Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee blog tour!

Cousins Amy and Dee were kidnapped by a stranger as children. Now, sixteen-year-old Amy is back with her parents. Dressed in purple and clutching a plastic doll, she refuses to answer questions. As Amy struggles towards a normal teenage life, her family - and the police - press her for information. Unable to escape her past, Amy realizes she has to confront the truth. How did she survive? How did she escape? And what happened to Dee?

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My first UK book!
I’m so excited to be able to share Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee with readers in the UK! This is my fourth book, and finally I’ve made it across the pond! I am originally from Cottage Grove, Oregon, which is a town of about seven thousand people an hour and a half from the Pacific Ocean.
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When I was seventeen I went to college in Boston and learned that most American east coast people can’t place Oregon on a map. One person asked me if my family owned a telephone. Another person asked if it was “near San Francisco” as if my entire state was just a city in California. Since then I’ve been on a mission to prove to the world that my home exists and interesting things happen there! Previously the interesting things I wrote about were monsters, aliens, and fairies. So why did I choose to write about something as serious and, unfortunately, as realistic as a kidnapping?

I have always been interested in real life stories of survival. I read memoirs and true crime reporting about kidnapping cases and was always fascinated by the strength of these young women and by the psychological changes that victims go through. We all face struggles that test our resilience, but some people have faced situations that are unthinkable to most of us, yet escape and are able to resume their lives. One of the things that fascinates me the most is that you can’t tell by looking at someone what they are capable of. You and I don’t really know how we would react to any situation until it happens, and you and I might each react differently to the same circumstances.

Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee is the story of what happens to Amy and Dee over the course of six years of captivity, but it is also about the important, valuable, and often overlooked inner lives of people who start out as ordinary. It is an affirmation of the value of these girls living in a small town somewhere no one has ever heard of. Behind the eyes of every small town girl is the will to survive and the ability to face the most challenging circumstances. I hope no one reading this is ever kidnapped, but maybe Amy’s story will convince someone that they too might be able to find inner strength. At the very least, I hope people will be moved by Amy’s story.

Follow Mary G. Thompson on Twitter: @marygthompson

My review

~I was sent a copy from the publishers-all opinions are my own~

I give it - 4/5

My review - This book was brilliant. It was so gripping and so terrifying that I couldn't put it down once I started it.

In this book we follow Amy, or as she's been renamed - Chelsea. When she was younger her and her cousin Dee(Stacie) got kidnapped and it's been about 6 years since. One day Amy turns up at her home and everyone is happy that she is safe. But why does she only wear purple? Why is she back? And most of all, what happened to Dee?

Amy is scared to tell anyone what happened in those 6 years she was missing as the person who did it is still out there. Amy knows she has to be strong for her family and what she left behind and most of all, for Dee. She knows she has to stand up to her demons but she's scared, can she do it?

I love the transition of Amy through this book. She has been through something terrible and you see her grow in this book and she opens up more about what has happened and she is able to face her fears and become stronger. 

If you're a fan of Louise O'Neill you definitely need to read this book. You'll be gripped from the very start and, like me, won't stop until you've found out what has happened to these girls and why.