Review: In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

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I have very conflicting thoughts regarding this novel. It was definitely a journey. A very unexpected and confusing journey. It’s very tragic, complicated and again, very unexpected.

It’s hard to even describe this novel without giving any spoilers away. It’s best to go in the book blind, and just strap in for the journey. But there are a few things readers should know. Dannie is a corporate lawyer who has planned everything in life- including her romantic life. On the night of her engagement, she goes to sleep, but when she wakes, she is in a different bed. Beside a different man, who is not the man who she just got proposed to, wearing an engagement ring? And it’s five years later? After a long hour, she wakes up again, back in present day. She tries to get back on track and focus on her plans. That is until she meets Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.

The whole premise of this is intriguing, and page by page I couldn’t wait to figure out how and why Dannie’s life had changed so much in 5 years. And when I eventually found out, it wasn’t what I was expecting. Ultimately, this is a story about friendship and self-discovery. Yes, there are romantic aspects of the story, but as the story progresses it is clear that that isn’t the overall message.

I do think the story worked better in the beginning. It was the strongest then. And everything flowed better, and the twists made a little bit more sense.

Final Thoughts

Five Years is an emotional, surprising novel about the unexpected.