Member Reviews
I was sent this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.
In Five Years is an unusual book for me in that I wasn't expecting the big twist, but I was relieved when it came, as it was the right ending!
Dannie is one of 'those' women - the ones that most of us think we would like to be - bright, successful, great boyfriend, clear plan for the rest of her life. By her own admission, she is a 'paint by numbers' kind of girl. So when she has a dream that puts her in a completely different scenario with a man she's never seen before, she is stunned but dismisses it as exactly that, a dream. Until she meets the man from the dream and he becomes part of her life, but not in the way that she imagined.
This is a good story, with an unexpected twist- recommended.
As soon as I saw a photo of a book reviewer’s tearstained face captioned In Five Years I knew I had to read the book immediately. Luckily the Netgalley gods concurred and less than twenty-four hours later it was sat on my Kindle waiting for me to dive in. I read it in less than a day and although I’m not going to inflict a picture of my tearstained face on you, tears there most definitely were.
The premise is this: It’s evening in New York and Dannie is celebrating. She is on the cusp of having everything she’s ever wanted - she’s just interviewed for the job of her dreams and her boyfriend has proposed. David, her new fiancé is perfect. Their dreams align: they are driven, career-minded people with ambitions to own an apartment overlooking Gramercy Park. One day they want kids. The job and the proposal are their first steps towards making that joint life they both want – but back in their apartment celebrating their engagement Dannie falls asleep and experiences a vivid dream. A dream so vivid it seems real. She is five years in the future, in an apartment in Brooklyn, with a man who is not David her fiancé but a man she is passionately attached to, a man she makes love to with a need and surety lacking in her relationship with her perfect fiancé. Waking up, the dream throws her for a while, but over time she forgets about it, concentrating on building the life she wants. Until four and half years later she sets out to meet her best friend at a restaurant and runs into the man from her dream. And everything changes.
You might think you know what you’re getting from that premise, I thought I knew, and that book would have been a really interesting, fun read. But In Five Years is so much more than. It’s sweet, sharp, unpredictable, clever, absorbing and unbearably sad. It’s about love in all its forms, about loss and friendship and how we can never plan the future, even if we have a premonition or a plan. I don’t want to give anything else away because you really need to discover it for yourself, so read this book, just arm yourself with a box of tissues first.
On the night Dannie gets engaged to David, she wakes up five years into the future in a different apartment and with a different man in bed with her. After an intense hour she wakes again at midnight and finds herself back in 2020. Then four and a half years later, she meets the very same man from her vision.
The story started off well, and I was really enjoying it. I liked the friendship between Dannie and Bella. I didn’t connect very well with Dannie though and I’m not sure why. Bella though was a good character, fun, caring and unspontaneous. I was turning the pages quickly and then somewhere towards the end I think I missed something because I finished the book really confused about the ending. Hence the three stars.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
When I read the blurb of this book I was really intrigued and just had to request it. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I genuinely couldn't put it down until I found out what happened to all of its beautiful characters, and I'll be encouraging everyone I know to pre-order before its release in March 2020.
Dannie Kohan knows exactly where her life will have taken her in five years time. She'll be married to her stable and loving boyfriend, David, in the job of her dreams, living in her lovely apartment.
Until one day she falls asleep and dreams that she's living somewhere different with a ring on her finger and a man who is not David. She dismisses it as just a dream but can never quite shake the memory. And then one day four and a half years later she meets the guy.
I
don't quite know what to say about this book without giving away too much. As a love story it is just irresistibly perfect, but the cover is accurate, in that it was absolutely not the kind of love story I was expecting. At all. And it's a stroke of genius.
For me, the book superbly captures the issues facing men and women in their late twenties and early thirties - career building, housing , family, relationships, marriage, navigating long friendships, mental and physical health, love and loss. But Rebecca Serle has also, within this authentic-feeling scenario, accomplished the task of creating a wonderfully likeable cast of characters, and written them into an original, addictive and perfectly paced storyline.
At just 272 pages long this book is a quick read but it certainly packs a punch. Be prepared to be inexorably pulled into Dannie's world, feel a myriad of conflicting emotions and cry all of the tears. I thought that I had guessed the ending from quite early on but I was so far off the mark I was basically on a different continent! If you enjoy an equally heartwarming and heartbreaking read (think Me Before You and One Day) I'd heartily recommend you give this one a go.
Written in an easy to read style, this novel is about friendship and relationships.. I wasn't prepared for the turn the story took. It was a moving portrayal of life but if you are looking for a love story, this isn't the book you are looking for. Loved the New York setting and the impact work can have on your relationships. I give this book 3.5 *
I probably shouldn't have requested this from Netgalley, as I'm not a big romance reader, but I loved The Flat Share so I thought I'd give this a go.
This novel would probably be great for people who like romance with a twist. It follows Dannie, who is an ambitious time lawyer with a five year plan for a perfect life. Everything seems to come together when she aces an interview and her boyfriend proposes to her on the same night - until she has a dream that seems a bit like a premonition, where she wakes up 5 years into the future in a different apartment, with a different man. When she wakes she is terrified, and lives her life for the next five years trying to not make that future happen. She almost forgets about it, until she meets the man from her dream later through a friend, and she has to question what she really wants. There is quite a good twist at the end, and her friendship with Bella was very sweet, but this just wasn't my type of book.
Hugely more intense and satisfying than I thought it would be when I started reading it. I have a feeling I'll be thinking of Bella and Dannie a long time in to the future. Read this book if you want to consider what friendship and love really are.
For a chic lit book I quite enjoyed this one. I liked the characterisation and I found the storyline very thought provoking and emotive.
Five Years On is a book with an original concept – Dannie wakes up to find herself five years in the future, living in a house she doesn’t recognise and engaged to a man who is not her current fiancée. Once she’s back in the present day, she tries to dismiss what she convinces herself was a vivid dream. Four and a half years slip by, and although Dannie thinks about her strange experience from time to time, she’s mostly happy with her life. That is, until her best friend introduces Dannie to her new man, Greg, and it turns out he’s the man from Dannie’s dream. Dannie panics – if her premonition was correct, within a few months she will destroy both her own life and the life of her best friend, and she only has months to make sure that her alternative future never happens!
I enjoyed this book immensely. It was gorgeously written, tugged at my heart strings and kept me guessing all the way as to how it was going to turn out. The ending, whilst unexpected, definitely did not disappoint. If you want a story that thinks ‘out of the box’ and still delivers a hefty emotional punch, this one’s for you.
I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book, it was a lovely and emotional story and also very unexpected. I will definitely be recommending this book.
A good example of how you can't take anything for granted. Just when you think your life is all planned out and on target, life throws you a curve ball. I cried and cried during some of the book but I couldn't stop myself from wanting to read on. The only criticism I would point out is that I felt the end didn't draw everything to a closure.
If you are looking for an easy read with a nice story then this book is for you. Very well written novel about Dani a woman who seems to have it all, a loving fiance, a fantastic job and a really good best friend. Her life seems to be going in accordance with her 5 year plan. But things happen that get in the way of plans. Her best friend is sick and Dani's life spirals away from that plan.
The book for me was a little too slow moving and became a little boring towards the end. Three stars!
Thank you to Netgalley and Quercia books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was an easy read, indeed I read it in almost one sitting and found myself wanting to read until the end to see what happened.
Once I got there however I felt unsatisfied with the outcome. The characters weren’t particularly likeable, and I found their actions questionable in comparison to how they acted in the beginning of the book.
I found it to be a story of friendship rather than a love story,
I had read great reviews of Rebecca Serle's last book "The Dinner List" but haven't got round to reading it yet, so when I had the opportunity to read "In Five Years" I was intrigued to give it a go. I was looking for an easy read, and in a way this was - I raced through it happily over a couple of days feeling completely absorbed in it, but it was also so much more than I expected. An interesting twist on the classic question of "Where do you see yourself in 5 years", it is a story about love, loss and friendship that draws you in, and takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. Well written, it made me smile and it made me cry and I was sad to come to the end. My first Rebecca Serle won't be my last and I thoroughly recommend it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Total Gorgeousness!
This book was a really pleasant surprise, I was expecting a nice romance and what I got was so much more than that. A romance with a difference. I was riveted, finished it in one weekend, I could have done it in one sitting but you know how families can get in the way of a good book!
I highly recommend but don't forget your tissues!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
I devoured this in one sitting. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I was drawn in to Dannie's story from page 1 and just had to know what happened next. The concept was so new and different and I just had to find out what happened in five years. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. I'll be raving about this to everyone I know!
I had high hopes for In Five Years after reading the synopsis, and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. There’s romance and comedy and plot twists like you wouldn’t believe. I couldn’t put it down. In Five Years was an absolute joy to read, the characters were flawed but relatable and the storyline was so intense. A five star read from me!
I didn't expect this to make me cry. I wanted a quick, breezy read and I wasn't prepared for tears.
I was intrigued by the premise for the author's previous novel, and so when I saw this on netgalley put in a request thinking it would be light and fun.
This book is very easy to read but as mentioned above not as fun as I'd hoped.
I liked how it was very definitely set in New York, although I have seen the city more artistically represented in other novels. I'm not sure how memorable this will prove to be, but it was a pleasant enough way to spend a few hours.
In five years is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions, all presented in a compelling, can't out down story.
It's a story that explores, love, loss, heartache, friendship, family, with laugh out loud moments littered throughout.
The main character Dannie, is presented as a hardened, career focused, empowered female. She understands exactly what she wants from life, and lives for structure and routine. Bella her lifelong best friend is the polar opposite, being spontaneous, romantic and live for the moment. But it is the differences in the two that provide such a strong bond.
When I started reading, and the story jumped forward as part of the dream, I was very tempted to stop at that point. It didn't draw me in at all. However, I am so glad I persevered. I laughed, cried and was highly invested as the story unfolded, and really routed for Bella!
Despite the rocky start, the novel really exceeded my expectations, and quickly became one of my favourite reads of the Year. I'm looking forward to reading more from Rebecca Serle in the future!
’Now, on the other side of midnight, we do not yet know what is coming. So be it. So let it be’
I was lucky enough to get an digital review copy of In Five Years by @rebecca_serle through @quercusbooks and @netgalley 🌃
This is actually the first time I’ve ever used the kindle app, or read a digital copy of anything - I much more of a physical book kind of girl (so pretty, so substantial) but after reading about this book I knew I didn’t want to miss it. I read through it in record time, not wanting to drop it for a minute.
In Five Years caught me off guard - I read the synopsis and I was sure I knew what it was about. I got twenty pages in and I was convinced I could guess the ending. Then, as I read further, all assumptions were thrown out the window. This is a lovely, moving, surprising story. Set in New York, just before Christmas - the quintessential romantic setting. In Five Years is the story of Dannie - late 20’s, mega successful, 5-year-planner New Yorker. With a thoughtful, albeit slightly boring boyfriend (sorry David), Dannie’s consistent daily grind seems more focused on achieving something in the future than experiencing anything in the present. It’s all going to plan until she wakes up with a jolt five years in the future. With the help of less grounded friends, Dannie eventually starts to loosen her grip. This isn’t your bog-standard rom-com. I expected a gentle simple read, maybe a love triangle, and an easy happy ending. This book, thanks to Rebecca Serle’s writing, throws you around and pulls at each and every heart string. Ultimately, this is a story about platonic love, and how often the people we love see more in us than we ever could.