I am please to bring you my review of In Five Years by Rebecca Serle.

Where do you see yourself in five years? 

Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan has been in possession of her meticulously crafted answer since she understood the question. On the day that she nails the most important job interview of her career and gets engaged to the perfect man, she’s well on her way to fulfilling her life goals.

That night Dannie falls asleep only to wake up in a different apartment with a different ring on her finger, and in the company of a very different man. The TV is on in the background, and she can just make out the date. It’s the same night – December 15th – but 2025, five years in the future.

It was just a dream, she tells herself when she wakes, but it felt so real… 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 Dannie turns down a street and there, standing on the corner, is the man from her dream…

In Five Years is a love story, brimming with joy and heartbreak. But it is definitely not the love story you’re expecting.

I firstly must admit to having had this novel for quite some time. For whatever reason, it just hadn’t jumped out at me over other novels I have in my TBR pile. However, I am making a concerted effort to read novels that I’ve been ignoring and this made it to the top of the pile. How silly was I waiting for so long!!

Dannie Kohan is all about numbers and statistics. She lives her life in a logical manner, and leaves very little to chance. She is a lawyer with a very clear career plan, she has a boyfriend David who she knows is just about to propose and she’s happy in their New York apartment. They’ll be engaged for the appropriate amount of time before getting married and starting the rest of their lives together.

The only problem is the dream. The most vivid, realistic dream she’s ever experienced. Five years from now, she will be in a loft apartment with another man, and a ring on her finger that is NOT her engagement ring from David. But it is all just a dream right? Fast forward to four and a half years later, and all of a sudden Dannie meets the man from her dream and he just so happens to be her best friend Bella’s new boyfriend.

This is a story about how sometimes, planning your life just isn’t enough. Life gets in the way and it throws curveballs that you just cannot plan for, no matter how hard you try. It’s a story of love and loss, it’s a story about setting yourself free of life’s constraints and learning how to love and live freely in order to make the most of your life.

What a lovely novel this is! I loved it, and I am gutted that I left it so long until I picked it up to read. So I am more than happy to recommend this to you all – go grab yourself a copy!