I was expecting this to be a lover story -- and it is -- but not in the way I thought! It really is about friendship and knowing yourself and knowing how love might fit into that. I tried this author's previous work and didn't care for it but I absolutely loved this book. I felt that the story, the pace, and the character development were excellent and despite dealing with melancholy and serious topics, I loved reading this!

In Five Years comes out next month on March 10, 2020, you can purchase HERE! I really loved this one and definitely recommend it -- I am still thinking about it!

I have to admit: I wasn't sure I was going to like this one. For a brief moment, I thought this was just going to be a repeat of One day in December and unlike every single other person, I hated that book. This book was NOT your typical love story. Imagine my surprise when I realized that this book focused more on the friendship between Dannie and Bella. God, I adored their friendship. It was so amazing and so many scenes between the two of them just made me want to cry.

I also thought this book would be a bit predictable in terms of what happened. Dannie is such a planner - I could completely relate. She has her life planned out and doesn't like to deviate. When she gets her dream job and a proposal from her boyfriend, she has a dream or a premonition about a life five years into the future, where she is in a strange apartment with a man who was not her fiancee. I loved Dannie's growth throughout the story and one thing I absolutely loved was that there was virtually NO cheating. God, cheating irks me. But Dannie loves her friend and she tries to stay away from Aaron, who is the man from her dream AND Bella's new boyfriend. This book took on such a different path than what I thought it would take and I just loved it so much. What a wonderful book!

4.5 ⭐️ Thank you Atria Books for an ARC of another engaging and surprising read from Rebecca Serle. I almost finished this in one sitting. I loved her last book The Dinner List so had been eagerly awaiting this one. It was worth the wait. This is a love story — but it’s the love between two friends. I also enjoyed the relationship between the main character and her boss. I could lists several books that if you loved, you’ll love this one too, but just when you think you have this book pegged, it surprises you right up until the last page. Put this one on your TBR. Publishes mid-March.

Dannie Cohan is living her best life about to have everything she has ever wanted career-wise, romantically, and personally. Then one night she falls asleep where her dream takes her to 2025, five years in the future. Everything she knows has changed including the man she is in bed with. When she wakes up, she is back in 2020 as if nothing has happened, but she can't get the dream out of her mind. Life goes on until 4.5 years later when she meets the mysterious man from her dream. What happens in the next 6 months will change her life as she knows it.

This unique and fun concept will keep you reading to discover if Dannie's dream will come true and how in the world it ever could. This story about romance, friendship, fate, and living in the moment is one to savor.

Things couldn’t be going better for New York lawyer Dannie Cohen. When we first meet her, she rocks an interview in the morning, and then gets engaged to her boyfriend later that night. Things are going well…and then they take a turn. That evening, Dannie goes to sleep and wakes up in a strange apartment she doesn’t recognize—with a strange man who she doesn’t know but who certainly seems to know her very well. She soon realizes that she has suddenly been transported five years into the future.
When she wakes again, she is back in 2020, safe in her own apartment, but very, very confused. Had that been a vision of her future?
Life pretty much returns to normal until four and a half years later when Dannie finally comes face to face with the man from her vision—and from that moment, nothing will ever be the same.
I loved this book, and don’t think I have ever read anything so fast in my life. I literally tore through it in just a couple of hours! It deals beautifully with fate, friendship, destiny, and love. I was surprised, delighted, and so moved. I had tears by the end, and absolutely adored every page it took to get there.

Ambitious, hard-driving Dannie is living the life of her dreams when a real dream changes everything. In this dream, she is in a completely different romantic relationship in a place she has never been before. There is a date associated with this dream, five years in the future. Not wanting to blow up her carefully crafted perfection, she does everything in her power (sort of) to make sure this calamity does not come true -- made more complicated by meeting the romantic lead in her dream who is in love with her best friend Bella. Serle has written a compelling, highly addictive read that I wish I liked more. Some of the scenes ring absolutely pitch perfect true and others do not. Ultimately, the real love story is the one between Dannie and her best friend Bella -- and even that is not as believable and deep as I wish it were. So close and yet not quite there....I wish there had been one more draft, one more take on a very promising story -- and yet I am glad that I read it for the questions it stirred up for me about my own relationships and work. I appreciate the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher, NetGalley, and the writer in exchange for my unbiased review.

Thanks for my copy of this one, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
I think what really made this book for me was the female friendship aspect; it really outshined the love story part of it in my opinion. This book was compulsively readable and I could barely put it down. I think it fed my TJR hangover a bit actually, which made me happy. And, of course I shed a few tears at the end, even though it did leave me feeling just a little a bit unsettled and confused. I guess the ending just lets you decide for yourself what the future might hold for the main character by leaving it a bit open ended. This is probably the only reason I’m not rating it a full five stars, but I still really liked it.

It's not in any way this book's fault, but In Five Years fell a little flat for me. I think it's because I'm reading it fairly soon after reading You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley, which felt very similar to me. Both deal with a potentially prophetic dream/vision and both are fairly dark and heavy for books billed as romances. Friendship is more the focus in In Five Years versus a romantic relationship, but this is unclear until the majority of the way through the book.

All in all, I'm confused about how to rank this book. I liked parts and disliked a lot of others. Dannie is a fairly unsympathetic character and although the book doesn't end how I predicted - which would have made me like Dannie even less - I still find myself sort of indifferent to this book. Sure, it tugs at your heartstrings, but mine seemed to be a little too strong for its pull.

In Five Years is a well-written, quick read. If you want a book about the importance of female friendships this will definitely resonate with you. But if you're looking for a light romance, I would head back to the bookshelf.

I genuinely can't describe my love for this book. It is definitely not the love story you're expecting but it is the one you need. The friendship is so strong and beautiful to read about. Just seeing how much they care about each other makes you wanna cry. Everything else also makes you want to cry. I will be reading this book over and over for the rest of my life.

I decided i’m not going to read this book because the main character has a vision and I don’t read things that have to do with future predictions, mediums or psychics.

Dannie Kohan is a high-powered attorney about to marry her perfect match. After landing her dream job and getting engaged to a partner who shares similar life goals, she feels that she has it all...until the night of her engagement, when she has a dream about leading a much different life, 5 years in the future.  She can't shake the feeling that the future she thought was planned out isn't actually right for her, and this realistic-feeling dream impacts her life on all levels.

I flew through In Five Years and loved it so much! The friendship between Dannie and Bella is very compelling and I love how they support each other so much throughout their lives. I had expected a love story, and was pleasantly surprised that the female friendship is a much stronger focus.  The premise of the book also makes you think about how you approach life and what is truly important.

This was a fast read that will stick with you!

This book was great, very slow and heartfelt and real. It was very grounded with just the slightest touch of magical realism. I enjoyed it.

2 stars / 5 stars

Thank you Atria Books so much for providing me this eARC from Netgalley.


Dnfed at 55 percent.
*will contain slight spoilers

Cue the disappointment.

Hotshot lawyer Dannie Cohan is haunted once she has an unexpected dream where her life is totally different from her seemingly set-in-stone plan. Flashforward almost five years later when she is puzzled by the reveal that her dream husband is real.

This was not for me. I really enjoyed the beginning of this novel and I thought it was going to be a great one to read, but ultimately I was so so wrong.

After Dannie has a dream of a life with a man whom she has never met before, she has some apprehension about her life with her current boyfriend. Time moves along and it is almost four and a half years later when she is introduced to her best friend’s new boyfriend, aka her dream guy. I can probably guess what direction this is going to take, and I am just not here for it.

There is some crazy stuff that happens as she bonds with her best friend and the guy from her dream. I found these inclusions to be frustrating and a turn off for me. Also, there is a reveal with her friend that kind of struck a personal note with me and made me uncomfortable as I read. It’s just a personal thing.

Ultimately, I do not like this direction it is taking and I just lost all interest. Not for me.

This book killed me! It was about friendship and the love woven between. It has realistic and relating characters...Dannie was me! This novel was a beautiful and fast paced tale. The future and transitioning time of self discovery is very poignant. This book will live in my heart way longer than five years!!!! A must read and def re read!!!!! 5 STARS!!!!

Oh my heart...this book almost did me in. I see it labeled as a romance on Goodreads, but that's not accurate, at least not in the traditional sense. It's definitely a love story, and it's between two female friends.

I don't want to give away much of the plot because it's most effective to experience it as it happens. Dannie and Bella have been best friends since childhood. Now as adults, their friendship is tested in different ways, and the way they preserve is beyond moving. All of the characters in the story are flawed yet loving, which makes them wonderfully realistic and relatable. Even when they make "poor choices," it's easy to see why.

This book had me laughing, cheering, gasping, and almost in tears. It's a complex story, because life is complicated, and human hearts are complicated. I highly recommend it for just about any fiction reader, but especially those who appreciate a good love story, even when it gets sad.

Sometimes there are books that you read and like and pass along to friends. And then there are books like this... the kinds that you read and re-read before you tell your friends to buy their own copy because you aren't sharing yours! I read it in one sitting and then wished that I could read it all over for the first time again. To say I enjoyed this book would be an understatement.

4.5 stars rounded up

Wow! I wasn't expecting to love this one as much as I did, but I absolutely loved this book. It lived up to all the hype and I know this is one I'll reread one day.

Three things I loved about this book:

1. This book is about friendship, self-discovery, and love. Even though this one is a love story it's wasn't the one I'm use to reading. It follows Dannie and Bella's friendship and explores the importance of the different kinds of love in a person's life. Their friendship was so relatable and their bond had me ugly crying by the end of this one. Most of my friends I've know since kindergarten (I'll definitely be giving them an extra long hug next time I see them) and I think that contributed to my love of this book.

2. The little sprinkle of magical realism it this one is thought provoking and will leave you wondering how your life would be affected if you had the same premonition.

3. Dannie was an intelligent, motivated independent woman who thought she knew what she wanted. She was one of those characters you'll immediately love and hope for her happy ending, I know I did.

What kept me from giving this one five stars? While I understand everyone handles grief differently, I had a hard time with one aspect of how the grief was portrayed. I don't think it was very realistic or that it fit with the characters, but please don't let that deter you from reading this book.

Overall this was a fast-paced emotional read that I wasn't be able to put down and it had depth I wasn't expecting. It was beautifully written and heartbreaking so make sure you have tissues ready when you pick this one up.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria books for my gifted copy.

This book is a classic love story about friendship, transition and never knowing what the future holds. The story follows lawyer Dannie who lives a comfortable, settled life with her boyfriend in New York city. Everything is going exactly as planned until one night, she has a dream, so realistic it could be labelled as a premonition, which changes everything. In the dream, which is occurring five years in the future, Dannie is in a different apartment, next to a different man, with a different engagement ring than her boyfriend just proposed to her with in her real life. Upon waking up from the dream, Dannie finds herself back where she started, but the dream is never far from her mind and guides her life through the next five years, through unexpected and difficult life-changing situations with her best friend Bella, and her own self-realizations, Dannie tries to avoid the premonition, while along the way realizing that she needs to make changes or forsake her happiness.

I loved this book! The story was unique, very moving and heartwarming. It touched upon the most important relationships in our lives-friendships, familial and intimate relationships. The book shed light on love-how complex it can be and the different types of it one experiences throughout their life. I was on the edge of my seat the entire book, always wondering what was going to happen. The book was well written, the writing style different from what I am used to. I find it somewhat choppy, jumping ahead when it made sense, sometimes staying in the moment and delving into the emotions, sometimes not. The characters were well-developed and written and I loved the book. I thought each of the settings were well-suited to what was occurring in the story.

My goodness Rebecca Serle you threw me for a loop on this piece of gem!

In Five Years was not what I was expecting at all but I am probably putting this in one in my top reads of 2020. What a beautiful masterpiece of a story.

Rebecca Serle weaves an emotional story of love and friendship. The storytelling is actually quite genius because you think that the story is focused mainly on type A corporate lawyer Dannie but it definitely spins multiple times and keeps you on your heals.

I loved this story because it has a piece of what is meant to be is meant to be aspect. I truly believe in signs and putting what you want out into the universe and this story takes a spin on this thinking to an extent. But, wow was I completely moved by this story and couldn't put it down. It definitely broke my heart and I cried in a few spots but it hits you in the right spots!!

This will definitely not be my last book by Rebecca and am so eager to see what she comes out with next. Please put this on your list to read. It's one that is definitely not to be missed.

5 stars!

Thank you so much to Atria and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Pub date: 3/10/20
Published to GR: 2/18/20

I don't know what I expected going into this book but it definitely delivered something totally different.

Danni has every aspect of her life planned out including her five year plan. She knows the details of her upcoming engagement, is securing her dream job, everything going exactly to her plan. Until she has a dream of a night five year in the future with a different guy, in a different apartment and a different ring on her finger.

The rest of the book leads the reader through the five years in between the right now and the dream. Danni is doing all she can to avoid the fate in the dream and stick to her plan but the authors just continues to show Danni and the reader that as much control as we think we have over our own lives, life happens and you just have to roll with it.

I loved how the author turned the expected trope of a love story on its head and really looked at a love story between best friends. Bella really was my favorite character because of how she perfectly juxtaposed Danni and was so lovable. Serle wrote in a way that moved the plot along towards the final fateful day with just enough tension building that I couldn't stop reading just to find out if Danni's dream really would come to fruition.

At times I felt like the writing was a little all over the place but looking back now, I think it was just my confusion at where the author was taking the story. Thinking back now, it makes perfect sense and I really loved this book.