From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hotel Nantucket: After tragedy strikes, food blogger Hollis Shaw gathers four friends from different stages in her life to spend an unforgettable weekend on Nantucket.

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.

The Five-Star Weekend is a surprising and captivating story about friendship, love, and self-discovery set on Nantucket. It will be a weekend like no other.

Review:

Heartwarming, comforting, and nostalgic!

The Five-Star Weekend is a lighthearted, engaging tale that takes you into the life of Hollis Shaw, a middle-aged successful food blogger who, after returning to her hometown of Nantucket, invites four friends, one from each stage of her life, to spend a weekend at her home on the island to help her come to grips with the recent loss of her husband and the strained relationship with her daughter she’s struggling to repair.

The prose is sentimental and tender. The characters are independent, supportive, and layered. And the plot is a compelling, touching tale of life, love, family, honesty, kindness, communication, acceptance, self-discovery, grief, loss, understanding, forgiveness, romance, taking chances, and new beginnings.

Overall, The Five-Star Weekend is another emotive, thoughtful, cosy read by Hilderbrand that does a beautiful job of reminding us just how important, powerful, and meaningful female friendships can truly be.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

After a tragic fire in 1922 that killed 19-year-old chambermaid, Grace Hadley, The Hotel Nantucket descended from a gilded age gem to a mediocre budget-friendly lodge to inevitably an abandoned eyesore — until it’s purchased and renovated top to bottom by London billionaire, Xavier Darling.  Xavier hires Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton as his general manager, and Lizbet, in turn, pulls together a charismatic, if inexperienced, staff who share the vision of turning the fate of the hotel around. They face challenges in getting along with one another (and with the guests), in overcoming the hotel’s bad reputation, and in surviving the (mostly) harmless shenanigans of Grace Hadley herself — who won’t stop haunting the hotel until her murder is acknowledged.
 
Filled with the emotional tension and multiple points of view that characterize Elin’s books (The Blue Bistro, Golden Girl) as well as an added touch of historical reality, Hotel Nantucket offers something for everyone in this summer drama for the ages. 

Review:

Heartwarming, mysterious, and addictive!

The Hotel Nantucket is a colourful, breezy tale that sweeps you away to the newly renovated Hotel Nantucket where there’s plenty of luxurious things, scrumptious treats, an eclectic staff, an abundance of scandal, a touch of romance, a variety of quirky and demanding patrons, a ghostly presence with a big heart, and a strong desire to be the first and only establishment to ever receive the coveted rating of five keys.

The writing is amusing and light. The characters are multilayered, genuine, and intriguing. And the plot is an enchanting mix of friendship, family, secrets, deduction, workplace drama, sizzling chemistry, spirited mishaps, scandalous behaviour, and of course a lot of summer vibes.

I’m not sure if it’s ever truly summer unless I have an Elin Hilderbrand book to throw in my beach bag and this twenty-eighth outing is everything I could have wanted and more. The Hotel Nantucket is an alluring, charming, irresistible tale by Hilderbrand that’s the perfect escapist read with its idyllic setting, layered characters, and blissfully entertaining storyline.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. She ascends to the Beyond where she’s assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi also is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo currently “off again” with his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them.

From the Beyond, Vivi watches “The Chief” Ed Kapenash investigate her death, but her greatest worry is her final book, which contains a secret from her own youth that could be disastrous for her reputation. But when hidden truths come to light, Vivi’s family will have to sort out their past and present mistakes—with or without a nudge of help from above—while Vivi finally lets them grow without her.

With all of Elin’s trademark beach scenes, mouth-watering meals, and picture-perfect homes, plus a heartfelt message—the people we lose never really leave us—Golden Girl is a beach book unlike any other.

Review:

Thought-provoking, sentimental, and a touch mysterious!

Golden Girl is a heartfelt, compelling tale that sweeps you away to the idyllic Nantucket Island and into the life of novelist Vivian Howe, a mother of three, who after being killed in a hit-and-run accident is given one last summer to watch over those she loves and granted three small nudges to alter events on earth before she must finally accept her fate and pass over to the other side.

The writing is eloquent and expressive. The characters are complex, authentic, and troubled. And the plot is an irresistible, touching tale of relationship dynamics, familial drama, life, loss, acceptance, moral dilemmas, secrets, forgiveness, friendship, and the intricacies of small-island living.

Overall, Golden Girl is another absorbing, nostalgic, poignant tale by Hilderbrand that does a beautiful job of reminding us that to be human is to be flawed, and everyone should love and deserves to be loved for who they are, flaws and all.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.