Amanda Grace was abducted and held captive in a basement room for 738 days. Her captor decorated her prison with posters of popular actors, including heart-throb Chase Henry. Amanda kept herself sane by talking to the poster and imagining responses. In fact, it’s the Chase in her head who gives her the courage to eventually escape.
Now, 2 years on, Amanda is still paralyzed by her experience. She’s barely able to leave the house and suffers crippling panic attacks. Her family is torn apart by their attempts to support and encourage her. Meanwhile, the actual Chase Henry is trying to stage a comeback. He ruined his career with alcohol and drugs, but now he’s cautiously sober and his publicist has a brilliant idea; visit Amanda Grace at her job as a cashier in her small-town grocery store. Needless to say, it goes badly. Amanda panics and flees, and Chase is left looking awkward. He is basically a decent person though, and he visits her house, apologizes, and asks if she’d like to join him at the filming site.
To everyone’s shock, Amanda decides to go. And thus begins an actual relationship between them. They have much in common; fame, pressure to behave a certain way, difficulty with trust, and more. Amanda shows herself surprisingly wise and sensitive, and Chase comes off as a nice guy who got in over his head.
Up till this point, I was interested in and enjoying the book. However, it basically devolved into a sort of Harlequin Romance in which every tiny detail of their first snuggle, first kiss, second kiss, first intimacy, etc, was described in breathless detail. I have to be honest–I skipped these, turning page after page looking for actual plot. I am not a big fan of romance as a genre, and this definitely fits that category. I felt a bit cheated, actually, as the beginning was an interesting look at a couple developing a relationship in particularly trying circumstances. Instead, it was just a romance. Yeah, yeah.
738 Days is romance novel with an actual plot. If that appeals to you, you’ll love this one. I finished it because I wanted to see if these two crazy kids could make it past some very real roadblocks, including paparazzi and an angry former publicist trying to sabotage things, but like I said, I skipped pages and pages.