The Safe Place by Anna Downes is a great debut domestic thriller! I was given an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this one. It’s was an easy yet enthralling read that went to a place I totally did NOT expect. A gripping tale of marriage and motherhood gone wrong with a young housekeeper caught in the middle. There were a few slow areas, but overall I highly recommend this book. It also pulled on my heartstrings and that I didn’t expect either. Let’s just say if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. I look forward to reading more by this author.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ From me! I’m so thankful to all involved for this early copy! Perfect quarantine reading!

This was my first time reading anything from this author. I really enjoyed this book. A fair amount of mystery, twists and turns. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Emily works as a receptionist and balances this with auditions for her longed for non-existent acting career. Her boss decides to fire her and everything begins to fall apart. Until he reaches out to her and offers her a very different kind of job working with and for his family at a secluded French estate.

Emily is offered a chance to become part of Scott Denny's family and to live in their guest house. His wife Nina and Emily become fast friends as they share the burden of all the work the needs done on the estate. She learns how to deal with Nina and Scott's daughter, Aurelia and her many eccentricities. Life couldn't be better until Emily begins to realize that something is very wrong here. I will definitely be recommending this book to others and loved that it kept me guessing. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley.

Anna Downes debut novel was really entertaining, kinda gripping and a little weird. I really enjoyed this novel even though I figured out what was going on about halfway through. It didnt have anything ridiculously crazy in it though. The story is pretty fast and a little predictable like I already said. The relationship dynamics are a little weird between the characters but the characters are pretty well developed. I feel like this is a good book to distract you when you really need it.

This story is told in three different POVs Emily, Scott and Nina. Emily is a ver poor mid twenties woman trying to make it though life. She lost her temp job and her acting career. Emily is just a big mess to be honest. Scott is a very wealthy CEO that watches everything Emily does and makes a big scheme to get her to work for him and it works obviously. Scott told her that he wanted her to be a house keeper of his house in France with his wife and kid. You get glimpses of Nina's and Scott's marriage and what their life is like and you find out that Nina suffers from mental illness. Nina is also a very overly protective mother. When Emily first arrives at the mansion she is absolutely in love with the place. She meets Nina who is basically perfect and they build a great friendship. Then she finally meets Aurelia who is shy, introverted and suffering from a skin condition. Emily tends to write off everything with some reasonable explanation because it's none of her business until she finally gets tired of the weirdness and starts to dig around.

This was a very different read for me. Alot of what , when , and how will it turn out. What is happening seem to be my question all though this book. Was a good read but didn't answer all the question I still have.

Didn't have the twist I expected; predictable plot, & I wanted to like it but I couldn't relate to any of the characters. It just wasn't for me.

This is the first book I read from this author. Although I was engaged by the description, the book was no the page turner as I expected. The characters were well developed and I liked them, but what let me know was the fact that the ending was very predictable and missed the “wow” factor of a great psychological thriller. Overall it was an enjoyable reading .

FIRST IMPRESSION / page 32 - thanks to bookishfirst I was able to read an excerpt from upcoming thriller, The Safe Place.

I'm SO intrigued & even more excited about this debut suspense title by Anna Downes! I'd heard nothing but good things about this book, and was thrilled to be able to read an excerpt thanks to bookishfirst, it did not disappoint!

Emily, a struggling wannabee actress can never seem to find her place, and has just lost her job. With no money, nowhere to go and no friend to help her out, WHAT will she do?

Scott, owner of the company who just let Emily go is struggling in a different way. How will these two characters connect for the rest of this thrilling novel?

I can't wait to find out, the pages flew by for me with great detail and characters you instantly felt like you knew! The Safe Place is sure to keep any reader on their toes and ready for more!

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Got to finish this one thanks to an ARC from Netgalley & I would rate it a 4.5 - I really enjoyed the suspense and build up of this thriller, and the character relationships.

The things that held me back were a bit nit picky - feelings that not everything was answered, but left hanging - which could have been intentional for interpretation (?) Overall I was pleased with the details and how this novel was written.

My favorite part of the story? Emily, the incredible main character, was done SO well. Her arc as a character kept me wanting more through every page!

I absolutely loved this book. The characters easily grab you and don’t let you go. It kept me reaching for my phone (ereader ) so I could find out what happens next.

Holy moly! This was one of those thrillers I had to stay up late reading. It reminded me of a Hitchcock movie...that slow-growing feeling something isn't right, but you're uncertain what it is...that people are not who they seem...then the powerful reveal, with the danger level maxed out. And finally, the ending, which was exactly spot-on.

Definitely the kind of read I needed to take my mind completely off things during the coronavirus lockdown. I'll be sharing about this one with all my psychological thriller loving friends. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an early copy for me to read. All opinions are my own.

This mystery/thriller is well written but the plot is definitely odd. A great escapist read.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51171999

Emily’s life has hit rock bottom. No job, no money, and nowhere to live. Her old boss offers the opportunity to move to a secluded home in France to be an assistant for his wife and daughter. It seems like a dream come true. The homes and landscape are amazing at first then the cracks start to show-atmospheric to be sure. Solid read but there wasn’t the gasp out loud moment I love. Thanks to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC.

I didn’t love this book.. I felt like it had really great potential with the plot and the author just did not fulfill my needs in a mystery/thriller genre! I was expecting a bigger twist and I guess for me It was pretty predictable.
Thank you to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review

Paradise or Something Else Entirely?

Emily has lost all hope of being an actress, and now has also lost her job and her apartment. In the midst of her crisis she is approached by her ex-boss, Scott, who offers her a summer job helping his wife and daughter who are living in a French beachfront estate. It sounds way too good to be true, and she joyfully accepts, but paradise is not all she finds when she arrives. Scott’s wife, Nina, has an unnatural paranoia over her daughter Aurelia’s movements and contacts. Emily performs her duties, slowly gets to know Aurelia, and finds Nina to be a gracious host. At least most of the time. Unexplainable events are brushed aside at first, but Emily’s curiosity mounts as more things come to light.

A remarkable book by first-time author Anna Downes, The Safe Place is a well written thriller that draws you into the characters, piques your imagination, and leads you into the setting to the point you are almost there at the estate. I had no idea where the story was going, which kept me reading long into the night. There never seemed to be a lull to prompt closing the book and going to bed.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Safe Place was an interesting book that got better as the story progresses. It's a mystery and filled with twists. I recommend this book if you are looking for a good mystery!

THE SAFE PLACE is a mysterious, absorbing read. Emily thinks she has hit the jackpot when her boss, Scott, asks her to become a caregiver to his daughter and helpmate to his wife at a secluded, totally gorgeous estate along the coast of France. Emily, is happy, truly happy, for the first time in her life. she ignores the fact that she is not allowed into the main house, that Aurelia, the little girl for whom she is to give care, is obviously deeply troubled and that her mother, Nina, alternately acts as thought the child is very ill or completely normal. But as the weeks stretch into months and Nina and Scott both behave erratically, Emily begins to question what is really at play. And when she learns the truth, she realizes how dangerous it truly is. THE SAFE PLACE has great characterization and a plot so nuanced that although all the signs are there, it is difficult to figure out the truth until very close to the end. Delicious.

The Safe Place by Anna Downes Thanks to St Martin Press Minotaur Books and Netgalley for the e-Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Emily is struggling. She is having a hard time with her acting career and just lost another temp job. Unexpectedly she’s offered a personal assistant job at a remote home on a French coast. When she gets there, it’s like paradise. It seems like a dream job... but is it?

Definitely an exciting read! This was a hard book to put down. I like to blind-read (without reading the synopsis first), so I wasn’t sure exactly where this book was going. I thought maybe it was a horror at one point. There’s just so many twists and turns that could be taken; it really keeps you on your feet. The characters were all well developed and you really got to like all of them. The ending was quite satisfying as well. Fans of Verity will really enjoy this book. I keep getting Verity vibes throughout the experience.

The Safe Place comes out 7/14

“She could feel it already. This was the kind of place where things could be different, where she could be different.”

Emily Proudman just lost her temp job. She bounced the rent check and her card was declined at the supermarket. After a chance meeting, her former employer Scott Denny offers her a job with his family on a beautiful beachfront estate in France. Emily accepts the offer. It is her dream job and home . After weeks of living and working in paradise, things are not what they seem.

Anna Downes paints a vivid picture of her characters and the setting in her debut novel. Her readers are invested in the storyline and hang on until the end.

I could not put down The Safe Place. I was drawn to Emily and the Denny family dynamic and I had to know what happened. I recommend this book and I will be anxiously awaiting future books from Anna Downes.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars!!! The Safe Place by Anna Downes makes for a suspenseful beach read (I only wish that’s where I could have read it!), and I’d like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader copy! I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but if you like your mysteries fast paced with lots of unexpected twists and turns, then you won’t want to miss this one.

When down-on-her-luck Emily accepts a summer job as a housekeeper at a too-good-to-be-true French estate, it makes for a perfect storm that will deceive its readers and leave them questioning everything they thought they knew!

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.