Title: In Five Years
Author: Rebecca Serle
Publication Date: March 10, 2020
Genre: Contemporary
Number of Pages: 272
Summary: From Goodreads: “Where do you see yourself in five years?
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.
After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.
That is, until four-and-a-half years later, when by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.
Brimming with joy and heartbreak, In Five Years is an unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.”
Review: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher (Simon and Schuster/Atria Books) and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
I want to start this review by saying that this book made me ugly cry. In Five Years follows Dannie, a corporate lawyer who has her life perfectly planned out; she has her dream job, and she’s engaged to her long-term boyfriend, David. After she gets engaged, she has a vivid dream that takes place exactly five years in the future, but she’s in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and there’s a different man. She files this away as just a weird dream, but then four-and-a-half years later, her best friend, Bella, introduces her to the man in her dream. What follows is an emotional and unforgettable story of love, friendship, and heartbreak.
My favourite thing about this book was the friendship between Dannie and Bella. I loved that were opposites who balanced each other out. Dannie is an ambitious corporate lawyer with a life plan, and Bella is a spontaneous gallery owner who is always travelling and going on adventures. Despite these differences and the disagreements they’ve had over the years, they’re basically sisters who would do anything for each other.
I also loved the friendship that formed between Dannie and Aaron. Aaron is the man who appeared in Dannie’s dream, and he is also Bella’s boyfriend. I loved reading about them coming together to rally around Bella when she needed them the most, and I loved that they were able to be there for each other when their world started to fall apart.
More generally speaking, I loved how strong the female characters were in this book. Dannie is a corporate lawyer who is climbing up the ladder, breaking the glass ceiling with every step she takes. Bella is a creative queen who doesn’t let anyone tell her what to do or how to live her life. There’s also a small part in this book that features a tech firm that was created and run by two women.
Even though I loved the three main characters, I’m not sure if I liked the premise of this book. The entire book is leading up to the date in Dannie’s dream, and it just felt kind of weird to me? It felt even more weird knowing who the man in the dream is, and everything that happened leading up to it. The ending also threw me off, especially because it was very open-ended.
I was also thrown off because I went into this book thinking that it was a romance book, but it certainly wasn’t a romance book. There are some romantic elements in the book, but this is more so a book about friendship and moving on, which makes me put it in the contemporary category. The lack of romance didn’t ruin the book or anything like that, it just wasn’t what I was expecting.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it. I loved the three main characters, and I thought the story was memorable, even if I found it to be a little weird. If you pick up this book, make sure you have a box of tissues nearby, because you might end up ugly crying.
Rating: 3.5 Stars!
Great review! I bought this book last week so I will make sure I have tissues on the ready 🙂
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it!