This book is not available to purchase on Fable

The Hummingbird Sanctuary

Name: The Hummingbird Sanctuary
Rating: 3.818 (11 reviews)
ISBN: 9781636791630

By Erin Zak

Publisher Description

Enjoy your vacation at the Hummingbird Sanctuary, Colorado’s hottest resort destination. Come for the mountains, stay for the charm, and enjoy the drama as Olive, Eleanor, and Harriet figure out their lives, their loves, and the meaning of true friendship.
Owning and operating the Hummingbird Sanctuary was supposed to be the best time of Olive Zyntarski’s life. She was going to tackle the future with eyes wide open and forget about her guilty conscience. All that changes when a chance meeting with a mysterious new guest has Olive’s long-buried secrets bubbling to the surface.
As marketing director, Eleanor Fitzwallace knows how to present everything in its best light, everything except her nonexistent love life. When her high school heartbreak unexpectedly saunters into the Sanctuary’s restaurant, Eleanor’s determined to ignore her. She wants real love, and people don’t change, do they?
After hitting rock bottom, Harriet Marshall made a promise to herself: no more one-night stands that make her feel bad about herself. She’s determined to turn her life around, and that means focusing on keeping the Sanctuary’s restaurant and bar hip, trendy, and booked solid. So, of course, she meets the most gorgeous woman ever, and everything changes.

Download the free Fable app

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities

The Hummingbird Sanctuary Reviews

3.5

Iris

Created about 2 years ago

emmay (fr0stimus)

Created over 3 years ago

ktplstw

Created about 4 years ago

Jude

Created over 4 years ago

“Damn, this book… Ever since I started reading Erin Zak’s books (I still have two of her earliest to read), she’s never failed to make me feel. Like, a lot. And that’s fantastic since as I keep saying, this is why I read, to feel. As one character puts it, this book is about “a group of six women who are all clearly fighting battles inside themselves”. Over the course of a weekend, all their lives will change. Three of these women – Mabel, Judy, Sunny – are visiting the resort, The Hummingbird Sanctuary, which the other three – the main characters – own together. First is Olive, a fifty-year-old widow, who imagined a resort geared toward women and got her best friends to help her turn the dream into reality. Eleanor, 47, has been in love with Olive for the fifteen years they’ve known each other, resigned to the idea that Olive is straight and not interested in her that way. To quote Hattie, the third best friend, “she’s such a Pisces (…) Artistic, funny, loves her naps, and will cut someone right out of her life if they become too much for her to handle”. At thirty-five, Hattie is the youngest of the three best friends and the only one who isn’t a complete mess, even though meeting Judy shatters her to some extent. But only so that she can build something new, something unexpected. She’s a Leo, she’s flamboyant, she likes to show off, she knows her worth. She’s also a Black woman surrounded by white women. Three women – each strong, independent, vulnerable in her own way –, three journeys. And three romance arcs at once. And because there are three stories, all intertwined, Zak can break the rules, mix tropes, take her characters on all sorts of roads. Nothing is written in advance because yes, there’s romance, but there’s not only one romance. With two MCs, you know you’ll get a HEA or at least HFN. With three + three? Anything is possible. All three MCs are fantastic, complex, flawed, exciting. Zak tells the story from each MC’s POV, in first person. And each voice is distinct, each character has a very recognizable personality. When I had to put the book down mid-chapter and picked it back up hours later, I never had any doubt about who was talking. They’re all different, unlikely friends in this way life has of bringing together people who, on paper, shouldn’t fit but are actually perfect for one another. Among other things, these three are tied by their shared grief over losing their mothers. Zak’s https://judeinthestars.com/2020/04/26/the-road-home-erin-zak/ was never far from my thoughts, this story feels like what happens after. I feel like I say this often too but I love when authors write their books in the same universe, even if all they do is mention a place or a person from a former book. There are a few Easter eggs here that made me feel at home right from the start. Despite a few things that escaped proofreading in the ARC I read – a character has two different last names, 2021 is mentioned even though everything else is in 2022… – and that were hopefully fixed in the final version, despite the instalove that I chalked up to the place being magical (which it is, in a non-paranormal way), my heart says this book deserves 5 stars. And I tend to follow my heart, at least when it comes to books. I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.”

AlisAdventuresInLiterature

Created over 4 years ago

““Escape to the Hummingbird Sanctuary, where you’re not only part of the family, you’re part of the charm.” Firstly, this book had me at the mere mention of hummingbirds. They are one of my favourite birds. The cover is just exquisite. The story follows three women in their late 40s who own and run a high-end retreat. Olive, a widow, is still grieving her husband. Eleanor has been in love with Olive for years, she's also divorced and trying to get over the betrayal of her wife cheating on her. Harriet, the executive chef, has been relying on short-term (mainly one night stand) liasons. There's this weird dynamic going on between Olive and Eleanor throughout, that flits between attraction and loathing. I probably identified more with the latter. Because, grief aside, Olive is a bit of a dick, a lot of the time. Eleanor is having to act as go-between in an often toxic workplace. The biggest issue I had was just how much was going on. Three romances are introduced plus several issues with the retreat are explored, which meant that it was ultimately a bit too busy for me, and I struggled to focus at times. We also get all three POV's, and I think it would have been much better as a three part series, so that we could have had the space and time to really focus on each main character, their interactions, and their respective romantic connections, because there was potential there. I also think that might have allowed us to warm more to Olive, because she was a particularly difficult person for me to like. I did appreciate the overall idea of friendship and entrepreneurship, but, while there was potential for a lot more, I think the romances suffered as a result. *Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review* Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️ 1/2 Heat Rating:”