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8 min read
Reader ratingreader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
4.4
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The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand Review: A Sunlit, Sharply Observed Female Friendship Novel
by Elin Hilderbrand
Elin Hilderbrand's twenty-ninth novel sends food blogger Hollis Shaw to Nantucket with four friends from different chapters of her life — a premise that lets Hilderbrand explore the tensions, loyalties, and illusions that define female friendship, earning a starred review from Kirkus Reviews in the process.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Fans of women's fiction and beach reads who enjoy ensemble casts, sun-drenched Nantucket atmosphere, and stories that balance genuine emotional stakes — grief, friendship, and the distortions of social media — with warmth and social comedy.
Worth it if
You enjoy Hilderbrand's established Nantucket world and want a structurally nimble novel that smuggles in timely commentary on cancel culture and internet friendship beneath a glossy summer-weekend premise.
Skip if
Readers who prefer deep psychological immersion in a single point of view, or who find affluent, aspirational Nantucket settings alienating rather than escapist, will likely find themselves swimming against the current here.
What readers & critics say
Kirkus Reviews awarded the novel a starred review, praising Hilderbrand's sharp handling of cancel culture and social media through the Dru-Ann storyline and concluding "The people in her books may screw up, but Hilderbrand always gets it right. Kind of amazing," as reported via kirkusreviews.com and bookbrowse.com. Vulture's TV critic described the Peacock adaptation as "immediately pleasing and impossible to put down," suggesting the novel's narrative momentum translates readily to the screen.
“Leave it to Hilderbrand, in her 30th book of Nantucket-based fiction, to cook up more literary bacon — focusing on female friendship and the power of social media.”
— Kirkus Reviews“Watching Peacock's Elin Hilderbrand adaptation feels like taking off your bra at the end of a long day.”
— Vulture4.4from 85,934 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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The Five-Star Weekend follows grieving food blogger Hollis Shaw as she gathers four friends — one from each chapter of her life — for a long weekend on Nantucket, with Hilderbrand using the deceptively simple premise to probe the illusions and loyalties that underpin female friendship. Kirkus Reviews awarded the novel a starred review, calling it "kind of amazing" for embedding genuine social commentary — cancel culture, the distortions of online community — into its sun-drenched ensemble. Readers who enjoy warmth with real stakes will find it a confident addition to Hilderbrand's catalog; those already cool to Nantucket's affluent, aspirational milieu are unlikely to be converted.
- Is it worth reading?
- For readers who enjoy women's fiction with a warm but emotionally honest ensemble cast, The Five-Star Weekend earns its Kirkus starred review. Hilderbrand embeds timely commentary on cancel culture and the distortions of social media within an accessible summer-fiction frame, and the Dru-Ann storyline in particular offers more moral complexity than the breezy premise advertises. The main caveat is structural: the rapid multi-perspective pacing required by a five-character ensemble means some characters receive less depth than others, and readers who prefer deep psychological immersion in a single point of view may feel the tradeoff.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to The Five-Star Weekend will find common ground with several titles curated below. Kristin Hannah's Summer Island similarly centers on complicated female relationships converging in a coastal setting. Marjan Kamali's The Lion Women of Tehran examines the depth and fractures of a lifelong female friendship across decades, offering more historical weight but the same emotional core. Libby Page's This Book Made Me Think of You brings a warmly observed, community-driven sensibility to women's connection. Jane Green's The Beach House and Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies round out the neighborhood for readers who want ensemble casts with real domestic stakes.
- Who should read this?
- The Five-Star Weekend is squarely aimed at adult readers of women's fiction who enjoy ensemble casts, emotionally resonant friendship dynamics, and the escapist pull of an aspirational coastal setting. It will particularly reward readers who have navigated the complicated arithmetic of maintaining friendships across different life phases, or who are interested in how social media reshapes — and sometimes distorts — the experience of community. Readers who find Nantucket's affluent, lifestyle-forward atmosphere alienating rather than escapist, or who want deep single-perspective psychological immersion, are likely to swim against the current here.
- Tell me about the adaptation
- The Five-Star Weekend has been adapted as an eight-part streaming series for Peacock. The adaptation reflects the novel's strong narrative momentum and its ensemble of vividly drawn characters — qualities that translate readily to episodic television. The multi-character, contained-weekend structure of the source material maps naturally onto a series format, giving each episode room to develop the distinct backstories and conflicts that drive the book.
- Is this a standalone or part of a series?
- The Five-Star Weekend is a standalone novel. While it shares Hilderbrand's signature Nantucket setting with nearly all of her other books — she has published close to thirty novels set on the island — no prior knowledge of her other works is required. Each of her novels functions independently, and this one is fully self-contained.
- How does the book handle social media?
- Social media sits at the intersection of the novel's two central arcs. Hollis Shaw's identity as a food blogger — whose community crosses the one-million-member milestone after she posts a potato and white cheddar tart with a crispy bacon crust — is undercut by a dawning recognition that internet-forged friendships are not always what they seem. Meanwhile, Dru-Ann's career nearly collapses when a private restaurant conversation is recorded and posted online, with Hilderbrand using the episode to highlight what critics described as the "ridiculous fickleness of cancel culture." Together, the two storylines interrogate how women perform their lives online versus how they actually inhabit them.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
Tell me about the adaptation
Is this a standalone or part of a series?
How does the book handle social media?
Summarize this book
The Five-Star Weekend centers on Hollis Shaw, a food blogger whose husband has recently died. Grieving and searching for connection, Hollis hosts a "Five-Star Weekend" on Nantucket — a gathering where she invites her closest friend from each distinct phase of her life: her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife. The four guests, including her childhood best friend Tatum (facing a potential cancer diagnosis), represent very different worlds, and the contained long-weekend structure forces old grievances, new jealousies, and the specific discomfort of mixing friends who know very different versions of you to converge under one roof. A subplot involving Dru-Ann, a successful Black sports agent who refuses to issue a self-effacing public apology after a private conversation is posted online, gives the novel a sharper social edge than its summer-fiction premise might suggest.
Follow up
Tell me more about Dru-Ann's storyline
What happens to Hollis over the weekend?
How important is the Nantucket setting?
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
Reading level
Adult
3 content notes · who it suits
Content to know about
cancel culture and online public shaming
grief and spousal bereavement
cancer diagnosis (supporting character)
Skip if you want deep single-perspective psychological immersion rather than a fast-moving ensemble with an affluent, aspirational atmosphere.
Our Review
This review covers the novel's content and published critical reception; it does not reflect hands-on reading or testing.
The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand front cover
What the Novel Is and What Happens
The Five-Star Weekend centers on Hollis Shaw, a food blogger whose husband has recently died. Grieving and searching for connection, Hollis learns of a concept called a "Five-Star Weekend" — a gathering where one woman invites her closest friend from each distinct phase of her life: her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife. She decides to host her own version on Nantucket. The four guests who arrive represent very different worlds: Tatum, her childhood best friend, who is facing a potential cancer diagnosis; and three others whose histories with Hollis span the full arc of her adult life. The setup is deceptively simple — a long weekend at a beautiful house — but Hilderbrand uses it to excavate the complexity beneath friendships that, in some cases, have been maintained more in memory than in reality.
Hilderbrand's Place in Contemporary Commercial Fiction
Now in her thirtieth book of Nantucket-based fiction, Hilderbrand has built one of the most recognizable brands in contemporary beach reads — a term she has essentially helped redefine as a legitimate literary niche. The Five-Star Weekend was a New York Times bestseller and has since been adapted into an eight-part Peacock streaming series. That adaptation speaks to the novel's narrative momentum and its ensemble of vividly drawn characters, qualities that translate readily to the screen. For readers new to Hilderbrand, this novel arrives with the full weight of a decades-long relationship between the author and her devoted readership.
Strengths: Social Commentary Woven Into Summer Fiction
What distinguishes this novel within Hilderbrand's catalog, according to Kirkus Reviews, is how it embeds genuine social commentary into its sun-soaked premise. One of the weekend's guests, Dru-Ann — described as an extremely successful Black sports agent — nearly loses her clients, her career, and her relationship when a private conversation, recorded in a restaurant, is posted online. Critics noted that Hilderbrand "highlights the ridiculous fickleness of cancel culture" through this storyline, and that when everyone insists on a self-effacing public apology, Dru-Ann refuses. The subplot gives the novel a sharper edge than its premise might suggest. Simultaneously, Hollis's own arc — as a food blogger whose community has grown to over a million members — is undercut by a dawning recognition that internet-forged friendships are not always what they seem. Kirkus awarded the novel a starred review, concluding: "The people in her books may screw up, but Hilderbrand always gets it right. Kind of amazing."
Tone and Texture: Nantucket as Character
Hilderbrand's Nantucket is not merely a setting but a recurring presence across her body of work, and this novel is no exception. The weekend-party structure gives the narrative both a natural time constraint and a contained social pressure cooker — old grievances, new jealousies, and the specific discomfort of introducing friends who know very different versions of you all converge under one roof. A detail from critical coverage review captures the novel's flavor precisely: when Hollis posts "a potato and white cheddar tart with a crispy bacon crust, her foodie community breaks the one-million-member milestone." That domestic specificity — food, friendship, and the performance of both online — runs throughout the book and reflects Hilderbrand's longstanding interest in how women inhabit their private and public lives simultaneously.
Who This Novel Is For — and Where It Has Limits
Readers drawn to women's fiction that balances warmth with real stakes, and who enjoy ensemble casts with well-differentiated voices, will find The Five-Star Weekend a confident entry in Hilderbrand's catalog. The novel's structure — multiple women, multiple backstories, a ticking-clock weekend — requires Hilderbrand to move quickly between perspectives, and readers who prefer deep psychological immersion in a single point of view may find the ensemble pacing leaves some characters less fully developed than others. The novel's Nantucket milieu, with its affluent settings and aspirational lifestyle details, is a deliberate part of the experience — and as with all of Hilderbrand's work, readers who find that world alienating rather than escapist will be swimming against the current. For its intended audience, however, the combination of sun-drenched atmosphere, social comedy, and genuine emotional stakes is precisely the balance the book is designed to deliver.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
hachettebookgroup.com
- 2
jenryland.com
- Further reading
- 3
en.wikipedia.org
- 4
kirkusreviews.com
- 5
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- 11
booksthatslay.com
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