A review by evarano
The Five-Year Plan by Carla Burgess

2.0

I have so many thoughts on this book. It’s a story about a young woman named Orla (a name that rubbed me the wrong way the entire book-it just sounded so unfeminine and not suited to the character), a young reporter living in a small town. She meets Aiden, a travel photographer while doing a story. The two develop a friendship over a short period of time, until the story picks up 5 years later.

I really liked this book at the beginning and was excited to read it. But it just went on and on and on, unfortunately by the beginning-middle I couldn’t wait for it to end. I really did like the characters. Orla became a bit annoying because she just wouldn’t change her mind or act on anything, she was just so set on everything and didn’t communicate or share her feelings! That’s the only reason the story dragged on. It was the same situation and discussions and thoughts over and over again.

The general storyline was good but there were way too many details, especially about Aiden’s work. This story could’ve been written in less than half of what it was. I still generally liked the love between the two characters but everything else really tainted it for me. I hated how they just lacked communication and kept playing the same game over and over. Something else that confused me was that there were barely any other characters. The story was mostly only Orla in her head about this situation or the two of them having the same repeated conversations. I’m sad I didn’t enjoy it more, I wouldn’t recommend it. I wanted to give up on it but didn’t for reviewing purposes.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.