The Safe Place by Anna Downes

Thank you to @minotaurbooks for my advanced copy!

Once you get past the first 10% or so - the main character does seem pretty immature and lacks self awareness. But - after this point, it was very tough to put down. I was hooked and read this in two sittings to figure out what was going on with this family, what the secrets were, and how they would unfold. I did not see the big twist and thought it was done really well. There are still a few lingering questions, but overall, very impressed with this read

*Thank you to NetGalley and Anna Downes for the ARC of The Safe Place *

This book had an amazing premise with twists and turns throughout the book making it hard to put down. Emily is a struggling actor that can’t seem to find any acting jobs and was just fired from her temp office job. Enter Scott. Scott is the head of the company she was fired from that has watched her and thinks she is the perfect person to do the job he needs. She is flown off to live in France with Scott’s wife – Nina and daughter – Aurelia. Once she’s at the beautiful estate she is in awe of her surroundings; however, once that wears off she can’t help shake the feeling that there’s something off about this family. This book was so well written and I will definitely look for Anna Downes again. She made the characters intriguing and the reader wanting to know what happens next. The characters had deep backgrounds and as the story fell into place the reader could see how well thought out the story was. I felt as though the ending was cut a little short and I would have liked to see more of the loose ends tied up than there was, but other than that I thought it was a great read!

I couldn't put this book down! While the book started off a little slow for me, I felt that the pace actually enhanced the suspense. A little predictable but a very well written book and I highly recommend people read this! I enjoyed the different narrations by Scott, Nina, and Emily because you got three different perspectives as the story goes on.

The Safe Place was not at all what I expected but I really enjoyed it! I don’t know that I can fully classify this as a thriller. Perhaps, a suspenseful drama is more accurate. Either way- this book has ‘Lifetime movie’ written all over it and I mean that as a complement.

Emily is a struggling actress who has just been let go from another temp position. Her relationship with her parents is strained and she has nobody to go to for support. Her former boss offers her a position that seems to good to be true. She is to become a caretaker for his wife and I’ll daughter at their French beach house since he works so much. Emily quickly bonds with her boss’ wife, Nina and their daughter, Aurelia. As the story progresses and we see multiple points of view, it starts to become clear that something is off in this ‘dream’ job that Emily has stepped into.

This book was definitely a slow burn. The big reveal doesn’t happen for a long time. However, I really enjoyed the scene that was set. I felt like the description of the scenery in this book really takes the reader to the location. I have seen many reviews saying this book was predictable but I did not see the reveal coming. Maybe I’m just oblivious! 😂 Either way, I really enjoyed this book and I think it’s going to be a great summer read! Make sure to grab it once it releases!

I enjoyed this book very much, a little something different which was nice. Would definitely recommend !

I was expecting a little bit more from this book, and the ending left me feeling sort of disappointed. The story took a little while to get going, but once Emily got to the secluded French estate to start her new job, it got more exciting. Both Nina and Scott are unreliable characters and Emily doesn't quite know enough about either of them to trust them completely. Even so, she moves into their guest house on a very remote, locked/gated estate in France. Everything around her is beautiful, from the sea, to the pool on the estate. Scott is also very handsome and she is drawn to him as well. Nina is friendly, but Emily can tell something odd is going on with the way she watches Emily's every move. And then there is Aurelia, a mysterious but adorable little girl who has a strange illness and is mute. Why doesn't she speak? Why doesn't she like to be touched? Just what is wrong with Aurelia, anyway? Or is there something Nina and Scott are hiding from Emily? When things start to get suspicious, however, it's too late for Emily to leave. She's part of their family now...whether she wants to be or not.

This was a good debut book by the author! I really enjoyed this thriller from beginning to end! The story was well written along with good characters. I liked how you are suspense till the end.

A great debut! Although Emily is at first not a very likable character, she really grows during the story. From a clumsy and often overexcited young woman she develops in someone who knows who she really is and what is more important, who she wants to be.
Right from the beginning of the story it is obvious there is something terribly wrong with Scott, Nina and especially Aurelia but what their problems are, is more complicated than you would think. The book is well-written with a good balance between action and suspense. I liked it that the house played a big part in the story too.
I certainly hope to read more of Anna Downes in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley for this digital review copy.

The premise of this book sounded very intriguing but for me, the book failed to live up to it. There is so much potential in this plot, and although quite atmospheric, I didn't find myself particularly drawn in.
Emily is hitting rock bottom, fired from her temping job and about to be evicted, her former employer offers her a position that appears to be too good to be true. She finds herself in a private and remote 'compound' style French estate as a companion and assistant to a woman and her young daughter who has health issues.
There were many moments were something amiss was hinted at, but Emily naively blunders on. I think all the surveillance cameras and strange smells would have me out of there like a shot.
The characters are not particularly likeable and the ending fell quite flat.
A good plot but not a story that is captive or offering any twists. I was especially disappointed in the fact that nothing came to light in the end about Emily's past that was hinted at throughout the story.
Thank you Netgalley and Affirm Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Emily Proudman's acting career has come to a standstill. None of the auditions she's gone to have been successful and her agent is leaving for the US. On top of that she's just lost her most recent job as a receptionist. Her rent is overdue and without work she can't afford to stay in London but she also can't go home to the parents she's been neglecting. But then she runs into her former boss, Scott Denny, who offers her a job as a housekeeper and personal assistant to his wife Nina who lives in France with their daughter, Aurelia. Jumping at the chance she soon finds herself living at Querencia, a beautiful, secluded estate on the coast and becoming friendly with Nina and Aurelia. Life seems almost perfect, but something seems just a bit wrong with Nina, her need for privacy and her over-protectiveness of Aurelia. However, the estate is so beautiful, with it's lovely pool, wonderful local food and wine and her growing friendship with Nina, that she tries to suppress any niggling doubts she has.

Told in alternating points of view by Emily and Scott with some prior history filled in by Nina, it will take a while for Emily to work out what secrets are being kept hidden at Querencia and by then it might be too late to escape the nightmare she has landed in.

The reader is also lulled by the plot, full of serenity and sunny days with Aurelia's odd behaviour explained away by her health problems. The characters are also more complex than they first appear. Nina might seem like the perfect mother, but there is a brittleness to her character that is easily shattered allowing hints of her unstable mental health to leak through. Scott is puzzling in his failure to spend much time in France, which he attributes to his heavy work load, but when he does arrive at the estate does not seem to engage with Aurelia and is distant with Nina. At first Emily seems to be the naive, downtrodden and placid girl Scott manipulates into becoming a companion for his wife, but she is smarter and more resilient than either of them realises. An enjoyable and edgy debut novel from a promising new author.

I read a blurb that compared Anna Downes’ The Safe Place to a mashup of a Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell book, and I couldn’t agree more. I love both those authors and will add Anna Downes to my list of must read authors! This book was intriguing from the beginning and kept the mystery building while also creating a beautiful atmosphere. While it was a bit predictable, but still very enjoyable!

The Safe Place was a great read but a predictable plot. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

3 STARS

Thank you so much to Anna Downes, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the ARC of THE SAFE PLACE! I loved the synopsis for this book and just HAD to check it out! It was weird and predictable but a great choice to turn your attention from the crazy world we currently live in into something crazier.

The first few pages didn't really capture my attention so I was struggling at first to get through the first couple of chapters. BUT after I read through that first part, the story got crazy and weird! Emily's life is a mess, but when her employer offers her an opportunity too good to be true, things start to get even weirder...some which you will be able to predict.

This book definitely was a slow burn, and even had a creepy kid. I DON'T DO CREEPY KIDS but this one worked perfectly and I couldn't wait to read more. Unfortunately, I don't particularly enjoy slow burns as they are anti-climactic and boring, and THE SAFE PLACE was working to build the suspense to the end. But I was disappointed when the end didn't build up to anything exciting and was quite predictable.

THE SAFE PLACE is out JUNE 30th

After struggling to find acting work in London, Emily takes a job as a housekeeper at her boss's family estate. It's everything the French countryside should be: charming, relaxing, and completely void of cellular service. She loves her new job--until she realizes things aren't what they seem and she needs to find a way out, for everyone involved.

This read was a real slow burn, but as it got closer to the end it turned out to be worth the wait. For the majority of the book, it doesn't feel like you're reading a suspense novel at all, and that aspect could make this book the perfect beach read. There were also some real moments of good writing that let me enjoy this as a pleasant little read instead of a full-on thriller novel. I appreciated how the POV jumped between characters to let you completely understand what was going on. And I appreciated that too much information wasn't dropped too early that completely gave away the plot twist.

I gave this 4 stars because I felt there was too much energy spent on Emily's story that could have been better served creating suspense or action at the estate. But overall I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an easy, pleasant read that keeps you guessing.

A thriller told by alternating points of views! Kept me on my toes- and I did not want to put this book down. Emily is truing to figure out what is exactly happening in her own little world. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

My Thoughts
This book was a quick read and the plot was relatively interesting; however, I had a few issues with it. Here are my pros and cons for The Safe Place:

Pros

1. The author creates an amazing sense of unease throughout the first half of the book. Everything seems to be perfect for Emily with her new job in France, but there is an underlying stench to everything (literally) and the author lets the tension of the situation build nicely.
2. I did not anticipate the reveal. I didn’t have any pre-conceived notions at all about where the story was going and I think that was a good thing.
3. Aurelia is creepy!

Cons

1. Even though I didn’t have any preconceived notions about where the story was headed, once everything was revealed it felt a little dull to me. There was potential there that wasn’t quite realized and the ending was a bit anti-climactic. I wasn’t wowed and I wanted to be wowed.
2. We get very little information about Nina to really understand her motivations or issues. There just wasn’t enough there for me to feel any connection at all with her character.
3. All characters were just a tad flat and superficial in my opinion.

Summary
I always enjoy reading books from new authors and I think this is a solid debut. A 3-star rating from me means that I generally liked the book, but I don’t think it will be particularly memorable for me.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a relatively light, quick thriller.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for a free eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is phenomenal! Downes masters every aspect of the story, especially setting. I could imagine all the details of the beautiful landscape in my mind. The metaphors and similes are great! The suspense never eases, and I kept turning the pages trying to figure out the characters and their motives. Highly recommended!

This book is different from the other books that I've read because it is a flawed story. You should care that it is a flawed story because it shows the bravery of the main character. This story is about a girl named Emily who becomes a nanny for her boss's kid. When Emily arrives to look after his child, she finds that not everything is as it seems. I liked the romance between Emily and Scott. I liked the author's description of Nina's beauty. Unfortunately I found one thing about this book not believable.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Phew!! Now thats how you build tension! The Safe Place is this slow burn mystery suspense read. The story is told from three different points of viewq that are outlined by chapter. We see our naive Emily down on her luck (no job, lost her acting agent, losing her flat, and complicated relationship with parents). Although, she does walk a very fine line between naive and blind. Scott is her former boss who offers her the dream of a lifetime as a housekeeper/personal assistant at his estate in France -- he is extremely good-looking and successful, but nothing is as perfect as it seems. ( I am hoping that he was misguided and not really as delusional as it seems like he would have to be.) Lastly, we have Nina, The least information is given from her. Scott's perfect and beautiful wife, and we see the cracks beginning to really form. The reader is also introduced to Aurelia, Scott and Nina's daughter, who is mute with a variety of ailments. You know from the beginning that things are off but are as clueless as Emily as to what they may be. I was still guessing right up until the end. I really enjoyed the multiple perspectives and the fact that my attention was held all the way through. There were a couple of things that felt like the author didn't quite finish her original plan but overall a really good summer read!

Grab an ice cold lemonade or whatever your favorite summer beverage is, and kick back and relax, because once you dive into this book, you will be so caught up in the suspense, that you won’t want to stop reading until long after the summer sun has set!

The Safe Place is the perfect summertime thriller, and although a bit predictable, still extremely entertaining, and the perfect distraction from the horrifying and sometimes downright depressing-ness that is the year of 2020. This book is gripping enough to keep your eyes glued to the pages, and your mind on everything that is going on in the story, instead of anything else that is going on around you. Between the atmospheric, eerie gothic feel of the novel, and the remote setting, you will be transported to inside of the pages.

The story is told by three characters: Emily, her boss Scott, and his wife Nina.

Emily is down on her luck, after she finds herself fired from her job, with an empty bank account and no prospects on the horizon. Luckily and unexpectedly, she is thrown a lifeline by her boss, Scott, who has ulterior motives that she has no idea about. (because of course he does. This is a thriller novel after all.) To her shock, he asks her to be a housekeeper in France, at his remote estate of all places, for his wife, Nina, and daughter, Aurelia. Is this a dream come true or what? Or what is right, because soon the seemingly idyllic setting, and lifeline job, abruptly turns sinister. Emily realizes things are definitely not quite right at this once upon a time oasis, and that Scott and Nina are definitely not what they seem. The two of them will do anything to protect the facade of a perfect life, and Emily has to play along, or the consequences could be deadly.

While this book was atmospheric, intriguing, suspenseful, and fun to read for the most part, I have to admit that it was pretty predictable and certainly anti-climatic at the end. The author set up such a good plot line, but didn’t really follow through at the end. But still, even with that said, it was a book that pulled me out of the real world for a while, and gripped me from the start. And as a debut, it was a pretty solid thriller, and the author definitely has a lot of potential!

Overall, this book was very enjoyable, and I will certainly be on the lookout for more of her work!