In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Title: In Five Years

Author: Rebecca Serle
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication date: March 10, 2020
Pages: 225
Source/format: Hardcover gifted
Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):

Where do you see yourself in five years?

When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan 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.

M Y  T H O U G H T S

I haven't read a book in awhile that tugged at my heart strings. The question at many interviews is "where do you see yourself in five years?" It's definitely easy said than done. At first you think you are reading a typical contemporary novel where a woman is trying to juggle her career with her romantic love life.

Dannie has a promising career and her boyfriend popped to question to marry her. You would think that everything will be a happy ever ending and everything will go according to planned. One night, Dannie has a dream. This is no ordinary dream but a dream that will haunt her for the rest of her life since she has a different ring on her hand, she is in a different home and there is a different man in her life. What is going on?

However, this dream is more like a premonition of something that will happen to Dannie in her future but Dannie doesn't know the details of how she got there. While she tries to collect the pieces of this puzzle, time flies by to almost five years which is when the events occurred in her dream. Dannie has no clue if the dream will come true but she is determined to do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn't. The premonition is part of her fate and she cannot undo her fate. She can only accept her fate. 

The way Rebecca Serle writes about relationships is realistic. She writes like the reader is at the scene to witness these companionships. We see how the relationships grow and how much they mean to each of the characters. I loved the friendship between Dannie and Bella. They are there for each other no matter what. During the good times and the bad times, they are always thinking of one another. They grow older together and they each grow to be better person. While the relationship with Bella grows, her relationship with her boyfriend, David, becomes more stagnant. 

Serle created a novel that is relatable yet she adds a bit of magical realism to novel. The twist at the end completely caught me off guard but it makes so much sense. I haven't sobbed over a book for a long time. Serle penned characters who I had grown close to like good friends. So when one character is in anguish, I can feel their anguish. I can feel their happiness when some good happens. 

In Five Years has some heavy content. There is instances of death, cheating, grief, etc. This is not a light hearted book but it covers topics in occur in real lives.