I received this book as an eARC from the publisher through netgalley. I was interested in the premise of the 5 year plan set by Orla and how it plays into this romance between opposites. As it turns, the 5 year plan is more of a turn of phrase than a plan that gets executed. I enjoyed the past experiences and got to know and enjoy Orla and Aiden as protagonists and enjoyed their relationship evolving. The present day portion however was a little disappointing - there was some chemistry, some drama, but not a lot of plot development or anything interesting or unexpected. Aiden is a bit of a Gary Stu, likeable and successful and masterful, while Orla seems stuck where she was 5 years ago, and its unclear why there's no one like her that Aiden could fall in love with. Orla's struggles with her parents divorce is brought up but not into any real resolution. And then the climax comes too quickly without any real surprises or developments. I enjoyed the epilogue as HEA. Overall a British/Irish beachy romance read.

I absolutely adored The Five Year Plan! From the moment we meet Aiden and Orla, I was invested and I just couldn't wait to see their relationship unfold. It felt like a really natural progression from friends to lovers and I liked that their was so much detail throughout meaning we really got an insight into how they were both feeling. It wasn't a book full of twists and turns but I was glad about that. It was a gorgeous, romantic read and the ending left me beaming

The Five Year Plan began strong and I could not wait to read more, however, it sadly went downhill when it went back to five years previous and in my opinion I found this very boring and uninteresting. I wanted the here and now not the past.
Sadly I found the book boring and could not recommend.

The Five-Year Plan by Carla Burgess a four-star plan. This had the start of a five-star read the first few pages drew me in, but then went into a three-star read at parts. I just felt that it preached to me in parts and lost itself, I gave it four-stars as was overall the story was well written it just felt like it was something that had been put down and picked up and a place was missed, but if you gloss over the drops you do get good honest writing and when you consider some of the subjects that we don’t often see written about it did well, you may not feel its preaching to you so you may enjoy it.

I really enjoyed this book and was intrigued from the first chapter in. This book has a long flashback right after the first chapter and at times I was wishing to speed it up a bit to see what the current day would bring. Overall I really enjoyed Aidens character and at times felt like I connected more with him. Overall it was a great light rom-com read that I would recommend. I finished this book in a day as I had to see how it would end. Thank you netgalley for the early preview. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

I was very intrigued to read this books after reading the description.
I felt that it was hard to read at times because it went from being present to 5 years in the past. The past than dragged on for a very long time. It was very hard to continute to read during this time but the first chapter was amazing.

I was provided this book by netgalley for an honest opinion.

Journalism and the environment are two of my favourite things - and I was lucky enough to be able to combine them as a career.
It is for that reason I have a rule about steering away from fiction featuring them. You know what it’s like when your job is on a tv show or in book and you spend the whole time getting angry and picking holes in the narrative.
However, Carla Burgess wrote one of my favourite heroes (Sam in Marry Me Tomorrow) and because of that I was willing to give The Five Year Plan a go, despite its subject matter.
I’m so pleased I did because almost from the first paragraph, the warmth in this book seeps off the page. It’s like she injects a little bit of sunshine into every word - even ‘the’ and ‘it’.
And, I'm happy to report, the portrayal of being a journalist was pretty spot on.
This book was just what I needed after reading a rather heavy novel before it. It was like turning on a lamp in a dark room.
It kicks off with an almost cinematic opening chapter, which was beautifully, breathtakingly done. Next comes the flashback and Carla put the “meat on the bone”, as we used to say in the news room. I felt like I was falling in love with Aiden during a lovely summer by the river.
I don’t want to give anything away but my only quibble was with the ending. It felt like career girl Orla completely caved. There was no compromise, as I might have expected. Although maybe it’s because it’s too close to home - as a journalist passionate about journalism - and I’m transferring my feelings on to her? If you read it, journalist or not, I’d love to hear what you think.
That being said, Carla Burgess is still an author I'd break my own rules for and if you’re looking for a book to bring some light into your life, this is definitely one for you.

"The Five-Year Plan" by Carla Burgess had the most phenomenal first chapter. It was breaking my heart and left me hanging and needing more and was just perfect. Then the plot went back five years and that was sort of a struggle for me. The story was still pretty good, it just wasn't as amazing as that first chapter and that was a little disappointing. Then that plot line got going and got really good, and then we switched back to the future and I'd lost interest in it by that point. I'm not sure if switching more frequently between the timelines might have helped, but I have read other romances that did that well. The ending also felt like it dragged on for quite a while and I started skimming a little because it felt like everything had wrapped up a while ago and I didn't care anymore.
Also, the literal title of the book is about Orla's five-year plan and how important her career is to her, but she hardly thinks or cares about it and Aiden quite frequently dismisses it entirely, acting like it should be something she could just give up to be with him even though she never asks him to do the same thing. That was pretty frustrating.
So, this is probably more like a 3.5 stars than 4 stars, but I like to round up for generosity. It was a cute story. I loved the falling-in-love-in-nature feel of it and Aiden was (for the most part) very dreamy and I flew threw the book in just a couple days. So I'd say for the most part it did its job, it just could've used some cutting and rearranging.

Loved the premise of The Five-Year Plan, but I think I couldn't really connect with these characters, and I think it's largely in part to the dialogue and Orla's POV. The characters don't sound like they are working people in their 20s and 30s - they sound much more childish than that.

The story also starts in the present for a little bit but then spent way too much time in the past, way more than just your usual flashback. Maybe if the book had started in the past, then worked up to the present instead of having a chapter in the present then going back five years for probably half of the book, it would have worked better? As a result, the plot sort of dragged at times.. There wasn't much of a buildup, in my opinion, to seeing if they get together: we get the cliffhanger of the first chapter in the present, half of the book in the past, a few chapters of a "will they, won't they?" (which I felt should have been the ending), and the rest of the novel with them together.

I really enjoyed reading about Aiden's passion for the environment and animals. At a climate change protest, Orla worries that he was about give a lecture on veganism, and honestly, I wish he had! I would have also liked to hear more about Orla's all-too-important career. In those five years,, how did she reach her goals? How did she end up in London? Why was she so passionate about her work in the first place?

BUT "I want to inspire compassion for these animals and the planet itself," Aiden says, then later "It'll be vegetarian, by the way, so there'll be none of your murdered animals." And Orla doesn't say anything bad or rude about vegetarians/vegans, she eats her veggie burger in peace. And she later reveals Aiden inspired her to go vegetarian (with the intention of going vegan)! Love to see it.

_The arc of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review._

I did not complete it. I was so fucking bored while reading this one. I was excited about this one but it didn't go well. I didn't like Orla at all.

3 stars
I have mixed emotions on this one. At times it dragged, at times I loved Aiden more than I liked Opal. At times, I thought Opal was a little too much. But, in the end, it was an ok read

Thank you to NetGalley For this ARC. The book starts with Aiden and Orla seeing each other for the first time in 5 years. Next the book flashes back to when they first met, how they developed a friendship and then drifted apart. This was a cute story but I felt the argument as to why they couldn’t be a couple was hashed out so many times, it got old. #thefiveyearplan #carlaburgess

The story was was well written and the characters were interesting enough. Not sure I connected with either Orla or Aiden as much as wanted to but the book is worth a read.

I just love Carla Burgess! I love how she writes every emotion into her stories, how I feel like I know the characters and I am invested in their happy ending.
Yet again, another perfect book by one of my fave contemporary authors! Can't wait for the next!

I loved part of this story but other parts were a little lacking. My main complaint was that I thought the characters could have been developed a little bit further. Especially, that of the character Orla as I felt she was a little one-dimensional. The story though is cute so I don't regret reading it.

An interesting first chapter but then I unfortunately lost interest as the book focused a lot on the past.

I really wanted to like this book, it sounded so promising, but a few chapters in and I was completely bored with the book. I felt like I couldn’t connect to the characters of Orla and Aiden at all and it made me not really care about where they were heading on this journey,

Orla and Aiden meet during the summer when she's sent to interview him for the local newspaper. Orla has a five-year plan, to move up the ladder in her career, become a true reporter, and live in London. When what started out as a good friendship slowly turns in to more, she has to decide what's more important, love or her career. Aiden spends all his time outdoors photographing wildlife, traveling the world. He never wants to get married and never ever wants to have kids, until he meets Orla. When the summer draws to a close, Orla's fears keep her in London while Aiden travels the world. It's been five years and he's back, now all he wants in his life is Orla, all he has to do is convince her he's staying close.

The Five-Year Plan was a slower-paced read, but not in a bad or boring way. It was sweet to watch their friendship grow in the first half, a natural progression from friends to lovers. While it doesn't spend a lot of time on the breakup, you can feel the heartbreak that's stretched over the five years when Aiden comes back. I loved that they both followed their dreams even when it wasn't everything they dreamed it would be because they were apart. My heart ached a little while they were trying to find their way back to each other, Orla's fears and Aiden's frustrations felt so real. Overall this was a sweet book, there is no major drama or plot twists, sometimes you just need a good story with an hea, that's not going to destroy your heart along the way, this is one of those books.

The Five-Year Plan is a second chance romance about a female reporter and a male wildlife photographer whose career goals derailed their first relationship. Meeting a second time they realize they still have feelings. Will they let those pesky career goals stand in the way a second time? Written by British author, Carla Burgess, I think young adult readers should lap this story up. Dialogue is plausible, characters are well defined, and the environmental views of the author are clear. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley.

I struggled with this book. I don’t mind books that flash back to previous events or years gone by; however, I like my flashbacks to be relevant, exciting, filled with vital information. This felt lacking and a tad boring.

Characters were written well, except I feel Orla was overlooked slightly by the author. Maybe that’s just me?

I’m not sure comparing this to a Mhairi McFarlane or Jo Watson book is a fair assessment.

I’ve never written a book but appreciate that the author must have spent hours, weeks and months working on this. My review is purely personal and based on my own likes and dislikes. I am grateful to NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.