Five Star Weekend
by Elin Hilderbrand · 2023
A widowed food blogger invites four women from four different eras of her life to a Nantucket weekend meant to be perfect -- and old grudges surface before the first dinner is served.
Worth reading? Five Star Weekend does what a Hilderbrand novel is supposed to do: give you a gorgeous Nantucket backdrop, a cast of women each representing a different flavor of friendship, and just enough grief and secret-keeping to make the eventual group hug feel earned. It's not trying to be more than a well-executed beach read, and by that standard it delivers -- don't go in expecting the emotional complexity of literary fiction.
| Author | Elin Hilderbrand |
|---|---|
| Published | 2023 |
| Category | Fiction |
The Verdict
Hilderbrand’s real skill here is logistics, not plot twists – she can juggle four distinct women’s perspectives and backstories without the book feeling crowded, which is harder to pull off than the genre gets credit for. If you’ve read one of her summer novels before, this one won’t surprise you structurally, but it’s a competent, comfortable entry in a formula she’s spent two decades perfecting.
you want a comfort-read beach novel with a Nantucket setting, an ensemble cast of women, and low-stakes emotional drama resolved by the last chapter
you want literary depth or genuine surprise -- this is escapist women's fiction on rails, and Hilderbrand fans know exactly what they're getting before they open it
Top 6 Lessons from Five Star Weekend
- Juggling multiple women's perspectives without the book feeling crowded is a real craft skill, not a given.
- A strong setting (Nantucket, recurring across a career) can do as much work as plot.
- An ensemble cast works when each character represents a genuinely different flavor of relationship, not a variation on the same one.
- Comfort fiction succeeds by being competent and predictable on purpose, not by accident.
- Grief and secret-keeping can raise stakes in a low-stakes book without turning it into something heavier than it wants to be.
- A formula perfected over two decades reads as confidence, not laziness, if the execution stays tight.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Five Star Weekend worth reading?
Yes, if you want a breezy, well-crafted beach read set on Nantucket. It's comfort fiction, not a book that will challenge you.
What is Five Star Weekend about?
Widowed food blogger Hollis Shaw invites four women -- each representing a different era and kind of friendship in her life -- to her Nantucket house for a weekend that surfaces old grudges, grief, and long-buried secrets.
Is Five Star Weekend part of a series?
No, it's a standalone novel, though like most of Hilderbrand's books it's set in her recurring Nantucket universe.
Do I need to read other Elin Hilderbrand books first?
No. It reads fine as a standalone -- you don't need familiarity with her other Nantucket novels to follow it.
Ready to read it?
Get Five Star Weekend on Amazon
