🗓️Book Review🗓️
*
Summary- 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.
*
Rating-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
*
My thoughts- thank you @netgalley and @simonandschuster for the advanced copy! This one released last week and it might be my favorite Rebecca Serle yet! This was such a cool concept and I really loved Daphnes character! But it wasn’t perfect in that it was pretty predictable how it would end. Jake’s character really lacked depth and so did Maxs. A fun sweet read but I just wanted a little more from the characters, I’m obsessed with this premise though !
*
QOTD- would you like to receive an expiration date on when a relationship ends ?! I probably would have loved this when I was single and dating 🤣
*
#expirationdates #rebeccaserle #bookreview #bookrecommendation #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #booksofig #booksofinsta #bookish #booklover #bookobsessed #bookaddict #bookaesthetic #booknerd #bookworm #bookwormsunite #readerlife #readersgonnaread #readmorebooks #romancebooks #romancebookstagram

I absolutely ADORED this book! It had everything that I could ask for in a Rebecca Serle book. The characters were well developed and I found myself staying up way past my bedtime to sneak a few more chapters in. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this amazing book! I will definitely be sharing it with all of my fellow book lovers!

Throughout her life Daphne has received notes with the name of her next boyfriend and how long the relationship will last. But when Daphne gets a note with the name Jake and no timeline, she can’t help but think he must be “the one”. But there are also lingering feelings for her best friend Hugo, who also happens to be Daphne’s ex. Jake turns out to be wonderful and he and Daphne get engaged. But Daphne is still keeping a big secret from him that Hugo has known for years. Will the note turn out to be true? Will Daphne fully commit and marry Jake?

Rebecca Serle does it again with this refreshing romance and emotional story that you can’t help but love no matter how much it tugs at your heartstrings.

What an incredible novel about self discovery and finding true love. Daphne is such a fun character, and learning about all of her “dates” was such a fun ride!

This was SO SO cute! This is the 3rd book I’ve read by Rebecca Sterle and it won’t be the last.

The storyline was so unique and for a short book, I did not feel like anything was left out or that there needed to be more added. The character development was wonderful!

I expected the ending about half way through, but was not upset by any means when it happened!

If you’re looking for a short, sweet rom com, look no further!

Thanks so much Atria Books for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I have read and enjoyed Rebecca Serle’s books in the past, but unfortunately Expiration Dates wasn’t my favourite of her novels. I found it a little slowly paced and although the writing was good, just lacked the ability to keep my attention the whole story. I do however look forward to her next book.
Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC!

If you like Rebecca Serle books, you’re going to love Expiration Dates. It has all the heart, humor, and emotional devastation we’ve come to expect from her books. I enjoyed Daphne’s journey to self acceptance and self love and enjoyed all of the characters she surrounded herself with.

Expiration Dates is about a woman named Daphne, who, when she meets a new man, mysteriously receives a piece of paper with his name and a timeframe, and this is how long the relationship lasts.
At first I found this kind of confusing, but the book is about so much more than that. It’s romantic because you get to learn about her relationships and what shapes the next ones, and sometimes the reason for the expiration dates. It’s also thought provoking as you start to realize (I definitely had an ah-ha moment) that maybe the expectation of the timeframe is causing her to act and live differently.
Daphne realizes that putting specific expectations on things that are generally unknown can cause your mind to find ways to alter the outcome.
As a side note I think this book showed so many avenues of love through romance, friendship, and family and I loved it all.
Overall, I still have a few questions but this was a quick and easy read that was very enjoyable for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

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.

3.5 stars, rounded up

Overall thoughts:
- I love Serle's writing style; it is so easy to get swept up in her novels and this was no exception!
- The concept of each relationship having an expiration date was so intriguing and I enjoyed how it all played out!
- The twist was super surprising to me, yet I did question some of Daphne's life choices and her reasoning for keeping secrets from Jake.
- I think I am in the minority in not liking Hugo. He just rubbed me the wrong way. I liked their friendship, but he did a few things that really made me dislike him and it felt like Daphne let him off easy!

What I loved:
- The settings - L.A., Paris, New York, Big Sur - were all described in such vivid detail and provided the perfect backdrops to Daphne's life. I don't even like L.A. all that much, but this book made me want to revisit and take in all of the amazing locations Serle wrote about.
- Daphne's family! Her parents were adorable and I loved how much they cared for Daphne.
- Irina is an amazing boss/friend and I adored her character.

What I disliked:
- Hugo really annoyed me throughout, except during the time he and Daphne dated. Especially how he acted during/after the dinner with Daphne and Jake.
- The ending was unsatisfying and kind of made me mad...without spoiling it, I didn't find that Daphne really grew as a result of everything that happened in her life and the ending cemented that feeling.
- Daphne seemed spoiled at times and seemed to expect all of her boyfriends to fall for her right away without her putting in much effort.

I think many readers will love this book! It was hard to put down, even though I didn't like the ending as much as I had hoped.

Thank you to Atria Books for an early copy of Expiration Dates in exchange for an honest review!

My thoughts and feelings on this book are a little complicated.

On one hand, I really enjoyed it and liked the execution of the initial premise where our main character receives notes telling her how long her relationships are going to last. I was invested in the main character and really liked the flashbacks from her previous relationships and how they impacted her life. The short length of the book and the short chapters within made this a very quick, bingeable read.

On the other hand, there were two things that I didn’t like that I just can’t get past because they overshadowed the good. I was not a fan of how a MAJOR part of Daphne’s life didn’t come into play until over the halfway point. I get not wanting everyone in your life to know about your chronic illness because people come and go, BUT you have to mention it to your partner as soon as your relationship starts to get serious. That is not something you keep from them, ESPECIALLY after he’s told you that his previous wife died from an illness. This congenital heart disease diagnosis quite literally came out of nowhere for the reader too? Everything was fine one second, but the next second you’re reading about her going into sudden cardiac arrest and that hospital stay and the ones after.

The other thing, or person I should say, I didn’t like is Hugo. Hugo, Hugo, Hugo… where do I even begin with you? I was not a fan of his behavior towards Daphne and Jake after Daphne told him she was dating Jake. I get you’re still in love with her, but do you have to be such a dick? And after the plot twist where it’s revealed that he wrote the note with Jake’s name and no time on it, things started clicking about why he tried to sabotage Daphne and Jake’s relationship. The fact that she ends up with Hugo really pisses me off too. If my best friend tried to sabotage my relationship because he’s still in love with me and then give me a bullshit excuse, he would no longer be my friend. Jake deserved better.

There are a lot of good life lessons that can be learned from this book, but it was overall a miss for me unfortunately. However, I can see why others have loved this book, so it is one I would recommend to the right person.

Would you want to know how long each relationship would last?... Short answer, Yep! Where is my fairy godmother?

Daphne gets a slip of paper with a name and a length of time at the beginning of each relationship. All her life the paper has been 100% accurate. Then one day a name comes but no time. Is this her person?

This was such a sweet story. I absolutely loved it. I gobbled it up all the way to the end. And that is where I am disappointed. I wanted in on the last scene, I wanted to hear that conversation. Rebecca Serle are we going to get a sequel or an extended epilogue? I neeeeeed to see more of that!!!

This is my favorite Rebecca Serle novel so far! I really enjoyed the premise of knowing your next relationship time line. I also liked the realness of all the characters. This was a great story with depth & humor. I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for a copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Oh, my, what a little gem of a story. Things I loved about Expiration Dates: the detail in the descriptions of everything, from the settings to the clothes the characters wear. It really brought L.A. to life for me and helped me visualize things. Some people might not like that type of writing, but I find it helps me picture people and places much better.

Let’s hear it for disability rep! I love that more and more books are writing about people with disabilities. It made this story more emotional than a simple rom-com. I loved Daphne and her optimism about life. I liked some of her mates, and wished for a couple of them, like she did, that they would stick around longer than the piece of paper said they would

The magical realism was just enough to make it interesting. Not a lot of time was spent trying to justify it, which is great, because I’ve found when stories do that, it literally takes the magic out of the story!

What I didn’t love about this story: that the disability was introduced so late in the story. Also, I did find the character development a little lacking, but not too much that it detracted from my enjoyment of the story. This is my first Rebecca Serle novel, but it probably won’t be my last.

This was such a cute and unique story. I really enjoyed the novel and it felt very heartwarming and cozy. My only issue is the novel is very predictable. You know who the MC will eventually end up with and how the story will go. I also feel like this novel would have been better as a short story.

This is my first Rebecca Serle read and I expected more based on how people talk about her other book. It started out great and I couldn’t put it down, but at some point, it became very predictable and trying to finish it became a chore. A shame, because it did start out great

Expiration Dates is a book with a unique magical realism premise where the main character, Daphne, finds slips of paper every now and then with a man’s name and a length of time. This slip of papers tells her the name of the guy she is going to be with, and how long she is going to e with him. The book highlights two of these such relationships, with the main character having to decide if this is something good, or is this a curse? The book had some sweet moments and hit a lot of emotional points to make the reader laugh or tear up. Loved the twist in the end, as it really made the book even better in my opinion. This is my second Rebecca Serle book, having read In Five Years first, and I can say I liked this one even better.

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle is an utterly delightful book. I adored the premise of a woman knowing the duration of her relationships as they begin and the narrative (which did some skipping around time periods) was very well constructed. The book included some "twists" (not thriller-like, but plot surprises) and these really worked for me in terms of having me adjust my understandings and expectations as the plot moved forward. The writing was good (though maybe a bit too much description of clothing for my taste!) and the characters were well-developed. In all, an excellent addition to Serle's corpus of novels and one I will definitely recommend to readers who want a meaningful but not-heavy read.

Reading Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle had me smiling the entire time. This book made me feel soft and bubbly, like a warm hug.

Daphne Bell know expirations dates, with each relationship she enters into a slip of paper magically appears with it's final expiration date. Until Daphne goes on a blind date with Jake, but no expiration date ever comes. Convinced that this is the "final" relationship, Daphne starts a committed relationship with Jake. However, Daphne begins to question if this is the direction she is meant to follow. Told in the present with flashbacks to previous relationships and expiration dates this book is a quick and whimsical read.

This book was such a fun read, it was warm and happy with just enough conflict to keep me immersed the whole time. Rebecca Serle has such a magical way of writing so that you can connect to the characters. This book reads like a favorite movie that you can watch over and over. I enjoyed the overall scenery that author describes, everything is so vivid and makes you feel like you are a part of this book.

Expiration Dates was a really enjoyable read. It was kind of slow to start, but was interesting and entertaining the whole time.