If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive who would it be?

filled star filled star filled star filled star star unfilled
alliespeaks Avatar

By

First off, this is most definitely an easy read and while it took me a hot minute to become ‘invested’ into the story line, once I was I had to know more. I am not normally one for rom-com type story lines, but the added ‘fantasy’ aspect, of being able to bring someone back from the dead for one night, was the main selling point for me.
The concept of meeting or having a dinner with anybody in the world, dead or alive, is something I feel most people have thought about in their life at some point or another. It’s a favorite question of mine for getting to know people, since I think you can really tell who a person is by who they surround themselves with. This is probably another reason I gravitated towards this pick.
I really enjoy books that are thought provoking and I think this book really did that for me. While at the surface level this novel could certainly be classified as a rom-com, it made me linger on plenty of what-ifs. There was a period of time where my family experienced a decent amount of loses in a relatively short time, and just the idea of being able to have one last meal with some of those folks we lost hit a nerve for me. What would I say? What would I ask? What I wouldn’t give to tell some of them I miss them or for them to see who I have become. Dealing with loss and heartbreak was not something I thought I was about to jump into when I picked this book, but I feel that it gave the book a more realistic vibe.
I have a ton of unanswered questions. We never fully learn how Sabrina gets to this dinner in the first place. Is there some underlying magic to the story we don’t know about? Is this all a dream she’s having? Or has she just completely lost it? I can certainly read between the lines, but I feel as if Serle has left out some vital information, because I definitely did not get enough closure from this book.
I’ve already mentioned that this novel is more of a rom-com type story line, so I wasn’t expecting such serious topics to be covered in the book. While I can appreciate why the topics were brought up, I feel there is a little too many story lines going on at a time. There were one or two legit moments, I thought about just skipping to the end of the book to just see why we’re even at this dinner party in the first place
Serle touches on some of the sadder aspects of Aubrey Hepburn. She makes Hepburn seem more real, with real loss, regrets, and sadness while also touching on some of her work outside the world of Hollywood. It’s interesting to see this painting of Hepburn and while I knew she had performed quite a bit of humanitarian work towards the end of her life. It was refreshing to hear more about the actual Aubrey Hepburn, outside of who she portrayed on the big screen.
While I can get on board with inviting six very different people to dinner, there is one particular event which I think is just much to unrealistic. This seems odd to say, since some of the dinner party attendees are actually dead, but I’m not even sure Hallmark would go to this particular length to depict ‘fate’. I don’t want to spoil the story for you, so I will just leave it at that but know that I cannot get on board with this ‘fate’ event.
Overall, I think I would agree with the Goodreads rating of 3.79. I like the story line and the concept of this novel, but I feel it could have been so much more. Just a few more answers and I would have loved this book. But maybe that would ruin the magic, you be the judge.