In Five Years
Ratings190
Average rating3.5
Summary: Dannie has always been someone who has had it all together, and everything in her life seems to be going just according to plan after she aces an interview for her dream job and accepts a proposal from her boyfriend on the same day. That night, however, when she awakes from a short nap, she finds herself five years in the future in a different apartment, apparently in a relationship with a man she doesn’t know. She only spends about an hour in this vision of the future, and she tries to forget about the experience, but that becomes impossible when, much to Dannie’s shock, she actually meets the man from her flash-forward. The book is definitely a page-turner.
Interesting premise, surprising ending... I did not anticipate the twist but also it didn't really make too much sense to me? Maybe it's just me though. The build up was nicer than the ending. Still devoured it in 4 hours.
“In Five Years” by Rebecca Serle is an emotional rollercoaster that I couldn't put down. Despite the protagonist's occasional moments of entitlement, Serle's skillful writing drew me in, offering a soothing escape from heavier genres. This poignant tale of friendship, grief, and the unpredictability of life had me sobbing multiple times. Through its exploration of love and life plans gone awry, it gently reminds us that sometimes straying from the expected path leads to unexpected joys. I gave it five stars and highly recommend it for anyone seeking a heartfelt read that resonates long after the final page. Plus, I couldn't help but wish for a friendship as pure and deep as the one portrayed in the book.
4/5- it wasn't groundbreaking literature but I really enjoyed reading. Sometimes felt a little rushed but i enjoy fast paced books.
Probably just not my genre, but did not engage me. Characters poorly developed. Had it been any longer, would have been a DNF.
I really enjoyed this book, more than I anticipated. Maybe it's because I worked for 2 decades at Big Law.
Spoilers after a general review - I'll put a warning before. I honestly almost didn't finish this book. I listened to it on Libby and was 19% in and almost returned it. I am so glad I didn't. It turned out to be one of my favorite books ever. It was beautiful and not at all what you'd expect.
Spoilers below!!!!!
I really don't want to give too much away. I think the way it is written will shock you and have the emotional effect it's supposed to. That being said, I've seen some reviews upset by how the story went. To me, this wasn't a typical love story. This was a love story of two best friends (not friends to lovers, just honest love between two friends).
3/5 • Not what I expected.
I went into the book thinking it would be a lighthearted, quick, romance read based on the blurb. It was anything but that, it relied heavily on the work obsessed female trope too busy for love and I found some of the events a bit heavy especially considering how the story ends.
I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this one. It's a beautiful story, but there are certain parts of it that don't sit well with me. I don't want to spoil it, it is worth the read. I'm taking a minute to process.
The story was meh. Lady has weird dream, is dissatisfied with life, has best friend, best friend gets sick...
...I can no longer tolerate books that take place in NYC. They are always so snooty. All the name dropping and they always come with fashion. I was wearing J Crew this, he was wearing a sweater from such and such while we frolicked over to this place so superior blah blah. Kills the story.
This book has been on my TBR for quite some time and I finally read it/listened to it. I have overall positive thoughts about the story. However, I think it is promoted as a book about true friendship, and while there is a theme centered around friendship, I don't necessarily think it is the main focus. I think the main theme of this book, for me, was the deconstruction of this time centered lifestyle that the FMC was living. Everything on a timeline and if things didn't happen on that timeline something was wrong. There were moments where the FMC was grieving and it was palpable in the way it was written. I'm not sure if there is a trigger warning page because I did this on audio, but I would definitely look up triggers or DM me if you have questions. I don't know this was a hard one to review because it was just kind of weird for me. I liked the writing and the audio narration was great, but definitely not a top read for me and not one I'm likely to read again. People say this is a book about friendship and there is a friendship in this book and all of the things that come with that, but I wouldn't say it was the main focus. This is an adult women's fiction (according to amazon) 18+ for themes.
The kind of book that sophomore in high school Kayla would have gushed over but 22 year old Kayla is too old for the overly cute and perfectly wrapped story
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I feel like most of the characters and relationships felt very shallow. some of the relationships in the book seem very unrealistic – not something that adult friends/significant others would act with zero remorse or further mention. There was a twist in the book that I felt like came completely out of left field.
I may be alone on this thought but David deserved better than what he got. Dannie was completely oblivious to the fact that he would have done anything for her and in turn strung him along for the 5 years. Quite tragic he did not cut out sooner.
I did enjoy that it came full circle, but it kind of seemed all for naught.
I liked the premise of the book, and then I got about 30% in and could see where it was going. While it didn't end up exactly as I thought (thankfully), it was close enough. I think the author tried to have the book be too many things at once and was intent on utilizing the 1 hour in the future plot device regardless if it worked or not. Thoughts could have deeper, characters could have been more complex, plot line could have been simpler.
This book was a surprise. It definitely took a different - and in my opinion great - but unexpected turn. I liked the friendship aspect and that hard topics are discussed, even though you would not expect that. An example is a relationship that on paper seems to tick all the boxes but the heart just isn't in it anymore. It is hard to admit that and the characters go through it in a very relatable manner. However, at the same time the protagonist is this go-getter-best-in-the-field workaholic with the token tragic backstory and the rich pixie best friend so that really takes away from the story being relatable. I get the message but I just felt kept at an arm's length because of it (the best doctors, being able to randomly buy apartments in NYC, etc.). I think we like to read about these characters cause it's exciting and they have so many options that the plot can go anywhere. And sometimes that is important and really adds to the story (e.g. in The Secret History). But other times it just distances characters that are supposed to be relatable. While the argument could be made that this story was meant to point out that even if you work hard, have money, rich parents, are full of life and your life is amazing shit still happens I get it. It just isn't a story tearing out my heart.
i'd like to know what is the point of this book. I cant even say that it started out great and went downhill, it was bad from the beginning. So bland and dull. The characters felt as though they have no depth, no purpose, no reason. I understand the message conveyed by the book perhaps is that regardless of how much you plan, fate intervenes and all, but it still didn't make sense to me. In simple and short words, I hated it.
1.5/2
Honestly, this was not for me.
Personally, I didn't like the way the book was structured or the writing. That's not to say that all chapters were “bad”, as there were a few that I honestly thought to be great, filled with personal/emotional moments. Nevertheless, I couldn't stand the protagonist for 90% of this. Call me however you want as well as tell me that I couldn't possibly understand her, but from my perspective, she didn't have personal growth until literally the last part, and that's because it's forced on her.
Just take the fact that she put off her engagement for four and a half years and then wanted to marry in a rush just because she finally met the guy she was supposed to hook up with. She went to therapy once, then again after the time skip, and she admits to withholding information about her dream, to then complain that even the therapist didn't help. Then, she doesn't have the courage to break off her engagement, having her boyfriend do so for them; when he said “I can't believe I'm the one that has to do this”, took the words out of my mouth. That's right, you don't have to do this, she's the one whose supposed to. Furthermore, she's rather controlling, but many times not in a positive way, not even when characters try to pass it as a joke.
I think the only thing I liked about her was her taste in wine and how good of a friend she was.
Then, her friend (whom I genuinely liked) becomes cancer-positive literally halfway through the story, and although I didn't like the protagonist, their interactions were actually very touching. Greg is an amazing guy, and I felt the most for him. I found it rather irritating the times when the protagonist constantly antagonized him even during her friend's treatment because...I guess she believes the worst in people?
Overall, as a book that's marketed as the “most heartbreaking novel of the year”, I was rather underwhelmed. Even the time travel aspect feels underwhelming because, even though it makes for a great parallel which I actually enjoyed reading in the penultimate chapter, I didn't understand how it was supposed to affect the overall story. Like, if you take away the time travel, the story plays out exactly as it never happened.
P.D. I didn't even touch on the blatant clichés (dancing to Frank Sinatra when an old couple was already dancing, etc.)
The cover says it all: This is a love story but not the love story you're expecting.
I liked it.
Definitely not the book I was expecting.
It was much more sad and the romance was not the main relationship at all.