Reviews tagging 'Death'

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

22 reviews

literaryintersections's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I don’t think Rebecca’s books are for me. Now that I know how twisty her books are all I do is try to figure out the twist from the first page, which takes away the surprise and tension. 

I didn’t love Daphne in this. Or Hugo really either - also he plays a way bigger part than the blurb suggest. Jake is the best. But this book is also sad while not making me cry even close to her other books, I think because I felt so disconnected from the story. I wanted to love it and I read it in 2 days. But I’m so annoyed by it and especially by how it ended. 

lastly, there is a strange mention about Israel which I still haven’t quite puzzled through. “We’ve always been reform but over the years my mother got more and more progressive and now their temple has thinks like namaSHVITZ yoga, head blessings, and curiously uniform feelings about Israel” 
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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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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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