Chapter 2: Five-Star Friday

Without hydrangeas as the sixth star, we wouldn’t have a Five-Star Friday, now, would we?

Goodbye, Blakemore’s; Hello, Nantucket!

There were only five left.

Five blue hydrangea stems in Harrisonburg.

Luckily, that’s all I needed—one for each of my five-star guests.

As I stepped out of Blakemore's Flowers and crossed the street toward my car, bouquet in hand, the June breeze caught my hair, and I couldn't help but smile.

For just a moment, I wondered what I looked like to the people driving by—

A woman carrying an armful of blue hydrangeas on a sunny afternoon.

Someone who’d just wandered off a ferry from Nantucket.

Walking toward my car with hydrangeas in hand while wearing my Nantucket-inspired dress and my gold bracelet gave me the main character energy I needed for the afternoon.

Maybe that's what happens when you truly fall in love with a story. It begins to change the way you move through the world. You stop seeing flowers as flowers—they become hydrangeas lining a gray cottage. A glass of Lavender Lemongrass Blonde Ale serves as a pleasant nod to the beautiful venue. An ordinary yet windy summer afternoon in Virginia begins to feel just a little like the coast of Massachusetts.

To anyone who saw me that day, I was just a woman crossing the street, and the hydrangeas were certainly just flowers.

But not for my five stars.

The hydrangeas were just the beginning of our Five-Star Friday event, which immersed us into the setting and the characters of The Five-Star Weekend, by Elin Hilderbrand.

Somewhere between Blakemore's and the driver's seat of my car, I realized that Page to Palette was doing exactly what I'd hoped it would: not simply serving as a book club, but elevating it to a community of both new and forever friends who walk together through the pages of beloved stories.

A Five-Star Friday gift from the universe—the Nantucket wind

By the time I arrived at White Oak Lavender, those hydrangeas had found their home for the next two hours.

The breeze that had made me feel like I'd stepped out of Nantucket followed me there, too.

There was something almost poetic about it. As I carefully placed the tablecloths to create the perfect Nantucket tablescape and as Jessica set up the flower vases and charcuterie board, the wind decided it had other plans.

Water was spilled, and instead of getting frustrated, we laughed, we adjusted, and we tried again in a corner where the wind couldn’t quite reach us.

Before long, our guests began arriving, dishes started filling every open space on the table, introductions were made, and our carefully styled tablescape transformed into something even better.

I'm a little disappointed that I didn’t stop to take a picture of the finished table—neat and tidy—before the afternoon unfolded, but maybe that's fitting.

Because the actual goal was never to create a picture-perfect tablescape.

It was to create a place where people wanted to gather and immerse themselves into the book and each other.

The photo above, taken while I was setting everything out at home, captures the vision before it left my dining room. The blue gingham. The hydrangea table runner. The five stars surrounding the book. The ribbon waiting to wrap itself around a little vase which would soon hold flowers.

Every piece was chosen because it reminded me of The Five-Star Weekend—not just of Nantucket itself, but also of the warmth and hospitality at the heart of the story.

Once we arrived, the table took on a life of its own as we set up our Page to Palette totes and drinks and prepared to settle in for some lively conversation.

Five-Star Foods

If you haven’t yet read The Five-Star Weekend, by Elin Hilderbrand—don’t worry, I won’t spoil it. But I will mention that the main character, Hollis Shaw, runs a popular food blog titled “Hungry with Hollis.”

When Jessica and I were planning this event, we knew that it wouldn’t be complete without a menu inspired by the book.

A charcuterie board overflowing with salami roses, cheeses and crackers, cotton candy grapes, and whipped ricotta crostini drizzled with honey. Rosemary bacon pecans. Homemade mini pizzas. Nantucket chips, cranberry lemonade, and other bites designed for lingering rather than rushing.

By the time everyone had a plate in hand and a seat at the table, it felt less like an event and more like the kind of gathering Hollis Shaw might have hosted herself.

If hydrangeas were the sixth star, the food was definitely the seventh.

My Five-Star Guests Discuss Hollis’s Five-Star Guests

Jessica’s tote highlights the patch and take-home activity—the braided “friendship” keychain—from our *Every Summer After* event.

With empty vases nearby and our yellow stars not yet taken out of the bags, we turned our attention to the people who had brought us together in the first place—the characters.

Always representing Page to Palette with her tote in tow, Jessica kicked things off with a simple question:

Which character from The Five-Star Weekend do you see yourself in the most?

What followed was one of my favorite parts of the afternoon.

One by one, we took turns answering. We talked about Hollis, Tatum, Dru-Ann, Brooke, Gigi, and even Caroline. We discussed their strengths, their flaws, the choices they made, and the ways they navigated friendship, grief, marriage, and motherhood.

As often happens during a great book discussion, the conversation quickly became about more than the characters. In explaining who we identified with, we revealed pieces of ourselves.

None of us felt that we could truly claim Hollis's gift for hosting, though Miranda came the closest. Between her homemade mini pizzas—which were the biggest hit of the afternoon—her lobster-themed napkins, and her carefully curated playlist in the background, she embodied the thoughtful attention to detail that made Hollis such a memorable hostess. Also, I have to acknowledge that, while she doesn’t give herself nearly enough credit, Dana exudes warmth, sincerity, and compassion, which makes her an amazing hostess to those who have the privilege of knowing her.

Perhaps the most intriguing character in the book, Gigi generated plenty of curiosity around the table. While Micah was the first to admit she could see herself in Gigi's shoes making similar choices, I think the rest of us were quietly pondering whether we felt the same way. I feel like we just scratched the surface with Gigi, and I wish we'd had another hour just to unpack her character alone. She's one of those rare characters whose decisions become more complex and relatable the longer you think about them.

Brooke, on the other hand, received a tad less grace. While several of us acknowledged that there may be more depth to her character than what her people-pleasing behavior superficially revealed, Maddie offered a reminder that many of Brooke's decisions stemmed from insecurity. It was one of those moments that shifted the conversation from judging a character to understanding her.

Of all of the five stars in the book, Tatum seemed to resonate with the greatest number of people. She felt grounded and relatable, and there was something undeniably appealing about her enduring love story with her high school sweetheart and her humble lifestyle. Jessica was quick to point out, however, that unlike Tatum, she would never—spoiler alert—throw a state championship game because she was upset with her best friend.

Jessica is that perfect balance between Tatum and Dru-Ann.

Speaking of Dru-Ann, she may have gotten the shortest end of the stick in our discussion. Aside from Jessica mentioning that she'd happily trade places with her if it meant becoming a sportscaster—preferably Erin Andrews—we never fully explored some of the deeper aspects of her story. Looking back, I think she deserved more attention.

Eventually, as book club conversations often do, our discussion drifted beyond the pages of the novel. We found ourselves talking about Peacock's upcoming adaptation and debating casting choices. We unanimously agreed that Jennifer Garner feels perfectly suited to play Hollis Shaw. We were far less convinced about Timothy Olyphant as Jack. In our collective opinion, Jack should be a little balder, a little grayer, a little heavier—and perhaps a little less Hollywood.

Somewhere along the way, the conversation shifted, and we stopped talking about the characters. We started talking about ourselves.

Several of us admitted that we wished we were a little more like Hollis—not because of her beautiful Nantucket home or perfectly planned weekends, but because of her gift for creating meaningful experiences that bring people together.

Perhaps because my daughter was nearby throughout the event, I found myself connecting most with Hollis's relationship with Caroline. While our journeys as mothers are different, I understood Hollis's struggle to balance motherhood with maintaining a sense of self. As my children have grown, I've found myself rediscovering who I am outside of the roles I've spent so many years embracing.

The more we shared, the less the afternoon felt like a book discussion and the more it felt like a gathering of old friends.

We discovered unexpected connections, too. Two guests who had never met realized they had grown up near one another and, after sharing that they’d both be teaching PE next year at different schools, exchanged phone numbers before the afternoon was over.

That's what I think The Five-Star Weekend is really about. Beneath the Nantucket setting and beautiful dinner parties is a story about relationships—the people who shape us, challenge us, surprise us, and, sometimes, help us rediscover ourselves.

Channeling Our Inner Hollis

As our conversation began winding down, it was time to stop talking about Hollis Shaw's five-star weekend and start imagining our own.

Waiting beside each place setting was a small bag containing six yellow stars.

One by one, I invited everyone to think back through the different chapters of their lives.

Who was the childhood friend you'd invite?

The college roommate?

The coworker who became family?

The person who has always been there?

Four stars were reserved for the people who had shaped our stories. The fifth was for ourselves, because Hollis reminds us that we're worthy of being guests at our own table, too. The final star was reserved for a destination—the place we'd gather if we could make our own five-star weekend a reality.

Watching everyone write was one of the quietest moments of the afternoon.

The room, which had been filled with conversation just moments before, became thoughtful. Pens moved slowly across the stars. Every now and then, someone smiled at a memory, laughed while telling a story, or asked for advice about a particularly difficult choice, like location.

As the stars filled with names and destinations—ranging from Kansas City to Greece—written down, they became far more than pieces of cardstock. They became snapshots of the people and places that have shaped each of us.

Once every star had found its place, we punched a small hole in the top, threaded ribbon through each one, and tied them around our glass vases.

Our vases were finally ready for flowers.

Just like our conversations, they were about to become something beautiful.

Five-Star Flowers

With our stars tied to our vases, there was only one thing left to do.

Fill them.

The flowers waiting for us were the same blooms that had inspired the afternoon from the very beginning—blue and blush hydrangeas, delicate baby's breath, vibrant orange daylilies, and sprigs of lavender.

One stem at a time, the bouquets began to take shape.

There was no right way to arrange them. I handed out the hydrangeas first and then a sprig of lavender. The rest was up to the guests. They walked up to the table, browsed at the options, and then selected the additional flowers they wanted. Some carefully balanced bright orange lilies against the cool blues. and every so often someone would hold up a bouquet for the rest of us to admire.

No two arrangements looked alike.

Some were full and overflowing. Others were simple and understated. Yet somehow, every bouquet felt like an extension of the person creating it.

As I looked around the table, I couldn't help but notice the parallel.

The afternoon had unfolded much the same way.

We had each arrived with our own stories, our own seasons of life, and our own perspectives. Through conversation, laughter, and shared memories, we'd slowly woven those individual pieces into something unexpectedly beautiful.

The bouquets became more than centerpieces.

They became keepsakes.

Each vase held not only flowers, but the names of people who had shaped our lives, the places we dreamed of gathering, and the memories we had created together that afternoon.

As guests packed up their books, slipped their finished bouquets into their Page to Palette totes, and headed home, I hoped they weren't simply taking flowers with them.

I hoped they were taking a little piece of our five-star Friday with them.

Because that's the thing about Page to Palette.

The stories may end.

But if we're lucky, the friendships—and the memories we create because of them—continue to bloom long after the final page.

Dana wins the Best Outfit of the Day award. Not only did she perfectly match the cover, but she also matched her bouquet!

Our sisters-in-law side by side as they arrange their flowers.

We were so happy to have Miranda this afternoon. What a stunning bouquet!

Thanks to Jessica for bringing that beautiful array of flowers to pair with our blue hydrangeas.

With her book and bouquet in hand, we can see how our color palette really came together.

We each took a piece of Nantucket home with us, as well as memories from our five-star Friday.

An Unexpected Five-Star Ending

I thought the story had ended when everyone carried their bouquets out to their cars.

It hadn't, though.

That evening, Maddie—my nephew's wife—created a beautiful video montage of the afternoon using the photos she had taken. On Instagram, she messaged the author, Elin Hilderbrand, hoping she might enjoy seeing what her novel had inspired.

None of us expected what happened next.

Elin saw it.

Not only did she see it, she responded almost immediately:

"Omggggggg!!!"

For a moment, it felt as though the woman whose words had brought us all together had pulled up a chair at our table.

That brief exchange reminded me of something I've been discovering through Page to Palette.

Books don't end when we reach the final chapter.

They continue in the conversations we have, the friendships we build, the places we gather, and the memories we create because of them.

On one summer afternoon in Virginia, The Five-Star Weekend became more than a novel. It became homemade mini pizzas, blue hydrangeas, laughter, thoughtful conversation, flower-filled, cane-wrapped vases, and a table full of women imagining who they'd invite to their own five-star weekend.

And somewhere in Nantucket, the author who dreamed it all up smiled right along with us.

Behind the Scenes

While these two young ladies came to discuss Every Summer After, they stayed to take additional photographs.

After our five-star Friday event, we binged the first three episodes of Every Year After, the TV show adaptation.

So, thank you, Harlan and Agustina, for running back home to grab the things I forgot and for helping pack up the car. Next time, I’ll make sure you read the right book for the right event.