Holly, four years old, was playing with her friend Katherine in the park when abducted and presumed dead. Three months later she was returned to the same park dressed in a pristine white nightgown, with no memory of her time in captivity.
Twenty years later, Holly is attending Kitten (Katherine) and Eliot's bridal shower when detective Jason Guidry contacts her. He has been assigned her case. Not understanding why her case is still open when she knows her kidnapper Alan Kohlbrook is in jail, she questions why he has called her.
"Look, Miss Gebhardt, you're here alive and well, and Alan Kohlbrook is in prison, but we have another case with similarities."
Googling on the internet Holly finds out a five-year-old child is missing, blonde with blue eyes, closely resembling her at the same age.
Haunted that she can't remember such a critical time in her life,
Holly decides to start looking for answers.
For her mom, dad, and close friends, however, moving on is more laborious. Each is holding onto secrets about the day Holly went missing, secrets that could blow their families apart.

The plot is similar to others I have read, a young woman with demons, handsome but possibly untrustworthy boyfriends, family relationships and secrets. However, I enjoyed the storyline, and I was kept guessing by all the red herrings, and I didn't anticipate the ending, which made the book so much more enjoyable.

I want to thank NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and author Brandi Reeds for a pre-publication copy to review.

Wow! This was a twisted story in every way. I enjoyed the story but it really bothered me that Holly and her mother both appear to having a drinking problem. Lots of secrets in this book! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy

Holly was kidnapped when she was four years old. She was returned to her family but has no memory of what happened.
Now another child has disappeared in similar circumstances.
A slow moving story that has some twist and turns.
Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

The perfect whodunit story. When Holly was 4 years old she was kidnapped. Now, 20 years later another girl goes missing with a lot of similar evidence. Throughout the story, Holly is trying to piece together what happened 20 years ago because she can't remember a single thing. One day she was kidnapped, the next she's back with her family. The whole time she was kidnapped is a black out to her. This book left me guessing until the very end! I really really LOVED this book!!!!

This was a great mystery novel. I found it hard to get into at first, but it really came through towards the end. Great twists and kept me guessing.

It took me a few chapters to get hooked on the story. But it was definitely worth it! This is a must read for anyone who loves mysteries and thrillers! One of the most riveting books I have read this year!

I loved this book. I didn’t know who to trust the narrator was unreliable There was like 3 different stories going on. Loved every single second of this book. I now need to read everything the author has written.

Brandi Reeds is a well regarded Young Adult author using the pen name "Sasha Dawn". Her young adult titles are well regarded, with various library associations including her titles on their annual best books for teens.

The day I disappeared continues her move into the Adult suspense market. Writing about child abduction can be problematic. It is difficult to not become swallowed into the morass of
blame and retribution. Conventional wisdom does not apply to the survivors. Skilled therapy is often denied. An adult survivor is often expected to be a walking wounded individual.

This is the case for Holly. Only 4 years old when abducted she was held for three months. When she was returned, she had no memory of her kidnapping. Her childhood friend, Kitty, who was a witness seemed to gain more from the notoriety than Holly. Now an adult, Holly is experiencing flash backs to her trauma. She has been contacted by the police, who are asking for her help.
Another child is missing, one who closely resembles 4 year old Holly. In addition there have been a series of abductions that mirror the original kidnapping. Perhaps the man imprisoned is innocent.

One hopes that post abduction a child's life would be trauma free. This was not to be for Holly. Her mother, who at the time of the abduction had a 'drinking problem' slid into alcoholism. Her father
became a classic enabler. Holly sought refuge with Kitty's family. Would this be her salvation?

In the present, Holly's mother lies in a coma; the result of a single car accident. Or, was it a suicide attempt. Reed's uses a literary convention of giving Cecily the ability of lucid thinking while she is comatose. As someone who has a professional knowledge of individuals with TBI's (Traumatic Brain Injuries) I know this is simply not true. While a useful way to move the plot, this trope was distracting.

Reeds shows some other plot lines that are becoming cliched. Most of the discussion of addiction and enabling appear to be conventional. Another problem for me was most of the characters were unlikable. Her BFF Kitty in rampant Bridezilla form was particularly annoying. The puzzle was convoluted, but the author did play fair. This author shows a lot of promise. I will enjoy seeing her talent grow over the years to come.

Full disclosure: I received this ARC from netgalley and Lake Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you for this opportunity

Full disclosure; I received this ARC from netgalley and Lake Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you for this opportunity.

Holly is kidnapped at the age of five and is left on a park bench in the snow months later with no idea about how she got to the park or her life for the last 90 days. Holly has never been able to remember anything that happened to her during that time and when the novel opens she is celebrating her best friend, Kitty's engagement. A detective calls her and requests a meeting to talk to her about what happened when she was five. Holly seems to be well adjusted and working for her father's construction company, but she soon begins to question everything when questions about her kidnapping are raised. Alongside the chapters of Holly in present day are the chapters where her mother s explaining what happened to her before her accidnet

Ahhhh soo good! Is blood thicker than water? How far will you go to be with the ones you love? What are you willing to cover up for a family member! This book was crazy good and asked some tough questions about love and loyalty. It was so thrilling

Pretty good book. Lots of twists and turns. Characters were likable. Slightly drawn out but overall decent.

I REALLY enjoyed this book! The twists and turns kept coming and every time I thought I knew what was next I was instantly proved wrong! Comes out in August! Make sure to add it to your TBR list! Thanks @netgalley, @lakeunionauthors for the ARC!

When four-year-old Holly disappears from a local park, her family are frantic. When she reappears, in that same park, three months later, all they want to do is move on from what they thought would be a tragic ending. For Holly, that should be easy - she's young, and she doesn't remember a thing about her ordeal. For her mom, dad, and close friends, however, moving on is harder. Each is holding onto secrets about the day Holly went missing, secrets that could blow their families apart.
Fast forward twenty years later and Holly is a not-so-well-adjusted young woman haunted by the fact she can't remember such an important time in her life. She's convinced if she did, she might get on better with her mom (currently in hospital after a near-fatal car crash) and have made of her life. She might also not be feeling quite so distance from her best friend, who's about to get married. Instead, flashes from her past keep her tied to it.
This gets worse when the FBI contact her to say another young girl has gone missing. She looks just like Holly did when she was a child. And now, it seems, they might not be the only girls to have been taken. There are others, which throws the little Holly does know into question. Determined the next twenty years of her life won't be like the last, Holly decides to start looking for answers, not avoiding them. Of course, when she does, all those secrets people were trying to hard start to be revealed.
I do love a book with secrets. There is nothing better than not quite knowing what is going on in a book, of being desperate to work things out before it's all revealed. And it's the secrets that make this book so good. There are plenty of them, and most are red herrings - you just don't know that for most of the book. Brandi Reed does a great job of keeping you on tenterhooks at the same time as not letting it go so far that it all becomes just a bit silly - a common feature of these type of psychological thrillers.
And while the plot is familiar in some ways, it's different enough that that familiarity is comforting, not boring. Mainly this is with the characters - a young woman with demons and a handsome but possibly untrustworthy boyfriend (or two). Each is well-drawn, however, and compelling. I didn't want any of the boyfriends to be the bad guy, yet I did love the fact that each was on my 'hit list' at some point. It made for a fun and interesting read. And it's why I'd recommend this book - it's well worth a read!

I enjoyed most aspects of this book!

I liked both Holly and Cecily, between whose POVs the story alternates. I liked that they are complicated and messy and imperfect, yet still share this great bond of love.

I liked that the plot was complicated. I managed to guess certain aspects of it but others were a surprise.

I also thought the writing was very good.

The only downside for me was that I found certain plot points a little far fetched. Also I felt that a particular character death was glossed over too quickly.

Overall, though, a very enjoyable read.

Everything about this book screamed to me. The title told me it would be about some sort of mystery or abduction, and I've been hooked on thrillers lately so I grappled on. In just the first few pages, I could feel the author grabbing onto me, saying, "Keep reading! I promise you won't be disappointed!" SPOILER ALERT: She was right. I wasn't!

"The Day I Disappeared" alternates between the POV of Holly, who was abducted at age 3 and then returned, almost unscathed, three months later, and her alcoholic mother, Cecily, who narrates all of her thoughts from a coma. With both narrators being scarred from their past and, in turn, relatively unreliable, it made for an intriguing read! Is Holly remembering correctly, or are these just dreams? Was Cecily too drunk, or blinded by her demons, to remember correctly?

Once I started Reeds' novel, I could barely put it down. I read it in just two sittings, with the twisty, dark plot captivating me at every turn. Every time I thought I knew who done it, something made me change my mind. It was well-paced, with enough action to keep me intrigued the entire time.

The one thing that bothered me was the MC's best friend, Kitten. First off, who names a character Kitten? Sorry, that irked me. She was just a total bridezilla and I didn't feel like that was necessary to the story; it was more aggravating. To be fair, she got better towards the end!

I highly recommend this for fans of Gone Girl or The Wife Between Us!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. Holly was abducted as a 5 year old but was returned home, unharmed 90 days later. Now, with someone in jail, 10 other girls have been abducted. Can she help? It was good but I figured it out. #thedayidisappeared #brandireeds #aug2020

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing⁣
⁣
I give you this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It's a story about a little girl who was kidnapped but returned to her family after a few months, and this little girl grew up without any memories of those months she spent with her kidnapper. Now, as an adult, she found out that there more kidnapping going on, and the victims are mostly little girls. She wants to help, and everything started to unfold. There are many deceptions about this story, a sensible plot, and no way of telling who's the real villain right away. I truly enjoyed it; it's a page-turner. ⁣

"Virtually unharmed, there she sat at the top of the slide in the very park from which she'd been taken, in a pristine white nightgown, with crystalline snow falling all around her. The eighth of January. Her homecoming."

Holly cannot remember anything about her ninety-four-day abduction from a park. She cannot remember where, why or when she was taken. After being returned with only a injury on her arm her family life remained in shambles. Her father continuously ignored her questions of the kidnapping and her mother's alcoholism continued. A man based on the description her childhood friend Kitten gave was arrested and convicted for her kidnapping.

Now twenty years later, Holly begins to have small snip its of memories about her abduction. It is when Officer Guidry calls her to ask questions she is told that the man arrested for her abduction could be the wrong person or there is a copycat because new cases are mirrored to hers but the girls are being murdered. Holly becomes determined to remember her abduction, but her father is not answering questions and her mother, Cecily, who police believed knew more about Holly's abduction then she told, is lying in a coma after a car accident. The answers need to come soon as Holly maybe the only person who holds the answers to where the last kidnapped little girl is being kept.

I very seldom finish a book in a day. This book grabbed my attention from the first page. Brandi Reeds does a fabulous job intertwining Holly's perspective and Cecily’s to keep readers engaged. The characters are built wonderfully, and the plot builds with each chapter. Just when you think you know who the kidnapper is and why they did it, a twist is thrown in to make you keep reading until the end.

I would like to thank Brandi Reeds, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a chance to read this ARC.

Thanks netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this in return for an honest review.

I thought it was a bit slow to get going after the initial prologue. However, there were plenty of twists, so you had no idea how it was going to end. I would definitely recommend this to anybody who is a fan of mystery thrillers

The Day I Disappeared is a suspenseful page turner that keeps you hooked and on the edge of your seat trying to predict what will come next.