The Five-Star Weekend
The Five-Star WeekendElin Hilderbrand
Buy on Amazon

The Five-Star Weekend (2023)

Elin Hilderbrand

Others: Positive

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 happens, has many secrets.

ISBN:
9780316565974
Length:
512 pages

Genres: romance

Lists: …

Similar books

1 of 6
  • Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home

    Jessa Hastings

    2022 · 595 pages · 3 reviews

    Others: Overwhelmingly positive

    It's been nearly a year since everything happened between Magnolia Parks and BJ Ballentine on the steps of the Mandarin Oriental, and it seems like everything since then has changed. Magnolia has a life in New York now, BJ appears to have finally let go and moved on -- but when they both wind up back to London and are thrust together once again, they find themselves asking their age-old question? How many loves do you actually get in a lifetime, and most importantly— are they each others?

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    On the same reading list
    51%
    Also romance
    49%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • This Could Be Us

    Kennedy Ryan

    2024 · 526 pages · 2 reviews

    Others: Positive

    Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who's never met a party she couldn't host or a charge she couldn't lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion. But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She's too busy keeping a roof over her daughters' heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise. But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn't want but can't seem to resist. She's lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself? After all she's lost... and found... can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also romance
    59%
    On 5+ of the same lists
    39%
    Similar descriptions
    2%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • One True Loves

    Taylor Jenkins Reid

    2016 · 352 pages · 11 reviews

    Others: Mostly positive

    In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure. On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever. Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness. That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves. Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly? Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also romance
    65%
    On 4 of the same lists
    24%
    Bookables loved both
    11%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • Evvie Drake Starts Over

    Linda Holmes

    2019 · 304 pages · 6 reviews

    Others: Overwhelmingly positive

    "In a small town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth "Evvie" Drake rarely leaves her house. Everyone in town, including her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and she doesn't correct them. In New York, Dean Tenney, former major-league pitcher and Andy's childhood friend, is struggling with a case of the "yips": he can't throw straight anymore, and he can't figure out why. An invitation from Andy to stay in Maine for a few months seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button. When Dean moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie's house, the two make a deal: Dean won't ask about Evvie's late husband, and Evvie won't ask about Dean's baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken--and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. But before they can find out what might lie ahead, they'll have to wrestle a few demons: the bonds they've broken, the plans they've changed, and the secrets they've kept. They'll need a lot of help, but in life, as in baseball, there's always a chance--right up until the last out"--

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also romance
    68%
    On the same reading list
    21%
    Bookables loved both
    11%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • You, with a View

    Jessica Joyce

    2023 · 384 pages · 6 reviews

    Others: Mostly positive

    Noelle Shepard is unemployed, living with her parents, and grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother when she discovers decades-old photos of Gram and a smitten man, tucked alongside a love letter. She creates a TikTok to search for the mystery man, which goes viral, and she’s shocked when his grandson responds—a man who happens to be her high school nemesis, Theo Spencer. Noelle refuses to let Theo’s annoying accomplishments in adulthood—or his sexy smirk—stand in the way of meeting his grandfather and unlocking the secrets he knew about her gram as a young woman. When she learns that their plans to elope were thwarted, Noelle decides to take the honeymoon road trip they planned but never got to carry out. There’s a catch, though: Paul, Theo's grandfather, asks to come with her, and he insists that Theo join them. It’ll be a miracle if they make it through the trip without Noelle throwing Theo out of the moving car—or the bed they end up sharing. As the miles tick by, the tension simmers hotter between them...until she discovers that Theo’s hiding a secret that could cause their tenuous relationship to end before it can restart.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also romance
    70%
    On 5+ of the same lists
    19%
    Bookables loved both
    11%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • Friends to Lovers

    Sally Blakely

    2025 · 4 reviews

    Others: Negative

    Always each other’s plus-ones, but never each other’s real dates, two childhood best friends have one last summer wedding to fall in love in this dual-narrative debut. Available while supplies last, this stunning edition features designed sprayed edges! One of The Washington Post’s ‘8 Romance Novels to Read this Summer’! “Left me feeling desperately romantic. Prepare for a book hangover—I loved it.” —Annabel Monaghan, New York Times bestselling author of Summer Romance Best friends Joni and Ren have been inseparable since childhood. So when Joni moves across the country for her job, the two devise a creative way to stay in touch: they’ll be each other’s plus-ones every year for wedding season, no matter what else is happening in their lives. It’s a tradition that works, until a line is crossed and the friendship they once thought was forever is ruined. Now Joni is back at their families’ shared summer home for her sister’s wedding, and she’s determined to make the week perfect, even if it means faking a friendship with Ren—and avoiding the truth of why they have to fake it in the first place. How hard can it be to pretend to be friends with the person who once knew you best? But as sunny beach days together turn into starry nights, Joni begins to question what her life is without Ren in it. And when the wedding arrives, bringing past heartaches to the surface, she’ll be forced to decide if loving Ren means letting him go, or if theirs is a love story worth fighting for. “Your heart will explode when you read this book. I defy you not to fall in love with Joni and Ren.” —Tessa Bickers, USA Today bestselling author of The Book Swap Perfect for fans of: The Summer I Turned Pretty and People We Meet on Vacation Reunion romances Forced Proximity Dual narratives & Single POV

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Also romance
    60%
    On the same reading list
    39%
    Similar descriptions
    1%
    Personalize your recommendations

Reviews1