In Five Years is so much more than just a romance and chick-lit book. It is a story of friendship, love, fate, and self-discovery. Dannie is such a likable character and even with all her flaws and imperfections, she is one of those characters that you cannot help to love and cheer for. The beautiful friendship between Dannie and Bella is such an inspiration, and oh my was I ugly crying at the end of this book. I was as much heartbroken as Dannie was. It is a thought-provoking and emotional read, and even with some magical realism mixed into the plot it is still a believable and captivating story.

Rebecca Serle is a great storyteller with a wonderful writing style, and I am looking forward to reading more books from her.

Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books, and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

December 15, 2020. Dannie Cohan has just nailed the most important interview of her career and accepted her boyfriend's proposal at their celebratory dinner. December 15, 2025. Dannie wakes up to find herself in an unfamiliar apartment, with an unfamiliar man and a new ring on her finger. When Dannie wakes back up in 2020 she can't forget what she experienced and when she meets the man from her vision 4 1/2 years later, she does everything she can to make sure that vision doesn't come true.

I love the unique stories that Rebecca Serle comes up with for her novels. Most of us have imagined where we might be in five years before, and I don't know how I would react if I had an actual vision into what my life is like five years from now. It was interesting to see how Dannie grappled with the experience and how it shaped some of her decisions, especially once she meets Aaron, the man from her dream. The real strength of this story was in Dannie's relationship with her best friend, Bella, and that was at the core of the story the whole time. The downfall for me was just in some of the pacing - it's a relatively shorter story so some times it felt like we were jumping around to fast, but I do understand some of the reasoning behind that choice.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4/5 stars

New York lawyer Dannie is asked an all too familiar question during her dream job interview: "Where do you see yourself in five years?" She of course has the perfect answer prepared and nails her interview. Dannie's boyfriend proposes that night and everything in her life seems to be falling into place perfectly. When Dannie wakes up from the best day of her life, she is in a different apartment with a very different man than the one who just proposed to her. She sees that the year is 2020-five years in the future. After an hour or so, she wakes up again, but now Dannie is back in her old apartment with her fiance. She decides to put the experience out of her mind until she meets the same man four and a half years later.

This book is not what you think. It sounds like a hard-hitting romance, but it is not really about that at all. It is about friendship and fate more than anything else. I prefer the author's previous adult fiction book, The Dinner List, over In Five Years. 

I rated this book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. In Five Years is a quick read at only 272 pages, so you can definitely read it in one sitting or over a weekend like I did. I just don't feel like it was marketed properly, so I was disappointed in the route the book went. The "love story" mentioned in the blurb of the book is actually between Dannie and her best friend, Bella, who is more of a main character than Dannie's fiance. If you go into this one knowing it is not going to be a romance where the main character has to choose between two people, then you might enjoy it way more. I do recommend this title, but be aware that it is not really a romance.

What would you do if you saw a glimpse of your future? Would knowing it somehow lead you to make decisions that inevitably lead to its fulfillment? Rebecca Serle explores this concept in this charming and heartwarming novel.

I went into this book thinking the main characters would be Dannie and her boyfriend; however, the book is really about the love between two best friends, Dannie and Bella. Dannie struggles to figure out the path of her love life, but the one constant and fulfilling relationship in her life is her friendship with Bella. These two characters are so different, but they balance each other. Serle does a great job of creating this contrast. Some might say that the two women are stereotypes, one grounded and serious while the other is free-spirited and laid back; however, it's not bothersome to me. I believe they are simply examples of real women, even if they are maybe portrayed to the extreme.

The plot line takes a turn about 60% into the book. It did not end up being the story I expected it to be, but that is not a bad thing. I ended up liking it more because of the new direction it went in. While some of the plot developments are a bit cliche, I still thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience. It was a fast, engaging read that I would definitely recommend to my fellow readers.

For anyone looking for a book about love and friendship that will both break and warm the heart, In Five Years is a great choice.

This is one of those books that you really don’t want to end. I was pulled in from the beginning, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’, great question, right? Dannie had a perfect life, David, the perfect boyfriend, just hired for her dream job, everything was going exactly as planned until she had a dream. In the dream. It is five years in the future, and the man she is with is definitely not David, and this is definitely not their apartment. When she wakes up in her normal life, she just can’t shake this dream and a strange feeling that this dream is very real. Things take an even stranger turn when Dannie and David have dinner with her best friend, Bella and her new boyfriend.....the man from her dream. what happens next changes everything that Dannie thought she knew about her life and her plans for herself. I read another book by Rebecca Serle, and I liked it okay, but this book far exceeded my expectations. The writing is excellent, the story intriguing and the characters well developed. Someone once told me that the way to identify a good story is that one character goes through a transformation. This book nails it. I highly recommend this book. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC of this book.

4.5 stars. Oh boy. This one is almost impossible to review without spoilers. I knew this book would be different. I'd read Rebecca's Serle's The Dinner List and loved it, so I knew her capacity to make me feel many things. The Dinner List was magical, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking, so I prepared myself for more of the same with In Five Years. And while in one way, it was exactly what I expected, in other ways, it still surprised me.

Let me tell you about the things I enjoyed without giving away any spoilers:

I loved the characters. Dannie is an unexpected character. She has unpredictable nuances that make her realistic and memorable. And while I never really felt like I got to know the other characters as well, it was okay, because this is Dannie's story and the other characters were just there to support her.

I loved the setting of New York. I'd finally travelled to New York for the first time Christmas before last, and knowing the places she named made the book come alive even more for me.

I loved how the author built the tension up slowly. I kept turning pages hesitantly, never knowing when the thing that was bound to happen would happen, whatever it was that was going to change Dannie's life. And when it finally did happen, it was not what I expected at all.

I read this one in a few hours, but be prepared to be immersed. And while it was almost a five-star read for me, there was one little issue that kept it under.

Overall, I loved it, and once again, I highly recommend Rebecca Serle.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for the advance reader copy!

This book was not what I expected...but it was beautiful. The book description and the romance tag are what attracted me to In Five Years and I went into it expecting a story similar to the movie “Sliding Doors.” However, once I began reading, I quickly realized that although this is a story about love, it is definitely not a romance. The concept is unique and interesting: the main character, Dannie sees a moment in the future where nothing is as she expects it to be. You immediately become invested, eager to figure out how Dannie’s carefully planned life could possibly end up so differently. Dannie’s journey will break your heart and give you hope. Highly recommend.

4.5 STARS - This is a heartwarming story about friendship, self-discovery and destiny. It's a book that hit close to home for me and, for a rather short book, it packed quite an emotional punch.

While at first glance, In Five Years seems like a romance, its focus is on the powerful bond between friends, in all its awesome, messy and complicated glory. Initially, I had only skimmed the blurb and I'm rather glad I did. It doesn't describe the main plot and while some may find that misleading, I appreciate that the blurb didn't give too much away. Going in with less preconceived ideas made the story more powerful for me.

This is a story about one woman's personal journey as her life leads her in unexpected directions. It's about the influence of fate and the relationships in your life that have helped to make you ... you. I'll admit that I was curious about how one scene would be worked into the plot. I knew it had to happen but felt let down with how it was incorporated. It felt rushed and the scene didn't jive with the relationships that had developed. But I appreciated the shift at the end causing the story to go to unexpected places in a you never know what destiny will throw at you kind of way.

In Five Years in a heart-wrenching and thought-provoking story about the messiness of relationships and the remarkable bond and influence of true friendship. It is a short but powerful read that equally warmed and broke my heart in the most amazing ways. If you read this book, make sure you have a Kleenex box nearby. You're going to need it.

I'm not a big romance reader, but I did enjoy this book very much. The ending was perfect and the journey to get there easy. Well written.

Thank you to #Netgalley, #SimonandSchuster and Rebecca Serle for an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review!

The story follows Dannie, a woman in NYC who is interviewing for her dream job and is asked the most often question: where do you see yourself in five years? She answers beautifully, she's pretty sure she got the job, and she gets engaged to her boyfriend. That night, everything seems to be going good for her, until she is knocked unstable by a glimpse five years into the future.

This book will make you feel all the feels and is completely impossible to put down! I finished this book in just 2 days! I highly recommend this book and urge you to pick up a copy when it comes out March 10th, 2020!

Wow! Definitely going to have a book hangover from this one! So many feels. In Five Years is a beautifully descriptive story set in NYC. Our main character, Dannie, is a highly ambitious young lawyer who sets a five year plan for her life. Good things happen quickly for Dannie within the first two chapters. And, then she has a dream. But not just any dream, one that feels so real she can’t stop thinking about it and what it could mean, especially since the scenario doesn’t fit her plan. You will make assumptions while you read and be forced to keep revising them. This is a story of friendship, love, and being in love, but it didn’t give me the happy ending I expected or wanted, because it also is a story about the loss of those very same things. In Five Years, by Rebecca Serle, was gifted to me as an ARC by Netgalley and Atria in exchange for an honest review.

I picked this book up on a whim and could not stop reading it. That’s happens to me very rarely, but one of the only other books that was truly unputdownable for me was also a Rebecca Serle book, which means she just became an autobuy author for me.

I found this book pleasantly fast paced and sneakily emotional. I was happy to find the main story/theme of this book was not romantic love, but friendship love.

I really enjoyed this book.

(This review contains spoilers/part of the plot)
Manhattanite Dannie Cohan is on the brink of becoming an A-type lawyer for a big law firm.
But first, she has to nail the job interview.
During the job interview, she is asked; where do you see yourself in five years?
She doesn't think anymore of this question after the interview. Especially when her long term boyfriend proposes to her during a romantic dinner.
She says yes, she gets to hear she has the job, and goes happily to sleep that evening.
But then she gets a dream; in the dream, that feels terribly real, she wakes up on a bed in a dress, in an apartment that is not her own. To make matters worse, there is a strange boyfriend. And all this seems to be the thing that will happen to her in five years in 2025. She wakes up frigthened as it all felt so real. And the dream doesn't let her go for weeks. And then her best friend tells her she has a new boyfriend, and when Dannie meets him, she is even more terrified, because this was the boyfriend in her dream!!'Not long after, heartbreaking news follows, as her best friend is diagnosed with ovary cancer. Slowly her best friend is slipping away out of her life, as is her boyfriend. But she is becoming connected though to Greg, as they find support over each other over their shared loss of their best friend and partner. And slowly on, it seems that Danny's dream, who looked bad in the first place, is slowly turning into a good one that everyone is happy with in the end.

I totally stepped in blank into this book as I just wanted to be surprised. And I was glad I didn't read the synopsis before I started reading, because this makes everthing that happen in this story even more a story and the book a true page turner!! The story is very original and unpredictable, that's what I loved the most about it, I totally didn't have any clue what was going to happen next! And that is also the red line of the book; you can plan everything as much as you want, but you never know what might happen in the future as sometimes fate has it's own agenda. Danny is someone who has her life totally planned, so she faces a hard time when everything goes outside of the plan and that are out of her control. I really liked all the characters as they where all realistic and how everything in the end fell into place for all of them.

Overall this is a very surprising and very original book that I highly recommend reading!! Five stars for In Five Years!!

Wow! What an incredible story. Rebecca Serle is a gifted writer with an enviable grasp over her craft. I have had her other novel, The Dinner List, collecting dust on my shelves (like many other books on my ever-growing TBR-list) for the past year, and I am quickly brushing it off and diving in. I have a feeling I've just discovered a new favorite author!

In Five Years is an emotional, roller-coaster of a ride. It's twisty and gut-wrenching, enthralling and gasp-worthy. Serle's writing evokes such emotion, with each word a promise of something better that's to come. This book has so many themes--from love to friendship, from ambition to destiny, from fate to forgiveness.

I read In Five Years in one sitting, unable to put it down. I absolutely recommend this one!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. This is my honest, unbiased review.

I absolutely loved this book!! It will for sure make my top list of books for 2020 - and it’s only February! I loved it that much.

Dannie is a lawyer who has everything perfectly planned out - her five year plan in place, she is right on track as she starts her dream job and gets engaged. But, the night of the engagement, she has a dream that feels so real to Dannie - it is set exactly 5 years later and she is in bed in a strange apartment with a man she has never met.

Although romance type books are bit usually my favorite, this one sucked me in from the get go. It is completely different (to me) than her book The Dinner List, which i also loved.... but I love this even more!

This book was an emotional roller coaster. When Dannie is able to live an hour of her future life, it changes everything. As a reader, you start the book expecting a beautiful love story. While you do get a beautiful love story, it is not in the way you expect. Even though time travel is unrealistic, it does not take away from the realism of this story. I will definitely be recommending this book to my friends.

The most important thing readers should know is that In Five Years is not going to be even close to what you expect. It's a must read for that reason, and folks should go into their reading experience with as little knowledge about the plot as possible.

Dannie is a ambitious lawyer who strives to be the best and live within her perfectly regimented life. Her next steps are to get her dream corporate law job, get engaged to her longtime boyfriend, David, and move to Gramercy. All of those things happen extremely quickly, but after getting engaged and falling asleep, Dannie wakes up 5 years later on December 15th, 2025, in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger and a different man in her bed. What happens next is 5 years of Dannie's growth, experiencing extreme love, life, loss and celebrations. Dannie is extremely shut off from life, opening herself up to only a few people, and seeing her struggle to be the person that she truly wants and needs to be - one who loves and struggles openly - was beautiful to witness. There were a few things I really disliked: certain plot devices and set ups, but I overall enjoyed this heartbreaking story of love and loss, and what to do when your 5 year plan is challenged.

In my opinion, this isn't a romance, but it sure is a love story and I can't wait for other readers to experience that love.

Left this novel with a feeling of hope and love. Great story and freest characters. On top of that... look at that cover!!

I had high hopes for this book to be an epic love story but upon finishing I was left feeling like I missed something.

The beginning was great, it drew me in and I was intrigued and wanted more. Once the time jumped back to the present I knew it was going to take time to get back to the “flash forward” or “premonition”, and I was prepared for a great story.

About half way through I felt like the book was as a stand still until a small plot twist happened followed by the BIG one!! I had hope again! Read and read like a maniac to get to the end and then I was left disappointed. I’m not sure if I missed something, I missed a connection, but I wasn’t wowed by the end. I wanted more from the story and the ending could have been better.

Lovely story that explores our definition of love in unexpected ways. The characters are beautifully written and the pacing is perfect -- this could easily be read in one sitting. The premonition dream adds just the right amount of mystery.