Published by Forge Books
Published: June 7th 2016
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At fifteen, Amanda Grace was abducted on her way home from school. 738 days later, she escaped. Her 20/20 interview is what everyone remembers—Amanda describing the room where she was kept, the torn poster of TV heartthrob Chase Henry on the wall. It reminded her of home and gave her the strength to keep fighting.
Now, years later, Amanda is struggling to live normally. Her friends have gone on to college, while she battles PTSD. She’s not getting any better, and she fears that if something doesn’t change soon she never will.
Six years ago, Chase Henry defied astronomical odds, won a coveted role on a new TV show, and was elevated to super-stardom. With it, came drugs, alcohol, arrests, and crazy spending sprees. Now he's sober and a Hollywood pariah, washed up at twenty-four.
To revamp his image, Chase’s publicist comes up with a plan: surprise Amanda Grace with the chance to meet her hero, followed by a visit to the set of Chase’s new movie. The meeting is a disaster, but out of mutual desperation, Amanda and Chase strike a deal. What starts as a simple arrangement, though, rapidly becomes more complicated when they realize they need each other in more ways than one. But when the past resurfaces in a new threat, will they stand together or fall apart?
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
When you read the back of the book for 738 Days you’ll immediately think…I know this story. You’ll think about Elizabeth Smart and about those three girls in Ohio. But the truth of the matter is you don’t know it at all. 738 Days is about what happens after a girl that has been kidnapped and held for 2 years is free and has to live normally. The story we ‘know’ is what happens in the immediate aftermath, what the media tells us, but Kade uses 738 Days to tell us so much more and does it fantastically.
The book is about Amanda Grace who was held captive for 738 days and finally saved. The only thing that helped her get through that time was a poster on the wall of Chase Henry. Now two years later Amanda is stuck in a dark place of anxiety and fear and panic apt hat she is aching to get out of. Enter Chase Henry who lost everything he had in Hollywood to bad decisions and arrogance. He’s trying to get it all back but he needs Amanda to help him. When these two collide they realize they may be more alike than the expected and a bind is formed that neither one saw coming. But it’s hard to change and let things go and over a short period of time both Chase and Amanda have to learn this and figure out just what it is they both want out of life.
What I loved so much about this book was that it told the story of Amanda after the media had essentially gone away. It told how she struggled day in and day out to get out of her self imposed prison in her mind. It showed how her family didn’t know how to feel or react. How her sister was mad at her but didn’t feel she could be mad at her so it made her even angrier. That’s the stuff you never get to hear when the new sensationalizes a story like Amanda’s. That part of the story felt inventive and different and it was done really well.
I also really just loved Amanda and Chase. They had such chemistry from the first moment they met. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it and say it doesn’t all go down fast, but even though it did it all felt natural and not forced. I was routing for both of these characters as individuals and as a team almost from the get go. They were so different yet so similar you couldn’t help but want them to figure it out. Plus they just made me smile in a lot of the parts, especially Chase and his actions.
Seriously, I loved this book. Even with a small minor complaint I can’t even bring myself to talk about it. It was just a really strong story of survival and finding strength to take 2nd, and 3rd, and even 4th chances and not to give up. Stacey Kade endeared Chase and Amanda to me and I think it will be the same for all of you.
I honestly wasn’t sure what to make of the premise for 738 Days! But I’m really intrigued now, after seeing what you’ve said in your review, and I might have to check it out.
I have heard SO many incredible things about 738 Days that I am totally convinced now that I have to read it. The fact that you loved Amanda and Chase makes me think I will, too!
This was not the synopsis I expected when I saw you talking it up on Twitter and I realized the book was published by a Tor imprint. It sounds really fascinating and timely. Thanks for the review!
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