Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - In Five Years

I purchased a copy of this book from the library bookstore.
"In Five Years" follows Dannie Kohan. Dannie has the seemingly perfect life, and her grand plan is falling perfectly into place. She is about to land her dream job at a law firm, she is living in her dream apartment in New York City, and she is about to be proposed to by the perfect guy. But, on the night of her engagement, she falls asleep, and has the most vivid dream about what her life looks like five years into the future. Nothing turns out how she thought it would, and she does not know what that means for her present.
I would first like to say that I found this book in the romance section of the bookstore, and although there are some love stories, all of the romance felt more like a subplot. I think this is a hard-hitting contemporary that is far more about Dannie and her relationship with her best friend, Bella. I think this is a love letter to friends, and to one's self, because Dannie is forced to acknowledge some difficult truths she has hidden from herself.
I love the exploration of the idea: where do you see yourself in five years? It is often easy to dream and picture where life is going to take you, but everything can change in the blink of an eye. Dannie is a planner, and very much has the plan for life laid out. For her to see a future she did not envision is terrifying, and I think a lot of us would be shocked to see where our lives are actually going. I think this book also tries to tackle the idea that knowing the future can ruin the present. Dannie saw her future, thought she did not like it, and she stressed and tried everything in her power to steer away from it. Knowing does not make it better.
Dannie is such a relatable character, and I loved reading from her perspective. She is trying so hard to stick with her rigid plans, that she is missing all of the beautiful things she could have.
The pacing was great in the book. I did not feel like the story was taking place over five years, which I think is a great testament to the writing. All of the characters felt fleshed out, and I was rooting for them all in different ways.
I highly recommend this book, and I look forward to reading more from Rebecca Serle in the future.

Content Warnings

sydny_n's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I thought this was a romance but for the first time in my life I was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t. It made me reflect on some things I really need to with my life.

And I loved the “After” chapter. Knowing that we never get to see the possible love she has with Dr.Shaw is both beautiful and sad.

Honestly, just like this book.

Content Warnings

stephnew's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Content Warnings

heychelsey's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I have such mixed feelings on this. While the dream plot ultimately landed for me, everything in the middle and particularly the back-half of the book made for a frustrating read. The summary doesn’t set expectations of the novel well, and all of the characters don’t feel fleshed out.

Content Warnings

shelleys_shelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

lizziaha's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.5

The heart of this book is just so different from what the book actually is. It’s about Dannie finding the great lives of her life—and I’m not talking about either of the men that feature in this story. I honestly think that the book would’ve been better without either of them being in it. It’s about growing older and growing up. It’s about love, and the unexpected places we find it. It’s about passion. And the completely whack premise of one hour of time travel ruins all of that. I spent the first half of the book waiting for something bad to happen, and the second half getting angrier and angrier at the idea that the author was really going to follow through with the whole crazy thing. It’s not just implausible—it’s laughable. There wasn’t enough work done to set up the ending. And speaking of bad writing, this book is the epitome of telling not showing. I found it hard to engage with that kind of writing. This idea had a lot of potential, but I think it was just not executed very well. I actually feel a little angry about it because it could’ve been a book that I absolutely loved.

Content Warnings

sarahflanders's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

aisle4b's review against another edition

Go to review page

sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

I was intrigued with the beginning of the book, but didn't enjoy where it went. I had a hard time relating to Dannie and other characters, and for all of the talk of love and friendship it feels like we don't actually see these things. The ending didn't sit well with me and also left me wondering what the point of the story was -

random time travel

that's never explained and there's nothing Dannie can do to change it?

It's totally okay to hook up with your best friend's fiance as soon as she dies because that's apparently how they both express their grief? Oh but don't worry about the one night stand, Dannie maybe actually gets together with the oncologist that was treating her best friend. What the actual hell.

Content Warnings

More...