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Cover of The Five-Star Weekend

The Five-Star Weekend

Elin Hilderbrand (2023)

SubgenreContemporary Romance
Age groupAdult 18+
Content ratingPG-13
Pages (Standard (250-400))
SettingContemporary
CSM age16

Content levels

ViolenceMild
Sexual contentMild
LanguageMild

Hero archetypes

DoctorGhost from Past

Heroine archetypes

Career-Driven HeroineWidow

Protagonist archetypes

Ensemble CastMultiple POVs

Synopsis

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.

Tags

Women's FictionEnsemble DramaFriendship StoryFamily Drama

Is The Five-Star Weekend appropriate for my child?

Suitable for most readers 16 and up.

This adult contemporary novel deals with grief, marital strain, death of a spouse, and rekindled romance. Contains mild language and adult themes of infidelity and relationship complications, but no graphic content.

What to know going in

This book has mild violence, mild sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include emotional abuse, death, death of spouse, and grief (see the full list above).

Who'll love this

Adult readers will appreciate this story of female friendship and healing after devastating loss.