Read. Write. Listen. Create.

This book was hard for me to decipher at first. It felt like it was going in a love story direction and then you’re finally given more of a backstory to Daphne Bell’s life. The summary given on Simon and Schuster’s website reads:

“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…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.”

I gave this book 3.5 stars out of 5. Now when I was reading, I thought it was an interesting idea to receive pieces of paper saying how long Daphne would have with each guy, but at the time I didn’t realize that it was magical realism. I thought we would be introduced to the person sending her these papers, but we’re not! For a while I thought Hugo left her the paper for Jake, but it wouldn’t make sense he was leaving all of them.

I thought that Daphne was a likable character and I really liked her relationship with Hugo; more than her relationship with Jake. I was rooting for her and Hugo to get together again after they broke up and became friends.

It’s very hard to say anything about the reveal without giving the rest of the story away, but I liked the ending. The author leaves you guessing at first, but then it’s revealed who Daphne ended up with and let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed!

Like my fellow book club members, I wish we knew why she was receiving these papers. I guess that’s kind of the point of magical realism; it just happens the way it happens and it’s not always explained. It might have felt more complete if we knew who or what was sending her these notes, but in the end it was a fun and easy read. Perfect for the summer!