Review: 'The Day We Disappeared' by Lucy Robinson (2015)

Annie has a secret. But if she's not going to tell, we won't either. It's a heart-breaking secret she wishes she didn't have - yet Annie isn't broken, not quite yet. Especially now there's someone out there who seems determined to fix her.
Kate has run away. But she's not going to tell us why - that would defeat the point of running, wouldn't it? It's proving difficult to reinvent herself, however, with one person always on her mind.
Scratch beneath the surface and nobody is really who they seem. Even Annie and Kate, two old friends, aren't entirely sure who they are any more. Perhaps you can work it out, before their pasts catch up with them for good...
Every now and again you come across certain authors who simply manage to blow you away with their work and you know it won't be long before the rest of the world realises this as well. Over the last year or so, I've seen Lucy Robinson's name popping up almost everywhere and everyone seems to absolutely love her work. She has become quite a big and promising name within the world of women's fiction and I honestly have no idea why it took me so long to finally pick up one of her novels. I was incredibly lucky (and thankful!) to receive a review copy of Lucy's newest title, 'The Day We Disappeared', which is released today, the 9th of April 2015 by Penguin UK. I definitely had high hopes when I started reading this book and had a good feeling the novel would certainly manage to live up to them!
With some novels, it's best for the reading experience to know as little about the storyline as possible when you start reading, and 'The Day We Disappeared' is definitely one of those novels. A few lines about the story, though: Kate Brady has decided to take a well-deserved break from her crazy and stressful job working for Google and ends up at a big equestrian farm in the countryside, owned by Olympian athlete Mark Waverley. Annie Mulholland's life is suddenly turned upside down when she meets charming successful business man Stephen Flint who helps her find both a job and romance in her life. Annie and Kate are old friends who are both running away from their past, but what will happen when they are forced to stop running?
Okay, I honestly don't even know where to start except for hitting myself for not picking up one of Lucy Robinson's novels sooner; what a truly gripping, incredibly well-written and powerful read! I was completely taken in by the storyline from the start and I didn't want to stop reading because it was just too good. I don't want to give too much away in this review, because I don't want to ruin the reading experience for anyone who plans on picking up this book (and you definitely should!). The storyline is really captivating and full with twists that kept surprising me. I really didn't want to put the book down until I had reached the very last sentence on the very last page. 
There's a wonderful group of characters at the core of the novel. Both Kate and Annie were really interesting individuals, each with their own story to tell, and there's a fascinating collection of well-drawn secondary characters as well. I fell in love with Lucy Robinson's writing style, which is well-paced, detailed, the perfect mix between scene setting and dialogue, and incredibly gripping. I don't have anything negative to say about this book, because it is just a fantastic read. 'The Day We Disappeared' is a completely captivating, powerful and moving read which will simply blow you away. My first Lucy Robinson novel and definitely not my last. You really don't want to miss out on this one!

Rating:10/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.