Book Review- Rebecca Serle's In Five Years

Dannie Kohan is a lawyer who has her whole life plan figured out. She does not like surprises. In line with her plans, she gets engaged to her long time boyfriend and lands her dream job. Bella, Dannie’s best friend, couldn't be more different. She is a free spirit who takes every opportunity to travel and experience new things. Childhood friends, Dannie feels protective over Bella, who comes from wealthy, yet emotionally and physically distant parents. Bella felt abandoned by her parents, who were always off traveling or meeting their own desires, rather than the needs of their child. This made Dannie even more protective over her friend during their childhood, a dynamic that continued into adulthood.

On the same night that Dannie gets engaged, she has a vivid and visceral premonition, where she’s having sex with a man who is not her fiancé. It feels so real that it shakes Dannie to her core and makes her question her real-life relationship.

Years later, Bella shares news of a new boyfriend named Greg. When Bella meets him, she is shocked to realize that he is the same man from her premonition. Is it possible that her premonition is real?

Just weeks into their relationship, Bella thinks that she is pregnant with Greg’s baby. They are both elated at the news, but are crushed to learn that Bella isn’t pregnant, she has cancer. Dannie must now navigate co-caring for Bella with Greg, hiding her feelings that she might end up with him.

My neighborhood book group selected In Five Years for their June book pick. It was my first time attending our local book club and I had great time. I actually owned the book for several years, but had not read it. I found the start of the story to be a bit slow, but about a third through I became captivated by the relationship between Bella and Dannie.

I think the romance parts of the book are a bit of a ruse, as the heart of the story is the friendship between the women and their dynamic. I didn’t really care about the men in the story or think that they were very important. Dannie is a workaholic, control freak who struggles to let go of her master plan. The men serve as a plot device to show that Dannie will and can have relationships outside of Bella. She does not have a romantic relationship with Bella, but their friendship is the most important and dominate relationship in each other’s lives. This is the core of the story.

The premonition drove the story, but I’m not sure I liked it. We see it mirrored at the beginning and end of the story. It’s a plot device. It works as far as framing the story and adding intrigue. It serves to show character development with Dannie, but it also seemed to be a bit of a gimmick. I have mixed emotions about it. It did keep me turning the pages.

In Five Years is a solid friendship story and a tear jerker. It would be a good vacation read, assuming you can handle crying in public. I also found the story to be more layered and interesting when we discussed it at book group, than when I finished it initially.

Book Review- Curtis Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest novel, Romantic Comedy.

Sally is a staff writer for an SNL-esque variety show called Night Owls. She holds her writing and comedy skills in high esteem, but feels like she is the funny friend, the one behind the scenes, the one who blends into the crowd, rather than standing out. Dating hasn’t been easy. She finds herself in a series of lackluster, sex-based relationships, where she doesn’t feel like she can share her true self, including details of her employment.

Noah is an aging rock star who is booked on Night Owls as both the musical guest and weekly host. Sally and Noah have an immediately connection and easy banter, which almost goes further, but comes to an abrupt halt due to a misunderstanding.

Years later, during the 2020 pandemic, Sally and Noah reconnect through email, laying misunderstandings to rest and deepening their connection. They decide to meet-up, Sally driving to Noah’s mansion in California to become part of his “bubble.” However, under the surface, both Noah and Sally have personal doubts and misconceptions that threaten to prevent a relationship from happening. Can they overcome their issues to allow their relationship to blossom?

I’m a huge fan of Sittenfeld’s writing. She’s one of those authors that I’ll read anything she writes and Romantic Comedy was on the top of my most anticipated reads of the year. I was not disappointed. I fell for Sally and Noah’s messy romance. They are both likable characters and although the backdrop is flashy, with Sally’s television career and Noah’s rockstar mansion, at the heart of it, these are two very normal people.

A huge part of Sally’s hang-up is she can’t imagine a bigger life for herself. Even though Noah is clearly into her, and she into him, Sally will not allow this to be a possibility. She pushes him away. She even writes a sketch for the week that he is host which involves a Pete Davidson/Ariana Grande type relationship, playing on the idea that an unattractive guy who is funny, can date a gorgeous woman. Sally writes this as a joke for a fellow writer, who is in that type of relationship with a celebrity, but in reality, Sally is exploring the concept based on her own feelings towards Noah. She feels like she is the “Pete Davidson” type and yet, as a woman, it would be impossible for Noah to fall for her. The role reversal of the sexes does not allow for a hot guy to fall for the funny woman. However, this is clearly not how Noah views her or the situation, making the sketch quite insulting. Additionally, Sally is so steeped in her own insecurities, she can’t even realize that Noah has his own insecurities.

As I mentioned, the magic in this story is that the leads are very ordinary people and this is how they eventually meet in the middle. Noah pushes past Sally’s insecurities and helps her during a family crisis, assisting her with caregiving for her beloved step-father. As someone who has been a caregiver for elderly relatives, I found this part of the storyline to be refreshing and honest. After all, at the end of the day, the private jets and premiere parties are meaningless, if the person that you love isn’t there when life is most difficult. Romantic Comedy is at its best in these smaller, less flashy moments, when the love between Noah and Sally shines brightest.

Romantic Comedy is an engaging and lovely novel by one of my favorite contemporary writers. It’s a good pick for someone who wants a funny, mostly light-hearted story with a dash a glamour and a bit of depth.

Book Review- Jodi Picoult's Wish You Were Here

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of Jodi Picoult’s novel Wish You Were Here.

Diana’s life is going according to her plan. She works at an auction house and is about to orchestrate a career changing sale of a famous piece of art. Her long-time boyfriend, Finn, is finishing his residency at a local hospital and will be a surgeon. Diana is confident that Finn will propose to her on their upcoming Galapagos vacation and soon, they will be married and buying their first home. Life is perfect in early 2020.

Finn’s boss cancels all vacation requests as pandemic worries begin to grow, but Finn presses Diana to take their vacation alone. Nervous to travel solo and missing Finn, Diana arrives in Galapagos, and is forced to make an quick decision; she can either stay on the island or head back to the airport, with no guarantee of making a flight, as the world is starting to shut-down due to the pandemic. She has no cell service and is unaware of the severity of the situation. Diana decides to stay and ends up stuck on a remote island discovering that the hotel where she had reservations, has closed. A kind local woman allows Diana to stay in a small apartment that used to belong to her son.

Alone, isolated, and unable to contact Finn, Diana begins to embrace being stuck in paradise. She befriends a local teenage girl and the girl’s handsome father, who happens to be the previous tenant of the apartment where she is staying. Diana finds a second family and an alternative life in the Galapagos, while Finn is fighting on the frontlines in a New York hospital.

When I started reading Wish You Were Here and realized it was yet another pandemic story, I nearly stopped reading. It makes sense that so many pandemic stories are publishing now and that so many authors would be compelled to write pandemic stories, but it also is a subject that I don’t want to keep revisiting. However, to would-be-readers in a similar state of mind, don’t give up on this one.

Picoult presents both a twist on the pandemic story and a huge, monumental, didn’t see it coming, surprise half-way through. I was just about to stop reading for the evening and I encountered the twist, which propelled me to read for another hour. It was a huge shock and even better, it ties to intriguing themes of the story which are not strictly pandemic related. Wish You Were Here is far more broad thematically and would have been a different story if the pandemic had not occurred, but likely still would have been written.

I’ve read many of Picoult’s books and I’m a fan, but Wish You Were Here, just may be her best one yet.