4.5
Expiration Dates: A Novel Book Cover Expiration Dates: A Novel
Rebecca Serle
Contemporary Women Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Atria Books
March 19, 2024
Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, Kindle
272

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 manshe 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.

How would you feel if your life was predetermined?

What would you do if basic decisions that affect you, such as who you will date and for how long, were beyond your control? Are you the type of person who accepts life as it comes or do you make your own destiny? In Rebecca Serle‘s latest novel, Expiration Dates, Daphne doesn’t have a choice. Every time romance is ready to knock on her door, she receives a piece of paper with a name and the length of time that relationship will last. Ever since figuring out what the notes meant, she has lived her life accepting and embracing the relationships and the allotted timeframe. Until one day, her note includes only a name. Has she found the one?

The story alternates between the present, where Daphne’s relationship with Jake (the no-expiration date man) is developing and the past, where we meet all the men and learn about all the notes that have led us here. I wasn’t too interested in the glimpses into her past relationships—only a few end up being pivotal to the story—but I was pretty smitten by Jake since I find stability, commitment, and reliability pretty sexy these days. (Did I mention he also loves her unconditionally?)

The story, the setting: I ❤️ it all

In Expiration Dates, we finally get to feel our hearts flutter with some romance, this time in the city of Los Angeles and from the perspective of a trendy set of characters that are deeply engrained in its film production culture. However, true to Rebecca Serle’s style, the story ends up being more meaningful than a simple love story. It’s a story of self-discovery and hope. Reading this story made me reflect on how I approach love, all kinds of love, and what it means to feel loved. With her signature element of magical realism, Rebecca Serle takes us on a journey that will undoubtedly inspire reflection. While the story is slower in the beginning, once it takes off, you better be ready to see it through the end because it will be impossible to put it down.

“One month. That was all it took. Four weeks to know that I wasn’t going to listen. That no matter what that paper said, it wouldn’t matter. I wanted him. I wanted to wake up with him and go to sleep with him. I wanted to stand behind him in the bathroom mirror in the morning, my face pressed against his wet back, as he got ready for work. I wanted his feet to find mine in the middle of the night. I wanted to be his first phone call, the place he rested from the chaos of the rest of the world, the constant friction of the pace of his life. I wanted to be it for him. I wanted so much more than ninety days. I wanted everything.”

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

Expiration Dates features loveable characters & beautiful stories of breakthroughs and courage

I have so many other thoughts about Expiration Dates. I’m choosing not to discuss most of them here because I don’t want to spoil all the best parts for those of you who decide to read it. I will say that Rebecca Serle always surprises me with unexpected twists that are full of meaning and emotion. The book is short and, once it takes off, it packs a punch of insight that will inspire self-reflection while also being (somewhat) light and fun. I loved all the parts of this story just as much as I loved her previous novels (all stand-alone books) In Five Years and One Italian Summer.

This book was provided in exchance for an honest review graphic