Rebecca Serle

This story is about soul mates and soul searching and mothers and daughters. It’s about finding your center when the thing (or person) that houses your identity is no longer present—only alive in history and memory and story.

This story opens with the untangling of grief: a mother dies, a daughter leaves, the Amalfi Coast awaits. Katy, a 30-year-old copywriter, leaves her L.A. life behind, including her husband, days after she loses her mom, her anchor and talisman. Lost and lamenting, she hopes to find answers and solace in Positano, the place her mother visited and fell in love with before she was a mother. The magical-realism comes into play when Katy’s mother, Carol, shows up on this Italian trip—posthumously as the 30-year-old version of herself—befriending her future daughter, which seems to work because of the timelessness of the place: “The magic of Italy seems to be in its ability to connect to some time out of time, some era that is unmarked by modernity” (142).

Through the magic of the setting and myths and altered-time, Katy searches for who she is without her mother, who she wants to be with, and what she wants to do with her life—all while learning about who her mother was before she was her mother. What better place to search for your soul than on the cliffs of Italy, walking up the stairway of The Path of the Gods?

I really enjoyed the honesty of Katy’s journey: the ugliness of grief, the sometimes false perception we have of parents, the hard choices we have to make that don’t define us but help us find our way back home. I also enjoyed, like I did with In Five Years, wondering how the magic and the reality would be reconciled in the end (which didn’t disappoint).
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“I look out on that view. The water, the bridge, the lights. Manhattan on the water, shimmering like a promise. I think about how much life the city holds, how much heartbreak, how much love. I think about everything I have lost there, this fading island before me” (230).

I really liked this book—even more than I was expecting. As I was reading, I kept thinking about how much I was enjoying it—Dannie’s goodness, her drive to succeed, her need for control; she was completely relatable. I kept thinking, “This book is a five, but the ending could definitely be its fall from grace.” Surprisingly, I was really satisfied with the ending. I give this book a five because there’s not anything I’d change about it. While there were some predictabilities, like knowing Bella would end up with the future-dream Aaron, I was completely surprised by how the ending, the premonition, was tied into reality. I also really liked that there were no villains—no bad guys. David was such a fantastic fiancé. Aaron really was loyal to and loved Bella. Bella and Dannie were true to one another. So even though there was this shadow of a love triangle hanging over the plot, it was unexpectedly delivered in such a way that showed really sucky circumstances with really good humans. And the ending wouldn’t have been quite as satisfying without Dannie’s brief encounter with Dr. Mark Shaw in the bagel shop after Aaron leaves her DUMBO apartment. It’s easy to feel the hopeful possibilities of this unknown and uncontrollable future.… (más)

"Expiration Dates" by Rebecca Serle is a captivating novel that explores the intricacies of love and fate. With its unique premise of receiving expiration dates for relationships, Serle crafts a compelling story filled with warmth, insight, and emotional depth. Through the journey of protagonist Daphne Bell, readers are invited to ponder the nature of romantic connections and the choices we make in matters of the heart. Serle's storytelling prowess shines in this gripping and thought-provoking tale that will leave a lasting impression on readers.… (más)