Dannie seems like she has it all. The job, the New York City life and apartment to boot, the love of her life by her side and her best friend, always there for her but when she wakes up in another life five years in to the future everything changes.

She puts off her wedding, for reasons she cant explain and when tragedy strikes her life turns up side down. Will she make it through and work out when and why things went so wrong.

This book didnt pull me in the way others do and I didnt get hooked but I will say the last quarter was engaging. I found it all a bit predictable but certainly didnt see some of poignant story lines coming towards the end and this kind of made it for me. It's an easy read, very sad at times but perfect to take your mind off reality and live in someone's else's shoes for a short while.

The characters are quite loveable and realistic and the relationships between Dannie and Bella is relatable. A nice lock down read.

Dannie has planned out her entire life; her job and her relationship. She is going to marry David and she is going to climb the ladder as a lawyer. However, one night she sleeps and dreams about a night five years ahead. She tries to forget this and move on with her plans, yet she is unable to forget that night and her plans slowly start to unravel as this particular night nears.
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I have to be honest and say that this book didn’t one hundred percent work for me. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I just didn’t get into the story. I wasn’t completely attached to the characters and I was not grabbed by the storyline.
I spent the first half of the book deciding whether or not I wanted to continue reading it. I wasn’t really sure where it was heading and I didn’t really become invested in Dannie’s story. All I really gathered was that she was into facts and numbers. However, I am glad I continued reading as all of a sudden, everything that has been building starts to unravel all at once and I had no idea what I was reading.
I was very emotional in the last half of the book, and I have to say that the saving grace of this book is the friendship that Dannie has with Bella. This is a friendship that everyone longs to have in their life and I was incredibly misty eyed (more like sobbing!) at the events that unfolded towards the ending of this novel. Overall, I rated this book a 3/5 because Dannie and Bella’s friendship and their love for each other made the trudge through the first half of the book almost worth it.

A wonderfully charming and delightful read about love and friendship. A Simply lovely read, and feel good story.

Beautiful story everyone needs
a best friend.This is the story of two best friends really loved this story.

I'm not sure what to make of this book. The dream sequence left me wondering if I was reading a story that had time travel in it, or whether it was just a premonition. To be honest, maybe I'm still not sure. In its purest form, it was a story about friendship and love and that part of it was really well written. But I struggled to totally get into the story.

I am not a fan of this type of book but I had heard so much I wanted to read it. It fell flat for me but so many of my friends loved it. Too bad...

This book was not what I thought it would be at all but it was so much better. It had a clever twist early on and kept me guessing - I thought I had guessed the plot early on but I wasn’t even close and even until the last chapter I didn’t know how the story would end. I would have liked a couple more chapters to see a bit more of the story or an epilogue a few months down the line. I would love to read a sequel though as I think there is still so much to to find out about especially what is next for Dannie and Aaron.


I will be definitely looking for other stories from this author.

After hearing so much about this book I was really looking forward to reading this book and I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest!

Billed as “a love story but not the one you’re expecting” is just a perfect way of describing this book, you really don’t expect the turn the story takes and even when you think you are that one step ahead it turns in the other direction yet again.

Telling the story of Dannie Kohan, a successful Manhattan lawyer who plans every aspect of her life down to the age she will get married, when she will get promoted etc, everything can be plotted using dates. But after a “dream” shocks her she begins to wonder if this was just a dream after all...

I loved all the references to New York and loved the emotions that this book creates. Yes it is a story about love but not necessarily in the usual romantic way, instead in a way everyone who reads this book will connect with. I read this book in less than 24 hours as it had me so enthralled, it is amazing and heartbreaking all at the same time. A must-read that will definitely make you think about the important things in life.

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In Five Years is a beautiful and heart-warming tale about love in its many guises. Dannie Kohan has her life all mapped out. Get the job, get the husband, get the apartment in Gramercy, NY. All seems to be going to plan, until the night her boyfriend proposes to her. That evening, she falls asleep and has a glimpse into a different life. Five years from now she is with a different man, in a different apartment. She struggles to shake this vision, this dream, this alternative reality. So when her best friend Bella meets the love of her life, and it turns out to be the man from her dream, she is shaken and determined to get back on track with her five year plan. Bella and the dream man Greg, are head over heels but seeing their adoration, Dannie is starting to question her choices. When Bella becomes ill, she forces Dannie to face up to the fact that she is not in love. And when Dannie questions whether she is capable of true love, Bella assures her she is - "You are. You know how I know? Because that's how you love me". Their enduring friendship is the true love story of this book. And as her prophetic dream comes true, she is finally able to choose life - fully and without any plans.

For a book editor, I am a relatively slow reader. However, I absolutely raced through Rebecca Serle's IN FIVE YEARS. It was a delight to read and with an enduring message of no matter how hard you work towards your ideal life – where you'll be in five years time – the fates have a tendency to throw you a curveball.

With fun and lively characters and quick, witty dialogue, it's easy to get lost in the world of Bella and Dannie. I lost all of my Sunday to this delightful book, but I don't regret any of it.

As I said the other day, as we wallow in lockdown, now is the time to embrace feel-good escapist fiction and IN FIVE YEARS is simply perfect for that.

Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan is your typical ambitious and focussed 20-something-year-old who thinks that by landing the job of her dreams and getting engaged to a perfect man, she’s on track towards achieving the life she has always wanted. On the night she gets engaged, she falls asleep to have the most astoundingly audacious dream of waking up next to a different man, wearing a different ring and thanks to the TV in the background, she realizes that she is five years into her future. When Dannie wakes up to her present-day life, she decides it would be best to ignore the dream which felt so absurdly real.

In Five Years celebrates the beauty of friendships, of relationships which are not destined to us by birth but by sheer happenstance of being in the right place at the right time, and meeting one’s person, in Dannie’s case, her best friend – the bright and vivacious Bella who is impulsive, carefree, affluent – basically the polar opposite of our assiduous protagonist. .
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Reading this heart-warming story made me realise that even though we feel that we might be on the path to living our best lives, we don’t really know what life has in store for us. And even if we get the slightest premonition, it is not up to us to vehemently reject a supposed life which is not in tune with what we thought would be best for us. A book like this also has an important message of living life in the moment, instead of meticulously planning things in advance. A message which rings mortifying true as we begin to reel from an epidemic which has come out of nowhere and altered the course of our lives.

This is the first book I read by this author and I loved it so much, I don't even know how to describe all the feelings I felt while reading it. In Five Years starts like a typical chick lit but develops into so much more, I couldn't put the book down. The story will make you feel all sort of things and will grab your heart and soul. I loved the characters and must admit I cried when I finished the book.
I cannot write too much because I don't want to spoil anything but I really recommend this book.

Thank you to the publisher who provided me with an e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy, how do I start this review? I personally feel that it’s impossible to review In Five Years by Rebecca Serle without any spoilers but I’ll give it a try.

The book started with Dannie, with her perfect life and perfect fiancee, having a dream about something that takes place five years in the future. Had the dream really happened in real life, Dannie’s life would change – and Dannie wasn’t sure she was ready for it. As a reader, I love the way the author told us the dream. For us, we may think that we know how it’s gonna go. However, the more you read the more you’ll realise that the story is not that predictable.

My main focus in reading the book was to see whether the dream happened; making it one of the reasons on why I keep on turning the pages. The story unpredictability was one of my favourite elements of the book. I personally was quite sure that this is going to be a romance book, with all the cliched relationship stuff that we usually got. How wrong was I.

In Five Years was an emotional story with many twists and turns. It touched on friendships, on one’s ambition, and on fate & destiny – how one must choose to do what’s right for one’s self. I bawled my eyes out reading the ending of the book. I love how the story portrays the different loves in one’s life. The book is touching and left a deep impression on me. Definitely a book to read for all the readers out there!

Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan is one of life’s great planners. In fact, from the moment she wakes in the morning to when she falls asleep at night, Dannie plans her days down to the minute. It’s not just her days Dannie plans; it’s her weeks, months and years, too. On the day we meet her, Dannie plans to ace her job interview at a prestigious law firm. Which she does. She also plans on her boyfriend, David, proposing marriage during a celebratory dinner at New York’s iconic Rainbow Room. Done. What Dannie doesn’t plan on, though, is a dream which propels her five years into the future; a dream in which far from being happily married to David, Dannie instead finds herself in a strange apartment getting intimately acquainted with a man she has never laid eyes on before.


Well, that wasn’t in Dannie’s five year plan! But it was just a dream, right? Maybe. But it felt so real.

As the action moves forward four-and-a-half years, we expect to find Dannie married to David. That’s not the case. Whatever happened to that plan? Dannie and David are still together. Still seemingly happy, too. However, meticulous planner Dannie somehow hasn’t gotten around to planning her wedding. She insists this isn’t a big deal; insists that everything is still on track. While that strange dream from five years ago sometimes plays on her mind, to the point where she discusses it with her therapist, Dannie knows that it was just a dream. After all, it couldn’t possibly be real. The guy from Dannie’s dream isn’t in her life. He’s not on her radar. He doesn’t exist. And then he does. His name is Aaron Gregory. And he’s dating Dannie’s best friend, Bella.

Now that definitely wasn’t in Dannie’s five year plan!

You might be thinking right around now that In Five Years sounds like a fun read - pure escapism. Let me stop you right there. In Five Years is not the book you think it to be. Also, this is a difficult one to review without veering into spoiler territory, so I’ll stop right there. What I will say is that is that In Five Years, at its core, is a book about friendship. The central relationship of this book is not between David and Dannie, nor is it between Dannie and Aaron Gregory. Instead the true romance of this story belongs to Dannie and Bella, the kind of lifelong friends who are there for each through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, no matter what. Dannie knows for sure that she would never betray Bella – but that dream of five years ago is still playing on her mind. And then, one day, Dannie walks into an apartment, which though strange, seems so very familiar. It is the apartment from Dannie’s dream. It is also the beginning of Dannie’s living nightmare.

A tender and heartfelt tale of love, friendship, and best-laid-plans gone awry, Rebecca Serles’s In Five Years will take you by surprise in the very best way.



Read it if you liked One Day by David Nicholls, The First Last Kiss by Ali Harris, Everything I KnowAbout Love by Dolly Alderton.


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What a great book. I loved this. The only downside was the heroine was almost completely unlikeable. But the concept and plot were clever, totally unpredictable and the ending was perfect. Without realising it I’d have been disappointed if it had ended in the style of a romance. A wonderfully complex story.

I read In Five Years in 2 days, it had me hooked quickly. `I really enjoyed the interaction of the two friends, i think i related to this most how your lives sometimes go in different directions but your true friends are always there. I loved the back drop of New York, perfect for taking to me another place in lock down. It is light, enjoyable and faces many sad realities, recommended.
Thank you to Net gallery who supplied as an ARC for an honest review.

I could not get into this book. I read until about 45% and still could not connect with the characters and had some issues with the plot. The whole dream/ event was strange than the best friends boyfriend.??? Could not see where the story was going and sorry but didn't feel I could continue reading.

"In Five Years" is the prime example that there can be good and bad chick lit. And this book was amazing!
Dannie is a woman that has her whole life planned before her: a successful corporate lawyer, with a perfect boyfriend and engagement, and a rich best friend to see her through life. Until she experiences something that she can't wrap her head around: she sees herself 5 years in the future, and sees that everything is completely different. This realisation sticks with her throughout, as she does all the "right" things to not get to that moment and to change the future.
I absolutely loved this book and would definitely recommend it, even to people who don't like this genre.

Meet Dannie. She's a type-A lawyer living in Manhattan with her equally high flying boyfriend David. When asked about her five plan, she has a solid answer - she knows exactly where she will be in five years. Until one night, she falls asleep, and wakes up five years in the future, in a different apartment, wearing a different ring, and next to a different man. When she wakes up, she tells herself to forget about her premonition. And she does. Until four and a half years later, when she finds herself stood in front of the man from her dream...

Ok, so I will admit that I went into this one expecting chick-lit. Good chick-lit, on the basis of the synopsis, but still chick-lit. But boy oh boy, what you get is a million times better. First of all, while this is a love story, it's definitely not the romance you might be expecting. There are obviously romantic relationships in the book, but the true story at the heart of it is of Dannie and her lifelong best friend Bella. The two women are complete opposites, and I will admit that when compared to Bella Dannie can come across as a bit of a challenge. Bella is this gorgeous free spirit of a woman who embraces everything that happens to her and wants to live a beautiful life, whereas Dannie is a workaholic control freak who can be infuriating at times. But then you get this great almost redemption arc throughout the book where she gradually lets go of the reigns a bit and becomes far more likeable.

The writing is also beautiful. Early on in the book, I was struck by one description of Bella: ‘She is the easiest to love, and gives love freely. But she’s fragile, too. A membrane of skin stretched so thinly over her emotions it’s always threatening to burst.’ How perfect is that? Honestly, the writing throughout the book is lyrical and beautiful and almost literary if that makes sense? In some ways, it reminded me of Alice Hoffman's writing, and her talent for creating small turns of phrase that just echo with a real beauty.

Now, I'm not going to say any more than that about the book itself, as I think it's one that is best gone into blind. But what I will say is that 'In Five Years' is not even close to what you'll expect. It's so much more. The prose is stunning, the characters are so vivid they're almost in the room with you, and the plot is heartbreaking and poignant but also really life-affirming. It's one of those books that makes you want to change your life and be a better, more joyful person who really lives life to the full.

'In Five Years' is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. It's immediately become my book of the year (I know it's only April but I really don't see this one being topped!), and it now has a firm place in my list of top 10 favourite books ever. I urge everyone to read it - you won't regret it.

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to receive an advance reading copy from NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

I loved this book, thank you NetGalley for sending me an ARC of this wonderful book. I’ve devoured this book in one day. I loved the characters, the concept and it’s really had me hooked. I was moved to tears in parts and felt really invested in these characters lives. Really recommend.