Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle - A Review

 

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Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle seemed like it had all the makings of a book I could get into. The premise was unique. There was the promise of emotional depth and not just surface-level romance. Unfortunately, while the concept was intriguing, the execution of the story fell flat for me in the end. 

The story revolves around Daphne, a woman living in LA who receives a mysterious note before every romantic relationship she enters into. The note is simple. It contains the name of the guy, and how long their relationship will last. Then one day she gets a note with just a name. No expiration date. So is this it, the guy she's going to be with forever? It's a clever premise that raises some big questions. How much control do we really have in our lives? Can we trust our own hearts? What happens if we work against the "destiny" set out for us. I was hoping the story would dive deeper into those waters, but I found that it really only skimmed the surface of those themes. 

One of my biggest challenges with the story was the relationship between Daphne and Hugo, her one time boyfriend turned best friend. It's obvious they are very much still in love with each other. But they won't act on it because the paper had already given them their expiration date, and that was that. This could have been an incredible source of tension and conflict in the story, reading about their challenges trying to overcome that pesky destiny. Instead Daphne and Hugo just throw their hands up, like oh well, it was never meant to be. It was unbelievable enough to be just the tiniest bit infuriating.   

As far as the rest of the romance goes in the book, it was fine. Nothing so special it made you long for what the couple had. There were a couple of mildly "spicy" scenes that weren't overly graphic, but graphic enough I wished they hadn't been included. 

In the end I found that 'Expiration Dates' just meandered, until it finally ended the way most people will probably expect it to. But it didn't really feel satisfying. It felt shallow and predictable. I wanted more depth, substance, and tension. 

If you've read this one, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Maybe you picked up on something interesting in the story that I missed?