8 best books like The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

When I started reading The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand earlier this year, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. Was I really in the mood for a book about (mostly) privileged women drinking rosé on Nantucket?

But I loved it. Honestly, I didn’t want it to end. It’s absolutely one of the best beach reads for 2023, if not the best.

The Five-Star Weekend is such a laid-back and relaxed book that’s perfect to read on vacation, in my case by the beautiful mountains and lakes of Northern Italy.

What to read next? If you’re looking for more vacation reads and easygoing summer novels, the books like The Five-Star Weekend that I’ve collected in this post shouldn’t disappoint. Let’s dig into the best books by authors like Elin Hilderbrand to add to your reading list…

The best books like The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

Our Place on the Island by Erika Montgomery

Read Our Place on the Island for… a sun-kissed tale of a family wedding, a long-hidden love story, and a summer of memories.

Just look at that dreamy cover! Erika Montgomery’s new novel for 2023 weaves together a story of summer at Beech House, the family seaside cottage where the Campbell women have reunited and celebrated life’s occasions for decades.

This year, they’re called back to the beautiful beaches of Martha’s Vineyard to celebrate the remarriage of their beloved matriarch, Cora. Unbeknownst to her daughter Mickey and granddaughter Hedy, Cora is also planning to reveal a secret she’s kept hidden for decades.

However, Mickey and Hedy also have their own motives and concerns about this summer trip. Told in dual timelines, it’s a summery and sumptuously romantic new read.

The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Read The Summer of Songbirds for… the story of four women who come together to save the summer camp that changed their lives decades ago.

In this new book for fans of The Five-Star Weekend, nothing is more important to attorney Daphne and her best friends, Lanier and Mary Stuart, than Camp Holly Springs, even now they’re in their thirties.

Daphne’s aunt June bought the camp nearly thirty years ago, but now, in the wake of tragedy, she’s in danger of losing the place she’s sacrificed so much for.

When these women learn that their childhood haven is in danger of closing, they know they have to work together to save it. Along the way, they find themselves on a journey that will transform the next chapters in their lives.

Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan

Read Same Time Next Summer for… the new novel from Annabel Monaghan, bestselling author of Nora Strikes Back, and one of the best beach reads for 2023.

In this summer romance, everything in Sam’s life is on track, including her upcoming marriage to her doctor fiancé, Jack.

But when Sam tours a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house, she starts questioning everything.

Wyatt is the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen, and he’s here. As she hears notes from Wyatt’s guitar float across the night air from next door, Sam’s memories come flooding back… and she wonders if she made the right choice.

These Tangled Vines by Julianne MacLean

Read These Tangled Vines for… a captivating story of love, inheritance, and an American mother and daughter who, years apart, find themselves at the same winery in Tuscany.

Amidst the lush vineyards and rolling hills of Italy, romance author Julianne MacLean weaves a tale of love, loss, self-discovery, and the power of family ties in These Tangled Vines.

When Fiona travels to Italy after being named in her biological father’s will, a man she didn’t know anything about until now, she has no idea what – or who – is waiting for her.

As Fiona soon realises, the uncovered secrets from her mother’s past might bring her enormous riches, but also unravel everything. I loved falling into the multi-generational story and visiting beautiful Tuscany through its pages.

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Read Happy Place for… a perfect bookish escape about a summer vacation in Maine and a relationship that isn’t quite what it seems.

Happy Place is one of 2023’s best romance books to read after The Five-Star Weekend. Why? Because it’s another of the best new beach reads for 2023, penned by the queen of relaxed vacation reading, Emily Henry.

It’s also a sun-kissed novel about friends on vacation, in this case including a seemingly perfect couple who broke up months ago but pretend to still be together for their annual vacation with their best friends.

The Bookshop by the Bay by Pamela Kelley

Read The Bookshop by the Bay for… a heart-warming story of two lifelong friends and one bookshop by the bay.

Like Hollis Shaw’s seemingly picture-perfect life at the beginning of The Five-Star Weekend, Jess, a high-profile lawyer in Charleston, seems to have everything in The Bookshop by the Bay.

But when Jess’s marriage crumbles, she retreats to her childhood home on Cape Cod, hoping to rekindle her friendship with Alison, her longtime best friend.

After twenty years as editor of Cape Cod Living magazine, Alison’s career has hit a wall. But when she learns that her favourite bookshop is looking for new ownership, she starts to dream. What’s more, Jess wants in on it, too.

Stealing Home (A Sweet Magnolias Novel, 1) by Sherryl Woods

Read Stealing Home for… the first book in the cozy series behind the easygoing Netflix hit, Sweet Magnolias, and a celebration of friendships that last a lifetime.

If you’ve watched the Netflix show Sweet Magnolias, you’ll know it’s all about three friends in a picture-perfect, close-knit Southern town called Serenity (that’s just as peaceful as the name suggests).

Maddie Townsend has a beautiful home and the best friends she could ask for, but her life is turned upside down when her husband leaves her for a younger woman. With three heartbroken children struggling to adjust, Maddie has a lot to contend with.

But, after years outside the workforce, can she rediscover her strength and identity by dusting off her business skills to build the town’s only fitness spa for women with her best friends?

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Read Big Little Lies for… one of the most iconic (and unputdownable) novels about female friendship from the last decade.

I’m a firm believer that this gripping novel about a privileged community and the secrets that lurk beneath the surface is just as good as the star-studded TV adaptation.

Sure, Big Little Lies isn’t quite as relaxing to read as The Five-Star Weekend. But it is utterly unputdownable. And like Elin Hilderbrand’s novel, it’s also about a group of women who navigate the journey from divided and bickering to incredibly close.

Right from the start of the book, we know that something terrible happened at the last PTA night. But what exactly was it? And who was really responsible?

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