I didn't expect this to make me cry. I wanted a quick, breezy read and I wasn't prepared for tears.

I was intrigued by the premise for the author's previous novel, and so when I saw this on netgalley put in a request thinking it would be light and fun.

This book is very easy to read but as mentioned above not as fun as I'd hoped.

I liked how it was very definitely set in New York, although I have seen the city more artistically represented in other novels. I'm not sure how memorable this will prove to be, but it was a pleasant enough way to spend a few hours.

In five years is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions, all presented in a compelling, can't out down story.

It's a story that explores, love, loss, heartache, friendship, family, with laugh out loud moments littered throughout.

The main character Dannie, is presented as a hardened, career focused, empowered female. She understands exactly what she wants from life, and lives for structure and routine. Bella her lifelong best friend is the polar opposite, being spontaneous, romantic and live for the moment. But it is the differences in the two that provide such a strong bond.

When I started reading, and the story jumped forward as part of the dream, I was very tempted to stop at that point. It didn't draw me in at all. However, I am so glad I persevered. I laughed, cried and was highly invested as the story unfolded, and really routed for Bella!

Despite the rocky start, the novel really exceeded my expectations, and quickly became one of my favourite reads of the Year. I'm looking forward to reading more from Rebecca Serle in the future!

’Now, on the other side of midnight, we do not yet know what is coming. So be it. So let it be’


I was lucky enough to get an digital review copy of In Five Years by @rebecca_serle through @quercusbooks and @netgalley 🌃

This is actually the first time I’ve ever used the kindle app, or read a digital copy of anything - I much more of a physical book kind of girl (so pretty, so substantial) but after reading about this book I knew I didn’t want to miss it. I read through it in record time, not wanting to drop it for a minute.

In Five Years caught me off guard - I read the synopsis and I was sure I knew what it was about. I got twenty pages in and I was convinced I could guess the ending. Then, as I read further, all assumptions were thrown out the window. This is a lovely, moving, surprising story. Set in New York, just before Christmas - the quintessential romantic setting. In Five Years is the story of Dannie - late 20’s, mega successful, 5-year-planner New Yorker. With a thoughtful, albeit slightly boring boyfriend (sorry David), Dannie’s consistent daily grind seems more focused on achieving something in the future than experiencing anything in the present. It’s all going to plan until she wakes up with a jolt five years in the future. With the help of less grounded friends, Dannie eventually starts to loosen her grip. This isn’t your bog-standard rom-com. I expected a gentle simple read, maybe a love triangle, and an easy happy ending. This book, thanks to Rebecca Serle’s writing, throws you around and pulls at each and every heart string. Ultimately, this is a story about platonic love, and how often the people we love see more in us than we ever could.

In five years is a wonderful book, with characters you will fall in love with. Funny sometimes and heartbreaking at others, it is delightful. Dannie is a great character, very strong. She has her whole life planned out. When asked where she sees herself in five years, she knows without doubt, which direction her life is going in. She wins her most sought after job and gets engaged to her perfect boyfriend at the planned time. What she doesn’t plan for is a dream (?) she has in which she wakes up five years later in an apartment she doesn’t know, engaged to a man she has never met.

This dream (?) is so real she ends up going to a professional to help her deal with the feelings arising from how real it seemed to her, and how she is unable to just forget it. We are treated to a glimpse of her back story and that continues through the book, as we really get to know Dannie. She is totally unprepared to meet the man in her dreams in real life, as the boyfriend of her very best friend. I wasn’t expecting a twist with this book, but when it comes it hits you in the face.

What follows is an emotional journey. Dealing with love and loss, about self-discovery and real love through friendship. It is such a well written book. I thought I knew what the story was going to deliver but was pleasantly surprised by the different way the story flowed. It is a heart breaking story that will leave you reaching for the tissues. It is beautiful. I look forward to reading more by Rebecca.

Not exactly a romance book. However, heartwarming friendship between two women is endearing.
Bella’s character was interesting.

I struggled with this book in the beginning as I wasn't enjoying the writing style, however I persevered and I'm so glad I did! This book made me feel all the emotions and I could relate to Dannie, the main character, in some ways. (I think most 20 somethings could)

The book tells Dannie's story, it begins on the day that she has an interview with a big law firm for her dream job and follows the next five years of her life. Her 5 year plan. 

On the evening of the interview, Dannie's boyfriend has arranged for them to have a meal at one of the most exclusive restaurants in New York City under the pretence that they are celebrating her getting the interview. Dannie however is sure that he will propose to her as it is the perfect setting and the perfect time in terms of their plans. She is of course right and he pops the question to which she says yes. After they get home that night though things get a bit strange as Dannie has the most realistic dream that she is in an apartment that is not hers with a fiance that is not hers in 2025, five years from the date of the engagement, and when she wakes up she can't shake the feeling that it wasn't just a dream but an insight into the future. 

I found some parts of the story a little confusing as I tried to work out how they linked and why they were happening, but on the whole I really enjoyed the book. As well as being a story that, as I have said, a lot of people can probably relate to in terms of trying to find a work/life balance, wanting to succeed in the work environment and wanting things to happen as you have planned, this book also tells the story of a beautiful friendship and I feel like that is the true love story in this book rather than the typical male/female romance. I laughed and cried at parts in this book, some things hit home really hard, and despite knowing what was coming it was still written in a beautiful way that allowed you to appreciate it a lot. 

I would definitely recommend this as an adult book and particularly for fans of PS I Love You and other similar stories.

I really liked this book. I liked the characters and the ending. I laughed through parts and cried through parts as well.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is what I thought:

"Where do you see yourself in five years time?"

This is a question all of us had been asked at one point of our lives(specially in job interviews). In one year or two years or ten years time. Most of us have direct answers. Some of us know where we will be and who we will be in the next one or two or five or ten years. Some of us don't. And thats completely fine.
Our protagonist Dannie is of the former kind. She is an A-type Manhattan lawyer. She has a steady relationship with her boyfriend David and has her life planned to a T. Everything was running according to the plan.When she nailed her dream job and David proposed her, things couldn't have been more perfect. All was well except for the fact that she went to sleep one day and woke up in a different apartment,beside a different man and with a different ring. And if thats not all, she realised that somehow its a vision of her future five years forward!

This was not your typical romance but it relates to very deep emotional matters. But there is plenty of love too.
This book made me feel a lot of things to be honest. It was as if I was going through what Dannie has been going through for the last 6 months of that 5 years time. That vision/dream had her questioning everything. I saw this book when author Hannah Horrens posted about it in her story. The plot certainly was interesting. I really thought it will be about Dannie, David and Aaron but it was not a typical love story. Its so much more than that. Its a story about friendship too. My heart literally broke for Bella and Dannie both. The circumstances that led to that dream were much more complicated than what we all assumed at the beginning(including Dannie herself). I loved how easily the author narrated these events leading to the end of the story but simultaneously leaving it on a hopeful note. I enjoyed this book and all the complex feelings it dealt with. From friendship to love to love lost and the ending, I enjoyed it all. I don't want to spoil the story or give any spoilers away but I really would recommend it to all the fans of 'Me before You', ' P.S. I love You' and 'One Day'. Bilieve me you are not gonna regret this one.

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus books for this wonderful ARC. It was my first Rebecca Serle book but not my last. I enjoyed this one immensely and looking forward to reading it.
Happy reading:)

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus for letting me read this book.
It was really different to what I expected. I thought it would be a focus on the romantic side of things, when really it was all about life and the relationships we gain (or don't) from it.
The book makes you feel so much emotionally, and makes you want to live life to the fullest. The writing was fast paced and easy to read, and I quite enjoyed the very end, as it was not overly predictable.
4.5 stars

This truly is a heart warming book that teaches the lessons of wishing your life away. It is fantastically written so that it keeps you guessing at every stage. There is no way to see the end, you just have to wait it out!

Our main Character Dannie has a good life, a great job and a wonderful fiance.

One day something happens that throws a bit of change into her life. Dannie wakes up and finds herself in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger and a new man in the kitchen. She figures out that she is somehow 5 years into her future. She soon wakes again to find herself back in the present and not sure how to process what happened,

I thought I knew what was going to happen, but I didn't.

Buy this book to find out what happens!

I went full circle with this book. At the start I loved it; the idea of suddenly finding yourself in the future is very intriguing. But I wanted more from this angle. I wanted Dannie to go to the future multiple times because in the middle of the book I was not sure whether the time travel was a dream or a fantastical occurrence. I got a bit frustrated. But by the end I loved the book again. The denouement is very clever..

I don’t often write this about an author I’ve never read before, but . . . WOW! In Five Years took me completely by surprise in such a fantastic way that, two days later, I’m STILL thinking about that ending!

Dannie Kohan is a lawyer in Mahattan. She is also a woman with a plan — a plan based on numbers. Dannie has her life completely mapped out: when she’ll graduate, when she’ll meet the love of her life, their engagement, marriage, even down to where she’ll work and where she’ll live. When David goes down on one knee in one of the most exclusive venues in the City, she knows everything is just as she wants it.

But when a dream so real she can taste it — taste HIM — knocks her off her feet, Dannie starts questioning everything. For four and a half years this dream haunts her, ultimately changing her life in ways she never thought possible.

In Five Years was, for me, and emotional roller coaster in the best possible way. Through Serle’s carefully considered yet seemingly effortless narrative, we are forced to consider how we ourself might deal if we were faced with losing the love of our life.

Definitely one of my 2019 Reads of the Year!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When reading the summary of In Five Years I found the concept incredibly intriguing; it didn't seem to be your usual chick lit, rom-com genre, and it was absolutely not.

The storyline remained continuously interesting and I was hooked immediately. There were so many unexpected turns that you simply could not have guessed the plot from the summary of the story. The characters were well written and though I feel some (David for instance) could have had a little more depth, I contrastingly feel that the somewhat lack of depth added to the character and relationship. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would (and will) certainly recommend.

WOW! What a book! I was hooked from the start and wanted to read this ASAP!

Dannie intrigued me from the start! She was a go getter and spoke her mind, she didn’t seem to interested in David at all. When she had the dream about Aaron I was so excited that she would finally find happiness and be in love. But no, my heart was ripped from my chest.

How could it just end like that?! I’m so confused, what happens with Dannie and Aaron? Do they fall in love? Does she find happiness? Is there more to this story?? I really need to know

I thought the premise behind this book worked really well, and it really hooked me in. Knowing that you're on the right path for your perfectly mapped out life - and then realising that maybe it doesn't work out after all really turned the narrative around. Dannie knew her life goals and had the perfect job, perfect apartment, and perfect partner... right? When she dreams one day that she's in another apartment (on the wrong side of the river, to just add to the confusion!) with a different man, she quickly shakes off the strange experience. That is until she literally comes face to face with the man from her dreams four years later... who happens to be head over heels in love with her best friend. Dannie's turmoil that something could happen between them - and her dearest friendship - make her more determined to ensure her Perfect Life plan comes into full fruition - and quickly!

I found Bella and Dannie's relationship balanced out each character, and although the men were kind of secondary to the story, they didn't take away from it. Overall, I really enjoyed this, and really went through the motions with this book!

Oh my heart, my heart – what an amazing and heartfelt story! I must say that I felt a shiver going down my back as I was turning the last page. True, I didn't cry but that is because I was on the Tube on my way to work.

Dannie and Bella's story captured my mind and my soul and I think I'll carry their feelings with me for a long time.
What I enjoyed the most about this book was that the author does not relieve our protagonist from her grief or her sad feelings – she presents them how they come and I liked that. My feelings don't go away in a few days - it does not matter if I am feeling happy or sad – they last for a long period of time and so do Dannie's feelings so it all felt very real.

A highly recommended read that will make the reader appreciate the life they have.

Dannie has her whole life planned out and everything is falling into place exactly how she planned it until one night after she becomes engaged she has a dream that changes everything. Suddenly she is 5 years in the future in a different apartment and with a man who is definately not her fiance. When she awakes Dannie starts to question everything, was it just a dream or did she see her future.... 5 years later she is stunned to meet the man from her dream and must decide whether a dream will determine her future or whether she can control her own destiny.

I loved this book, I couldn't stop reading. It made me smile and it made me cry, a fantastic read from start to finish!

Dannie has her life mapped out, and the proposal from her boyfriend was entirely unexpected. A life-like dream on the night of her engagement confuses everything, and although she continues with the engagement, the wedding never seems to appear. Then when her best friend introduces her new boyfriend and its the man from her dream she really doesn't know what to think. There are a couple of entirely unexpected twists that will reduce you to tears throughout this book.

Oh, I loved this so much! Absolutely compelling, I read it in one go. Dannie’s story includes love, friendship and career, as well as the fractured relationships she and Bella have with their parents and, for Dannie, with her fiancé David. I really enjoyed watching her story unravel as she tries desperately to avoid the inevitable events of the 15th December. An unusual, unpredictable and addictive read, this is one you won’t be able to put down.