In Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle, At thirty-three years old, Daphne Bell still isn’t sure if she should consider herself lucky or cursed when it comes to love. 
Because it seems the universe is giving her clear signs whenever she starts a new relationship by somehow finding a note or a message with the guy’s name and a time frame. The length of time he and Daphne will be together before things end. And over the years, each note is correct. It leaves her to wonder at times if she’s letting the messages dictate her love life or if they’re just scarily accurate. Either way, they haven’t been wrong yet.
‘All my life I had been waiting for the note that would tell me it was finally time to stand still. That the long, broken road was over. That he was finally here. But when it came, all I felt was fear.’
Very, very few people know Daphne’s secret about the notes. So as she starts dating someone new, a gentle, kind, wonderful man named Jake, and she finds a message with his name but no end date, she wonders if this is it. If he’s The One. Daphne can definitely see them sharing a future together. But as she remembers all the other times she felt something for a guy only to have things end, she’s not sure she can trust the open-ended missive she received. Especially when she weighs all of her previous relationships with this newfound one.
‘My life has been filled with magical moments, I was just so busy waiting I didn’t see them when they were here.’
A story that picked up steam as it rolled along only to then have two huge plot twists change everything, EXPIRATION DATES is a romance done in Rebecca Serle’s thoughtful, heart wrenching, and insightful voice.
”Something else has always called the shots in my life–call it the universe, fate, the comedic force of timing. But my life isn’t like other people’s. I have a different set of rules to live by.’
CW: View Spoiler »
EXPIRATION DATES was (in my opinion) part romance and part women’s fiction. Rebecca Serle built a picture of Daphne’s life by alternating between present day and chapters from her past–mostly reliving previous relationships. I will admit I was really intrigued with the idea of Daphne receiving notes that basically gave her the “expiration date” of each romance. My thoughts immediately went to free will as well as how it would feel to know ahead of time when things would end. And I’m still not sure. (lol) But that’s the beauty of magical realism.
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Daphne’s story honestly wasn’t very fast moving until a little over the halfway mark. That was when we learned some important information about her past and how it influenced her decisions–so it wasn’t just the mysterious notes after all that pushed her in certain directions. And as Daphne looked back over some of the most memorable ones over the years, it became clearer why she waffled at times over whether she should take the information to heart or just go with her own instincts. By the end, I did think Daphne ended up in the right direction. It wasn’t easy to get to that point for her. But it seemed like she learned some important lessons about herself as well as who she *wanted* to have in her life.
QOTD: If you received notes like Daphne did, would you pay them any heed or disregard them?
Book Info:
Publication: Published: March 19th, 2024 | Atria Books |
From the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years and One Italian Summer comes a love story that will define a generation.
Being single is like playing the lottery. There’s always the chance that with one piece of paper you could win it all.
Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.
But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.
Told with her signature warmth and insight into matters of the heart, Rebecca Serle has finally set her sights on romantic love. The result is a gripping, emotional, passionate, and (yes) heartbreaking novel about what it means to be single, what it means to find love, and ultimately how we define each of them for ourselves. Expiration Dates is the one fans have been waiting for.
Amy R
QOTD: If you received notes like Daphne did, would you pay them any heed or disregard them? I would pay attention to them
Glenda M
I’d totally ignore notes like that at first. After one or 2 We’re proven to be accurate . . . . I’d start paying attention
bn100
no
Dianne Casey
I would pay attention to the notes.
psu1493
QOTD: If you received notes like Daphne did, would you pay them any heed or disregard them? I might disregard them but keep them to see how accurate they are. Thank you for the review. This sounds like a really good story.
erahime
I would keep the note in mind but won’t put a lot of importance to it, putting it away in a journal or such because it’s good for memory keeping, be it false or not. But I did enjoy reading the review, Team HJ.