WOW! This is one unique storyline if I do say so myself. One I have not read in the past. Dannie nailed her interview for a dream job and got engaged to her boyfriend David. Later that day Dannie woke up from a nap five years forward in a different apartment, with a different fiancé, and a different ring on her finger. It was an intense out of body experience and after an hour she fell back to sleep. When she woke up again it’s back to present time. Dannie was confused but she filed the unusual event in the back of her head. Dannie went on with her life as planned until nearly five years later, she meets the same man from her vision. Without revealing too much with spoilers I will say this book is beautiful, emotional, and heartbreaking. For the most part, we already know from Dannie’s vision there is a man other than her fiancé, in her bed. I don’t exactly empathize or agree with Dannie and the mysterious man’s relationship. Let’s just say there will be tears, the plot thickened and is quite complicated. Over all, I think this book is less of a romance but rather a touching story about friendship, love, loyalty, and destiny that will pull on your heartstrings. Beautifully written and a page turner.

What a clever idea for a story .... and thank goodness for tissues!

I love this concept so much and it was unlike anything I've read before. A secret glimpse 5 years into the future is something I'm not sure if I would want... and it definitely makes you wonder what you would do with the information you would find. Would you laugh it off as a silly dream or would you live differently in order to change it or ensure it didn't happen?

When Dannie wakes up in the year 2025 she is shocked to find so much wrong. She's in the wrong apartment. She's wearing the wrong ring. She's in bed with the wrong guy. But almost as quickly as she ends up in this strange future, she's thrown right back into her RIGHT life. The safe life. With the "safe" man. But nothing seems right, once again, when she meets that wrong man in this RIGHT life ... and he just happens to be dating her best friend. Follow me?

Guys, this one is sad. It's sad in the way that makes you want to call all your best friends and propose immediate drinks and girl talk. It's a wild story that is so oddly, but beautifully strange - a bit predictable - but lovely all the same. I found myself afterwards wishing it had ended differently. Something irked me about the way it "turned out." But I'm pretty sure if it had turned out the opposite - I'd want the other ending! So conflicted!

In Five Years makes your brain swell with 'what-ifs'. While it warms your heart - it just as quickly breaks it. It grabs you by the feels and doesn't let go. And I'm still not sure it has yet.

We all have a rehearsed answer to the oh-so-asked question: Where do you see yourself in five years? Dannie Cohan, a lawyer in Manhattan, is asked this question during the most important interview of her career. Of course she lands the job. Then accepts her boyfriend's marriage proposal. It seems Dannie is on the right track with her five-year-goal.

Then a vision changes her whole life. She drifts off to sleep after saying "yes" to marriage (how romantic, right?) and wakes up in an unfamiliar apartment, a different engagement ring on her finger and an entirely different man beside her. The date on the TV news scrolls by: December 15, 2025! The very detailed vision continues until Dannie wakes up back in 2020, chalking it up to a weird dream.

Should she live differently knowing what may come in five years? Or should she continue down the path of where she wants to be? And what does it mean when she meets the mystery man in real life? All of this plays out in the new chick-lit novel, In Five Years, by Rebecca Serle.

I expected something cute, cliché, and very similar to a book I read almost nine years ago titled 29. Oh, was I wrong! It was more substance than I expected with a dose of irony. I predict this new novel will be on bookshelves everywhere for readers pondering where their own lives will be in five years. Anything can happen!

Happy Early Pub Day, Rebecca Serle! In Five Years will be available Tuesday, March 10.

LiteraryMarie

{ @atriabooks #partner}

Where do you see yourself in five years? How often do we hear this? I find myself to be a goal oriented person and found some of the same traits as Dannie in myself. This book hooked me from page 1 and stomped on my heart until the very end 😭

This book is about true friendship and trials that can happen. It’s about stepping outside of your comfort zone and trusting yourself. To relinquish control. To not settle for less because you see yourself in this perfect world. Life happens and things change and it’s okay if you do too.

I absolutely loved this book. It was short but also had so much meaning. Have tissues ready when you read this one. 5 ⭐️

This book was my addiction today. I was hiding in the bathroom and sneaking off to the corners of my house to sneak a chapter in. I inhaled it! The friendship between Dannie and Bella grounds the book and I will not say much more about the plot. Don't want to spoil it for anyone else. Don't read this without your tissues! If you loved "The Dinner List," I am confident this will also be a satisfying read. Read alikes for this title include: "Maybe In Another Life" by Taylor Jenkins Reid, "You Were There, Too" by Colleen Oakley, and "One Day in December" by Josie Silver.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A dream about five years in the future throws everything in Dannie’s life off kilter. As the years continue as normal she begins thinking it may have just been a very vivid dream, until her best friend introduces her to her new boyfriend. This man happens to be the one from her dream just over four years ago.

She has to battle thru her emotions as her best friend faces a critical diagnosis that pulls some apart and pushes others together.

A beautiful story of the hardships of life and love for friends.

Wow what a read. This book really gets you thinking. I know it is a fictional story but all the what if’s kinda hit you here. I loved it!!

Dannie is a young lawyer living in Manhattan with her boyfriend, David. Their lives and careers are just beginning to pick up steam when Dannie gets the opportunity to interview for her dream job, the one she’s coveted her entire life. She’s confident that she aced the interview. That evening, David proposes to her. Dannie falls asleep that night, secure in the knowledge that she’s on course to achieve her five-year plan for herself.
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When she wakes up, Dannie is in a completely different apartment, wearing a different ring and in her vision, she’s living with a different man who she’s never met. Shocked and disoriented, Dannie manages to see the date on the TV. December 15, 2025. Exactly five years in the future. And that’s all I’m gonna tell you! I went into this book completely blind. I just knew I wanted to read it.
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What I loved: This book is told from Dannie’s perspective and takes place in NYC, a setting that I love and adore. I couldn’t stop reading this and it’s almost entirely different than what I thought it would be. I loved Rebecca Serle’s previous book, The Dinner List, and this book was just as wonderful for me. I will probably read anything by this author now. It broke my heart 💔. It is about love in one of its purest forms. It’s poignant and has a special resonance for me, though to tell you the reason why would spoil the experience of reading this book for yourself.
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What didn’t quite work for me: The ending. I felt a bit confused by it. Was it just me? If you’ve read this one, let me know!
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Would I recommend it? Absolutely! Every reader is different and I know this seems like a love-it-or-hate-it book. Personally, I loved it. It was the right book at the right time for me. 4.5 🌟/5. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for my copy. 💗
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#InFiveYears #NetGalley #AtriaBooks #RebeccaSerle

I really wanted to love this book. At first I really did, and then there were some twists and turns and like life, it got messy and I wasn't really sure where it was going. I do appreciate the views it put on love, relationships, friendships, making plans for the future, living in the present and just figuring out who you are and what you want. It made me think and I enjoy that in a book. Was it my favorite book? No. Was it the worst book I ever read? No. I was a bit let down, a bit confused, but overall it wasn't a bad read. It was good, I was just hoping for more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Atria Books, for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Dannie is a corporate lawyer with a job she loves and a wonderful man, David, who has just asked her to marry him. She falls asleep and suddenly is in a different apartment with a different man five years later. What is her destiny? To be with David or this new man? Four and a half years later, Dannie actually meets the same man and he is her best friend's new boyfriend. I loved this premise and found the author's writing was very enjoyable.
I kind of feel like the summary for this book is misleading, though. This book is so much more about friendship--the lifelong friendship and strong bond between Dannie and Bella, and not Dannie's romantic life. I am not upset as to where this story went, though. I actually thought the very ending was perfect for Dannie. This was a very easy read for me and I wanted to know what was going to happen with all the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

After reading the synopsis, I was 100% sure I knew where this plot would go. Color me surprised when I was completely wrong! I thought I was right up until we meet the hero five years later. After meeting him, I kept thinking how is this going to work out the way I’m assuming. But you know what they say about assuming. The plot unfolding not as I expected is one of the things I LOVED about this book. This is a phenomenal story of friendship, and how those closest to you knowing what you need even when you don’t. It’s also a lesson in no matter how much you try to plan out every facet of your life, life will throw you a curveball and knock you on your butt. I was in a book funk till I opened this one and I’m glad I did. It made me laugh and it made me cry hysterically, and an amazing cry it was. I can’t wait to see what’s next from Rebecca.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I could not put this one down! Rebecca Serle writes such heartwarming and heartbreaking stories, and this new one does not disappoint.

Dannie is a Manhattan lawyer who has her whole life planned out. She interviews for a position at a highly prestigious law firm when she was asked where she saw herself in the next five years (an interview question that I hate). She has a wonderful career, boyfriend, New York life, and was following the path she had planned for herself. But the thing about plans…fate often has a different one for us. Dannie has a dream that makes her question what she thought she wanted.

I love how the events of this story come together. It’s smooth and makes you wonder and breaks your heart and makes you angry and makes you smile.

I definitely recommend this book!
Available March 2020

I started this book with high hopes. So, you are planning your life, getting engaged, getting your dream job. And then you wake up and it is exactly five years in the future. You are not in your home and you are not with your fiancé. The next time you wake up, you are back in your normal life. And? Everything goes back to normal. Yup. And 4 1/2 years just go by.

Nothing much happens for a long time. By the time anything does, it feels forced and manipulative. I wish I could like this book as much as everyone else did. I just couldn't connect with it.

I have no idea if I can accurately describe this book and how I felt about it, but I must give it a go. First of all, let me say that I used to be staunchly against looking at book reviews before starting or finishing a book because I didn't want to be influenced by anyone else's thoughts or opinions. I would check out the ratings but not the content of people's reviews. But since I've been burned by so many books (as in not getting a happily ever after, not the happily ever after I wanted, or just generally disliking the book), I've gotten to a point in my reading life I thought I would never see. I do now read reviews (or skim them) before picking up a book if it's an author I'm not familiar with or if something else leaves me feeling unsure (description, cover, etc). I'm looking for unexpected content being mentioned in reviews. I'm looking for information about any of my deal breakers (things I know myself well enough to know I don't enjoy reading about) as well as certainly how the reviewer felt about the book. Sometimes this does affect my expectations of a book and my expectations can influence my overall feelings as well. But I find this risk of influence to be acceptable over DNFing more books or trying to force myself to read something I'm not enjoying.

All of that being said, I checked out a few reviews before I picked up In Five Years because I was in a little bit of a slump. The reviews I saw basically said the book was nothing like they expected, there was a romance but again not what you expect, and that everyone was in tears at the end. In the case of In Five Years, I think my attempts at lessening any stress associated with the process of reading this book backfired, and I ended up more anxious and stressed.

The reviews were right. This book isn't at all what you expect. There is a love story but as was said, not how you would expect. Although I didn't cry. At all. Or even tear up. But to be fair it takes a lot for me to cry. I was too wrapped up in figuring out how this was going to work.

In Five Years was written in a way that had me devouring it. I finished it within 24 hours which is a feat these days. But I felt like I was reading a train wreck...in a good way. It's funny because that's the 2nd time I've felt the train wreck analogy so sharply within a 3 book span. It just so happens the first time the train was wrecking I knew there was no hope, but I did feel hope with In Five Years somehow.

Ugh this review is all over the place. I can't talk to you about the events of the book because EVERYTHING is a spoiler, but I can tell you how it made me feel. I was hooked. I read it quickly as I've said. Call me cliche but I was hoping for the outcome that the description and beginning hinted at even though the reviews said not to. I guess I just hoped it would come about in a way I didn't expect. So I felt like I wasn't able to connect to side characters as much as I would like. I don't know. I didn't dislike the book, but it wasn't what I wanted at the same time.

For as long as this review is, I know I haven't actually said much. I just know that I was left wanting. In Five Years was good, but definitely not what I hoped it would be. It's a book that will suck you in and spit you out. I'm giving it 4 Stars. Have you read In Five Years? What did you think? Let me know!

This is the second book I've read by Rebecca Serle and I'm here to say that I truly enjoy her writing and books.

In Five Years, at its core, is about friendship, loyalty, and connection. It explores the messiness of relationships and causes the reader to meditate on the ideas of fate and destiny. Once again, I connected with Serle's easy, yet profound, writing style and she quietly put me in a position to contemplate the "what if?" scenario.

This is a quick read, but one that will stick with you for a long time.

Dannie and David are on the five-year plan...marriage, an apartment in Gramercy Park and their careers right where they want them to be. She's a corporate attorney, he's in finance. They get engaged and that night, Dannie has a dream/premonition that she's with someone who isn't David in 2025. Dannie has a hard time shaking that dream.

Fast forward 4.5 years, Dannie and David are still engaged and living in their dream apartment in Gramercy Park, when she meets the man from her dream...he is the new boyfriend of her best friend, Bella.

I really enjoyed this unique story that's unlike anything I've read before. I would have never guessed it would have played out the way it did, but the ending was perfect!

I absolutely loved this novel! I was hooked from the very first page and it kept me incredibly entertained from start to finish. There were laughs, tears, and so many emotions running through me and I didn’t want it to end. Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for sending this novel in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this read! It’s perfect for a book club!

**4.5 Stars**

In Five Years was not what I was expecting, but it was a delightful, tear-jerking surprise in a multitude of ways. With a first chapter that immediately grabs and hooks you into the story, I spent much of the book engrossed in this woman's story and anxious for what was to come after her glimpse of the future. This story has much to take away and is heavy with heart because of it, but its focus on female friendships, forgiveness, and love made it a great read.

I loved the element of getting a glimpse into the future and the mystery behind wrapping your brain around how it could change so drastically from the present. It created this dual sense of doom and intrigue that Dannie similarly felt and battled with making it easy for the reader to relate to her every response. I could never have predicted the direction Serle took this story, and how many complications were wrought from every little ripple. Dannie was so easy to connect with; her career and relationship ruts, the conflicted feelings involved in all relationships. She's the kind of character that any woman can find a piece of themselves in and that made it easy to ride the waves with her. It never fell victim to feeling predictable and kept me on my toes through every turn of the story. In Five Years was a moving read that truly hit me hard.

There is no one better at writing about New York than Rebecca Searle. This book was SO easy to read and I finished it in less than 48 hours. That being said it moved so quickly I don't feel like I got as investing in the characters and their relationships. I did really enjoy the ending and the "twist" on the standard love story.

When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Cohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan. But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind... until she can no longer ignore it. review: After reading The Dinner List last year, I was excited to read the author's latest book. I'm going to try and review this without giving away any spoilers, but just know this book is phenomenal and definitely a must read! The premise is original and the execution is thought provoking. I put myself in Dannie's shoes numerous times asking myself "what would I do in this situation?" and attempting to figure out how this was all going to come together. As much as this is a love story, it's also about the power of friendship. I think this would make a great book club discussion book! rating: 4.5 out of 5 ⭐️