This romance that jumps back and forth between the first meeting and growing romance between cub reporter, Orla, and wildlife photographer, Aiden, and their meeting five years later really drew me in. Aiden is in Orla’s town to camp out by the river and photograph a family of otters. Orla interviews him and soon finds herself hanging out with him and falling for the free spirit. And he fell for her right away when she literally fell at his feet. But Orla has plans for herself to build up a journalism career and make it to London. She doesn’t want to chuck it all away to travel the world with Aiden and live in a tent. I can’t say I blame her.

Five years later, neither of them have found anyone who could match the connection that they had that one summer. Now they both need to adjust their own life plans if they can figure out how to mesh their different lives.

I really enjoyed this novel and the set-up was different enough to seem like a fun take on the second-chance trope.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

“Only do what makes you happy. Stop overthinking things. Live in the moment. Live your life for now, not for five years’ time.”
Thank you, @netgalley for this e-reader ARC of The Five Year Plan by Carla Burgess! I really enjoyed this story, and the friendship between Orla and Aiden. I also respected how they didn’t lead with their hearts and, instead, went for their goals- strong careers. I think it’s important to let yourself come first and figure out who you are and make yourself happy before settling down. And I love that this story portrayed that. It did initially feel a little forced when they met again after five years. But I loved the way the story turned out. 4 out of 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The premise of this book was what caught my attention. The beginning was promising but then I found myself skimming more than reading so I sat the book down for a bit and tried again a few days later.

Once I tried again and was able to finish the book, I had a few thoughts: it dragged more than excited him, Aiden was a favorite, Opal... not so much. I felt like both characters were a bit juvenile for someone in there 20's and 30's. Lastly, I am not a fan of books that stay in the past more than the present. I can never truly love a book when it does that.

Overall, it wasn't a memorable read for me. I think the author has potential. I would read another book by her but this one just wasn't a win for me.

this book was a bit of a mess for me, in my opinion. I wasn't the biggest fan of it, but I wont right off ms. burgess quite yet.

The beginning of the book starts strong. I loved the first chapter and the idea of not knowing what happened that drove them apart. I was really interested to see where it went. Seems like it was going to be a really good romantic read. However, I was really underwhelmed with the flashback story. It wasn't ever something that really grabbed me. I found myself just ready to be done with the whole book and not even really caring how it ended. I didn't really like Orla unfortunately, and it is hard to really care when you don't really like the protagonist.

I didn't hate the book, but I also didn't love it. The author is a good writer - I just didn't really feel the flashback story and that kind of turned me off.

This book started strong. The first chapters where it was present time and there was mystery in how they knew each other was interesting. However, the more I read, the less interested I became. When it went to the past with Orla's sprained ankle and them getting to know each other, it got a bit dull. Their relationship was so normal and standard.. there was nothing exciting about their courtship. I couldn't get through this one. It was so-so. If someone is interested in slow-burn, every-day romances, they may like it.

Orla doesn't need a man to love - she has her first real job, working for a small newspaper, she has friends and family who check in and she has the sexy coffee guy Fabio to look at when she needs some eye candy. With a plan in place, the last thing Orla is expecting is to fall (literally) for Aiden, an off the beaten path nature photographer who can't even remember what day it is. Figuring out how to let people into our lives when it's least convenient (and when we most need control) is at the center of Carla Burgess' love story that follows 2 likable but frustrating main characters through 5 years of professional and personal growth and change.

TBH, I need to stop reading books and just put things down when I lose interest. Anyways, thanks Netgalley for the eARC. This book had a lot of potential. The first chapter was really interesting - it started in the present and ended on a cliffhanger then spent several (several too many) chapters in the past., The overall relationship - which was really a fling that ended on good terms (in the sense that there was no animosity between the two when they first parted ways) - was just sort of bland. This would have been better as a short story. I don't know if anyone else got this vibe though, but Aiden seemed kind of annoyingly persistent in the beginning when he wanted to start hooking up with Orla.. I don't know, it just didn't sit well with me.

This book was an interesting read. It is told from different points of view and is told through several timelines.

Orla has a five year plan, to get to the top of her career ladder as a news reporter, move to London.

Aiden is a wildlife photographer, has no ambition to marry someone and spend all his life outdoors.

These two meet and it was lovely to follow the journey of these two becoming friends and then into lovers.

I LOVED this!! I absolutely flew through it in less than two days. It has been a little while since I have read a good romance - too long - and so this was a very welcome change in my reading of more serious texts for university. I was a big fan of both Orla and Aiden, probably Aiden even more so. The only thing that stops me from giving this five stars sadly is that I felt the balance of chapters from five years and the present day ones was not very well structured. It began with one chapter in the present day, ending on a cliffhanger and then switching back to five years ago. This was too quick and sudden a change, and then we were in the past for too long when I really wanted to get back to what was happening now. More of a switch between them might have been nice. That aside, it was a very lovely, heartwarming book that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to my romance-loving book friends.

I received this book as an eARC from the publisher through netgalley. I was interested in the premise of the 5 year plan set by Orla and how it plays into this romance between opposites. As it turns, the 5 year plan is more of a turn of phrase than a plan that gets executed. I enjoyed the past experiences and got to know and enjoy Orla and Aiden as protagonists and enjoyed their relationship evolving. The present day portion however was a little disappointing - there was some chemistry, some drama, but not a lot of plot development or anything interesting or unexpected. Aiden is a bit of a Gary Stu, likeable and successful and masterful, while Orla seems stuck where she was 5 years ago, and its unclear why there's no one like her that Aiden could fall in love with. Orla's struggles with her parents divorce is brought up but not into any real resolution. And then the climax comes too quickly without any real surprises or developments. I enjoyed the epilogue as HEA. Overall a British/Irish beachy romance read.

The Five Year Plan began strong and I could not wait to read more, however, it sadly went downhill when it went back to five years previous and in my opinion I found this very boring and uninteresting. I wanted the here and now not the past.
Sadly I found the book boring and could not recommend.

The Five-Year Plan by Carla Burgess a four-star plan. This had the start of a five-star read the first few pages drew me in, but then went into a three-star read at parts. I just felt that it preached to me in parts and lost itself, I gave it four-stars as was overall the story was well written it just felt like it was something that had been put down and picked up and a place was missed, but if you gloss over the drops you do get good honest writing and when you consider some of the subjects that we don’t often see written about it did well, you may not feel its preaching to you so you may enjoy it.

I really enjoyed this book and was intrigued from the first chapter in. This book has a long flashback right after the first chapter and at times I was wishing to speed it up a bit to see what the current day would bring. Overall I really enjoyed Aidens character and at times felt like I connected more with him. Overall it was a great light rom-com read that I would recommend. I finished this book in a day as I had to see how it would end. Thank you netgalley for the early preview. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

I was very intrigued to read this books after reading the description.
I felt that it was hard to read at times because it went from being present to 5 years in the past. The past than dragged on for a very long time. It was very hard to continute to read during this time but the first chapter was amazing.

I was provided this book by netgalley for an honest opinion.

Journalism and the environment are two of my favourite things - and I was lucky enough to be able to combine them as a career.
It is for that reason I have a rule about steering away from fiction featuring them. You know what it’s like when your job is on a tv show or in book and you spend the whole time getting angry and picking holes in the narrative.
However, Carla Burgess wrote one of my favourite heroes (Sam in Marry Me Tomorrow) and because of that I was willing to give The Five Year Plan a go, despite its subject matter.
I’m so pleased I did because almost from the first paragraph, the warmth in this book seeps off the page. It’s like she injects a little bit of sunshine into every word - even ‘the’ and ‘it’.
And, I'm happy to report, the portrayal of being a journalist was pretty spot on.
This book was just what I needed after reading a rather heavy novel before it. It was like turning on a lamp in a dark room.
It kicks off with an almost cinematic opening chapter, which was beautifully, breathtakingly done. Next comes the flashback and Carla put the “meat on the bone”, as we used to say in the news room. I felt like I was falling in love with Aiden during a lovely summer by the river.
I don’t want to give anything away but my only quibble was with the ending. It felt like career girl Orla completely caved. There was no compromise, as I might have expected. Although maybe it’s because it’s too close to home - as a journalist passionate about journalism - and I’m transferring my feelings on to her? If you read it, journalist or not, I’d love to hear what you think.
That being said, Carla Burgess is still an author I'd break my own rules for and if you’re looking for a book to bring some light into your life, this is definitely one for you.

"The Five-Year Plan" by Carla Burgess had the most phenomenal first chapter. It was breaking my heart and left me hanging and needing more and was just perfect. Then the plot went back five years and that was sort of a struggle for me. The story was still pretty good, it just wasn't as amazing as that first chapter and that was a little disappointing. Then that plot line got going and got really good, and then we switched back to the future and I'd lost interest in it by that point. I'm not sure if switching more frequently between the timelines might have helped, but I have read other romances that did that well. The ending also felt like it dragged on for quite a while and I started skimming a little because it felt like everything had wrapped up a while ago and I didn't care anymore.
Also, the literal title of the book is about Orla's five-year plan and how important her career is to her, but she hardly thinks or cares about it and Aiden quite frequently dismisses it entirely, acting like it should be something she could just give up to be with him even though she never asks him to do the same thing. That was pretty frustrating.
So, this is probably more like a 3.5 stars than 4 stars, but I like to round up for generosity. It was a cute story. I loved the falling-in-love-in-nature feel of it and Aiden was (for the most part) very dreamy and I flew threw the book in just a couple days. So I'd say for the most part it did its job, it just could've used some cutting and rearranging.

Loved the premise of The Five-Year Plan, but I think I couldn't really connect with these characters, and I think it's largely in part to the dialogue and Orla's POV. The characters don't sound like they are working people in their 20s and 30s - they sound much more childish than that.

The story also starts in the present for a little bit but then spent way too much time in the past, way more than just your usual flashback. Maybe if the book had started in the past, then worked up to the present instead of having a chapter in the present then going back five years for probably half of the book, it would have worked better? As a result, the plot sort of dragged at times.. There wasn't much of a buildup, in my opinion, to seeing if they get together: we get the cliffhanger of the first chapter in the present, half of the book in the past, a few chapters of a "will they, won't they?" (which I felt should have been the ending), and the rest of the novel with them together.

I really enjoyed reading about Aiden's passion for the environment and animals. At a climate change protest, Orla worries that he was about give a lecture on veganism, and honestly, I wish he had! I would have also liked to hear more about Orla's all-too-important career. In those five years,, how did she reach her goals? How did she end up in London? Why was she so passionate about her work in the first place?

BUT "I want to inspire compassion for these animals and the planet itself," Aiden says, then later "It'll be vegetarian, by the way, so there'll be none of your murdered animals." And Orla doesn't say anything bad or rude about vegetarians/vegans, she eats her veggie burger in peace. And she later reveals Aiden inspired her to go vegetarian (with the intention of going vegan)! Love to see it.

3 stars
I have mixed emotions on this one. At times it dragged, at times I loved Aiden more than I liked Opal. At times, I thought Opal was a little too much. But, in the end, it was an ok read

Thank you to NetGalley For this ARC. The book starts with Aiden and Orla seeing each other for the first time in 5 years. Next the book flashes back to when they first met, how they developed a friendship and then drifted apart. This was a cute story but I felt the argument as to why they couldn’t be a couple was hashed out so many times, it got old. #thefiveyearplan #carlaburgess