I am so confused!

This book takes you on a roller-coaster of emotions and I’m left speechless and not necessarily in a good way.

From the premise you go in expecting a romance. You definitely don’t get that.

Dannie is a planner (except of her own wedding it seems...), she hits all the marks according to her life-long plan except getting married.

Why is that, you ask? Because on the day she gets engaged to her long term boyfriend everything happens according to plan until she takes a nap on the couch after a few celebratory drinks and has a dream. Or premonition I guess. She sees herself exactly five years later in a different apartment and with a different man, Aaron, than her fiancé and they engage in a steamy sexual encounter (according to her they were the best kisses and sex she ever had...).

Obviously, when she wakes up it’s awkward. She didn’t share this experience with anyone and proceeds with life as planned. Except she keeps delaying getting married. Fast-forward four years and a half and surprise surprise, she finally meets Aaron. Finally, right?! This is what we’ve all been waiting for because they book has been telling us since the start that Dannie and David (The fiancé) are too perfect for each other and we know it won’t last anyway so this is the moment we’ve been waiting for. Except (yet again), Aaron is her best friend’s new boyfriend turned fiancé.

But we know what’s going to happen in a few months. Dannie and Aaron will be together. Yes and no. This is the point where the book lost me. You see, I would have been okay with it if they hadn’t kissed before Bella dies of cancer. Because, yes, that’s why she’s out of the picture at the end of the book, not because they broke up, but because she dies. That’s why it infuriated me.

I freaking loved Dannie and Bella’s friendship, it was the only thing that salvaged the book for me, but even that was tainted by secrets and betrayal. I don’t give a rat’s ass if Bella wouldn’t have minded, like Aaron implies at the end, when she didn’t even know to have an opinion on it.

And then Dannie doesn’t even end up with Aaron, it’s implied she’ll go on to have a relationship with the oncologist who treated Bella. Like WTF. Honestly I’m glad she doesn’t end up with Aaron but I would have rather she stayed single and didn’t have any other man waiting for her...

I would have preferred this be a friendship book without any romance aspect thrust into it or at least that their friendship was stronger than Dannie’s lack of sexual fulfilment in her relationship with David.

I couldn’t sympathise with either Dannie nor Aaron knowing how the story would end. Dannie was such a hard character to relate to and she felt so rigid, which I guess is the point, and despite the unrealistic “character development” she goes through, I still didn’t find it any easier to like her.

I’m just emotionally drained from all this mess. I’m sorry to say that I’m super disappointed with how it turned out. I’m glad I’m in the minority.

If there was ever a collection of books that took me down an unexpected road from what I was expecting, In Five Years would sit very comfortably among them. Dannie Kohan is a high-flying lawyer with a type-A personality who likes to work everything to a strict timeline, which has worked incredibly well for her. She has the life she’s always planned and dreamt of – a man she loves and is engaged to, a career she’s passionate about with all of it taking place in a city she loves. Yet, on the night of her engagement, she dreams of her life 5 years ahead and it is not at all how she planned out and not who she planned it with at all.

I’ll start with the good stuff first. The premise of the story is brilliant – that the five-year plan of a type-A high flyer is turned on its head by a dream is the stuff of movies. How often have we watched films or TV shows about highly strung, organised people with their eyes set on a certain goal learning a valuable lesson in accepting that life can throw curveballs and won’t always go to plan? Commendably, the story touches on ovarian cancer bringing a women’s health issue to the fore. More importantly, the unexpectedly tragic turn of events that change the entire context of the dream made me want to keep reading to see how Dannie ends up with a different man that night. With a winning premise, I was mesmerisingly compelled to pick up In Five Years.

While the tagline of the book, “This is a love story but not the love story you’re expecting”, is dropping hints that the story we await isn’t going to take place here, the pace of the book and the writing style don’t do the premise any favours. I managed to whizz through the story in the space of 3 days but was left feeling a strange void where too much happens without allowing the reader to process a timeline of how quickly things progress. Dannie’s life since dream jumps 4.5 years ahead and in the last 6 months leading up to the day of her dream, so much happens to her that when the events of her dream finally take place, they’re a result of emotions that haven’t been expressed before. In addition to this, the dialogue of that day doesn’t seem to match the context resulting in a convoluted anticlimax that left me more confused than clarified. Am I disappointed that the story I was expecting didn’t take place? Yes and no. Yes, because I would like to have seen that story written and yet no, because this is still a beautiful love story of friendship between Dannie and her best friend, Bella. However, it appears that the onus on filling in the blanks lies more with the reader, not the writer.

In Five Years starts out with a great deal of promise setting up Dannie’s character and her lifestyle, yet she ends up being too well-adjusted to her changing circumstances in an almost mechanical way. Considering the gravity of the issues addressed in the book, I expected much more depth from the peripheral characters as well as from Dannie’s character development; she comes off as wooden without further detail. Instead, we jump from her being type-A to taking life as it comes without any real build-up because the writing doesn’t flesh out enough about the characters’ personalities and the changes they undergo choosing to have things happen to them without any emotional reflection or clarity on the panic and grief they must be feeling. I commend Rebecca Serle for writing a story of friendship rather than romance but skimming over character history and emotional state for plot development made this a confusing read instead of one that should have taken me on a rollercoaster of emotions for the loss of all involved.

It’s not that I didn’t like how the story turned out, but that I wanted to feel more and quite unfortunately, I didn’t feel anything leaving a void for a story that this could have been. Essentially, In Five Years is a book with a fantastic premise and an unpredictable twist yet is ultimately let down by its inability to express the profundity of the circumstances at a slower pace and lack of better character development.

🌌WHEN THE EVENING SHADOWS AND THE STARS APPEAR⠀
AND THERE IS NO ONE THERE TO DRY YOUR TEARS⠀
I COULD HOLD YOU FOR A MILLION YEARS ⠀
TO MAKE YOU FEEL MY LOVE🌌⠀
⠀
I think this goes well with the relationships throughout this book. ⠀
⠀
Now where do I start.....⠀
This story got me in so many places that I had to stop reading at some parts, my heart hurt, I was booing like a bitch, snotty nose and had to have a few breathers as gave myself a headache from crying 😭⠀
⠀
This was my most anticipated read of the year so far, even got my friends entering giveaways for me 🤣 (@readinginlipstick & @bookish_and_brews_ thank you 😘) ⠀
I ended up being approved on @netgalley and thank you @quercusbooks very grateful 😍 I literally squealed when I got the email!!!⠀
⠀
Dannie seems to have the perfect life, great partner, an amazing best friend who always stands by her even though she does think that Bella makes some wrong decisions.⠀
She plans things in numbers even when she thinks is the right time to get engaged, which is what happens the night she has a dream about a completely different future, 5 years in the future to be exact 😱 ⠀
⠀
I connected so much with the characters especially Bella (MY FAVE) who Dannie mothered a lot but towards the end it was really the other way round ❤ ⠀
Their friendship and for each other is just the stuff of dreams, it really hurt my heart with some of their parts together 👭⠀
⠀
I have always been a believer in fate and destiny, and I feel that dreams happen for a reason. ⠀
And that maybe our soulmates are already here such as our best friends. ⠀
⠀
I am giving this stunning book ⠀
🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 as I think because I 'needed' to read this so much and little things didn't live up to what I wanted them to be, it took my excitement away a little. But saying that I loved this, it was written beautifully and the plot is very heart wrenching and believable. ⠀
I need to read more by Rebecca Serle for sure 👌 ⠀
Oh and you will deffo need tissues 💯⠀
⠀
My instagram is emmies_best_books if want to see my full review ❤

What a beautiful book. Very heart warming about a beautiful friendship with an unexpected twist.
It is one of those books that gives you a warm glow in your heart. It makes you happy and sad all at the same time.
Just loved it and can’t recommend it enough,

I started this book with high expectations having seen lots of social media activity about it, I was expecting a nice love story, judging by the blurb a will they won’t they type, but it didn’t and the twist wasn’t what I expected or wanted to read about.. sorry

I started this on the plane to Portugal and was hooked right away. Before I knew it, I was half way. This was when the book really unfolded, and things started to unravel. I also become an emotional mess. Sitting in my hotel room one night balling my eyes out, was not part of the plan!

This was more than a story based on romance, as it tackled some tough issues, while dealing with a loving friendship at the same time.

Dannie has just got engaged to David. On the night of the engagement she falls asleep only to wake up five years later, with another man. It was just a dream, but why did it feel so real?! I have never read a book like this before so was interesting to see where the story would go with this. Four and a half years later she bumps into that same man from her dreams.

I liked Dannie but I thought she was very controlling and the way she liked to plan things was extreme. From planning her career to dating a guy to her engagement to then marrying him. Surly nothing could be that smooth. Some of her choices were questionable too.

I liked how the reader captured Dannie and David’s relationship. They both had high powered careers and work come first. The engagement should have been wow but I think something was lacking with this proposal. Without giving too much away you could feel how they just existed together.

Dannie and Bella are more like sisters than best friends having grown up with each other. Always there for each other, they had a special friendship which was lovely. I loved Bella. She had a loving, carefree, wild free spirit, the opposite of Dannie. Yet this friendship worked.

I’m a massive believer in fate so this story totally engrossed me. I just kept thinking how this is going to end. Will Bella stay with her finance David, or who was this man in the dream. Did they have more chemistry? Would Bella settle down? Was Dannie destined for another path not part of her five-year plan?

Well, this did not turn out to be the type of book I expected it to be. Not at all! But in a good way. "In Five Years" is essentially about friendship and love. Rebecca Serle guides us through the journey of Dannie's seemingly well planned out life with some extremely poignant reflections and realisations along the way. Hard to review without spoilers but suffice it to say it's a great read!

I enjoyed this book overall but I just admit that I wasn't fully invested in the story and its characters. I felt like the main character, Dannie, just was a little flat and dull. I understand that that was kind of the point as her life was without 'colour' and was quite stale and boring. I did appreciate seeing how she evolved as a character but I wasn't cheering her on from the sidelines if I'm honest. The one aspect of this book that I really appreciated was the strong friendship depicted. Dannie and Bella are more sisters than best friends and their relationship was the most important one at the end of all things. I did enjoy how it wasn't your typical romance story and ended in a different way than usual but I just felt like something was lacking.

Fantastic portrayal of friendship and it definitely tugged on the heartstrings at time. It also made me feel very nostalgic about my trip to New York years ago so maybe that was the stand out character in my mind? Who knows, but it was an okay read overall.

4,5 Stars

Everything the blurb says is correct, still the book turned out so very different from what I expected. Different but good. Very good indeed!
It's still a story about love and relationships, but in equal measures also about friendship. About closeness, loyalty, loss, gain, wedding, sickness, health, food, parents, lawyers, doctors, New York City. And about destiny! That is kind of the central question for Dannie: can you mold your own future, or is it going to happen the way it's meant to be no matter what?

I couldn't always relate to the main character Dannie, but I felt sympathetic towards her nevertheless. And I really enjoyed Rebecca Serles way of telling this story as well as the ending she chose.

I haven’t read anything by this author before, but it gripped me from the start. A beautiful story, with wonderful characters to boot. What’s not to like?!

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

A difficult book to review without giving away too much, but I will try.

First off I loved that it was set in New York and had lots of references to places I knew and also some scenes set in DUMBO. I also liked that the main character is a lawyer. So, it was light but not fluffy and I liked the inclusion of her work meetings and the dialogue.

I found the writing to be fairly pacey and again that fitted with the New York setting and there was a certain sassiness about it. Especially between Dannie and her friend Bella.

The dream in the blurb happens in chapter 3 so fairly early on in the book and then really it is a snap back to the present day until we obviously get to the period the dream was set in. Will the dream be a prophecy or just a dream?

I felt exasperated at times with the relationship between Dannie and Bella - all I can say is that there were some very sad and poignant scenes too. A few twists definitely kept my interest.

I never really found myself thinking this was a romance novel whilst I was reading it. So much happens that I just got caught up in Dannie's life and ultimately the date of 15th December 2025 getting nearer. I read it in a couple of sittings, as once I got into it I just couldn't put it down.

I don’t normally go for the love story genre, but this had me gripped from the start and pretty soon I found myself over half way through and desperate to keep going. It’s a beautiful tale of friendship and love. Highly recommend.

This a great read from a new author.
It is heartbreaking which took me by surprise - so have the tissues ready! It had a different style of writing to what I like but it was still very good. I look forward to reading more books from this author.

Dannie Kohan knows exactly she wants from life and has a detailed five-year plan. Just when everything seems to be falling into place with her career and relationship, she has a vivid dream-experience in which she wakes up five years in the future in the company of a man she has never met. Dannie shakes the experience off as just a dream, but four and a half years later she sets eyes on the man from her dream and her five-year plan crumbles apart. Dannie finds herself questioning her priorities in life and what love means to her.

This is a powerful, emotional story. I should have paid more attention when I requested this book from NetGalley, as the book is described as ‘heart-breaking’, and it certainly is! For me personally, I struggle with this kind of book and am not keen on sad books. It’s definitely not all doom-and-gloom, but once I got towards the end of the book, it took me a while to finish because I had to be in the right mood to continue reading. I did, however, feel good when I finished the book, and it definitely packed an emotional punch.

It took me a while to warm to Dannie’s character as her lifestyle and personality are so far removed from mine; she is an ambitious, wealthy lawyer with a glamourous New York lifestyle. But as the novel progressed, I started to like Dannie more as her past and the depths of her character are revealed.

The dream-experience where Dannie momentarily jumps five years into the future didn’t feature in the novel as much as I expected and for a long time didn’t seem strictly necessary to the plot. However, by the end of the story everything comes full-circle and fits neatly into place, so it was an effective plot device.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories full of emotion and people who like to read about love and beautiful friendships.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus books for the opportunity to read and review this title.

I think this book has been hyped up far too much. I went into it thinking it would be the best thing I’d read all year. It wasn’t and the main character was fairly annoying and hard to relate to

Amazing, heartfelt novel with twists and turns at every angle. A story of love, friendship, relationship, ambition, compassion. Characters are easily likeable and easy to understand and relate to. A story about life. Highly recommend.

Ok, honest opinion time. I have seen a lot of my favourite bookstagrammers raving about this book and showering it with 5 star reviews. So I had high hopes. But I must have a heart of stone because this book didn't move me AT ALL.
Dannie is a high flying hot shot lawyer, engaged to David. They have a five year plan to get married and get to the top in their professions. But one night, after getting engaged, Dannie has a premonition that in 2025 she will be living in an apartment on the other side of the city and making love to a handsome man who isn't her fiance.
Fast forward a few years and Dannie and David still aren't married, but in a twist of fate she meets her handsome man, in real life and he's going out with her best friend Bella.
At only 272 pages things move along at a brisk pace and you don't really get any detail or depth to the story. I didn't really connect or care about any of the characters. The characters are privileged and always dropping names of brands/fancy shops. It's less a romance novel and more about the friendship of Dannie and Bella. I could feel it trying to be an emotional tear jerker, but it just didn't get me.

Safe to say this book didn’t disappoint! It’s been a while since i have read chick lit, I’ve been on the memoirs and crime/thriller bandwagon for a while, but this was exactly what i needed. I couldn’t put it down and read it at every opportunity.
It’s full of love, friendship and heart break, with twists and turns too.
I really connected to Dannie as i am someone that loves a plan and likes to now what i am doing. I don’t want to say too much, as i like to keep my reviews as spoiler free as possible but this book shows you that love isn’t necessarily the person you wake up with every morning, don’t ever underestimate the love between friends.
I will be keeping my eye out for other Rebecca Serle books.

Wow what an absolutely breathtaking and stunning book. This is one that I have impatiently been trying to get my hands on for absolutely ages. It definitely hasn't disappointed.
I am one hideous crying mess after finishing this book. Serle takes us on a journey through friendships, relationships and a busy career. I am literally blown away by this book and I have found it utterly impossible to put down.
This is my first read by this author (this book is published March 10th 2020) but it definitely won't be the last. This is written in a way which is easy to follow and lose yourself in the events taking place in the pages.
I fell in love with the characters in this book very early on. I particularly enjoyed the strong friendship throughout. It's definitely a five star read for me, I have absolutely adored every single moment of reading this book. I'm excited to read more by this author.

I’ve seen this book all over bookstagram in the last few months and if I’m honest, from reading the blurb, I thought I was in for a slushy romance novel, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

In Five Years follows corporate lawyer Dannie, who feels like she has her life all planned out. The career, the boyfriend, the best friend, the house. Until she has a dream where all she has planned doesn’t come true and she finds herself fighting against what the future has in store.

The storyline of In Five Years touches on so many topics such as love, compromising, grief and heartbreak.

I did find some elements of the book predictable and the ending for me wasn’t what I was hoping for really but overall, a lovely easy read which is going to be ideal for the summer or if you’re heading on holiday.
.

Thanks to @netgalley and @quercusbooks for offering me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.