This novel was heartbreakingly beautiful. It's a story that makes you think both existentially and theologically and is also a story about love but not solely the romantic kind.

From the beginning to the end, everything was connected within the story and tied together so neatly that made it even more heartbreaking at the end.

This novel reminds you about the fragility of life and relationships. It's also a reminder on the importance of pursuing a passionate love and not settling on one of convenience.

It's a very thought provoking story that will sit and ruminate in your head for a long time.

***Thank you to the publisher for supplying me with an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

I saw a lot of early praise for In Five Years, so I was very excited to read it. However, the book was a bit different than I expected and I think my expectations might have been a bit too high.

In Five Years centers around Dannie, a corporate lawyer, who had a life-altering and realistic dream. We follow Dannie and she attempts to navigate her life, including her relationship, career, and friendship. However, I struggled with how Dannie treats the people around her. I will leave it there so as not to give away any spoilers.

I appreciate the author taking a chance and found the story original. It was a thought-provoking story and I am thankful I had the opportunity to read it!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was such an interesting read. I went in thinking I was getting a time traveler's wife feel. I am surprised at what I received instead.

I dont want to spoil any details. I will say that this book had some serious wtf moments. When the ending came together though I was shook!

I thought it was very craftily created and I love binging it.

Thanks Atria and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

In Five Years was a heck of a ride. I was not at all expecting to fall in love with a story like I did with this... and for completely different reasons as I was expecting.

Let me first say, this is 100% a love story. It is a beautiful love story, too. But it may not be the kind you anticipate.

Dannie is on the right track. She knows what she wants and the exact route to get it, down to the minute. Planning things have always been a source of comfort for her. On the night she nails a coveted job interview and begins the next step in her perfect relationship, she wakes up to find it is a whole five years into the future. She is in a different apartment, with a man she doesn't know.

This story is a heartfelt dive into true love and friendship. Dannie finds out that the mystery man from her future is actually her best friend's new boyfriend. Dannie doesn't want this future and rebels against it. She wants her good, strong, solid boyfriend. And she knows that this new guy is actually really good for the girl she has been best friends with since they were seven years old.

What shook me completely about this book is the fact that it is a love story about friendship. I will admit that i rebelled against that notion at first because it wasn't the typical story I was anticipating. But, I have to say this was so much better than I ever could have imagined BECAUSE of that friendship aspect. This was a beautiful, heartbreaking story that I was not ready for. I cried big, fat, ugly tears while reading this book, but it was so necessary.

This book is for anyone who has ever had a strong best friend relationship. A best friend who has shaped the person you are as an adult. I have the privilege of having had the same best friend from the age of 4 to my current age of 33 and I died a little reading this because I automatically inserted her visage into Bella's character.

On the night that should have been the happiest night of her life, our main character Dannie has a dream about her future. When it doesn’t look the way she thought it would, she’s thrown into an existential crisis and starts doing everything in her power to avoid it. This hint of magical realism was enough to introduce conflict without becoming the only element driving the narrative forward.

This was a beautiful and unexpected book about friendship, work/life balance, and choice vs destiny. I thought it was going to be a love story, and it was, but it was also so much more than that. I loved how multifaceted the characters’ lives were, and how unapologetic Dannie was about her chosen career and ambition.

The descriptions of New York were beautiful, even down to the weather, and the setting anchored the story into a reality that was believable. This was so well done, and I could have never seen the ending coming.

I received a free arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest

This story was heartwarming/heartbreaking/gut-wrenching all rolled into one! There was a slight One day in December vibe with the best friend and best friend’s boyfriend dynamic. I really loved how the overall story was not predictable, and the ending what not what you expected. A solid 4 stars from me! Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for this ARC for my honest review.

First off, this was very unputdownable in a WTF is going on kind of way. Secondly, people on goodreads need to stop tagging this as romance. Just stop. Thirdly, it's not predictable in any way (in my opinion) and there were lots of feelings. It's short, so it's a quick read. I honestly still don't quite know how I feel about it.

Where do you see yourself in five years? It’s a pretty common question asked in interviews or even dates. What happens when you, for a brief moment, see where you are in five years and it’s no where you’d imagined and planned you’d be? In Five Years was a story that kept me turning the pages wanting to see how it all ends. I loved the bond between friends in this book and found that to be the heart of this story. If you’ve read and loved One Day in December by Josie Silver, I highly recommend this book but don’t go into it thinking it’s a true lovey-dovey love story. This book will keep you guessing until the very end!

Dannie thinks she has it all figured out after she nails an interview at her dream job and gets engaged to her perfect man in the same day. Then she wakes up five years in the future and spends an hour in a very different, yet alluring alternate life. Too real to be a dream, yet too strange to be anything else, Dannie tries to carry on with the future she's been planning for years, until one day she unexpectedly meets the literal man of her dreams.
The book provides much to contemplate about love, fate, destiny, and friendship and how malleable those things are as Dannie tries to steer the course of her life away from the future she glimpsed in her premonition. Is the future written in the stars, or if you are determined enough can you write it yourself?
Just like Serle's The Dinner List, this 🌟🌟🌟🌟 book is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once, with tantalizing descriptions of shared meals and a magical NYC backdrop.
I know there's been a lot of buzz around this book, but it 100% lives up to the hype.
Have you read this or The Dinner List? Have you ever tried an "adult" paint by number?
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Ugly cry, face blotchy, eyes puffy, nose stuffed, tissues handy-type cry. This book was not what I expected. Thank goodness the review I read contained no spoilers, other than how good this book was. A story of love and friendship and planning out your life. To say anything else about this book is to say too much. Just read it and think!

What a lovely book! It is so well written and the characters are wonderful. The relationship between Dannie and Bella is so beautiful and heartfelt. The premise is interesting. I just really loved this quick read. I previously published a review on this book (I bought it back in March) but will do so again today to my Bookstagram and companion Facebook page @thatreadingrealtor. Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for granting access this book in exchange for an honest review.

5 glowing stars!

Thank you to Atria Books for providing me with an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

In Five Years was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020 and it did not disappoint! Without even knowing what it was about, I was drawn first to the title and then the cover. After reading the synopsis, I just knew it was a book for me!

Dannie, an ambitious young lawyer, lands her dream job, gets engaged to her boyfriend, and experiences a vivid dream propelling her five years into her future all in one day. In the dream, she wakes up in an unknown apartment, with an entirely different man. This vision has the potential to alter her entire life forever. When she wakes up the following morning, she cannot shake how real it all seemed, but does her best to bury it. Her best friend, Bella, couldn't be more different than her, wild, whimsical and living life on edge. Despite their differences, Bella has always been a constant in Dannie's life. A couple years down the road, she meets the very man from her dream. Dannie's five-year plan begins to unravel as she moves closer and closer to the moment she lived in her dream. A beautiful story of loyalty, friendship and love.

Serle has crafted a literary treat with In Five Years - the story, the characters, the setting, the writing, the flow, I could go on and on. This was not the story I was expecting, it was so much more - an ode to friendship, a different take on love. It made me laugh and it certainly made me cry, but most of all it made me embrace life. The friendship aspect is one of the reason I loved this one so much. I'm hopeful this is the start of a new sub-genre celebrating the different types of love, not just romantic love. The uniqueness, emotional depth and unpredictability made this a 5-star read for me.

There's a reason this book is everywhere - it's a story unlike any other and I cannot recommend it enough! If you're looking for something a little different, stop what you're doing and get yourself a copy! If you loved One Day or Me Before You, you need to read In Five Years. Even if you don't read romance novels, you NEED to read this one. Lastly, it would make a perfect book club selection, especially one involving your closest girlfriends. This story was simply a breath of fresh air during a particularly difficult time for me. I cannot wait to read for of Rebecca Serle's work!

Content Warnings; There are definitely some elements to this book that may be difficult for some readers, but I cannot list them without spoiling the story. If you are concerned, feel free to reach out to me.

This book is beautiful. The best thing is that I started reading it without knowing the synopsis. The story takes place in New York City, Dannie Cohan is ready for the interview for her dream job. After the interview, she arrives home to dress nicely for that night. Her boyfriend has prepared a date in a majestic building that has a beautiful view. In the restaurant, something unexpected happens, David, her boyfriend, proposes to her. Well, Dannie feels that her life is wonderful. She thinks that she will be able to fulfill the plan that she has designed for the next five years. However, when Dannie wakes up the next day in an apartment that is unfamiliar to her. Then, she realizes that suddenly she is in a different department. Not only that, but next to her she doesn't see her fiance, but a very different man. Dannie is shocked and starts wondering what happened to David. Another anomaly she noticed is that the year is no longer 2020, but 2025, the future. Dannie is disconcerted. She barely bears that day. The next day Dannie is in her rightful time, she can't believe what occurred, and she wants to find out who is that man from the future. An incredibly beautiful book, I could hardly stop reading it since I wanted to know what was going to happen with Dannie. I imagined the landscapes of New York City, and that scene in which David proposes to her is a magical dream. The story made me think of the importance of living life to its fullest. This book touched my heart and that I will hardly forget. I thank NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I read this book in one snow day by the fire and that is exactly how you should read this. This is a romance, sort of, but mostly a love story of two best friends. It has been on my radar for a while but I never picked it up because I hated the cover!
I really liked the main friendship and some of the other primary characters (although I thought some of them could have been fleshed out a bit more and not just meant to be foils for the leads). The thing that holds this book together is the friendship and how the character's definitions of love can change over time. If you're looking for a "cozy romance" without most of the romance (there is still some), please ignore the misleading and blah cover and pick this up. (For fans of Kristin Hannah or Jill Santopolo).

Thank you to Netgalley for the copy for review.

In Five Years was a book that pulled me in to Dannie's life - she is a corporate lawyer and a planner. She knew from a young age she wanted to be a lawyer, and planned out her strategy to get there and her dream job at the best law firm in the country. She has also planned out her engagement to her long time boyfriend, David. However, after the engagement, they head home and Dannie falls asleep from exhaustion, having a dream 5 years into the future where she is with another man. Dannie wakes up completely shaken by the dream. Why would she have this dream? Who was this man that she was with?

This book will pull you in to Dannie's life pulling at all your emotional heartstrings. There are a lot of twists in this book that were perfectly written, making me a crying mess as I finished it. I loved the characters, and although I didn't get all the references of NYC locations, restaurants, and high end fashion, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This was so unique. It wasn't a typical romance novel, but it was incredibly good. Heartbreaking and tender to the fullest.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The basis of the book was good, but I think the book fell far short of its potential. I had a hard time liking any of the characters; most of them seemed to be self-centered. I was also very disappointed in the ending.

Sometimes a book comes along that is exactly what you need at the moment. That's what “In Five Years” was for me. Partly because it’s a love story with a bit of magic. Partly because I adored the friendship between the two very different main characters: pragmatic Dannie and whimsical Bella. This book gave me all the feels, a few laughs and maybe a few tears. It is Me Before You by Jojo Moyes meets Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin. Best paired with whitefish salad on a bagel.

This book did not disappoint. I knew it would be a good one since I devoured Rebecca’s first book, The Dinner List, in the same amount of time. I felt like I related to Dannie so much with the type A behavior. I loved how strong of a character she was and that she was able to realize what she needed and wanted out of life towards the end. I went into this thinking it was going to be a good love story, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a great story about friendship, loyalty, and destiny. Y’all need to pick this one up ASAP!⁣

In Five Years is a beautifully written book. I went into it not really knowing what it was about and while I normally don’t do that, I think it was a great way to approach the story.
Dannie somehow wakes up five years in the future, with a man who is not her current fiancé, but is hot as hell so she goes with it. All is fine for a bit, until in the present day, Dannie meets her best friend’s new boyfriend, and he is none other than her future fiancé. Yikes, right? I can’t say much more other than I was surprised at the way things turned out. The storyline was deep and emotional in a way that I was not expecting at all. I highly recommend this book.
4.5 stars.