Ratings146
Average rating3.5
I don't normally go for stories like this so the change of pace was refreshing. Spent the first half itching to know how it was going to unfold and the second half slowly mourning the inevitable conclusion. Also it was such a minor part of the story but I loved the Mindy Kaling bit.
In Five Years was a heart-tugging story about love, friendship & taking the sourest lemon life has to offer & being able to turn it into something resembling lemonade. (yes, that was a this is us reference bc it fit perfectly
This book will stay with me for a while. It presents itself as an interesting twist on life - someone who has a definitive life plan set out for them gets a glimpse into the future. The story takes twists and turns with characters that you come to know and cheer for. Themes of friendship, true love, family, and more make this a great read that I highly recommend.
This book is absolutely unexpected!! A story about love between friends, platonic soulmates. The plot twist i never saw coming. I just wish the chapters were dated to know exactly where we were in the timeline, I constantly felt myself wondering how many days until ~that~ day. Definitely recommend as a short read that still makes you feel everything!
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book and how invested I became in the relationships that developed. I had to put the book down to live my life but I kept thinking about how the author was going to make such a huge leap to bridge a really large gap that she had created. Needless to say, she did, and did it beautifully. I felt teary at a few spots. Great story from a book I'd normally never pick up.
Books, Coffee & Passion
In Five Years was the opposite of what I was expecting. The blurb is a little deceiving to say the least. The premise is amazing and that's what made me read the book, I mean a girl got engaged to her boyfriend in 2020 and then suddenly wakes up with a different man and a different engagement ring 5 years in the future, an hour later she wakes up again in 2020... This sounds amazing, right? Unfortunately, in my opinion the execution wasn't. This is not a love story. I expected a light love story with some twists and turns, I wasn't expecting a story of friendship, loss and grief.
If you want to read this book and don't want spoilers, stop reading this review now.
One of my main problems while I was reading the book was that I couldn't empathize with any of these characters except with Bella, Dannie's best friend, but not even with her as a person, it was mostly because everything she was going through and had to endure. I couldn't stand Dannie, the main character, she was so judgy when it came to Bella's lifestyle and relationships. I disliked Dannie even more because she was so obsessed with her life plan. Her obsession went to the point she kept a loveless relationship just because she felt safe and wanted her plan, to marry in a few years and having kids a few years after that, to come true. She was narcissistic, self-entitled and annoying. Her boyfriend was just a bland character and Aaron... I couldn't get Aaron at all.I love plot twists when they're done right, I just felt like it wasn't the case here. Some of Aaron and Dannie's interactions felt forced in order to keep the readers thinking they might be interested in each other. Like the intense looks Aaron gave her occasionally. That meant nothing, it was only inserted in the plot as a way of keeping the readers guessing if they were going to fall in love. It didn't make any sense when the scene Dannie had dreamed in the beginning of the book was wrapped up. It just felt like lazy writing and it really bothered me. I couldn't get Aaron because I think his main role in the story was just to keep the readers believing in a possible romance between Dannie and him. His character development was nonexistent.
Overall, it was disappointing even though it was a page turner.
The writing is very, very good. The author does a great job of describing New York and views etc. However, this book was not for me. Had I known the real plot of this book I probably would not have picked it up. Very misleading synopsis with a real plot that just fails to deliver.
Did Dannie even change that much throughout this novel? I don't think she did and I really thought this was going to be like “Maybe In Another Life” mixed with a Scrooge like story. Just not for me.
I liked Bella and David but did not appreciate how David was treated.
Really taps into the nuances of the human experience/experiment - friendship, grief, intimate relationships, work, love - to name a few.
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.)
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.
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'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
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.
What would you do if you saw a glimpse of your future? Would knowing it somehow lead you to make decisions that inevitably lead to its fulfillment? Rebecca Serle explores this concept in this charming and heartwarming novel.
I went into this book thinking the main characters would be Dannie and her boyfriend; however, the book is really about the love between two best friends, Dannie and Bella. Dannie struggles to figure out the path of her love life, but the one constant and fulfilling relationship in her life is her friendship with Bella. These two characters are so different, but they balance each other. Serle does a great job of creating this contrast. Some might say that the two women are stereotypes, one grounded and serious while the other is free-spirited and laid back; however, it's not bothersome to me. I believe they are simply examples of real women, even if they are maybe portrayed to the extreme.
The plot line takes a turn about 60% into the book. It did not end up being the story I expected it to be, but that is not a bad thing. I ended up liking it more because of the new direction it went in. While some of the plot developments are a bit cliche, I still thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience. It was a fast, engaging read that I would definitely recommend to my fellow readers.
For anyone looking for a book about love and friendship that will both break and warm the heart, In Five Years is a great choice.
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.
4/5- it wasn't groundbreaking literature but I really enjoyed reading. Sometimes felt a little rushed but i enjoy fast paced books.
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.