In Five Years

Bravo!!! This book is masterful on several levels. I’m not sure how to adequately express why I loved it without accidentally spoiling it for readers. From a writing perspective, it is a study on the surgical insertion of backstory only when and as needed, so the characters unfold layer by layer, disrupting what you thought you understood about them time and again. In the first half, I thought I saw where the story was headed, and I was filled with dread because I didn’t want it to go there. The story took me someplace entirely unexpected, yet left me guessing until nearly the final pages. The relationship between the two friends–who are opposites–is amazingly well-drawn, and the final grace note of the book so powerful and poignant, yet not overdone or saccharine. What the protagonist comes to learn about herself is equally powerful (a study in the unreliable narrator in a non-thriller setting—a fantastic arc). I was wrecked and moved and inspired at once. I would love to write something this good someday.

I loved this book. It starts off with a mystery, and then turns into a gripping story of love and friendship and what constitutes a good life and a good relationship with answers you don’t expect, and keeps you turning the pages until it ends with a bang. This is the perfect book to share with your best friend, as my best friend shared it with me. Highly recommend

I enjoyed the writing style of this novel. I also enjoyed the premise. Waking up and finding yourself five years ahead, then go to sleep, wake in the present. How would you live your life? What would be different? Not sure about the ending, but overall a good read.

This is not a romance and does not have the HEA romance readers will want at the end, but it was an amazing read with unexpected twists and turns, and deep, emotional, and pure relationships that show you true love comes in a myriad of ways.

I adored In Five Years, it’s so poignant and tender. It broke my heart, such an unusual idea executed brilliantly, I didn’t see that twist coming! I’m a sucker for great love stories, and this one is just lovely. A keeper on my shelf!

Dannie Kohan has always been a planner and manages her life with long-ranging aspirations. One goal was met when she got engaged to her long-term boyfriend, David, after living together in New York City. Another goal is on the horizon after interviewing for a position at a prestigious law firm. This job is in line with her career ambitions as an attorney. Among her long term goals are to buy an apartment and eventually have children.

Dannie becomes unsettled after having a dream that takes place five years into the future. In her dream, she lives in a Brooklyn apartment with an unknown man named Aaron. Every detail from this dream feels so genuine including a different engagement ring. She constantly thinks about this scenario as she contemplates her future wedding date.

In Five Years by Rebecca Searle is a thought-provoking book about love, friendship, and relationships. This heartfelt and absorbing novel will lead readers through an emotional journey.

It’s been awhile for me since I’ve been able to say I had a book hangover. I keep seeing In Five Years by Rebecca Serle on IG and had it marked down in my journal as a “must buy in March.”

I was so honored the other day when Atria emailed me and asked if I would like to review it.

This book gave me a book hangover, and has all the emotions and story a phenomenal book has. At the heart are Dannie and Bella, best friends since their childhood, each with family drama in their own way.

Dannie has her entire life planned out with her boyfriend David. Bella is a more whimsical free-spirited soul. Their friendship is tested in an epic way. Their journey is an unforgettable one. I want to say so much about this book but you truly need to go in blind. You’ll experience the raw emotions the best that way.

Easily 5 stars for me.

What an interesting read! I picked this book up from the library expecting one thing. But this book superceded my expectations. A must read! This book was so captivating I struggled to out it down.

This was an emotional rollercoaster. The plot was intriguing, I was curious to find how it would all turn out. I liked the characters, particularly the relationship between the two women, which felt real and totally heartbreaking. Quite dark in places which I wasn’t expecting from the description. But I couldn’t put it down.

Allen Saunders was an American writer, journalist, and cartoonist who is credited with observing that “life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.” In her sixth novel, In Five Years, author and television writer Rebecca Serle demonstrates just how true that statement is.

At the age of twenty-eight, Dannie Cohan’s life is right on track. She lives in Manhattan with her investment banker boyfriend, David. As the story opens, not only does she land her dream job as a corporate attorney with a high-powered, prestigious law firm, but David proposes right on schedule. All of her hard work and planning is paying off.

Dannie dozes off on the couch and has a startling, upsetting experience. She awakens in a bed in a loft apartment she doesn’t recognize with furnishings she’s never seen before. She’s with a man she’s never met, who proceeds to cook her pasta while she finds his wallet and looks at his identification. His name is Arron Gregory and she’s wearing an engagement ring — but not the one David just gave her. In her first-person narrative, she notes that the ring is “not anything I’d ever pick out.” The television is on and she is stunned when she looks at the screen and sees the date: December 15, 2025. A full five years later than when she fell asleep in her own apartment with David. And when Aaron kisses her . . . “I’m melting. I’ve never felt anything like this. Not with David, not with Ben, the only other guy I dated seriously, . . . This is something else entirely. He kisses and touches like he’s inside my brain. I mean, I’m in the future, maybe he is.”

When Dannie wakes up again an hour later — with a jolt — she’s right back on the couch and David is standing over her holding a bowl of popcorn, suggesting that they call their parents to deliver the good news of their engagement.

Was it a fantasy? A vision of some sort? A premonition? Dannie concludes, “It must have been a dream, but it . . . how could it be? . . . I feel the need to touch my body, to confirm my physical reality. I put my hands on each elbow and hold my arms to my chest.” When David moves close to her, it feels like an “intrusion.”

Because she can’t stop thinking about that strange occurrence, Dannie goes to therapy, thinking that she’s going crazy. She doesn’t feel comfortable talking with anyone about it — not even Bella. Her therapist, Dr. Christine, opines that it may have been a premonition. “A psychosomatic trip. . . . Sometimes unexplainable things happen.” Feeling better after talking with Dr. Christine, Dannie convinces herself that her experience was, in fact, “crazy.” And that by discussing it with Dr. Christine, she has left it behind her, somehow making it Dr. Christine’s problem rather than her own. She feels freed.

So Dannie’s life continues on the trajectory she has outlined for herself. After a year on her new job, she is promoted to senior associate, David goes to work for a hedge fund, and they buy an apartment in Gramercy. And then four and a half years slip by. “Everything goes according to plan. Everything. Except that David and I don’t get married. We never set a date. We say we’re busy, which we are.” They plan to marry when they decide to have children, and talk about traveling first. They agree to set a date “when the time is right — and it never is.” Because, Dannie confesses, the truth is that “every time we get close, I think about that night, that hour, that dream, that man. And the memory of it stops me before I’ve started.” One thing she never planned was a five-year engagement.

Bella has been Dannie’s lifelong best friend since they were seven years old and, as with so many friendships, they are total opposites. Bella is vivacious, spontaneous — a “blue-eyed, blond-haired shiksa goddess” — while Dannie is a “Nice Jewish Girl from the The Main Line of Philadelphia.” Bella’s wealthy but frequently absent parents spoiled her with material things, but not their time or attention. So she spent most of her time at Bella’s house while they were growing up. She’s a “free love” kind of young woman — giving and receiving it freely, hiding the fragility and vulnerability that lurk just below the surface. Bella always seems to be in love . . . and her relationships with men never last. Dannie suspects that Bella would like her to be with someone other than David, but Dannie insists that he is the right man for her because he fits perfectly into her life plan.

Dannie soon finds out that life never goes exactly according to plan. She is stunned when she meets the new man in Bella’s life — Aaron. But his name is actually Greg. And Dannie resolves that whatever she envisioned or fantasized years ago must never become reality, even though it doesn’t seem like there is any possibility it will. Happily, Bella seems to have at last found the relationship she has been looking for . . . with Greg.

Serle relates that she enjoys exploring best friendships among women who grow up together “and then your paths diverge” and “lives that have been so parallel look nothing alike. How you navigate that divide and how you keep prioritizing each other are very interesting questions.” In Serle’s tale, Bella receives devastating news that forces Dannie to embark on an unexpected journey with her dear friend. As she remains at Bella’s side, she is forced to confront the truth: she simply cannot control every aspect of her life circumstances and experiences, or what happens to her friends and family, especially Bella, the person she holds most dear. It is a humbling and shattering realization. Dannie’s workaholic life is disrupted in ways she neither welcomes nor embraces, and she loses her equilibrium. She is forced to find a way to balance competing demands and, in the process, she re-evaluates the choices she has made, really examining, for the first time, her feelings and how her family history has shaped her personality, preferences, and choices. As little aspects of the dream or fantasy she experienced years ago pop up from time to time, bringing her back to that night, she is reminded her that she cannot let it come to fruition. She would never knowingly or deliberately hurt Bella. But those are also occurrences over which she finds she has no control.

Serle credibly and sympathetically portrays a woman who arrives at an unplanned crossroads in her life. She is an attorney, trained to evaluate facts, evidence, and draw conclusions about causality and responsibility. At the outset of the story, Dannie does not make decisions or choices based on her feelings. She focuses on goals and relies on logic. And, as Dr. Christine points out, she does not understand and is frightened by what happens to her and the life events she must navigate. In the hands of a less-skilled writer, Dannie could be a wholly unlikeable character: ambitious, controlling, self-involved, and impervious to her own feelings and the emotions of those closest to her. But she is extremely empathetic and likeable because Serle deftly reveals her inner battle to understand what is happening to her and acknowledge her own and others’ needs. Moreover, Dannie is surrounded by an equally intriguing and relatable cast of supporting characters, including the luminescent Bella, who teaches Dannie about having the courage to take risks and love completely, and David, who becomes increasingly frustrated and anguished as he gradually comes to understand what is really happening between him and Dannie. Serle propels the story forward at a steady pace that keeps readers turning the pages to see what will ultimately happen to each of them. Notably, Serle provides a hugely satisfying, but surprising conclusion to the story that further elevates it.

Serle says, “I write to make people feel, to make myself feel and sort out how I feel.” In Five Years succeeds because that’s exactly what Serle accomplishes: she makes her readers feel what Dannie is experiencing, providing a tender, engaging, and memorable story with a clever twist. At its core, In Five Years is an exploration of the steadfast nature of true friendship, the degree to which human beings can control their circumstances and destinies, and the reckoning that is required when all of one’s best-laid plans are interrupted by the unpredictable nature of life itself. Serle has lovingly crafted a poignant story about the peace and freedom that result from letting go of the need to control one’s life and relishing the surprises — good and bad — that life throws in our paths . . . while we are making plans.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.