed to know each woman’s backstory. It felt like we didn’t get to know them well enough (which would have been fine if we were learning about them from one main POV) and all the info from each life just became overwhelming.

I also didn’t think the daughter’s POV added much to the story. Is that mean? I recognize that we were supposed to begin to understand Hollis differently through her daughter’s interviews and eyes but it didn’t add to the plot for me at all. I normally love mother-daughter relationships in books but this one fell a little flat.

Despite my gripes with all the characters, I enjoyed the book and thought some of the twists were fun, if predictable. It was an easy read and I always like how Hilderbrand infuses so much detail into each scene. I loved the cooking and decor descriptions throughout the book - it made me want to go redecorate and plan a party!

After the sudden death of Hollis’ husband, she decides to host a “Five-Star Weekend” by inviting her five closest girlfriends to Nantucket. Each woman is from a different phase of her life - Tatum from childhood, Dru-Ann from college, Brooke from motherhood, and Gigi from the internet.

I think people read Elin Hilderbrand like books because she is Elin Hilderbrand NOT because her books are great. Like it’s fine, but it’s definitely not close the best book I read this summer.I also think I’m just over her writing style - she writes in a way that tells you what happens instead of writing a way that you feel what happens. I used to love her books, but the last few have been so BLAH.

I really enjoyed The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand. Friends who have a mutual friend in common are invited to come together for a five-star girls' weekend. Well told with a purple prose-level description of Nantucket and fantastic storytelling, Elin Hilderbrand's newest book The Five-Star Weekend was engaging, intriguing and well-developed.

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Friends meeting up after years in an adventure not for the weak! A woman from each decade meetup and trying to melt it all together is hard. I think it works but pleasantly adjusting to each is hard. But they make it work and get pass the pass and embrace the present.

As a 41 year old, I loved this book! The highs and lows on marriage are real and most importantly, the need for female friendships!

If any book will inspire a trip to Nantucket, it is definitely this one with picturesque scenery and seriously, the food! I wanted one of everything described.

The idea of a 5 star weekend is everything perfection!

Elin Hilderbrand never disappoints and her new book “ The Five-Star Weekend” proves it! The characters are so relatable. Four old friends and a newcomer shares a weekend with a women dealing with a great loss! Of course the setting is as always on the island of Nantucket! Elin always brings out the uniqueness of Nantucket! The characters are a mix of locals and visitors to Hollis’s five-star weekend! Each character with a unique tie to the main character, Hollis, the star of her own website, Hungry with Hollis! It’s a blast from the past for Hollis and her guests, except for one guest joining in with a dark secret!

Ahh this book was so good!! To be back in Nantucket with Elin Hilderbrand and a new story is always such a joy. Hollis and her husband argue one morning before he leaves for a trip and when he dies in a car accident hours later, Hollis is left with more questions than answers. Months later, as she continues to process her loss, she organizes a five-star weekend with four friends from different parts of her life. Although they’ve never all spent time together before, Hollis hopes the camaraderie and support will help her to feel whole.

Hollis is a food blogger so you already know the descriptions of food and hosting details are spectacular. As always, Hilderbrand did not disappoint with creating an atmosphere you can practically feel coming to life around you.

The five “stars,” plus Hollis’s daughter are all dealing with a different kind of life event, either publicly or privately. They were all very distinct experiences and I found it really compelling to get to see inside each of their heads and to understand how they chose to deal with what they were going through. Although the amount of people to keep track of got a little confusing at times, by the end I was invested in each individual one.

There were definitely some things I didn’t see coming and the amount of drama combined with the bougie Nantucket summer vibes made this book hard to put down.

In the midst of a heinous heat wave in Iowa, escaping to Nantucket while lounging on my couch next to the air conditioner was exactly what I needed. Elin Hilderbrand, who is a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, is often dismissed as beach fiction. (The covers of her books don't help. Who is this woman on this boat? She does not appear to be any of the five main characters--the five titular stars gathering for this weekend.) Alas, this book is a delight. It's smart, compassionate, funny, and heartbreaking. I laughed. I cried. I laughed more than I cried, but mostly, I felt connected to these women and people and loved they shared their (fictional) journeys with me. The premise of this one is Nantucket food blogger Hollis invites one best friend from each phase of her life to her home for the weekend: townie Tatum from childhood, her college roommate Dru-Ann, mom friend Brooke from Wellesley, and a website fan she has never met in real life. These women were a dramatic delight.

So good! A woman recovers from her husband's death by hosting a weekend on Nantucket with 4 friends from different parts of her life and gets her college daughter - with whom she has a difficult relationship- to film it. I loved it but I have loved all of Elin Hilderbrand's books!

Five Star Weekend is the perfect summer read! The Queen of Beach Reads has done it again!

Hollis Shaw is mourning the loss of her husband, but feels the need to do something to try to get back to normal. She decides to host a weekend for her 5 best friends from different seasons of her life. As they join her in Nantucket for a 5 star weekend full of amazing food and events, not only is Hollis confronted with some truths she didn't realize, but each woman comes with their own baggage that they have to deal with.

I loved the women and their growth!

Elin is the beach read queen! All the different POVs were fun and I really enjoyed the ending. This isn't for those who are looking for a romance but perfect for those who like reading about mother/daughter relationships and friendship drama. Content warning for grief!

Would it be summer if I didn’t read an Elin novel at the beach? 28 Summers is still my fave, but this one is still in true Hilderbrand fashion.

Hollis is a middle aged woman whose cooking blog has hit it big. Too bad her marriage to her husband, Dr. Madden has changed. When tragedy strikes Hollis, she decides to host a five star weekend where she invites four friends from each stage of her life. It’s a girls weekend with all of Hollis’ best recipes and all her friends’ drama.

Two things that I think Elin
Hilderbrand does like nobody else. 1) she makes you want to eat all the food and drink all the drinks in the sunshine. These food descriptions are on point. Being the foodie I am, I think this is, in part,, why I love these summer reads. 2) Her endings. She knows how to wrap up a book. And even if I didn’t love something in the middle of her books, I always seem content or in a puddle of tears at the end. I won’t tell you where this one left me.

Pick this up on your way to the beach.

What’s summer without the annual EH beach read? For many summers I’ve come to anxiously anticipate what exciting new read she’ll come up with next. The Five-Star Weekend delivers another Nantucket summer story. I loved this book. The storyline itself was unique, gathering five of your friends together for a weekend of activities. Friends from different stages of your life. Throw in family drama, ruptured relationships, new acquaintances, heartache and juicy revelations and bingo you’re off and running. Elin does a stellar job of making you feel like you are on the island experiencing everything her characters are. Great characterization, food descriptions that will have your mouth watering, island vibes and a storyline that will catch your attention quickly. I have to say her latest ranks as one of my favorites. #NetGalley for the ARC all opinions are my own.

I would classify this as a very standard EH novel... the classic Nantucket setting, easy writing style, and a healthy heaping of drama. It won't stand out as one of my favorite books from her, but a solid beach read all the same!

This is a charming and dramatic story of five friends, invited to Nantucket for a Five Star Weekend. Although most of the women know each other fairly well, each one is dealing with their own secrets. As they all try to come together. Conflicts arise and must be resolved. These women are dealing with grief, negative social media and unemployment, possible cancer, infidelity and doubting their sexuality. Throughout the story, you fall in love with each of these women and wish them all well.

Overall’ the story was well written, with empathetic characters and the pacing itself was fast moving. I enjoyed observing each woman’s struggle and how she resolved it. I would give this book 4 stars and would definitely read another book by this author.