In a way to get closer, Jessica asks Sabrina a to name five people she would want to have dinner with. Years later, we meet those five people, including Audrey Hepburn, the father who left the family, a college professor, her friend Jessica and the love of her life, Tobias. As the dinner goes from appetizer to dessert, the story of Tobias and Sabrina is told, as well as why the others are at the table. A unique approach to an appealing love story, and so much more. I really enjoyed the book.

Thank you Net Galley for my ARC. Such a fun read but a bit of a tear jerker towards the end. It started off a bit slow but I stuck with it.

If you could have dinner with 5 people - alive or dead, who would you pick? It’s a conversation starter that can really tell someone about you. The Dinner List is a story about Sabrina. The story starts during Sabrina’s college days in California and continues into her late 20s working in publishing in New York City. As the story of her life unfolds, we find out that her dinner of five is happening in a restaurant in Manhattan. Who is alive and dead at her dinner? That will take some time to figure out. The Dinner List is a story that keeps you interested until the very last page.

When was the last time a book took your breath away? The Dinner List re-examines love, loss and puts the pieces back together making us more whole from the experience of one evening.

Emotional. Rollercoaster. Get out your tissues. Sabrina has a birthday dinner with her Dinner List. Some are alive and some are not. With all five there are issues to be dealt with during a dinner that begins at 7:30 and must finish before midnight. We relive Sabrina and Tobias's relationship in between chapters about the dinner. Philosophical. Magical. Unexpected.

A big thank you to Flatiron Books for a paperback ARC and to Bookish for the paperback I won in a raffle as well as a digital ARC from NetGalley. I think you will all be pleased with my review.

Imagine having a dinner party to celebrate your birthday and to invite those people (living or dead) who have meant so much to you in your life. To have the chance to see them once again, to say those words you were never able to. The emotion of it so overwhelming, it is downright astonishing. The Dinner List written by Rebecca Serle gives Sabrina that opportunity. I'm sure there are many people who would love to be in the same moment. To see cherished loved ones once again, or perhaps to see someone you have admired, being it a celebrity, a political figure albeit (not a current one), the list goes on and on. The premise of this novel gives you the chance to think about it, gives you pause for thought. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would highly recommend it. My thanks to NetGalley for providing this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

While Hepburn's name would not appear on my Dinner List, her appearance on this one makes for a fun and romantic read.

I received a copy of this book from Flatiron Books and NetGalley in exchange for a review.

It's a common question that is commonly asked in magazine interviews and profiles: if you could invite anyone, dead or alive, to a dinner party, who would you invite and why? Most people don't spend a large amount of time pondering the question, but author Rebecca Serle takes this idea and makes it into a reality for the book's progtangist, Sabrina. On her 30th birthday, Sabrina is greeted at a restaurant by her best friend, her ex-boyfriend, her estranged father, one of her college professors, and Academy Award winner Audrey Hepburn. Throughout the course of the book, going back and forth from past to present day, the reader learns why these specific people made the list. "The Dinner List" is a creative way to examine and reflect on the relationships that shape us.

It is a quick read with a lot of heart and laughs. I'm looking forward to the inevitable movie version that is bound to come once this book becomes a hit.

Thank you Flatiron Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review The Dinner List.

Sabrina and her best friend Jessica sit down one evening and make a list of the 5 people they want at their dinner party, dead or alive. Flash forward to Sabrina's 30th birthday dinner to see that all of these people have been invited: Jessica, her professor from college, the dreamy on-again-off-again boyfriend, her late father who left the family when she was a young baby, and of Audrey Hepburn (because, why not?!) Pull up a chair and join the dinner conversation. It's well worth it (trust me!)

It's not often that I fall in love with a book only a few pages into it. This is one of them. Man, this is such a good story! There is so much rich character development...you really get to jump into Sabrina's head and experience all her emotions with her. The depth of the relationships she shares with the 5 characters invited to her dinner are so intricate. You'll laugh, you'll cry...it's just all so heartwarming! I aboslutely loved how the main story line takes place in one evening, but you get tiny flashbacks to help paint the story as a whole to really understand what's going on. Highly recommended! Pre-order this one for sure!

5/5 Stars

There was a point when I was ready to put the book down. Then I got to the halfway point and a twist that greatly improved the book was delivered. The book is about lose (and the many different types of lose) and moving on with life. I teared up at the end and had to watch Sabrina.

All of us have played the thought game, who would you invite for dinner...living or dead? The author cleverly creates a dinner party, composed of living and dead invitees to celebrate Sabrina's birthday. It is the lens through which we view Sabrina's life. We slowly learn who is alive, and who is dead as the dinner party unfolds. One of the guests is Audrey Hepburn, ergo her name Sabrina. Others are her great love, her best friend, favorite professor and her estranged father.

During the dinner, Serle is able to bring us back through Sabrina's life and uncover each of the relationships to those at the table. It is an incredibly imaginative way to tell this kind of story. Although some of it is predictable and overly sentimental, I must admit to enjoying it.

I prefer novels that bring a reasonable sense of closure and this book does a marvelous job of pulling all the pieces together and providing a fantasy that ends with a satisfying reality. I really enjoyed this.

Loved the concept behind this story. I don't know a single person who hasn't thought of their answer to "What 5 people, alive or dead, would you invite for dinner." It was neat to read how the author handled it. I enjoyed the depth of the story. Very good! I would read Serle again.