A review by bookedbymadeline
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

emotional lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus for the eARC! I loved In Five Years but really disliked One Italian Summer so I was excited but nervous about this new book from Serle!

The plot is Like that black mirror episode with the dating watches but instead of being dark and dystopian this story is more lighthearted and whimsical-although it is emotional as well.

I was pulled in immediately and finished in 2 days, I devoured this book! Sometimes too much detail that feels unnecessary and telling over showing. I enjoyed the story and characters enough that it didn’t bother me quite as much as it normally would!

Such a unique plot and already making me reflect on fate, free will, and if Daphne used these pieces of paper to sabotage relationships when the notes could’ve been wrong-what if things were going well and she cut them off at the deadline because that’s what the paper said, or it was a bad relationship but she stayed because their time wasn’t up yet?! This novel clearly made me reflective on life and love and the universe 😅

The plot twists?! Did not see coming at all (except for one). However the first plot twist took away from the story of the magical notes and we don’t learn as much about them as I’d hoped, it’s just sort of abandoned and I had a lot of unanswered questions. I cried quite a bit with this book as I always do with Serle’s novels. The characters were all well written, although Kendra felt one dimensional as a friend only present to serve a purpose for the MC. I also enjoyed that we got to see glimpses of Daphne’s past relationships as it gave us a chance to get to know her character better!

I was disappointed towards the end as I felt like Daphne didn’t have much character development but that’s all I can say without giving away any spoilers 😭 (but I’ll put them here for anyone that wants to read them):
Daphne and Hugo talk about the notes dictating her life and when Hugo reveals he wrote the note about Jake, Daphne all of a sudden starts doubting being with Jake?! It makes no sense, you were just reflecting on being more open and living life but now that you know Jake was only meant to be a 3 week relationship you break it off! YOU ARE STILL LETTING THE NOTES DICTATE YOUR LOVE LIFE

Overall an entertaining, quick read that I loved right up until the end! I didn’t enjoy as much as In Five Years but was waaay better than One Italian Summer. I look forward to reading more from Serle in the future 💖

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