This author is growing on me. Her characters are authentic, flawed, intelligent people. I'm not especially a fan of magical realism but this book was quirky and charming and I enjoyed that element.
The book chronicles Daphne's dating life and some of the relationship stories are funny and some are poignant. What I liked is that in her quest for love, Daphne is not looking for a man to make her whole, she has a mature outlook on relationships. All the relationships--friendship, business, romantic, platonic, and familial ring true. And I love her dog, Murphy!
From the publisher:
Being single is like playing the lottery. There’s always the chance that with one piece of paper you could win it all.
Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.
But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.
Told with her signature warmth and insight into matters of the heart, Rebecca Serle has finally set her sights on romantic love. The result is a gripping, emotional, passionate, and (yes) heartbreaking novel about what it means to be single, what it means to find love, and ultimately how we define each of them for ourselves. Expiration Dates is the one fans have been waiting for.
#52bookclub prompt 5: magical realism.
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