I received an ARC of this book, thank you netgalley. This book was really good, it was a page turner for me and it kept me guessing right to the end. There were a few good twist and turns of events which was really good and for me I didn't find out easily who it was, which was good.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected pub date: August 25, 2020
“The Day I Disappeared” is the fourth novel by author Brandi Reeds, although she has previously written some YA novels under a pseudonym. This novel was my introduction to Ms. Reeds, and I was thrilled to be a part of it.
Holly Gebhardt was kidnapped at four years old, taken right in front of her mother and best friend at a local park. Three months later, she was returned to the same park, unharmed and completely without any memory of what had happened to her. Twenty years later, Holly is working as a journeyman in her father’s construction business and is trying to balance her on-again-off-again relationship with her mother’s illness. When girls start disappearing, and clues that indicate they may be related to Holly’s case start appearing, Holly is drawn back to those days she was missing. The man who allegedly kidnapped Holly is behind bars, but why are girls disappearing in the same exact way, and why are they all being found dead? Who kidnapped Holly and, most importantly, why was Holly left alive?
This novel is told from two viewpoints. Although Holly is our main protagonist and most of the story is hers, we still get snippets of the story told from Cecily, Holly’s mother, as she lies in a hospital in a coma, incurred after an auto accident. Both views are particularly intriguing- Holly relives her kidnapping through the brief glimpses of memories she has from those months, and Cecily gives the relevant background information, which provides suspect theories and character development. The story being told this way increases the suspense, and allows the reader to become immersed in the dramatic plot.
As characters are introduced, there are individuals who can be eliminated as suspects right away. But there are a few remaining ones who linger at the back of your mind like an itch, as they have just enough suspicion to garner a possibility. I thought I had the entire ending of this story figured out—until I didn’t.
Well told and suspenseful, this novel tells the story of a missing girl and turns it on its head. Suspects are introduced and carefully eliminated and the ending of the novel provides a succinct and satisfying conclusion. Although I wasn’t 100% sold on this novel at the beginning, once it pulled me in, “The Day I Disappeared” became one heck of a page turner.

Wasn't my type of book. I finished it, but I struggled. It was well written but not my kind of story. Would recommend to someone else though.

I enjoyed reading this book it kept my attention throughout till the end. Unfortunately the only negative I have is that there are so many kidnapping etc books out now it must be over the top for 5 stars for me.

I really enjoyed this book. As a child Holly was kidnapped only to be returned three months later. Twenty years later Holly still can’t remember what happened to her during that time and after the discovery of more missing girls it looks like the man currently locked up may not have been responsible for her kidnapping after all. As Holly tries to remember events that shaped her life as well as trying to discover what her mother knew and how she ended up in a coma it creates a story that weaves suspense and drama and I love it. A great read.

This was a wonderful mother-daughter unity story with suspense and thrills! It was a classic kidnapping and detective story which I really enjoy. It had some real deep moments when the mother would share her feelings towards her missing daughter.

Wow this is a thriller.... A must read if you like thrillers.

I was gripped by this strange story that keeps you guessing right upto 82%. But even then I was still unsure. Its a who done it but not a murder, who kidnapped Holly.

Holly lived to tell the tale and to seek out her adductor. The story is told by Holly and her mum Cecily and each chapter offers a thought provoking dose of intriguing anticipation.

I loved this book, it's well written and thought out precisely to keep you guessing, a worth entry into my top 10 of 2020.

#NetGalley #thedayidissappeared #books #review #mustread2020

I would like to thank NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and author Brandi Reeds Ashford for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

This was a very well written novel. I like the author’s writing style, this being the first time I have read any of her work. The plot was interesting and I was kept guessing the whole way through. The twists and turns weren’t expected and kept me wondering. I also enjoyed the different point of views explored in this novel. I couldn’t figure this one out until the final pages, and that’s hard to find!

Thank you to those named above for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

This is the second Brandi Reeds book I've read (the first being Trespassing) and I think she's really got this whole family dysfunction, secrecy, and lies thing down. The basic premise is that a four-year-old child named Holly goes missing for three months and is returned to the same spot from where she was taken, unharmed, and with no memory of where she's been or who she's been with. Crazy right? Well, that little girl is now an adult, and while they locked up a guy for her kidnapping a long time ago, more kids are being kidnapped now. Holly wants to revisit the past and try to help the police, but she's not the most reliable....she drinks too much and blacks out. So did they get the right man all those years ago? Does Holly know more than she's saying? And what about Holly's mom, who has her own crazy issues going on? This story is like an onion, with so many layers to unravel. I really got a kick out of it.

I absolutely loved the author's writing style but I felt I couldn't fully get into this book. Parts of the book felt choppy and sometimes quite confusing; aspects felt a little too convenient at times. Admittedly I struggled to finish it, but felt that the premise itself was great.

Holly was kidnapped when she was 5. She was held for 94 days before being returned to her family unharmed. Now an adult she has no memory of her time away from her parents, but when a detective tells her other girls have gone missing, and not all have survived, she needs to get her memory back and fast. A little girls life depends on it. This is a well written book with a clever plot and lots of other complex, underlying stories of family secrets and deceit. The characters are believable and relatable and you find yourself needing to know what happens next. I read this in a day. I really enjoyed this author's style of writing and will be looking to download more of her work

This one was really good. Holly cannot remember being kidnapped for three months when she was four suddenly finds the police are looking into her case--and others.

The characters are, for the most part, well-written and developed and the reader understands the connections between them. The mystery is tight, with a lot of suspects but none of them really seem too far-fetched--including Holly's parents. I really liked the second narrator (Holly's mom) offering glimpses of the past and rounding out the story so the reader understood the motivations of decisions. The only thing I didn't like was the ending--it felt a little too pat for me, which is why it didn't get another star.

Thanks to Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read this before it is published.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A kidnapping victim who was returned home safely 20 years previously is enlisted to help a current victim with the same set of circumstances.

A young girl is kidnapped and mysteriously returned several months later. 20 years later, she has hardly any memories of the childhood trauma. When another little girl goes missing, she finds herself questioning everything, and everyone, she’s ever known. Will she be able to remember her past before it’s too late.

A great read with unpredictable twists. Even in the final chapters, I couldn’t put together all of the details and figure it out. But by the end, things were wrapped up nicely.

Not unusually, this book alternates between Holly’s point of view, and that of her mother, who is actually in a coma following a road accident. It’s set in the present, with them both looking back and trying to make sense of what happened when Holly was kidnapped, aged 4, 20 years ago.

Cecily, Holly’s mother, has her own demons to deal with, and you are drip fed throughout the issues they faced as a family both prior to Holly’s abduction, during, and afterwards. Holly, equally, is trying to piece together what happened to her, even more so when it becomes clear she may be able to help with another case involving a missing girl.

This is an interesting storyline, and it’s a fast-pacey read. However, I struggled a bit to really connect with any of the characters. There’s possibly a bit too much going on in terms of relationships that, for me, they felt a little underdeveloped. Holly seems to be very close to a few people, but those relationships just don’t translate well on to the page, so it all felt quite superficial and difficult to relate to.

Equally, so much of what happened, and how it all tied together at the end, felt incredibly far fetched. I appreciate this is fiction, and we can all suspend a bit of belief, but it just barely made sense, other than to finish off a story. For me, that let it all down a little.

The Stars
This was a 3 star for me. It was enjoyable enough, but didn’t entirely keep me hooked, and in the end left me feeling a bit meh.

Not really sure why it was titled the Day I Disappeared, I did think it was a very good read, had a nice story line to it. But I think they could have a better title for it, one more like All the missing Girls, or Who took the missing girls.
With that being said it was a very read, The writer did keep you guessing who it was that took them right up to the very end, I would tell friends to read this book,

This book was rather confusing during the first couple of chapters but once I made it through those chapters I was captivated by the trying to figure out the mystery. A young girl is kidnapped without a trace, three months later she shows up at the scene of the crime without any memory of the kidnapping and only a scar on her arm as physical evidence of the event. Years later another kidnapping occurs and Holly is their only hope. As she tries to remember what happened and where she was taken as a child she begins to question whether the correct person is in jail for her kidnapping. Brandi Reeds writes with such passion that the book flows in a mystical way! I was captivated to the end!

I'm usually not a big fan of books where the point of view changes however this one was very different because it let the reader in on a lot of things that they wouldn't be able to understand otherwise. This book is a very captivating thriller that leaves the reader on the edge of their seat just dying to figure it out. It starts with
our main character Holly remembering part of her past. She was kidnapped when she was younger only to be returned after three months. While Holly was unharmed she has no memory of what actually happened to her during that time frame. Fast forward twenty years later and now she is forced to come to terms with what actually happened to her while she was missing as another little girl goes missing under the same pretenses. Is the man they have charged really guilty of the crime? and if he isn't then who is really behind the kidnappings of both her and other children? This thriller will keep you guessing through the whole story. I really liked the characters in this book they were very compelling but also gave the reader an eerie vibe to them. With so many twists and turns this fast pace thriller will keep you on your toes and take you for a wild ride that you never want to end. I'm very glad that I got the chance to check out this novel, thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity..

Genre: Crime Thriller
Rating: 5/5
Plot: 
Three months after four-year-old Holly Gebhardt was kidnapped, she was inexplicably returned to the same park from which she’d vanished…with no memory of the ordeal. Though a local handyman was convicted, suspicion also fell on his friend—Holly’s mother, Cecily. The troubling doubts about her involvement shattered the family, forever driving a wedge between mother and daughter.
Twenty years later, another girl goes missing under eerily similar circumstances. It’s just the latest in a series of kidnappings that Detective Jason Guidry thinks Holly can help solve. Though Holly has tried to move on with her life, a young girl’s life hangs in the balance. All she has to do is try to remember…
With her memory still mostly blank, Holly is missing vital pieces of the puzzle, and she believes her mother can put them in place. In desperation and fear, Holly and her mother come together again. But in a chilling rush toward the past, Cecily still has secrets she’s yet to share with her daughter. Should she dare to breathe a word, she could lose Holly all over again.
My verdict: I had the privilege to read this book thanks to the kind gang at Netgalley prior to it’s release to the general public. I was not disappointed, Brandi Reeds writes with such realism and grit that it gives you the goosebumps that a good crime thriller should envoke. The alternating narratives worked really well with the flashbacks which can sometimes confuse and complicate the plot of the novel for a reader but regarding this novel this was not the case. The past and present were interweaved so well that it aided the plot and the cat and mouse archetype of the novel.
Overall this book is bone chilling looking act how one tragic event can act as a catalyst for the events and choices that follow. Showing us how these can have a big impact on the characters lives and emotions.
Ultimately this novel reminds us how things are not how they seem and not to take things on face value alone. This book deals with injustice, revenge, infidelity, postpartum depression, lust and reminds us that no matter how deeply we bury our secrets, motives or emotions that they will always find away to surface and reveal themselves. Reeds fast paced narrative with each chapter giving us a piece of the puzzle like a flower with each petal slowly unfurling likens itself to writers such as Dorothy Koomson, Shalini Bowland, Karen Slaughter and Tess Gerritsen. This novel suggests that sometimes how well do we really know a person and how can we trust? 
I read this in one day - absolutely fabulous, Bravo Mrs Reeds! The first thriller in a long time that I found addictive with many red herrings that kept me guessing until the very end. 

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