Elin Hilderbrand is clearly a girl’s girl and we love that. The characters in this are so rich and flawed but lovable. None of the characters are perfect and make mistakes but you still root for all of them. Each one of Hollis’s friends, including Hollis herself are relatable in their flaws as well as their imperfect friendships with one another.

Hollis is a successful food blogger who recently lost her husband. To help cope with her grief, she decides to have what is called a five-star weekend, where you invite one friend from each different phase of your life to all come hangout with you for a weekend. So, Hollis invites a friend from childhood, high school, college, from a fellow mom of her kids’ friends, and a friend she met online recently. Everyone is wary of spending a weekend that Hollis herself has not met in real life, but Gigi turns out to be the most even-tempered person, even with her secrets.

I appreciated that Hollis found forgiveness with Gigi without it being over dramatic but also not being BFFs afterwards. I also really enjoyed Dru-Ann and Tatum’s friendship that formed after years of beef and jealousy. Even though I knew how it would end, I could not put this down. Hilderbrand’s writing and characters keeps her beach read stories from suffocating on its own effervescence.