The Dinner List
Author: Rebecca Serle
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Published: September 11, 2018
Pages: 288
My Rating: ★★★

We’ve been waiting for an hour. That’s what Audrey says. She states it with a little bit of an edge, her words just bordering on cursive. That’s the thing I think first. Not: Audrey Hepburn is at my birthday dinner, but Audrey Hepburn is annoyed. At one point or another, we’ve all been asked to name five people, living or dead, with whom we’d like to have dinner. Why do we choose the people we do? And what if that dinner was to actually happen? These are the questions Rebecca Serle contends within her utterly captivating novel, The Dinner List, a story imbued with the same delightful magical realism as One Day, and the life-changing romance of Me Before You. When Sabrina arrives at her thirtieth birthday dinner she finds at the table not just her best friend, but also three significant people from her past, and well, Audrey Hepburn. As the appetizers are served, wine poured, and dinner table conversation begins, it becomes clear that there’s a reason these six people have been gathered together. Delicious but never indulgent, sweet with just the right amount of bitter, The Dinner List is a romance for our times. Bon appetit.
 If you could pick people dead or alive to have dinner with who would you pick?

The concept for this book really interested me. It made me think who would I pick to have dinner with me dead or alive. This was very thought-provoking for me. However, the book was not as good as I thought it would be. It dragged quite a bit and was bland, to be honest. The pacing was not exactly great and some parts of the book could have been left out completely. I did enjoy the authors writing though. The imaging was incredible and I felt like I was sitting there right at the dinner table with the main character Sabrina. My favorite part was the dialogue of Audrey Hepburn. You could tell that the author did some prior research on the actress before writing this story. Most of the story was about her relationship with her past boyfriend Tobias. There needed to be more story about her and other guests at the table. I was more into the concept of the book instead of the actual story itself.

The book was very predictable but if you want a fast read this is your book. I didn't really find myself connected to the characters and I honestly did not care about them. How the characters disappear in the end felt almost like nothing. They literally just disappear into thin air. This could have been executed better. I really wanted to love this book but it fell flat for me. There was absolutely nothing about her guest, who was Sabrina's college professor.... like why is he even there? Sabrina's anger towards her father got old. The Dinner List was good but not great. Overall, just an average read. I will try the author's works in the future because I did enjoy her writing style. An average read.
Rebecca Serle is an author and television writer who lives between New York and Los Angeles. Serle most recently co-developed the hit TV adaptation of her young adult series Famous in Love, now on Freeform. She loves Nancy Meyers films, bathrobes, and giving unsolicited advice on love. She can be found on twitter: @RebeccaASerle