The perfect way to sum up The Five-Star Weekend is a phrase from the book itself – “Your Life Story In Friends”. Hollis Shaw, recently widowed, organizes a Five-Star Weekend inspired by another woman to overcome her grief and mourning. This entails inviting one best friend from each phase of her life at her childhood home in Nantucket. For this weekend, she invites her childhood friend Tatum, best friend from college Dru Ann, Brooke from their children’s growing up years and Gigi a recent online acquaintance from her blog.
As such, this idea felt extremely original and enticing. I loved this concept of a weekend with your best friends over the years. Each of these people have problems of their own. And how this weekend not only brings them back together abridging the distances accrued over the years, but also ends up in the best possible ways for all of them.
A great side to this story is about forgiveness. When Hollis is struggling to forgive Gigi, she realizes how each of her friends, at some point have forgiven her when she had fallen short on their expectations as friends.
All is well that ends well. And The Five-Star Weekend certainly does! Tatum relieved of her health scare, Drun Ann and Tatum leaving behind their decades old differences and becoming friends. And last but not the least, Hollis deciding to return to Nantucket permanently. What’s more, this whole event brings Hollis and Caroline (her daughter) closer together.
I loved what the book says at the end – “We End Where We Started”. A small concise phrase, yet conveying so much – practically summation of life. Kudos!
If anything, maybe the narration could have been crisper. I found Caroline’s unaccomplished affairs unnecessary and avoidable. Gigi’s part again could have been given a better closure. Brooke’s sexuality thing seemed unnecessary and irrelevant to the story.
To conclude, The Five-Star Weekend is an uplifting and feel-good read. It conveys positivity and hope. A well conceptualized book which you won’t regret picking.
Get it on Amazon. Other feel-good books you may want to read Flying Solo: Linda Holmes | An uplifting read full of hope , The Meet Cute Method (Portia Macintosh)