Add this 300 page book to your summer reading list
Summer is the perfect time for catching up on your reading list, especially when the sun is shining and we can actually enjoy our breaks outside.
There’s nothing quite as relaxing as lounging in the park with a good book, with no plans for the day other than reading.
But trying to decide on what book to read next can always be a tricky one.
There are so many new releases in 2025, but there’s a novel I often suggest to friends you may not have heard of.
I love a 300-page novel because they’re so much easier to tackle than a heftier book over 500 pages.
I’ve realised that books between 200 and 400 pages are my holy grail, and there’s one I often think back on as one of the best books I’ve ever read.
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle is one of my favourite books, and one novel you need on your summer reading list.
Her 2020 best-selling novel was a pleasant surprise, but also a rollercoaster of emotion all wrapped up in 272 pages.
It’s the type of book you can read in just one sitting, and that’s exactly what we’re after this summer.
In Five Years follows Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan, who has a vision five years into her future. The lawyer’s life has been turned upside down when she wakes up in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger and a different partner.
The In Five Years synopsis reads:
‘When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan 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.’
In Five Years is a fast-paced novel that leaves you wondering what you would do if you could glimpse into your future.
Books under 300 pages are perfect for the summer months because you can fly through one novel in one sitting, preferably when you’re at the beach or in the park.
A 300-page book is also an ideal option if you’re in a reading rut and trying to find something to help you out of it.
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle is out now.
