Expiration Dates Book Review

What would you do if you knew the length of every romantic relationship you were going to have? If you met a man, and then somehow, minutes or hours later, you received a note with that man's name on it and a length of time: three weeks, six months, etc. Would you listen to the notes of fate or would you follow your own path and make your own choices?


This is the life that Daphne Bell has been living since she was a young girl. Now in her 30s, she's a single woman in LA. And she's still receiving the notes. No one else knows about them except for her BFF Hugo, who actually used to be her boyfriend, but they broke up exactly when the note said they would. If Daphne hadn't paid attention to that note, would she and Hugo still be together?

That question doesn't matter so much because Daphne thinks she's found "the one". Jake is nice and smart and has a good job and genuinely cares for Daphne. Plus, the note she got didn't have a time on it. So that means this is it. Right? 

Of course, I requested an advance review copy of this book because the main character's name is Daphne, and that's my daughter's name. But I also really enjoyed Rebecca Serle's One Italian Summer, and I was eager to see what unique storyline she'd come up with next. Expiration Dates doesn't disappoint.

This would be a great book club read! Daphne is a character that, due to circumstances that you don't learn until halfway through, feels like she has no control over her life. Like life is just happening to her, and she knows there is an end date to everything. What she doesn't realize is that she HAS a choice in how to live and who to live her life with.

Expiration Dates will be published by Atria Books on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. I received a free review copy from the publisher.

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