The Five-Star Weekend

The official media tie-in edition of the New York Times bestseller and inspiration for the 8-part Peacock streaming series on July 9, starring Jennifer Garner, Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, Gemma Chan, D'Arcy Carden, Harlow Jane, and Timothy Olyphant.

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.

Global streaming platforms and markets for THE FIVE STAR WEEKEND series:


US- Available on Peacock

UK – Available on Sky and NOW

Australia – Available on BINGE

Canada – Available on STACKTV

India - Available on The Peacock Hub on JioHotstar

New Zealand – Available on Hayu

Elin Hilderbrand first discovered the magic of Nantucket in July 1993. Her recipe for a happy island life includes running, writing at the beach, picnics at Eel Point with her three children, and singing "Home, Sweet Home" at the Club Car piano bar. Here's to Us is her seventeenth novel.

"A dreamy Nantucket house party given by a meticulous hostess goes off the rails....The people in her books may screw up, but Hilderbrand always gets it right...Amazing."―Kirkus Reviews (starred)

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand is a beautifully poignant and uplifting novel that masterfully explores the intricate dynamics of female friendship, the non-linear journey of grief, and the profound courage it takes to rebuild a shattered life. Set against the breathtaking, sun-drenched backdrop of Nantucket, Massachusetts, this captivating story weaves together themes of loss, forgiveness, and the deeply supportive nature of women holding each other up during their darkest hours. Hilderbrand, famously known as the Queen of the Summer Beach Read, delivers a narrative that is as deeply emotional as it is visually glamorous, perfectly balancing the curated sheen of an online persona with the messy, authentic realities of human connection.

The story follows Hollis Shaw, the incredibly successful creator of the popular food and lifestyle blog, "Hungry with Hollis." To her thousands of devoted online followers, Hollis’s life appears absolutely flawless—defined by elegance, perfect recipes, and an idyllic marriage to Matthew Madden, a highly respected heart surgeon. However, this meticulously crafted illusion completely shatters one snowy December morning. Following a bitter argument about the state of their drifting marriage, Matthew tragically dies in a sudden car accident while driving to the airport. In the devastating aftermath of his death, Hollis finds herself drowning in a heavy cloud of unresolved grief, guilt, and public scrutiny. Making matters even more difficult, her relationship with her college-aged daughter, Caroline, becomes deeply strained, as Caroline withdraws and judges her mother's seemingly performative mourning.

Desperate to find a way to heal and jumpstart her stalled life and career, Hollis stumbles upon a brilliant idea: hosting a "Five-Star Weekend." The concept is to invite one best friend from each distinct phase of her life—her childhood, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife—for an extravagant, carefully curated weekend getaway at her beautiful home in Nantucket. Hollis envisions a perfect weekend filled with gourmet food, beautiful scenery, and joyful reconnections, which she also plans to have Caroline secretly film to create inspiring content for her blog. However, as the guests arrive with their designer luggage, they also bring a heavy assortment of deeply hidden secrets and personal crises, quickly proving that life rarely sticks to a perfectly written script.

The guest list represents a fascinating cross-section of Hollis's history. Tatum McKenzie, her fiercely loyal childhood friend from Nantucket, arrives harboring the terrifying secret that she is awaiting the results of a breast cancer biopsy. Dru-Ann Jones, her ambitious college roommate and high-powered sports agent, is currently weathering a massive public relations nightmare and the threat of being "canceled" after a video of her was taken completely out of context. Brooke Kirtley, the friend from her thirties who navigated early motherhood alongside Hollis, is quietly suffocating in a crumbling marriage to a husband facing serious misconduct allegations. Finally, there is Gigi Ling, a kind-hearted commercial pilot and devoted blog follower representing Hollis's present midlife phase. Hollis and Gigi have built a profound connection entirely online, but this weekend marks the very first time they are meeting face-to-face.

As the opulent weekend unfolds, the forced proximity and lingering tensions begin to crack Hollis's perfectly staged facade. Caroline, an aspiring documentary filmmaker, begins to capture the raw, unpolished moments beneath the glamorous surface, realizing that the real story is much more complex than a simple lifestyle vlog. Old resentments flare up, particularly between the abrasive Dru-Ann and the protective Tatum, forcing the women to confront the ways they have both supported and failed each other over the decades. Yet, amidst the friction, beautiful moments of vulnerability emerge. Brooke finds the courage to accept her true self and walk away from her toxic marriage, while Tatum and Dru-Ann manage to bridge the gap of their past misunderstandings.

The narrative reaches an explosive turning point during a lavish Sunday brunch when a shocking secret is revealed by an uninvited guest. It is devastatingly exposed that Gigi, the comforting online friend Hollis invited into her home, had been engaged in a secret, year-long affair with Matthew before his death. This revelation completely shatters the weekend, leaving Hollis to confront the ultimate betrayal in the very place she thought she controlled the narrative. However, in a stunning twist that showcases her immense personal growth, Hollis learns that Matthew had actually called off the affair the morning he died, choosing to return home to repair their marriage. Faced with the choice between bitterness and grace, Hollis ultimately chooses the deeply difficult path of forgiveness, allowing the shared experience of grief to mend the unlikeliest of bonds.

For a reader like you who truly appreciates the immense convenience and versatility of digital reading platforms, The Five-Star Weekend is an absolutely essential addition to your virtual library. Whether you prefer to cozy up and read it on your Kindle or scroll through the sun-soaked chapters on Google Books, having this beautifully layered story in an ebook format means you can effortlessly carry Elin Hilderbrand’s gorgeous Nantucket world right in your pocket. Furthermore, since you love discovering free ebooks and fantastic literary bargains, keeping a close eye on digital storefronts might just help you snag a daily deal or promotional discount on this title! Immersing yourself in this moving tale digitally allows you to easily search for Hollis's mouth-watering recipes or highlight the profound, touching quotes about enduring friendship that make this book so incredibly special!