Expiration Dates by Rebecca Searle

It’s been a while since a romantic novel has made me shed tears but I reached just over half way through Rebecca Searle’s new novel and I felt a lump forming in my throat. My reaction was possibly more emotional than the average, because I felt seen. Rebecca has this habit of taking what seems like a simple romance and adding an element that immediately elevates it to something more. Daphne lives in L.A. and works as an assistant to a film maker, outside of work she is a busy bee flitting between visiting her parents, spending time with her dog Murphy and roaming flea markets for quirky household items. However, her favourite weekend mornings are those she spend with her ex-boyfriend Hugo: he wakes her early, they get to an early farmer’s market for the best choices such as the sunflowers that are always gone by ten am. Her career hasn’t changed much over time and she has chosen to stay in the area to be close to her family. Daphne is single, at a point in life where people she knows are staying together, having babies and getting married. Daphne tends to have short term relationships, but she is starting to wonder about all these things. Are they something she’ll ever find? Her friends can’t understand it, she’s a great girl, and have started to offer to their friends and work colleagues as potential dates. What they don’t know is that Daphne keeps a box under her bed and in it are post-it notes, drinks coasters and theatre tickets all which have the name of a boyfriend and a length of time, an expiration date. From one night to several months these cards enter her life around the same time as a new man and Daphne knows the finite amount of time they have together. This bit of magic from the universe is amazing in some ways, but in other ways she’s starting to think they hold her back. Are they starting to become a self fulfilling prophecy? Then her friend Kendra sets her up with Jake and Daphne waits for her expiration date to arrive. This time though, it’s just a name; no date. Does this mean Jake is the one?

Aside from the magical expiration dates, I was beginning to wonder whether this was a straightforward romance. Much as I was enjoying Daphne’s life, I was missing that extra element that grabs me and makes me feel something. I shouldn’t have doubted the author, because when it did arrive the impact was huge. Having had a similar experience at the same age as Daphne made her story even more compelling because I ‘got’ it and completely understood her emotions and reasoning. There are momentous experiences in life that divide it into a very clear before and after and you can never return to who you once were. Yet on the outside, the change isn’t visible. There is always something there to be revealed, something that can be ‘outed’ and only you can choose when and if you reveal it. Jake’s open ended expiration date is ambiguous, but what it does is leave Daphne to make choices in a way she never has before. Previously, short expiration dates have meant she doesn’t have to make a choice. If it’s one night, the chance to know another person is limited. If it’s three months Daphne doesn’t have to invest too much emotionally. It’s both freeing and restricting at the same time. Daphne doesn’t have to change or make too much effort, because whatever she does or doesn’t do it changes nothing. However, her emotions are restricted. If she didn’t see the expiration date, might she have invested more, took a risk or perhaps even fallen in love?

That’s why being with Jake is so different, it’s the only open ended relationship she’s ever had. Don’t get me wrong, Jake couldn’t be more perfect. He’s attractive and intelligent. More importantly he’s kind and considerate. At first, Daphne isn’t sure but for once they have all the time in the world for her to explore and see where the relationship and her feelings go. Jake has emotional depth and a willingness to put those emotions on the line. Jake was married once and his wife died. Daphne marvels at his ability to be vulnerable when he has lost so much. It also worries her, because she holds a secret that has the ability to shatter this fragile and tentative relationship they’ve built. She has a perfect man who wants to live together, to marry and build a future. Everyone says he’s perfect, but is he perfect for Daphne? I couldn’t help but keep thinking back to Hugo, who seems like the one who got away. He knows everything about Daphne, the secret and the expiration dates, but he’s still here. Their official romantic relationship may have come to an end at their proscribed three month deadline, but he’s still here and to me he felt like the person who is closest to Daphne. If they’d had the chance of an open ended relationship, might they have been perfect for each other? There were things I didn’t like about Hugo, but to me he felt more vibrant and alive than Jake. I felt like Daphne glows when she’s with Hugo, whereas with Jake she is the epitome of the phrase ‘settled down’. For Daphne, falling in love has never been simple and I really related to that. I think a lot of other readers will too.

Out on 14th March from Quercus

Meet the Author

Rebecca Serle is the New York Times bestselling author of Expiration Dates, One Italian Summer, In Five Years, The Dinner List, and the young adult novels The Edge of Falling and When You Were Mine. Serle also developed the hit TV adaptation Famous in Love, based on her YA series of the same name. She is a graduate of USC and The New School and lives in Los Angeles with her husband.