The next book on my 2020 most anticipated list deals with one of the main questions people inevitably get asked at point in their life - where do you see yourself in five years?
What if you had a plan for what your life would look like in five years only to be shown a glimpse of a future that looks entirely different than what you anticipated?
What if you woke up five years into the future in a different apartment than the one you currently live in and engaged to a different man than the one you are currently set to marry? That is what happens to the heroine of Rebecca Serle's In Five Years!
The Goodreads synopsis for this novel is perfection for those who love their contemporary fiction to have a bit of magic to them (in other words ... anyone who loved The Dinner List).
Perfect for fans of Me Before You and One Day—a striking, powerful, and moving love story following an ambitious lawyer who experiences an astonishing vision that could change her life forever.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Cohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan.
But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future.
After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. 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 by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.
Brimming with joy and heartbreak, In Five Years is an unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.
I am looking forward to Dannie's meet cute with the man from her vision. I also expect to feel conflicted between the two men who will be in her life. Rebecca can write a good triangle of sorts, and I am curious to see how this different dynamic plays out.
Rebecca has kindly taken the time to answer a few questions about the book, her inspiration, and provide the perfect drink to pair with the book.
1. Describe In Five Years using only five words or less.
Friendship. Heartbreak. New York. Love.
2. If someone were to make a signature drink for your book what would be included?
A glass of chilled Dom. Maybe the 2008?
3. Your last book tackled the question 'Which five poeple living or dead, would you invite to have dinner' and this one tackles the "Where do you see yourself in five years" question. Both of these questions are ones that everyone gets asked at some point in their life. What about these questions do you feel make them such great jumping off points for a novel?
They are both questions we’ve all been asked at various points in our lives, and they’re both questions that I think our answers to CHANGE over the course of our lives- that’s interesting to me. I love taking an idea that seems obvious and turning it over and sort of laying it on its side and finding the trap door, so to speak. The way in. My first novel was a retelling of Romeo and Juliet— from Rosaline’s point of view. I’m always looking at the ways something known can become interesting, unexpected, personal.
4. What differences did you discover in your process when writing adult novels versus YA novels?
My process is identical. I’m just at a different stage of my life now, so writing for adults seems natural. I was twenty-four when I sold my first book, I’m a decade older, now- life changes! And what I want to talk about and grapple with has changed.
5. Is there anything in particular that inspired In Five Years (ie: a song, movie, TV show)? Something you referred to for inspiration while writing?
This is kind of crazy but eight years ago I saw a psychic medium who told me very specific things about my life and future. All of it happened, and one thing in particular manifested right before I started writing. I think the thing that propelled me to the conceit was: “you can see what’s coming but you can’t see what it will mean.”
6. What 2020 book are you most anticipating?
It’s early yet- I’m not sure! I read a ton so there are a bunch of authors I’m hoping will give me new work in the next few years- Emma Straub, Adelle Waldman, Stéphanie Danler, to name a few! And Rachel Cusk. Obsessed with her. She’s a revelation.
7. If not too spoilery, what is the opening sentence of In Five Years
Twenty-Five.
Rebecca has kindly taken the time to answer a few questions about the book, her inspiration, and provide the perfect drink to pair with the book.
1. Describe In Five Years using only five words or less.
Friendship. Heartbreak. New York. Love.
2. If someone were to make a signature drink for your book what would be included?
A glass of chilled Dom. Maybe the 2008?
3. Your last book tackled the question 'Which five poeple living or dead, would you invite to have dinner' and this one tackles the "Where do you see yourself in five years" question. Both of these questions are ones that everyone gets asked at some point in their life. What about these questions do you feel make them such great jumping off points for a novel?
They are both questions we’ve all been asked at various points in our lives, and they’re both questions that I think our answers to CHANGE over the course of our lives- that’s interesting to me. I love taking an idea that seems obvious and turning it over and sort of laying it on its side and finding the trap door, so to speak. The way in. My first novel was a retelling of Romeo and Juliet— from Rosaline’s point of view. I’m always looking at the ways something known can become interesting, unexpected, personal.
4. What differences did you discover in your process when writing adult novels versus YA novels?
My process is identical. I’m just at a different stage of my life now, so writing for adults seems natural. I was twenty-four when I sold my first book, I’m a decade older, now- life changes! And what I want to talk about and grapple with has changed.
5. Is there anything in particular that inspired In Five Years (ie: a song, movie, TV show)? Something you referred to for inspiration while writing?
This is kind of crazy but eight years ago I saw a psychic medium who told me very specific things about my life and future. All of it happened, and one thing in particular manifested right before I started writing. I think the thing that propelled me to the conceit was: “you can see what’s coming but you can’t see what it will mean.”
6. What 2020 book are you most anticipating?
It’s early yet- I’m not sure! I read a ton so there are a bunch of authors I’m hoping will give me new work in the next few years- Emma Straub, Adelle Waldman, Stéphanie Danler, to name a few! And Rachel Cusk. Obsessed with her. She’s a revelation.
7. If not too spoilery, what is the opening sentence of In Five Years
Twenty-Five.
That first sentence is such a tease. I love that it is going to be set in New York! I officially want to get my hands on this even more than I did before.
You can find out more about Rebecca by following her on Twitter, and by visiting her her website. You can also find out more about her books on the publisher website.
Let me know what you think of In Five Years in the comments. Is the 'where do you see yourself in five years' question one that you have been asked? Have found that your answer changed as you changed as Rebecca mentioned above? Excited to hear what you all think.
Be sure to stop by tomorrow to for the next book on my 2020 most anticipated list.
