I originally requested this book as a light, fun read... but ow.
This book had me SOBBING!
If you're after an incredible, emotional read then I highly recommend picking this one up.

I left this one to last since Rebecca isn’t an Aussie and I wanted to make sure I made progress on my Aussie Reading Challenges. But I also really liked the sound of this one. It sounds like a romance so it’s right up my alley.

But is it?

Well I don’t think so. I classify this one as Women’s Lit or Chick lit. There’s an element of romance throughout the book. And it’s the driving force for everything that happens. But that’s not what the story is about.

What I found as I got further and further into this book took me right into the feels and I couldn’t help but cry. The pain and suffering Dannie has to experience in her life is horrific. I honestly couldn’t imagine going through that myself.

A few times I had to put the book down because it was just getting so emotionally heavy I needed a break. This is by no means a “light read”.

It’s a powerful story, and one I think needed to be told. But it’s not something you should read if you need a break from reality.

This is one to read when you have the time and mental capacity to read and process everything you’re reading. For some people they may even want to avoid this book, if cancer or young death are something you want to avoid, don’t read this book.

In a way I’m glad I read this in my first week of round 2 of COVID lockdown because it reminded me that there are worse things happening to people than having to stay home. It reminded to enjoy having my boyfriend, my dog and my family around to be able to see and talk to. Even if it is only via phone.

I loved this book...but it should come with a warning...there will be tears.

Maybe that's why I loved the book so much, as it wasn't what I expected at all.

I went in thinking it was one thing, a nice quirky chic lit read...my go to read when I want to read for the pure fun and pleasure of it. The books start of that way too, and then... whoah... it turns into a much deeper, different kind of book, different to what I expected, but amazing.

I highly recommend this one, and I will be tracking down her earlier books, and keeping my eye out for any new ones in the future.

Dannie, our heroine, seems to have her life on track. She’s just had an interview for her dream job and her boyfriend, David, whom she lives with, has asked her to marry him. That night, however, she has a dream that five years have passed, she’s in a different apartment, and she’s in a [obviously far from platonic] relationship with another man. But, she tells herself, it’s only a dream. However, four and a half years later, she meets this 'dream' man.

I will admit I picked up this book on the basis of this clever premise alone. It was only when I went to read it that I noticed the author and I became anxious. Serle’s last book, The Dinner List, also had a fabulous premise and yet it was poorly executed, earning a mere 2 out of 5 rating from me. Was I in for another disappointing ride?

Well… Yes and no. Yes, because In Five Years was not the sweet romantic chick lit book I was expecting and hoping for. No, because In Five Years was actually all that and more and this time around I think Serle has produced a winner.

Okay, Serle might not be the most literary perfect writer on earth (I will add, I received an ARC copy via Netgalley from Hachette Australia and some of the grammar errors might have been corrected before publication) but I enjoyed this book so much I didn't care.

That’s not to say that Serle’s descriptive passages didn't have literary merit at times. Actually, she described New York so well, it was almost another character. She wrote with real local knowledge and her love for the city was evident. (And I seriously now want to try a whitefish bagel.)

Serle does tackle a couple of interesting themes. The most intriguing for me is the definition of family and home. It’s a common theme in modern books and is probably very relevant for many people right now during the Covid19 crisis. So, I’d say she has ticked all the boxes for being topical also.

I flew through the book, being eager to learn what would become of Dannie and the other lead characters. There is a great twist at the end of the book. The Dinner List also had a twist but I saw it coming a mile off. This time, I was not expecting it whatsoever.



I didn’t really know what to expect, to be honest. The way the story progresses from about the halfway mark onwards made me realise this wasn’t the typical romance and I began to have mixed feelings about how the conflicts would be resolved. And somehow, unlike The Dinner List’s ending, Serle pulled it all together and everything worked out, maybe not how I had supposed but, thankfully, much better.

I just flicked through some other reviews and I must say a lot of them feature what I would call spoilers. So, heads up, if you plan on reading this, avoid some of its reviews until after you’re finished.

Definitely Serle redeemed herself for me and I'm happy to recommend In Five Years.

4 ½ out of 5

3 1/2 stars
Even having read the blurb to In Five Years it still turned out to be a completely different read to what I was expecting.
In Five Years follows the story of Dannie Kohan who finally has got her life in place for where she wants to be when she lands an interview at her dream job and gets engaged all on the same day. Falling asleep that night she dreams about being in a different apartment with a different man, a different ring on her finger and an unexplainable feeling. In her dream she can read that it is Dec 15 2025, exactly 5 years in the future.
After waking she pushes the dream to the back of her mind until 4 1/2 years later she meets the man from her dream who is now her best friends boyfriend.
The story really heads in a different direction to what I was expecting and is definitely not the romance novel I was expecting. And we see that love comes in all different shapes and sizes. Prepare yourself for a tear jerker and an unexpected ending which still has me confused.
Thanks to Hachette Australia and Netgalley.com for this ARC copy.

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

“Love doesn’t require a future”.

In five years is so much more than I was expecting. It is a story of friendship, love, fate and self-discovery. This book is about love yes, but not the love you may be expecting. It is about the love found in friendship and the importance of having a good friend we can connect to. The book starts off so positive and is lovely to read, then it becomes quite emotional and I couldn’t put it down as I needed to know what would happen next.

This book certainly made me ugly cry.

This book was nothing special. It dragged me in very early and I loved the idea, the love triangle, the friendship and everything in the first half. Then it kind of lost me in the second part. I found the second half seemed to be written by a completely different author. It recovered slightly in the last 4% of the book but not enough for me to give it more stars. I think where it lost me was the "grief sex". I get that it all became part of a loop and that was clever but it just rubbed me the wrong way maybe.

I feel maybe this book was hyped a lot and I saw so many people who's reviews I trusted rave about it so maybe I expected more from it.

I'll admit that I underestimated this book. I looked at the cover and the title and thought "oh yeah, this is probably a sort of cute, pretty standard romance." The blurb gives slightly more info, but still doesn't get to the essence of what this book is about. In Five Years explores friendship, grief, and fate in a really interesting way.

Our protagonist thinks she has life all figured out, just killed an interview for her dream job, her boyfriend is proposing right on time - everything is coming up Milhouse. But then on the night of her engagement she has this vision (or is it time travel?) where she sees herself five years in the future, in a different house, with a different dude. The book uses this slightly speculative element to bookend the novel and begs the question - is fate real?

Ultimately I would say the key element of this book is the friendship, which perhaps isn't made prevalent enough in the blurb. Man this story got me though, I definitely shed a few tears and I identified with the main character more than I would like. This is also a bit of a love letter to New York, much as all the novels set there are.

Absolutely worth a read if you're looking for a book that is easy and feels similar to your classic adult contemporary, but has something a little bit different!

I really loved this book. Had me hooked pretty quickly. I enjoyed the story line and the twist with the best friend. Thought I might have cried more. The end annoyed me. Only as I like to know what happened to the characters. In this situation, Danni. It was left way too open. I would have like to known what happened in regards to her love life. By

In Five Years is a wonderful book, both heart warming and heartbreaking at the same time. We follow Dannie, a lawyer on the rise in NYC, who at the start of the book gets engaged, and following the celebrations falls asleep. When she wakes everything is very different. She is in a different apartment, with a different man, and realises it's five years in the future.

When she eventually wakes up back in her own timeline, she thinks it's a dream, though a very realistic one, and puts it behind her. Until one day, after four and a half years have passed, she sees the man from her dream on the street.

This book then goes on to tell the tale of how Dannie gets to that point five years in the future. It covers life, love and grief, and is full of surprises. At times it was a little slow, and got bogged down a bit, but all in all it's a moving tale, and I have no hesitation in recommending it to readers.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dannie is a numbers girl. She has her life planned based on times, days and years. When she is asked where she sees herself in five years in a job interview, she has the perfect answer ready - working her way up the firm and married to her then boyfriend.

But as life has it, things don't always go according to plan. When Dannie has a glimpse into the future five years down the track, she can't believe what she sees. When she wakes, she is back to the present and thus starts the chance to change her vision of the future. But can she do it?

This was such an unexpected story (I was expecting your typical romance!) and I admit, I did go quite blindly into this one. The writing is superb and keeps you hooked from page one.

The blurb for this book opens with: ‘This is a love story but not the love story you are expecting…’

They mean that. Take their word for it. I didn’t, and I was reading along, expecting Sliding Doors, but ended up in Beaches. Two vastly different universes. This is a very good story, it really is, but the distance between my expectations of what it was going to be and what it actually turned out to be was just so vast, it prevented me from approaching the story in the right way. I was also, at the time of picking this one up, craving something, well, more like Sliding Doors.

‘I saw what was coming, but I did not see what it would mean.’

Amazon Prime released a television series late last year called Modern Love and I feel like this story is very much in tune with the themes of that series – it could almost be adapted as an episode if they were to make a second season, it even had the New York setting right. Every so often I’ll come across a novel that I feel would play out much better on the screen than it does on the page, and this is definitely one of those times.

Despite the emotional intensity of the story, I did, unfortunately, find it rather dull in places. There were whole sections where people were just going through the motions of daily life and having conversations with each other that really went nowhere and contributed nothing to the story. Out of the entire novel, I enjoyed the last 15% the most. This is where everything seemed to fall into place and the cleverness of the plot became apparent. The last scene of the novel was one I particularly liked; it really dazzled and I could see it playing out so perfectly on a screen.

Overall though, this is probably one of those times where the reader/book fit is just not there. I’m fairly confident though that there will be plenty of readers who will gush about this one and I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see it picked up and turned into a movie or television series at some stage, hopefully by Netflix or Prime so I can watch it without delay and see just how right I was about its adaptability.

Thanks is extended to Hachette Australia for providing me with a copy via NetGalley of In Five Years for review.

This book was nothing like I thought it would be. If you're looking for a swoony romance or easy to read chick-lit type book, this is not it. This was a hard-hitting contemporary fiction that got me good. After reading the blurb, I thought I had an idea of how this book would go, but I wasn't prepared for what happened. It had twists and turns I didn't see coming, and I'm not mad about it.
This book reminded me a lot of the book One Day In December by Josie Silver (which I Loved!), it had a very similar love triangle feel and it also spans many years like that book does. 

I thought I knew where the book was heading and thought it was going to be more of a romance but it was more about friendships and sometimes just because it fits or works doesn't mean it right.

I finished this book all in two days (would have been one day if I didn't have small people to attend to 🙄), it made me cry many times and at the same time gave me all the warm fuzzy feelings.

I will be purchasing a finished copy of this book.

**Thank you to Netgalley, Quercus Books, & Hachette Australia for providing me with a copy of this book in return for my honest review**

In five years caught me by surprise and took a different turn to what I was expecting, but unfortunately did not hit the mark at the end.

Dannie and her boyfriend have their whole life planned out in front of them. Where they are going to live, the job roles they will be in and the wedding that they will one day celebrate. Until one night Dannie wakes up 5 years into the future which resembles none of what she has previously planned out.

Danni is determined to keep her life on the track she has planned, until she meets the mysterious man that she encountered in the future.

As much as I though I this book was going to be a simple romance it developed more into a beautiful story about the importance of friendship and the moments that need to be cherished within your life. I can not say too much more without ruining the overall story.

Although as much a I enjoyed this book there was something about it I'm finding hard to put my finger on. I did not love the main character Danni, I found myself quite frustrated with her at times. She was quite predictable and bland in many aspects, I wanted more passion from the main character. Even in her best friends lowest days, she seemed to focus the attention back to her selfish self.

The book started off by grabbing me in, but failed to live up to the standard by the end. I'm not keen on the ending of this book either. After all the build up it ends in what I thought was a bit of a random turn of events that I don't really find quite believable.

Overall I feel this book had so much more potential and could have been magic, unfortunately coming just a little short this time.

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

I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting myself into when reading this, I’d seen it promoted on Instagram and then it popped up on netgalley and I was intrigued. It really resonated with me, as someone who is about to start a career, and the friendship between Dannie and Bella reminded me so much of a close friend - so different but the friendship had lasted since childhood throughout many challenges. The writing was easy for me to fly through in less than a day, and left me in tears when the tragic events started to unfold. It really reminds you to remember what’s important in life, and to focus on what really matters to you and not let society tell you what you should be achieving in life.

I’ll be the first to admit that the ‘tried and tested’ formulaic romance stories are both clichéd and predictable. But sometimes a swoony romance novel is just the thing you’re looking for on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

This was not it. This was very not it. In fact, they should really stop marketing In Five Years as a romance because it is far from it. I mean, the story itself was fine, but it’s not what was promised, and I can’t help feeling a bit robbed by that.

Additionally all the name, restaurant, and label dropping made me feel like I was watching a Michael Bay movie - just, you know, without all the explosions. What I mean is that there was so much product placement that this book comes across as a walking advertisement for NYC and LA, high fashion, and hip restaurants. It’s like a Lonely Planet guide had sex with a Chick Lit book and this is their progeny.

Okay, I’ve had my whinge, time to focus on some positives. Dannie’s a bit of a controversial character, and not well liked in the reviews I’ve come across, but I kind of liked her. Not her poor treatment of those she supposedly loved, but that she had high goals and worked hard to achieve them. Take no prisoners and all that, but even Harvey Spector shows those he cares about that he cares about them. Maybe Dannie just needs a bit more time to find that balance.
The book is well-structured and very easy to get through, and since it’s less than 300 pages, the story doesn’t suffer from too many dragging or dull moments. And despite the anger-making issues I have with it, the ending was alright.

Unfortunately I cannot get past the misleading set up of expectations and ultimate let down. I’ve removed it from my ‘romance’ shelf, My suggestion is that the marketing team does the same.

Thank you to Rebecca Serle, Hachette Australia, Quercus, and NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gosh this book took me by surprise. I thought i was settling in to a nice, cozy romance, but oh wow, this book pulled on my heart strings and had me ugly crying, which I did not expect.

I don't want to give too much away about the plot. What I will say is, this story explores what true, committed love is, regardless whether its form is romantic, a relationship, a career.

I loved how Rebecca Searle has written this story. It was fast paced and very easy to read. She gives us a flash into 5 years in the future in an early chapter, but how Dannie, the main character, gets there and her destiny is revealed wasn't what I expected. Through the book, Dannie grows and develops self-awareness about her behaviour and desires. She's ambitious and driven, and filled with heart and good intentions.

This book broke my heart but also left me feeling uplifted and excited for Dannie and her future. It also made me hungry to read more of Rebecca Searle's work.

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Australia for an advance e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dannie has a five year plan, marry David, become junior partner at her dream firm and buy a house in Gramercy Park. When Dannie falls asleep the night she becomes engaged she dreams of a life she hasn’t planned for, including a man who wasn’t David, when she wakes up it all seemed so real.

Bella is an artist, gallery owner and free spirit. She has never stuck with one man for long, flitting between countries settling down has never been a priority for her. Until she meets Greg and falls head over heals.

Dannie and Bella have been best friends since they were seven years old. They have shared everything. The ups and downs, tears and triumphs. They are one another’s soulmate. So when a crisis occurs their friendship is at the centre and they realise that love is everything.

I really didn’t expect the story to take the twists it did. I can’t say much as it will ruin it. But I was an emotional wreck for the most part.

“Love doesn’t require a future.”

Welcome to my first 5-star read of 2020!I have just turned the last page of IN FIVE YEARS and tears are streaming down my face. What an emotional roller coaster rode this book has been!

It’s difficult to review a book that has managed to connect with me on a very deep emotional level without giving away all the whys and hows that would spoil things for other readers. You know from the blurb that main protagonist Dannie, a lawyer and all-around super organised person who is always in control of every situation, falls asleep on the eve of her engagement to David and has a dream. In the dream, she is in a strange apartment, with a strange man, at a date five years in the future. It all appears so real to her that when she wakes up she still feels shaken. Who is the stranger? Why was she not with David? The dream continues to haunt her for the next four and a half years, casting a dark shadow on her life whenever she thinks about it, even though she tries very hard to dismiss it. Until the moment she meets the man from her dream in real life...

I will leave it at that. But make no mistake, it’s all a lot more complicated than this premise may seem. Also, don’t mistake the book for a romance, because even though love features in it (in its many forms), the main story is about friendship. It’s also about the things we can control and the ones we can’t, destiny, and about taking things in the right context. As I a m writing this, I know how lame it sounds and how badly I am expressing myself here – sorry! Take it from me when I say that the story will surprise you, steal your heart and make you cry. As someone who likes to be in control of my own fate, I found a lot of gentle wisdom in its pages that made me pause and reflect. And even though I am a lot older and a very different personality to Dannie, her character really resonated with me and I felt ALL the emotions.

If you like books that steal through your defences, make you think, surprise you and let you feel a million different emotions, then this book may just be right for you. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for when I picked it up, and I’m glad I dove into it blindly because it took me totally by surprise and carried me in its wake. A book that can elicit such deep emotion will always get five stars from me. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Reminiscent of One Day in December but instead of searching for someone in the past, it is a wait for someone from a future premonition.

The book opens with the type A protagonist preparing for an interview at her dream law firm where the interviewing partner asks her where she sees herself in five years. This answer is easy for Dannie who has planned out everything in her life, including this interview and the marriage proposal her boyfriend has secretly been planning for that evening. How perfect her day and life have been up until this point would be a frustrating and boring read, except that later that evening she has a very real dream of the same night five years from now and she is in a different apartment with a different man and a different engagement ring on her finger. The dream feels so real that over the next few years Dannie deviates slightly from her plans, haunted by possibility that the premonition might play out.

Although I was hooked and considered it a page turner, I didn’t love this book. Like some of the of the reviews, I didn’t find the protagonist completely relatable but unlike others, I quite liked this aspect. I liked that I was detached from her and I have certainly known couples like her and David. Some of the timelines felt very cramped to fit into the five years but the author did well in creating a sense of urgency. Serle is a wonderfully descriptive writer and I really enjoyed the ending.

This is a fun holiday read and has the bones to make a great romantic comedy on screen.

Thank you to Net Galley and Hachette Australia for this ARC