Elin Hilderbrand, the undisputed queen of Nantucket fiction, delivers her twenty-ninth novel with the precision of a surgeon and the heart of a poet. The Five-Star Weekend is a testament to her evolution as a storyteller, weaving together themes of grief, friendship, and the complicated nature of forgiveness in ways that feel both deeply familiar and surprisingly fresh.
The premise is deceptively simple: Hollis Shaw, reeling from the sudden death of her husband Matthew in a car accident, decides to host a weekend on Nantucket for her best friend from each decade of her life. What unfolds is a sophisticated character study that examines how the people we think we know best can surprise us in the most devastating and beautiful ways.
Characters That Breathe with Authenticity
Hollis Shaw: The Perfect Host with Hidden Cracks
Hollis emerges as Hilderbrand’s most complex protagonist to date. On the surface, she’s the picture of success—creator of the popular food blog “Hungry with Hollis,” living in a stunning Nantucket home, seemingly blessed with an ideal life. Yet beneath this polished exterior lies a woman grappling with the reality that her marriage wasn’t the fairy tale she presented to the world.
Hilderbrand’s portrayal of grief is particularly nuanced. Rather than the clean, linear progression often depicted in fiction, Hollis’s mourning is messy, contradictory, and painfully real. Her decision to reconnect with her high school sweetheart Jack Finigan while hosting the weekend adds layers of moral complexity that prevent the novel from sliding into easy sentimentality.
The Supporting Cast: Friends Across the Decades
Each invited friend represents a different era of Hollis’s life, and Hilderbrand uses this structure brilliantly to explore how friendship evolves and endures:
- Tatum McKenzie (teenage years) carries the weight of unspoken resentment and class differences that have quietly poisoned her relationship with Hollis. Her secret cancer scare adds urgency to every interaction, while her work as a house cleaner for wealthy summer residents provides sharp social commentary.
- Dru-Ann Jones (college years) arrives as a successful Chicago sports agent whose career is imploding due to a social media scandal. Her character arc from arrogant professional to humbled friend is one of the novel’s strongest elements, particularly her eventual reconciliation with Tatum.
- Brooke Kirtley (thirties) represents the friend who never quite found her footing. Her journey toward self-acceptance and her quiet coming-out story provide some of the book’s most tender moments.
- Gigi Ling (the wild card) embodies the novel’s central mystery and moral complexity. As a stranger from Hollis’s food blog community, she initially seems like the perfect addition—elegant, worldly, effortlessly charming. The revelation that she was Matthew’s lover transforms the entire narrative, forcing both Hollis and readers to reconsider everything that came before.
The Nantucket Setting: More Than Beautiful Backdrop
Hilderbrand’s mastery of place remains unmatched in contemporary fiction. Nantucket isn’t merely a setting but a character in its own right, with its pristine beaches, weathered shingles, and social hierarchies providing the perfect pressure cooker for the weekend’s revelations. The island’s beauty serves as both sanctuary and prison, where secrets have nowhere to hide and old wounds must finally be addressed.
The author’s insider knowledge shines through in details like the Chicken Box’s atmosphere, the social dynamics of Galley Beach, and the way the island’s year-round residents view the summer people. These authentic touches ground the drama in reality and prevent the story from floating away into pure escapism.
Writing Style: Elegant Storytelling with Sharp Edges
Hilderbrand’s prose has reached new heights of sophistication in this novel. Her writing maintains the accessibility that has made her a beloved beach read author while diving deeper into psychological complexity than ever before. The alternating perspectives work seamlessly, allowing readers intimate access to each character’s inner world without losing narrative momentum.
The dialogue crackles with authenticity, particularly in the scenes between the old friends as they navigate decades of shared history and unspoken grievances. Hilderbrand has a gift for capturing the way longtime friends communicate—the shorthand, the loaded silences, the ability to wound with a single word.
Themes That Resonate Beyond the Beach
The Complexity of Forgiveness
The novel’s greatest strength lies in its nuanced exploration of forgiveness. When Hollis chooses to let Gigi stay after discovering her betrayal, it’s not portrayed as easy grace or moral superiority. Instead, Hilderbrand shows forgiveness as a conscious choice that requires strength and offers the possibility of transformation for both the forgiver and the forgiven.
Female Friendship Across Decades
The Five-Star Weekend concept brilliantly illuminates how friendships formed at different life stages serve different purposes. Hilderbrand understands that we aren’t the same person at eighteen that we are at fifty, and the friends who knew us in each era hold different pieces of our identity.
Marriage and Its Mysteries
The revelation of Matthew’s affair forces examination of how well we truly know our partners. Hilderbrand avoids the trap of painting Matthew as purely villainous, instead presenting him as a flawed human who made devastating choices while still loving his family.
Areas for Improvement
While The Five-Star Weekend succeeds on most levels, it occasionally buckles under the weight of its ambitious scope. Some subplot resolutions feel rushed, particularly Dru-Ann’s career crisis, which deserved more detailed exploration given its significance to her character.
The novel’s pacing occasionally flags in the middle section, where the mechanics of the weekend sometimes overshadow character development. A few scenes feel designed more to showcase Nantucket’s charms than advance the plot.
Additionally, while the social media subplot provides contemporary relevance, it occasionally feels forced, as if Hilderbrand is trying too hard to address current issues rather than letting them emerge naturally from the story.
Literary Merit and Popular Appeal
This novel represents Hilderbrand at her most ambitious, successfully bridging the gap between literary fiction and popular women’s fiction. While maintaining the addictive readability that has made her a bestseller, she tackles deeper themes with genuine insight and emotional honesty.
The book’s structure—with its clever chapter titles and multiple perspectives—shows technical sophistication while never feeling showy or academic. Hilderbrand trusts her readers to follow complex emotional terrain without over-explaining or melodramatic moments.
Comparison to Hilderbrand’s Earlier Works
The Five-Star Weekend feels like a culmination of Hilderbrand’s career-long exploration of friendship, place, and the secrets we keep. It shares DNA with earlier works like The Perfect Couple in its examination of marriage’s hidden dynamics, while the Nantucket setting recalls classics like The Beach Club.
However, this novel feels more mature than much of her earlier work, less concerned with creating perfect beach read moments and more interested in psychological truth. The humor is sharper, the emotions more complex, and the resolutions more nuanced.
Final Verdict
The Five-Star Weekend is Elin Hilderbrand at her finest—a novel that works both as an engaging summer read and a thoughtful examination of how we forgive, forget, and move forward after betrayal. While it may not revolutionize the genre, it elevates it through skillful character development, authentic dialogue, and genuine emotional insight.
The book succeeds because it understands that real friendship isn’t about perfection but about choosing to love people despite their flaws. In a time when social media presents curated versions of reality, Hilderbrand’s insistence on showing the messy truth behind perfect facades feels both timely and timeless.
For readers seeking escapist fiction with substance, The Five-Star Weekend delivers exactly what its title promises—a five-star experience that lingers long after the last page.
Similar Books to Explore
If you enjoyed The Five-Star Weekend, consider these companion reads:
- “Beach Read” by Emily Henry – Another exploration of complicated relationships set in a coastal town
- “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid – Features complex female characters and long-held secrets
- “The Summer Place” by Jennifer Weiner – Examines friendship dynamics and betrayal with humor and heart
- “The Guncle” by Steven Rowley – Explores family dynamics and forgiveness with wit and warmth
- “Swan Song” by Elin Hilderbrand – Another Hilderbrand classic exploring decades-long relationships
- “The Guest List” by Lucy Foley – Features ensemble cast and weekend setting with darker undertones
- “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig – Contemplates life choices and second chances
- “Such a Fun Age” by Kiley Reid – Examines complex relationships across social divides
The Five-Star Weekend stands as proof that popular fiction can tackle serious themes without sacrificing entertainment value, making it essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary women’s fiction at its best.
