In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

 

Do you ever wonder how books end up on your TBR list? I used to keep a spreadsheet in which I'd put down where my recommendations came from, but that spreadsheet wouldn't work on my phone, so I switched it to a document and now I can never tell. So I don't know where In Five Years by Rebecca Serle came from, but I blame romance reddit.  Anyway, here are my tiny thoughts. (Also, the last romance novel I wrote about was in JUNE - that's crazy and I definitely need to lighten my reading load to include more.)

Dannie Kohan is a lawyer engaged to a wonderful man named David when she dreams of her future self in five years.  This future self is with a man who is not David, in a New York loft that is not her current apartment, wearing clothes she does not recognize.  She wakes up again, things are normal and life goes on until four and a half years later when she meets the man from her dreams.

Interesting characters:

This is not a traditional romance novel in that the real story is that of Dannie and her best friend Bella.  David and the other guy are around, but it's a story about friendship - the highs, the lows, and the challenges that come when your best friend falls in love.  But it's telling that I had to look up Bella's name because she just wasn't as well-written and interesting as Dannie is.  Dannie is ambitious, accomplished, and driven. She has a loving family with a small bit of tragedy.

Bella is just a stereotype of a poor little rich girl.  

Believable conflict:

I think there's a fair amount of conflict between Dannie and her fiancé David that makes a lot of sense. They are engaged for more than five years and there's simmering resentment. I think that's well done in the book and the little examples of criticizing his choice of shirt or not coming home on time are interspersed seamlessly in the narrative.

I also think that the fights Dannie has with Bella are real. One time my best friend and I had a fight and I sort of peeled out of the parking lot, but that night we each brought each other presents as a way to say sorry without saying sorry.  I think Serle's characters feel real and the interactions and conflicts do, too.

Emotional tension:

I mean, no?  It was clear Dannie was never going to be with David and she was never going to be in a fight with Bella forever. Weak spot in the novel, for sure.

Happily ever after:

It's not a HEA. It's an ambiguous ending and if you go into this book thinking it's a straight romance novel, you're definitely going to be left down.

I liked this book, but didn't love it. It was a break from a series of dark books I'd been reading, though, so if you're looking for something a little bit lighter but that isn't strictly romance, this might be for you. I just read some Goodreads reviews claiming people had to "grab tissues" and "ugly cried," but I didn't think it was anywhere near that well written!