#Expiration Dates

[incognitopolls]

You just made pasta. You want parmesan cheese on it. You find one container left in the cabinet. It's still sealed, but the expiration date was 4 months ago. You unseal and smell it, and it smells like normal parmesan cheese.

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[hometoursandotherstuff]

Good to know, but the bottle expires? So, if the bottle is breaking down, and releasing toxins into the water, then the water isn't good, either. Six of one, half dozen of the other.

[bookishnotes]

http://www.instagram.com/booksxnaps

[trexalicious]

🤣

[melodysbookhaven]

“What I see now, emerging in the mirror, is this one, simple truth: learning to be broken is learning to be whole.”

Rebecca Serle, Expiration Dates

[nat-reviews-books]

Currently Listening: Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

I was a bit blindsided when I started this and heard that it was narrated by Julia Whelan, who not only narrated the book I had finished earlier the day I started this, but also 2 books I listened to in January.

So far, so good, and listening to this for the romance readathon and my book club's buzzword cover challenge (skyline).

[edwardslovelyelizabeth]

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

"Wasn’t the hardest part of heartbreak the unpredictability? How you could feel the most connected to a person in one moment - like being in a teardrop together, the world a watercolor outside - and like strangers in the next?”

[a-skirmish-of-wit-and-lit]

Book Review: Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

Soft and soul-wrenching, Expiration Dates takes a magical realism look at love and relationships. It places a premium on the concept of fate vs. free will, of learning to live with impending uncertainty, and of deciding to invest your whole heart regardless of time constraints.

Ever since she was a little girl, Daphne Bell has received notes from the universe that stated the name of the next man she would date as well as how long the relationship would last. Whether it was days, months, or on a couple occasions, years, the notes were always accurate. So she grew to follow them to the letter even when her feelings protested, yearning for the day when she'd receive one without an end date, but secretly believing it'd never happen. However, all that changes after she receives a card with one name and nothing else: Jake.

Could this mean he is her soulmate? Is that why there was only a name and no expiration date? Or have these notes over the years been acting more as self-fulfilling prophecy because Daphne's been too afraid to face, let alone share, a devastating secret about herself?

Told with warmth and resonant emotion, this book asks readers to imagine how one might approach love differently if one knew precisely how long it would last. The author does a good job of illustrating the struggle that exists between wanting to be as present as possible in a relationship while also fearing/dreading the loss of someone whether it's imminent or not. Daphne is a character who toils intensely over life decisions, especially when it comes to love, so it is both affecting and satisfying for readers to be a part of her journey of self-discovery. Jake and Hugo are both great counterparts, too. They each bring out different sides of her, challenge her in diametric ways.

All around, this was poignant read with a unique concept and unexpected twists. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for my review!

3.5/5 stars

**Follow me on Goodreads

[dance-in-my-storm]

“Wasn’t the hardest part of heartbreak the unpredictability? How you could feel the most connected to a person in one moment - like being in a teardrop together, the world a watercolor outside - and like strangers in the next?”

-Rebecca Serle, Expiration Dates

[mercerislandbooks]

Book Notes: Expiration Dates

Sometimes you pick up a book on a whim and feel, almost against your will, pulled into the plot. Unable to extricate yourself because each chapter expertly leads you into the next until you’re in so deep you have to find out what happens. Such was my experience with Rebecca Serle’s forthcoming book, Expiration Dates.

Daphne Bell’s romantic relationships have all been bound by one thing: a piece of paper that appears before or in the initial moments of meeting a man telling her how long they’ll be together. So far, the papers have never been wrong. And then one day, on her way out to the door to a blind date set up by a friend, Daphne gets a paper with no expiration date. Just the name of the man she’s going to meet — Jake. Suddenly Daphne has all the time in the world to explore a relationship with Jake, and all the confidence of believing she’s guaranteed a lifetime with this person. But as things move along with Jake, Daphne wonders how much knowing you're meant to be with someone impacts truly wanting to be with them.

Rebecca Serle does an excellent job with the slow reveal, and she uses first person, which isn’t something I encounter too often in adult fiction. To begin with I experienced Daphne as a person with abundant self-confidence yet detached and without much personal passion. But the further I got into the book and the more Daphne revealed about herself, I began to appreciate how her life had shaped her. I kept turning down pages for lines I loved for their authenticity, until, by the end, it was all just so real and vulnerable I could have turned down every page. Expiration Dates is not a conventional romance by any means, but the pleasure of it comes from both the intricacy of the construction (which would lend itself to rereading) and the deceptively straightforward prose. This would be the perfect book to buddy read with a friend because there’s so much to discuss.

Expiration Dates comes out March 19th, so put in your preorder now and have a great book to look forward to!

— Lori

[princessofbookaholics]

currently reading and loving 📃

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Expiration Dates

Author: Rebecca Serle

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2024

Genres: fiction, romance, magical realism, contemporary, fantasy

Blurb: 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 favourite 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.

[forkpitchfood]

Food Week December 13, 2024

Welcome to Food Week December 13. Lots of activity with the FDA these days. Examining ultraprocessed foods, dyes in products and reduction of food waste, which all have the potential for positive progress. However, the return of polio, measles, rubella etc. kind of cancels out the good vibes. This and a lot more. Enjoy! MACRO Stocks dipped this week but not Tech stocks, which climb…

[rebel-girl-queen-of-my-world]

This has spurred me to finally purge my old skincare products. Thanks, @teaboot

Working up to doing the same with beloved old makeup products that I justify having since high school. I’m gonna miss some of these eyeshadows terribly.

psa

For anyone who doesn't know, cosmetic and hygiene products can produce bacteria and fungi after they expire, and the ingredients can break down and cause burns, rashes, and allergic reactions after this time as well.

To check if your products need to be replaced, you can look for a written date of expiry, or look for this symbol on the container. This will tell you how many months it's still good for after you open it and break the hygiene seal.

Like food expiries, it's not precise down to the wire, but it does give you a clear idea of how much time you have to work with it before things get icky.

If you're like me and forget how long you own stuff, I recommend writing down the date of opening on the container in permanent marker.

Sincerely, someone who found a lost bottle of shampoo from 2011.

[melodysbookhaven]

“But being surprised by life isn't losing, it's living. It's messy and uncomfortable and complicated and beautiful. It's life, all of it. The only way to get it wrong is to refuse to play.”

Rebecca Serle, Expiration Dates