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!

Anna Downes debut novel Safe Place is an intriguing, spellbinding tale that pulls you in to its web. Right from the get go, you know something isn’t right, but you can’t quite put your finger on it.

Emily is a struggling actress who works temp jobs to stay afloat. Her life is falling apart - she loses her temp job, she’s evicted from her apartment, she botches an audition, and nearly gets hit by a bus, and that’s just the surface layer of Emily’s problems. Scott comes along and offers Emily what seems to be a dream job - working and living on his beautiful, secluded estate and helping his wife care for their daughter as well as estate upkeep. Emily arrives, and everything is serenely beautiful. She fits right in to Scott’s family, and they get along perfectly. However, something doesn’t feel quite right, and there are niggling clues throughout that lead Emily to think that her seemingly perfect job is actually not so perfect. Will Emily figure out her employers’ secrets before it is too late?

Safe Place was a wonderful debut thriller! I loved how Anna Downes places little clues throughout, and how she used flashbacks intermittently to help the reader piece together the story. The characters are intriguing - Emily is a naive young lady that has been through hard times but looks for the good in others; Nina is seemingly a picture perfect wife and mother; Scott is a tortured, rich executive that is doing his best to provide for his family. The estate itself is also practically a, oozing charm and beauty. Together, they seem to bring out the best in each other, until they don’t.

Thank you to Anna Downes, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the early copy!! Safe Place comes out July 14, and you can and should preorder on Amazon using the link below.

This was a very well-done thriller/suspense novel by a debut author. It was compelling and hard to put down. At times the story even became scary. I had no idea what to expect. Towards the end I had my suspicions but things still did not end the way I thought they would. The final part brought up ethical questions which was interesting and thought-provoking. It is nice to be able to quickly read a thriller which actually has some meat on it. Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 stars! I devoured this book!

Emily has lost everything. Her job, her non-existent acting career, her apartment and her dignity. Then Scott walks in and offers her a summer job as a housekeeper at his beautiful but isolated French estate. She begins to think it’s too good to be true until she starts to discover some dangerous secrets hiding amongst the gigantic property.

I’m going to be entirely honest, this was not the book I expected after reading the synopsis! It gripped me in and I couldn’t stop reading until I found out what the secrets the French mansion could be hiding! I loved every twist and turn and put main character, Emily. While the ending was predictable, I still enjoyed the bulk of the story. There were some questions left unanswered (what was the smell?!) but all in all- a solid summer thriller!

This was an excellent story and surprisingly compelling. Emily Proudman is a struggling actress in London, having to take on temp jobs to keep her head above water. One day she gets fired from the current temp job and comes home to learn that she is to be evicted for rental arrears. Her parents are sick of ‘lending’ her money. Oh well, she has one more audition... but when her agent drops her too Emily is distraught. But wait, things are not as they seem.

When her former boss ‘accidentally’ bumps into her on the street later that day he says she was fired in error, come to lunch I have a proposition for you. Suspicious? Well yes. But what else can Emily do? Scott Denny offers her a job as housekeeper/companion to his wife at their property in the South of France. OK, maybe not all bad. Out of options, Emily accepts and is soon on her way to a new life with stars in her eyes and a little crush on her married boss. After settling in with Nina Denny and their five year old daughter, Aurelia, Emily stars to relax and enjoy the superb estate. Nevertheless she notices an odd vibe around the place. She wonders why the family house is out of bounds to her, and wonders why Scott never comes to visit his wife.

Finally Scott arrives for a weekend visit and the dynamic within the family starts to look really strange. Their behaviour seems off. On a rare day away from the estate Emily stumbles on some information that raises a lot of red flags and suddenly, the estate seems to be a much darker place. Tension rises inexorably as Emily skirts around the volatile mother and the strange little girl. As the shocking truth emerges she realises that she is in grave danger. This turned into quite the page turner. With flashbacks to the past all the secrets surrounding the family are slowly revealed. Character development was great and it was good to see Emily grow from a scatterbrained girl into a mature and determined young woman. I enjoyed the book a lot.

Emily is a bit of a lost lamb - she’s a struggling actress, she has a strained relationship with her adoptive parents, she’s just lost her job and is about to evicted... and on top of all that her acting agent drops her with no warning. Just when everything feels hopeless, Scott, the CEO of the company she’s just been fired from, swoops in with a job offer she can’t refuse. It feels like fate. Emily jumps at the chance, and she is whisked away to the fancy mansion in a remote part of France she will now be calling home.

But not long into her time as a housekeeper and companion for Scott’s reclusive wife and unstable young daughter, Emily starts to wonder if perhaps everything isn’t quite as it seems...

What a debut!! Anna Downes painted such an eerie atmosphere, I could feel something building but had no idea what to think or which of my many theories would be right. There was so many clues and red herrings and moments dropped in through the book that made me think ‘hang on a minute....’

This is one of those ‘unputdownable’ books, to the point where one night while reading this I refused to go to bed so I could keep reading. I forgot that I am a 29 year old grandma, so I promptly fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 2am with the lights blazing, my kindle dangling from my hand and a stiff neck.... and then tried to read a few more pages before actually going to bed 😅

The Safe Place is coming out on 30th June, if you love a thriller you’ll want to read this one! Thanks to @netgalley @affirmpress and @anna_downes_writer for the ARC 😍

The Safe Place was a thrilling rollercoaster of a read set on an enchanting estate in coastal France. Anna Downes’s magical way with imagery and family dynamics makes this debut novel a must-read for the summer.

Emily is a young woman working a temp job to supplement her less-than-successful acting career. When her boss offers her a job as a nanny to his daughter, companion to his wife, and caretaker to his isolated property in France, Emily jumps at the opportunity. Questioning herself at every odd incident, Emily has to decide if it’s her own mind that’s deceiving her, or if there’s more here than meets the eye.

My only criticism is of the love story that is stitched throughout the novel. While I love a little romance, I found myself confused by how quickly and easily the characters’ feelings grew. I thought there would be some sort of connection in the end that explained the unrealistic relationship, but it never surfaced.

I enjoyed this title so much! I thought the plot was so intriguing, and the characterization very strong! The description used by the author was so evocative I felt transported, and I kept turning until the very last page. I think the cover is very cute - I'll be sure to purchase this for my store!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Hatchette Australia and especially Anna Downes for the eARC of this book.

This was a great story! I read it in a matter of hours, I just couldn't put it down. There was an addictive quality to it, like you just HAD to know what was going on. I found that the story had a very creepy vibe to it which I really enjoyed.

I loved that the story was told from two POVs, explaining how each character came to be where they are today. The front cover drew me in immediately as did the final line No Escape!

A very fine effort by this author and I look forward to many more books in the future. Well worth the high star score ☺

Where to even begin with this book? First of all, this is an excellent debut book by the author. This book starts off so mysterious and interesting - I was hooked from the beginning. It is a psychological thriller that I eventually figured out, but I didn't figure out all the details until closer to the end. It was an enjoyable read, but it left me feeling dark. Once you read it, you'll understand.

This book deals with mental illness, betrayal, insecurities, greed, illegal activities and the possibilities of "what if" this ever happened to my family? This book makes you realize just how evil and cruel some people can be in this world.

Emily is an aspiring actress and I use that phrase lightly. She has had many auditions, but none have panned out. Quite honestly, she can't act. So she works for a temp agency and she can't seem to do that well either. She is fired from her temp job after only 6 weeks of working as a receptionist. She was late to work often; she didn't do her job well; etc. The very next day, her acting agent informs her she is moving to the US and Emily will need to find a new agent - well, that won't happen because she's never successfully landed a job - what agent would want her?

Emily doesn't have the best relationship with her parents - who are wealthy. They are tired of helping her out financially without Emily ever showing any interest in their lives. She really needs to figure out how to manage her life on her own - but how?

On a chance encounter, she runs into the man that owns the business that employed her as the temp receptionist. When he discovers that she has been fired, he tells her he wants to make it right - and he has another job lined up for her. Only this job is in France. Working at his family estate. Emily decides to take the job and that's when her life begins to change. Living at the estate is wonderful - she never has to worry for anything. Or does she?

I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The opinions stated above are mine without biases.

Firstly, any book with praise from JP Pomare, Chris Hammer AND Christian White is a book I’m going to want to read!

The Safe Place has a brilliant “creepiness” to it because you’re not really sure what’s going on - plenty of red flags coming up as you read but nothing to make it obvious what’s going on which I love in a thriller. I also love a thriller when technology gets taken away - in this instance limited internet connection/phone signal - it adds wonderfully to the suspense. This kept me guessing right up until near the end - I had theories throughout but I was far off the mark. I really like the ending though I feel some will find they’ll be left wanting.

Thank you to Affirm press, Anna Downes and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

*Heads up for other Netgalley users - formatting was a bit of an issue on kindle, page numbers in random places/large spaces etc, not enough to bother me but might prove annoying to some.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I was instantly drawn in with a relatable character who was down on her luck. i wouldn't say this was quite a thriller, but there always seemed to be something that was "off" and kept me reading. I enjoyed how it was a book where I could sit down, read it, and be completely immersed in the story. The sensory details and descriptive language were spot on! This would be a perfect book for a vacation or to curl up with on a rainy day. I look forward to reading other books by this author.

When I initially started this book, I wasn't convinced I was going to enjoy it. However, I stuck with it and when I got to approximately 30% of the way through, I didn't want to put it down. It was gripping and interesting with plenty of intrigue and mystery. I kind of guessed the 'secret' 3/4 of the way through, but it was still a page turner.

The main character, Emily, is going through a difficult period in her life. Not feeling that she fits in anywhere, unable to get a break in the acting industry, losing her job she depends on to survive, when she is offered an opportunity that is too good to refuse!

This is a cautionary tale of 'be careful of what you wish for'! On the surface, Emily is transported to a paradise of luxury, only to continually feel niggles that something just isn't quite right. In the periphery of her thoughts, she is questioning things, but wants to believe that all is as it appears. This is a very interesting and gripping novel and well worth the read. Great for a holiday or winter's day read!