The perfect summer thriller for anyone! I LOVED this quick placed novel, one of my favorites of 2020. Downes' writing style is extremely unique. I flew through this book wanting more and more!

Emily Proudman has an absolutely terrible day. She looses her agent, job and house all in the same day. She is rather desperate and needs a change as soon as possible. If things don't change, they will only get worse. She accepts a summer job that is way under her paygrade as a housekeeper. This lifestyle change is an adjustment for Emily. She enjoys the family she is working for until she realizes their life in their French escape isn't as perfect as it seems.

i honestly tried so hard to read this book, but i just could not get into it since emily was so dramatic all the time

Have not had a chance to read this yet, but will keep it on my list for a rainy day! Appreciate being offered the reading copy!

# The Safe Place by author # Anna Downes is her debut novel. A perfect suspense, thriller and will keep you up at night. A entertaining novel.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Anna Downes, and # Affirm Press for the advanced copy

Thank you to NetGalley and Affirm Press for the digital arc of this title.

The Safe Place by Anna Downes is a psychological thriller that will keep you guessing. The novel centers around Emily, who is an aspiring actress who is down on her luck. Then she catches the attention of Scott Denny, a CEO who decides that Emily will make the perfect companion for his wife and child. And so ensues a book that will keep you guessing as to what exactly is going on.

So my caveat going in to this is that I'm pretty new to the psychological thriller genre and I tend to be hit and miss with the genre. This one really kept me interested throughout. The characters aren't all the most likable but I found them all really interesting. I thought the story was really solid as well and it kept me wondering what was going to happen next. And as is typical with a thriller I will leave the plot alone for fear of giving something away.

Overall I'd recommend this book to people who like their thrillers on the light weight side. Enough intrigue to keep you interested but not on the edge of your seat waiting for the bottom to drop out the whole time.

NARRATION: I thought the narration on this one was top notch. The author is actually the narrator on this one too and she does a top notch job. I amused myself at one point because while most characters in the book have British accents there is one character with an Australian accent. When she first started speaking I was really annoyed that the narrator was using an Australian accent instead of a British one. A few minutes later it actually becomes a plot point that the character had an odd accent because she was originally from Australia! (I worked for a year with someone from Australia so to me the accents aren't even remotely close.)

Well written page-turner that keeps you guessing until the end. In many ways, it's light-hearted and not meant to be incredibly deep or emotional, which makes it a great easy weekend read.. I enjoyed the book and will likely pick up more books from this author in the future.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This nanny was reconsidering her employer requirements by the time I was done! A fast paced read

A pretty enjoyable read. thing too special, but that’s okay! It fulfilled the job — an interesting thriller to keep me busy. I don’t think it’s terribly original, but entertaining nonetheless.

I admit I was struggling with the first few chapters as it skipped between scenarios and I couldn't get a handle on the story. My dilemma is to rate it 3 or 4. I'll go with 4 as I enjoyed the latter half of the book. It was all a bit odd, my imagination had bodies in the basement as the author wove this tale.
Grief and mental health created this strange story, some say predictable, but I had no idea until the clues started falling into place. The storyline was good for a debut and the characters intriguing. The cover drew me in and that the author lived in my country. I look forward to seeing what this author does next.

I was excited to read this one given it was an interesting premise with a narrator that was right up my alley. This book unfortunately fell flat for me. I felt the story dragged on and the book was far too long given how predictable the ending was. This could have been a great story had it been culled to maybe half its size; readers don't mind a predictable ending so long as the journey to the end is captivating. Critiques aside, the writing style was lovely and I'd likely read other books by the same author.

Great read.
Thank you for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own and are completely.

I will not re-do a synopsis or do any summarization. I will say that I did enjoy thIs books premise, the character types are well fitting. The plots elements flowed smoothly.
I do recommend it,

I really liked the premise of this book also loved the setting in France.

Overall this book was really enjoyable. The ending fell a little short for me. Some aspects seemed quite predictable but there were still a few lose ends that left me a little frustrated.

Whew! I thought this book was beautifully written. It had me on the edge of my seat so many times. The twists and turns were remarkable and the plot simply grew and grew. Well worth reading

I really liked the premise of this book, but it felt a little long to me. Overall though a good book with a different story line then anything else I’ve read recently.

Everyone was looking for a “safe place” but none was found by any of the characters. A thriller that has everyone looking over their shoulder. So many problems with these believable souls: parents, conception, deceit, payola…….they’re all intertwined.
What started off as a “yeah, sure like this could really happen" turned into white knuckle chapters followed by an exciting ending. Definitely would recommend it.

The Safe Place is an absolutely breathless read. We first meet Emily, a hopeful actress who can’t hold down a day job and is on the verge of eviction. She’s quite a wreck! We next meet her boss Scott, who is extremely successful but mysterious. Rumors around the office suggest he hates his wife, never visits her and their child, etc. After being fired, Emily receives an offer from Scott for a different kind of work-specifically, helping to care for his estate and wife in France. With nothing left to lose, Emily accepts and is transported to a seeming paradise. While dining on exquisite food and fancy wine, Emily starts to notice some things that aren’t quite adding up with Scott’s family. Is she imagining things? Remembering repressed memories from her own tumultuous upbringing?
Anna Downes kept me hooked through every twist and turn. Like Emily, I found myself flip-flopping between suspicion and believing everything is fine, great even! I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to see what Downes comes up with next!

I received #TheSafePlace from #NetGalley as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #annadownes


Posted to goodreads 06/2020

This book was largely enjoyable--I liked the characters, plot, and setting on the coast of France.

However I feel like the ending left a lot unanswered, and the author could have done a better job of tying up the characters' storylines. I am not sure how to say more without giving things away, but I feel like I latched onto a few things early in the story that didn't end up coming up again, or that didn't matter to the plot in a way that I felt they should have. More on my blog: https://www.howdidthatbookend.com/safe-place/

Intense, creepy, readable... a "safe" place? I think not.

In retrospect, The Safe Place ended up entertaining but somewhat predictable. The characters and setting were quite interesting... just imagine working at a seaside estate in France! However, despite quite a bit of detail and flashbacks, I was puzzled by the pieces left unconnected. Overall, a great debut novel and I look forward to more from Downes.



FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a fabulous debut novel! I loved the way the plot slowly developed into one filled with suspense. I also found that all the main characters were well developed. I’ll definitely be recommending this one!

WOW!

I don’t care how many people said this was predictable or there are A LOT novels similar to this with the isolated plot, I can’t get enough of it!

I loved the twists and turns and I loved how perfectly imperfect the family and Emily was. They were made for each other.

I finished this book at record speed, the twist ending was AMAZING! One thing that I would have liked would have been more narrators. Maybe a chapter of Nina in the present just to get a feel for the crazy.