Emily needs a break. She left her parents and her small-town behind for all the excitement of London. She works temporary jobs while going on acting auditions. The problem is she can't keep a job, or ace an audition, and can't even remember her mother's birthday. So maybe she doesn't deserve a break, maybe she just needs to rethink what she wants from life, and perhaps to think about someone else for a change. I am thinking at this point, nope, not going to happen!
Out of the blue, her former boss offers her a job. Scott's wife Nina and their daughter Aurelia live on a remote estate in France. Scott can't get away from work as often as he would like, and he needs someone to help Nina renovate their home and do general housekeeping. The position comes with a great salary, a car, and a credit card. Emily is one step away from being homeless and nothing is holding her in London. So what if she doesn't technically have any of the qualifications Scott wants. She is crushing on the very married Scott and after all, how hard could it be.
When Emily arrives at Querencia, her first reaction is to go right back to London. The location is beyond isolated and Nina and Aurelia are both in a word, strange. But Nina shows how charming she can be and soon Emily feels like she belongs. As time passes, Emily starts to see cracks in the facade. The question is, what is she going to do about it.
Well, fasten your seat belt because you are in for a turbulent ride. I had my suspicions about what was wrong with this family but was still surprised how it all wrapped up. I was furiously flipping pages for most of this book but just didn't love the ending. I was willing to put my doubts aside at the implausibility of the characters' actions because well it was well-written fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to review this book.

Emily is struggling in life and feels that she hit the jackpot when she's offered the opportunity to be a personal assistant to her previous employers wife on a house on the coast of France. As she gets to know the family, she begins to suspect there are a lot of secrets that are being kept from her.

I couldn't put this book down! Each chapter ended on a suspenseful note and I could never tell what twist was coming. I loved the dreamy descriptions of the house in France. This is a very well written, fast paced thriller that I will recommend to library patrons as well as friends and family.

Emily thinks she's found the perfect job after a string of failed temp jobs and being dropped by her agent as a non-earning "actress." Her last temp job's CEO approaches her out of the blue and offers her a personal assistant/babysitter/homekeeper position with his wife in the middle of nowhere, France. At first everything seems fine but the longer she stays there, the more oddities she notices about the wife and the illness-bound child. After a minor injury, she discovers something that rips the lid off the secrets surrounding the family and has a desperate choice to make. Riveting, shocking, and endlessly thrilling, this book was a fantastic read!

Getting the books off the shelf 😂😂🤷‍♀️ thanks to #Netgalley I had the pleasure of devouring #thesafeplace #annadownes #macmillanusa o started this one last night and it was the perfect read while the winds were howling and the rain pummeled down outside. We start our story with an unlucky woman who is trying hard to be an actress while working various temp jobs. When the stars align and she finds the perfect job as a car taker/nanny/personal assistant/everything in a remote location in France. But all isn't as it seems and soon the story unravels. I enjoyed the book however the ending .... Ugh. It left me feeling incomplete. I wanted more.... All in all 3.5/5 ⭐ #bookreader #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #covid_19 #quarantined2020 #howdoyouspendyourtime #netgalleyreview

Emily is a bit lost and seems to be just out of reach of the successes she craves. We learn early on that the owner of the company she works for, Scott, isn’t exactly what he seems either.

Scott offers Emily a seemingly perfect dream job at his remote estate, as his wife’s new personal assistant. Emily jumps at the chance and initially she is entranced by the glamorous estate and the perks that come with her job.

Of course things are not as perfect there as they seem, and soon we start to see the ugly truth bubbling just below the surface. Scott’s wife Nina and daughter Aurelia are often whiny and needy, and Nina seems to be hiding something.

This book picks up the pace significantly about halfway through, and was hard to put down. However, the final conclusion was a bit lacking and left me with several questions, and feeling a bit unfulfilled.

Some of the flashback scenes were confusing as well, and didn’t seem to add much to the story.

Overall the book is enjoyable, but just doesn’t quite satisfy in the end.

One of my most anticipated reads of 2020 and it didn't disappoint! The setting was superb and I though the characterization was fantastic. I do want to preface this by saying that the story is definately more suspense/mystery than thriller/psychological thriller. For some reason, I had it in my head that this a psychological thriller. Anyways, moving on.....the author did a fantastic job with scenery and really building up the setting. The characters were also developed nicely and I could definately picture them in my head. The novel is a bit predictable, but that didn't make me enjoy it less.

*Review copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

I sometimes get in the mood for a good gothic novel like those I read as a teenager, but this isn’t it. It jumps, the point of view is sometimes unclear, and it has a conclusion that is not satisfying at all. This one is a miss, for me.

I was so excited I was able to read this one!! I really loved the writing style and the storyline was fantastic! A must read.

I couldn’t put this book down! So twisty and I didn’t know where the story was going! I really enjoyed this book! Looking forward for more books from this author. Thank you!

YES to everything about this book and in this book! Loved it! Yes, it was a bit predictable but it was such an enjoyable read that I was able to get lost in. It was weird and it was creepy and was full of paranoia.
I also would like to say cheers on a beautiful cover!

The Safe Place
A Novel
by Anna Downes
St. Martin's Press
You Like Them
Minotaur Books
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 14 Jul 2020 | Archive Date 14 Jul 2020

Really liked this book and read it at one sitting! I will recommend it to patrons when we reopen. Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for providing me the ARC to read.

This was an incredible book. I read the book without reading any reviews or premises and had no idea where the book was going so for me it was one twist after another. I waited for things that never happened and was amazed at where the story went. I loved the development of the characters and how they all acted and reacted with each other. There were times when the book was inconsistent...like she would describe a room and two chapters later she said she never saw that room. She said she sent an email but the person received a text. Small little things that most people wouldn't really notice but I did some editing earlier in my life and so I did notice these things. They do not, however have anything to do with the plot or the intriguing storyline. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. It is interesting, dark, and has many subplots that keep you thinking. I can't wait for more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

3.5 stars

I was intrigued by the description and reviews for The Safe Place, but was unsure how innovative it would be-- the setting seemed a bit played out. I will say that it started a bit slow for me-- the character development was a little choppy and the rising suspense felt a bit forced at times. But once it got going, it was a page-turner. There was tension at every turn, and I found myself eager for the next chapter.

Not a superstar for me, but definitely a quick read that kept me turning pages late into the night!

This book clicked with me from the very beginning. I especially enjoyed the author's writing style, a critical point for me after reading too many books with interesting plots but mundane craftsmanship. The language flowed, the characters were well-developed, and the suspense grew. Emily was not always likeable. Nina was a mystery; Scott had his quirks. I could "see" the hideaway in France and feel the tension when Emily was poking around in places she was not meant to be. The situation Emily found herself in was uncomfortable, awkward, and then just plain frightening as things escalated. People were not who they seemed to be. And through it all, the quality of the writing continued to keep me engaged.

I had a hard time putting this book down, which I consider to be a real accolade at a time when I find myself setting many novels aside in disappointment.

I loved this book so much that I had to go pre-order it immediately. I’m so thankful for Netgalley for giving me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. The story was mesmerizing, the pacing was thrilling and perfect, and the writing was superb! I know there are scary things that happen there, but this book puts me on a relaxing escape that ends up giving me the HeebieJeebies, but I still want to vacation there!!! P.S. Don’t Disturb Auriela!!

Emily’s life is falling apart, until her former employer realizes she is exactly what his family needs...
After losing her job, acting career, and apartment, Emily is about to give up, until she receives the offer of a lifetime: a live in housekeeper position at a beautiful estate in France, but she has no idea what she is getting herself into, and what her employer really wants with her...

As a reader of a lot of thrillers, I love when I pick up a new book and it genuinely surprises me, and that’s how I felt about The Safe Place, I found it refreshing and gripping with a likeable protagonist and interesting storyline throughout. This is my first book by Anna Downes and I look forward to reading more!

Review# 14 THE SAFE PLACE by Anne Downes and reviewing for Netgalley
Emily has a difficult life, not being able to hold a job or pay the bills,so when she is offered the perfect job as a caregiver/ companion for her former boss's wife and child she decides to take it. After all, what could possibly go wrong? Good story though I wish it had a few twists and turns ,rather than being so straightforward. 🌟🌟🌟Three stars.

Emily is having a hard time in life, not too many friends, not too close with family and she just lost her job. Scott has been watching Emily and decides she is perfect to help out with his wife, Nina, and child, Aurelia, that live in a beautiful country house in the middle of nowhere. Emily is given a credit card, car, and a guest house to live in. Nina doesn’t want Emily going into the house. And their daughter, Aurelia has multiple medical problems. Aside from that, what could go wrong?

What could the family be hiding? What is really going on? This book is a slow simmer of suspense as Emily tries to piece together the family’s secret. The book is written with Emily and Scott’s point of view and Nina’s flashbacks. I liked how the author wrote about Emily’s and Scott's point of view. With books that are in this genre, you only see the main character’s point of view, I liked how we saw Scott along the way - and how we still didn’t know what was going on with the family.

Emily Proudman’s life had recently hit rock bottom as it related to her finances, her career prospects, her love life and her family relationships. When her handsome and influential ex-boss approached her about a lucrative job opportunity, it was a no-brainer for Emily. Scott Denny’s offer to travel to France to serve as a pseudo-assistant to his wife Nina at their French estate, in exchange for free room and board and other generous amenities, seemed like a dream come true to Emily. Once she arrived at the luxurious estate in France , she knew she had made the right decision. The remote estate was located in a tropical and lush paradise with everything Emily could ever want. But it wasn’t long until Emily began to notice a few cracks in paradise. She was strictly prohibited from ever entering the family’s estate and could only access her guest house and the grounds of the estate. An air of secrecy seemed to pervade the posh estate. Emily found Nina’s extreme coddling of their young and fragile daughter Aurelia to be a bit out of the ordinary. Scott’s adoration of Emily seemed to cross the boundaries of a traditional employer-employee relationship. Emily’s discomfort increased and she realized that something was not quite right with the Dennys. However Scott and Nina were determined to keep their mysterious life intact, at any cost. This psychological thriller will grab the reader’s interest and not release them until the very last page. It’s an enjoyable read that will definitely keep readers guessing.

What an amazing read this was! An absolute riveting page turner that will keep you guessing. I stayed up into the night reading this. The character development and the way the story came together was amazing. I loved it!