In Five Years

Author: Rebecca Serle
Pages: 255
Overall: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot and Themes: 4/5
Cheers Factor: 4/5
Pairing: Bright Side
This is a light pairing that’s super tasty and reminds me of our main characters best friend Bella. It also reminds me of my best friend Bella with the light taste and possibilities for cute presentation.

​Ingredients
1 ½ oz gin (I used Breckenridge)
½ oz Aperol
1 oz lemon juice
1 egg white
Aromatic Bitters
Lemon wheel
Ice​

---

Instructions
-Fill shaker with ice
-Add gin, aperol, lemon juice and egg white to shaker
-Shake for about a minute
-Strain into a glass without ice
-Garnish with bitters and lemon wheel
-Enjoy


“This is the thing she’s wanted forever. This right here. This is love.”


Take a Shot: Dannie has it all. The boyfriend, the work ethic, and soon to be the job after her interview. On the night of her engagement she falls asleep only to wake up five years later in a bed that isn’t hers,  an apartment she’s never been in, in a neighborhood she detests, wearing a ring that isn’t her engagement ring and with a man who isn’t her fiancé. The catch is, it’s five years later. After an hour in this future time, Dannie returns to herself in present time and can’t shake the thought of her night five years from now. 


“She is life incarnate. What would happen if we just pretended we’d never heard?”


Setting
I love the New York setting of this novel and it did a great job of not over explaining to the degree of becoming too minute in the details that I wouldn’t feel lost. Personally, I liked the details we were given and it was fitting 

Characters
I didn’t love the characters individually, but I loved the relationships the characters had with one another. I loved the depth of the relationships that we didn’t see. It was reminiscent of Normal People to me which is beautifully private while still being a book. The friendship between the main character and our best friend is just so sweet and the kind of friendship that I feel like I don’t read frequently enough. I love the love displayed outside of romantic relationships towards other characters.

Plot and Themes
This one hit me with the We Were Liars kind of feel and I really liked the plot. It was meant to be a quick short novel so it felt somewhat underdeveloped and I don’t entirely love all of the insinuations throughout. However, I think it’s overall very moving and as someone who has experienced a lot of similar experiences to those depicted in the book it felt very real and raw.

Conclusion
I would recommend this book to anyone who loved We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and Normal People by Sally Rooney.
Reasons to Raise a Glass: friendship between main character and best friend, ending tie in
Too Strong: the pacing, realistic factors of real life were ignored

To read a more of my thoughts including spoilers click read more!​

“Here’s the thing about cancer: they ease you into it.”


    Thank goodness we are in the spoiler section. This one is super hard to even give a non-spoiler review for being that the entire book moves quite fast. I absolutely loved this book. Preface I did cry so you know I loved it. My heart genuinely hurt after finishing it. I love the relationship Bella and Dannie have. I have a long time best friend Bella as well who I also call Bells so it felt personal. The touching moments where we truly see the love this friendship has brought both women is the best part of the novel. The contrast between their two characters was so touching and I loved it 
    I also HAVE to talk about the flash forward. I loved the tie in at the end where we see that moment in time fitting into Dannie’s life. I loved the mirroring of her words and how much it actually made sense. The way Serle perfectly mirrors the confusion of waking up 5 years ahead of time with the weight of grief. I loved the line “I moved to Dumbo.” because it works in both situations. At first Dannie was confused at how that had become her life and then she was just dumbstruck at how that had become her life amidst her sadness. I would recommend the book sheerly based off of that scene and it’s mirroring. It was such a simple input, but it was such a nice tie in. Then at the very end, the “meet cute” with the doctor. I don’t have words, but it really showed that no one can predict the future and what will happen.
    My only personal gripe was the insinuation at a relationship between Dannie and Greg while Bella was still alive. I felt very sad knowing the ending of where those two characters would end up, but after finishing the novel I find I’m not that angry. I don’t think I would be angry if that happened after I had passed. Then again if I had passed I would not be there to be angry, but I don’t think it would be something that I would be able to tell my loved ones, who are grieving my loss, how to cope. 
    With my personal experiences with cancer and family members and friends I also loved the realism that was given to this story. It didn’t try to glamorize it and it also didn’t try to over explain it. I felt personally very moved by the honesty I felt coming through in the story. I also enjoyed seeing the story line move so fast because that’s how cancer works sometimes. It can go from nothing to horribly aggressive in the blink of an eye. Overall, I really loved this title and am very glad to have randomly picked it up from the library.
​

“Love doesn’t require a future.”​