Its not hyperbole to say that Elin Hilderbrand’s books mean it’s officially summertime.
Once again I was magically transported to Nantucket and all of its indulgent summer pleasures. Elin has somehow perfectly combined both romance and women’s fiction in this captivating beach read.
Hollis is a wildly popular food blogger whose picture-perfect life is in reality, nothing but. She recently lost her husband in a tragic accident and her daughter can barely tolerate her.
Hollis decides to invite friends from every stage of her life – childhood, college and marriage – to spend a “Five-Star Weekend” with her at her fabulous house in Nantucket. Each activity and meal has been carefully curated by Hollis. The only wildcard is her online friend Gigi, a follower of the blog but whom Hollis has never actually met in real life. Hollis even hires her daughter Caroline to document the entire weekend for the blog.
What follows is a thoroughly engaging and unpredictable story that packed a punch. The Nantucket setting is dreamy and Elin nailed all of the female friendships, loyalties and old rivalries. If Elin is still planning to retire in 2024, I hope it’s after the summer! Because I, for one, can’t get enough of her summer reads!
(𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦, 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.)
About the Book:
After tragedy strikes, Hollis Shaw gathers four friends from different stages in her life to spend an unforgettable weekend on Nantucket.
Hollis Shaw’s life seems picture-perfect. She’s the creator of the popular food blog Hungry with Hollis and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon. But after she and Matthew get into a heated argument one snowy morning, he leaves for the airport and is killed in a car accident. The cracks in Hollis’s perfect life—her strained marriage and her complicated relationship with her daughter, Caroline—grow deeper.
So when Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend”—one woman organizes a trip for her best friend from each phase of her life: her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife—she decides to host her own Five-Star Weekend on Nantucket. But the weekend doesn’t turn out to be a joyful Hallmark movie.
The husband of Hollis’s childhood friend Tatum arranges for Hollis’s first love, Jack Finigan, to spend time with them, stirring up old feelings. Meanwhile, Tatum is forced to play nice with abrasive and elitist Dru-Ann, Hollis’s best friend from UNC Chapel Hill. Dru-Ann’s career as a prominent Chicago sports agent is on the line after her comments about a client’s mental health issues are misconstrued online. Brooke, Hollis’s friend from their thirties, has just discovered that her husband is having an inappropriate relationship with a woman at work. Again! And then there’s Gigi, a stranger to everyone (including Hollis) who reached out to Hollis through her blog. Gigi embodies an unusual grace and, as it hap- pens, has many secrets.
The Five-Star Weekend is a surprising and captivating story about friendship, love, and self-discovery set on Nantucket. It will be a weekend like no other.