Wow! I am at a loss for words. What a beautiful book that pulls your heart strings. Rebecca Serpe never misses!

Oh my gosh I loved this book!!!! This was beautifully written and the plot was so unique and creative. I read Expiration Dates in literally a few hours because I simply couldn’t put it down! The story is set in California and follows Daphne who receives notes with the length and name of her relationships. I loved reading about her journey to find love. The characters were well developed and so relatable. Rebecca wrote such a raw and emotional story with secrets, twists, and reveals.

Read if you like:
📝 magical realism
📝disablity representation
📝 well developed, lovable characters
📝past and present timelines

I loved this story. What is fated and what do we control? Does knowing when love will end make it easier or just harder to love in the first place. Lovely.

After being a huge fan of the magical realism in Serle’s “In Five Years” I was excited to pick up “Expiration Dates”! This is the story of Daphne who gets a slip of paper with every new relationship telling her exactly how long it will last. At the beginning of the book she gets a first, a slip of paper with the name but otherwise blank! Could this guy be the one? What follows are vignettes of her past “expired” relationships, and how they shaped who she is today, woven into the present day timeline of her navigating this seemingly meant to be forever relationship. The book explores the interplay of fate and personal volition that will have you rooting for Daphne to finally find her true purpose, passion, and perfect-for-her person. Looking forward to adding more Rebecca Serle titles to my list!

This was such a unique story!

It followed Daphne and her journey to find love. Along the way, the universe would send her slips of paper that had a name of a man and how long she would be with him. She lives her life in this predictable world, where she never gets the joy of being spontaneous. Watching her overcome that was so enjoyable!

This was one of my favorite reads of the year! It was definitely a 5⭐️

It was so beautiful and emotional and I absolutely loved every moment of it. I can’t express how deeply I connected with the character and the world.
Hugo, her best friend, was such a great character. That plot twist too!!

I would say my only “criticism” is sometimes it was confusing when it would go back and forth in time. It wasn’t always super clear when we jumped back.

This felt like such a cozy romantasy book to me.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am so disappointed. I was really excited for this book; the premise is entirely unique and I couldn’t wait to jump in and figure out what was behind the mysterious notes Daphne receives and how she allows them to shape her life (or not)! And…it just wasn’t that. The expiration date notes have almost nothing to do with the plot, somehow?? The notes are kind of just in the background, they are not a main focus and neither Daphne nor the book ever seem to really question where they’re coming from or try to mess with them, which to me felt like a missed opportunity to write something new and exciting. Instead we just follow Daphne as she plods through life, generally letting outside forces control where she ends up (even at the end when it comes to her new role at work! She has zero agency!) I didn’t feel connected to Daphne at all; much of the book is dedicated to descriptions of her outfits, her meals, and the city of Los Angeles. The writing was heavy and borderline beautiful at times, but shallow and empty at other times.

In one phase, I’d describe this book as a (massive) missed opportunity. It’s sad because now this premise has been used (read: wasted) so nobody else can do it justice. Ugh. I’m just disappointed. I wanted this to be so much more than it was.

3/5 stars. Can’t believe this.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to netGalley and the publisher for this ARC. Rebecca Serle is one of my favorite authors and this one doesn’t disappoint.

Daphne is a young Hollywood producer with a weird dating quirk – every time she meets a man, she finds a piece of paper with his name, any time frame, which indicates the length of their relationship. But before her first date with Jake, she finds a piece of paper with just his name, and no expiration date. What does this mean? Is he the one?

Serle’s lovable characters in Expiration Dates keeps the readers engaged and makes this book a fast, addictive read and sparks thoughts on our own relationships and how they might have been different had we known how long they were to last.

I really enjoyed the latest from Rebecca Serle. It spurred interesting philosophical debates for me on how much control we have in our own choices vs. a predestined future. It's one of the things I enjoy most about her books is that they get into deeper internal thoughts for me. I really loved Hugo-he was my favorite character in the book. Overall, one I'd recommend to many people.

This one had me hooked from the very beginning! The premise of the book was very promising, and I loved that it jumped timelines to keep you hooked. I wish we had a little bit better understanding of the notes themselves, where they came from, why she was getting them, etc. However, I think Daphne’s realization at the end when it came to the notes was a very nice resolution. The ending was slightly predictable, but it fit nicely and I wasn’t disappointed in it one bit! I would have liked some more character development from Hugo, or to see how he changed over the five years apart from Daphne. Plus, maybe some resolution for Jake because I genuinely did like him a lot.

Otherwise, this was a cute, quick read that I couldn’t put down. The perfect amount of twists and turns to keep you interested throughout.

* An ARC was provided by the author and publisher on NetGalley for an honest review

A touching story of the loves with expiration dates of a woman. Told in two timelines, it relates her current love set against the experiences with others. It is a time of acknowledgement of her life and her limitations. Deep and often heartbreaking.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a quick read. I am tired of really long books that don't need to be so wordy, so I was grateful it wasn't longer. The main premise is a woman receives a note for each romantic partner that tells her when that relationship will end. The novel cuts between past and present reviewing past relationships and focusing on her current relationship, which she perceives to be "the one" because there is no end date on the paper. There is a plot twist midway, which I wasn't expecting. That said, I don't know it needed to be a surprise. The ending was a bit predictable, but felt right. If you liked the Measure, by Nikki Erlick, this grapples with some of those some fundamental questions. What do you do if your fate is predetermined and how does that change your life?

Reading the promotion blurb convinced me to try this novel by an author I had never read before. It sounded like fun!

This story was like a kaleidoscope. You anticipate pretty colors, patterns and designs to ooh and ahh to. Then you discover the kaleidoscope is broken. And while the colors are very pretty, the pieces just never mesh into anything lovely enough to hold your interest. The author can write, and there are some funny bits between some characters, but hard as I tired, I couldn't get the kaleidoscope to turn into a beautiful motif.

The storyline is unique; beginning at a young age, Daphne receives pieces of paper stating a boy's name and a timeline (three weeks, six months, etc.). Girl meets boy, relationship lasts the allotted time, girl dumps boy. Repeat. This describes the first half of the book. The main characters are enjoyable but slight. I never felt like I really got to know any of them in depth, just a surface skim.

Second half picks up a bit. A relationship with one guy ends on schedule, but this time Daphne remain friends with him, and they are still in each other's lives. Then there is a life shattering secret revealed, and it changes the readers perception of the whole dating thing. A little. Again, the colors are mesmerizing but never meld into a cohesive shape.

Some of the chapters are specific to one man and the weeks he was given. Then we never hear about them again. They didn't seem to serve a purpose to the overall story. Just pretty pieces of cracked glass.

The ending was very unsatisfying. You could see it coming a mile away, plus (stop reading here if you don't want any spoilers) there is never any explanation of the notes. Who sends them? Why was she getting them? Will they ever stop? None of these questions are answered, even vaguely. Never play with a broken kaleidoscope, it's frustrating and unsatisfying, despite the initial pretty colors.

⭐: 3.7/5

Compared to In Five Years (written by this author), this could have been better. The beginning of this book was so boring and stretched out unnecessarily. I was getting impatient to get to the main plot. Also, reading this book felt like I was reading Daphne’s personal journal with random thoughts here and there and I don’t know if that was the goal. It just felt confusing at times as to what I was reading. Many times I went back to the beginning of that particular chapter to read it again because I didn’t understand what was going on. Sometimes I was confused as to whether the memory Daphne talked about was from her past or the present.

I love this book’s storyline but the execution was not up to the mark. The last couple of chapters were the best to read. Another thing worth mentioning is that I loved that twist at the end! I never expected a twist like that!

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Rebecca is such a talent. I loved this book right along with the others of hers I've read. Highly recommend this book!

Where to start??? The plot was mind blowing and I was HOOKED from the get-go!

What would you do if you received a slip of paper with a name and the length of the relationship? I. Can. Not!! Daphne’s struggle to navigate these relationships are next level and this book DEF points to the power of the mind! Because one of those pieces of paper may have been tampered with…

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNN…

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC of Expiration Dates!!

With no preconceived notions of Expiration Dates save for a brief summary, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. And I loved it. Completely. From the beginning, I found myself intrigued by the plot premise and as I flipped through the first pages, I became more and more eager to grow in curiosity. It has just the right amount of mystery that pulled me in. Author Rebecca Serle writes with such compelling, well-written language that further propels me into her story, like, I needed to know what was going to happen. The only thing is that this booth felt a tad short, but only because I wanted more content and didn't want to hit that last page.

CW: Chronic illness, Death of a spouse

Rebecca Serle never disappoints! This book had me invested from the very beginning. I could not resist the opportunity to finish in one sitting. I really enjoyed the structure of the plot and characters! This novel definitely hit all of the right emotions. One of my favorites.

The premise of this book was very interesting. I enjoyed Daphne's quirky character. The execution was okay. It did not quite live up to my expectations.

Other than In Five Years, which I loved, I always have mixed feelings about the author's books. The plots are unique, and the characters are multi- dimensional, but some how the middle drags. Too much of the same thing. However, I do enjoy and will continue to read her books.

I loved the premise of this book and went in hoping to love every chapter and I did!! This was my first book by this author and it did not disappoint. I loved the idea of a random piece of paper with a name and number of weeks she’d be with someone. Until one day there wasn’t a number. The numbers were never wrong. I good magical love story ❤️