This book just wasn’t for me. I didn’t like the characters and that made it hard for me to care about what was happening. I saw the “twist” from the very beginning so it fell flat for me.

The biggest issue I had with this novel was that absolutely everything is flagged up in the early chapters; you can feel the "twist" coming from the first couple of pages. Almost as soon as Jenni Wales is introduced on the page you know there is something not entirely trustworthy about her narration, that there is a skewed perspective at play. This colours the entire novel for me as you are just waiting for it to come and as events unfolded I became less and less interested in what that was going to be.

Neither of our main two characters - Jenni and Destiny - are particularly empathetic. Instead they are a collection of cliches that vaguely represent a person in a non-realistic way. Jenni is a product of her PTSD and never really steps outside of that. Destiny is a child in care who fulfils every stereotype of "good girl gone bad". It just feels somehow lazy on the characterisation as, at most, each character has two dimensions and never steps outside of their neat little box.

To Keep You Safe by Kate Bradley was a great suspense crime thriller that just kept shocking me. I chose to listen to this book on audio and it was narrated by Lucy Jane Dixon and she was fabulous. I highly recommend listening to this.
The story had a great plot and it was realistic fiction in a dark way. I found it engaging and I was focusing on each character. It revealed a lot of details to each decision and the twists, well the twists really surprised me.
I really enjoyed it and hope you pick this one up.
Thanks Dreamscape Media via NetGalley.

To Keep You Safe was a great read by Kate Bradley. Teacher Jenni Wales sees 15 year old Destiny with a black eye and is immediately worried. Destiny is genius IQ smart and in care. She witnesses an attempt to abduct Destiny from school. Jenni does the only thing she can think to keep Destiny safe, she takes her. I enjoyed reading this book and can't wait to read more by the author.

Jenni is ex-military and a school teacher who realizes something is off with one of her students, Destiny. How far will she go to make sure Destiny is safe?

This book is mainly from the point of view from Jenni and Destiny. By the time you get to the end you realize that they may not be as reliable as you thought.

Spoilers Below:
For the most part I liked this book. I am usually a huge fan of books with an unreliable narrator, but this one was a little harder to get into. Since we saw the big battle scene from Destiny’s perspective we really didn’t know that something was wrong until the last chapter. Which I thought was a very interesting twist. I wish we knew what ultimately happened to George. I could have missed it but last I heard he was in the hospital so I wanted to know what happened to him. I am glad that Destiny did the right thing in the end. I was really rooting for her healing.

Overall, I enjoyed this audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I read this as an audiobook and I adored the narrator on this one! This thriller centered around characters with dark histories. Although the characters were a bit of a sterotype of the "soldier with PTSD" and the "foster child searching for love", I really enjoyed our two main characters (Destiny and Jenni). I loved that they were flawed, but still had that center of desiring to be something more than they had been pinpointed as. I also liked that even the side characters and bad guys got some relatively detailed insight in this book as we were able to read some chapters from their perspectives. I found the writing fast-paced and it kept me listening. The twists were intriguing and there were multiple throughout the book rather than a giant twist at only one point. All in all, I would ask for a little more nuance in the two main characters, but everything else was an A+ in my book.

When teacher Jenni Wales sees 15-year-old Destiny's black eye, she's immediately worried. Destiny isn't your average student: she's smart, genius IQ smart, and she's in care. But concern turns to fear when Jenni witnesses an attempt to abduct Destiny from school. With those around her not taking the threat seriously, Jenni does the only thing she can think of to keep Destiny safe: she takes her.

I was underwhelmed with the start of this book; what I thought was going to be a fast pace, straightforward action-y book held some hints of mystery that I thought fell flat until ¾ of the way through the book. Destiny is hiding things from Jenni from the first page and Jenni has her own baggage from the past. There were some twist I didn't see coming, but also wasn't surprised about.

I'd like to say a huge thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

#readingchallenge #reading2022 #summerreading2022 #booklover #bookworm #bookwormlife #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #audiobook #netgalley #readinggoals #tokeepyousafe #katebradley #katebradleybooks

I have to say that this audio book took me a while to get through. The narrator did a great job and brought the different narrators to life, but I felt like the two main characters Jenni and Destiny both fell flat for me. They were both unreliable and the twists that came didn’t seem particularly twisty. There was clearly a lot of information about at risk populations, but I just didn’t fully buy the characters. Most of this story is told in the past tense taking place several years before the book’s present day. Jenni was in the army and when she left she became a teacher. Destiny is a student at Jenni’s school who is in foster care with test scores off the charts. Their lives collide in an unusual way and both of their lives are changed by the events that occur.

The story was okay. It had some thrilling and exciting parts. I liked the different parts of view. Not sure if I liked Jenny LOL

I found this book to be really hard to get into. I Kept listening to do because once I start something, I have to finish it. I can deal with violence and gore in books but there was something about this one that had turned me off. I did like the idea of the book, I just wasn’t impressed.

Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Kate Bradley for this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I appreciate the writing of Kate Bradley, touching on real life, current day problems of child trafficking and PTSD of soldiers. The plot and storyline were great and the surprise twist was unexpected for me. This book did get pretty dark in some spots. Personally, I was not a fan of the explicit sex scenes with a minor. I'm all for these scenes in any other book, but it felt gross in this one with 15 year old Destiny.

Overall, this was a good book with a different take on the inside of being involved in child trafficking and just what a teacher would do to help a student she feels is in danger.

This book is going to stick with me for a long time. Good read with plenty of mystery and thriller aspects but I feel kinda traumatized by the whole thing. Not sure if it's good or bad at this point. 🤷‍♀️ Four stars for excellent writing and twists I didn't see coming.

Triggers: every kind of child abuse known to man, drugs, rape, kidnapping, PTSD, loss & resulting trauma, neglect, death, bloody gruesome beatings. Probably more I'm leaving out.

Like I said, this book is going to stay with me for a long long time.

To Keep You Safe
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Format: Audiobook
Date Published: 6/30/22
Author: Kate Bradley
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Narrator: Lucy Jane Dixon
Goodreads Rating: 3.79

TW ⚠️: PTSD, abduction, and abuse.

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: You don't know who they are. You don't know why they're hunting her. But you know she's in danger. What do you do? When teacher Jenni Wales sees 15-year-old Destiny's black eye, she's immediately worried. Destiny isn't your average student: she's smart, genius IQ smart, and she's in care. But concern turns to fear when Jenni witnesses an attempt to abduct Jenni from school. Who are these men and what can Destiny know to make them hunt her? With those around her not taking the threat seriously, Jenni does the only thing she can think of to keep Destiny safe: she takes her.

My Thoughts: The story is primarily narrated from Jenni and Destiny’s perspectives, there are a few other dark storytellers that gives the story that extra ump. I love how Bradley digs into the life of Jenni and shows her struggles, challenges, and truly getting through her trauma in such a poetic way. The characters are well developed with layers of depth, emotional, strong, and are flawed, but so relatable, and very likeable. The author’s writing style is complex, twisty, suspenseful, dark, and disturbing (in a good way). This is a first by this author for me but will not be the last. I really enjoyed how Bradley’s writing just flowed well together, kept you engaged, was fast paced, and definitely a page turner. I highly recommend this audiobook that was released last month!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* 4.5 This was a pretty wild book, figured it would be and it did not disappoint lol, not really one you can reread or at least have to wait a while to do so imo but really liked this!

I really did not enjoy this book, at all. Full stop.

Jenny a former army girl turned teacher at a school. She believes one of her students, Destiney Is in some kind of danger. Destiney shows up to school with bruises and almost sees her abducted by a man in a van. No one at the school believes Jenny , including a pseudo Social worker sneaks into the school and gives Destiney the clear. This is SO flawed. Not even close to reality. So Jenny takes matters into her own hand and "kidnaps" Destiney to protect her. At this point I was like okay this is unrealistic, but maybe there is still a good story waiting for me.
Nope.
Instead it took a sharp right turn down This Book Stinks Avenue.
The author choses to include a scene where she and Destiney are at a food court and Destiney Opts to eat at McDonalds, we have to endure Jenny's disordered eating thoughts (Major trigger warning here people). Oh here is a nugget for you btw just because you got your food from Chik Fil A or Panera does not make it healthier than McDonalds. Seriously a #1 from Chik fila with a lemonade is more energy dense than a Quarter Pounder Meal from McD's.....Kinda like those "Organic Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups"you get at Tis are higher in sugar than the Reese's cups you buy at Circle K at Midnight...okay sorry, back to this "book". So if you get past the trigger scene at the mall Bradley throws you into another trigger situation.
Jenny checks them into a hotel room (after a totally pointless chase scene...still trying to wrap my head around that whole debacle....) BUT she does not sleep in the hotel room with Destiney.....umm...what? I mean hello, sleep on the floor, or in the bed....but leaving a child in a hotel room by themselves when they are clearly being hunted...? I'm sorry but that is just dumb. Come on, try harder.
So.....that leads to the man who is chasing Destney a sick pedophile gets in her room and thats where you learn Destiney has some gross relationship with this guy Alecksander. The scene that unfolds is so graphic and wrong I will spare you.

From that point on the novel continues to spiral down and more and more disturbing scenes unfold, sex trafficking, drugs, murder, abuse, violence, uhh. It was painful!
None of the characters were likable. I saw no point in reading this book. I guess what I will say is the content of this book is not why I am giving it a low star rating. It is the whole premise, the boring storyline, the loose ends that were not tied up and the complete ridiculous scenarios......

Take my advice on this book and McDonalds as well!


Thank you Netgalley for this advanced copy of this audiobook. These are my original thoughts that I was not paid or reimbursed for.

This was a very dark twisty book. I will admit to at times being a little confused but that had more to do with the unreliable narrators in this story.

I thought the narration by Lucy Jane Dixon was well done I like an accent, there are some very British lines though like, I used her jumper like a flannel and washed her face. Both jumper and flannel mean something very different in the US. but I love all things British so I knew what it meant, it just struck me.

Overall this was a good thriller that kept me wondering what was happening.

3 stars

I received this book from the publisher Dreamscape Media, LLC & NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

To Keep You Safe was an interesting listen, first of all the premise that a woman kidnaps their student to keep them safe is crazy enough, but with all the twists and turns that keep you guessing...it's ridiculous! I like stories that can keep me on my toes and at the edge of my seat. The voice for the audiobook was a bit dull, which made that part frustrating but overall good story!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow! That was a lot to take in. Very well written I was glued to this story. Trigger warning for very graphic violence, grooming and trafficking. That being said I liked this title a lot.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so twisted and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. This was a multi-layered thriller where I second guessed everything the whole time. This book was very gripping and exciting.

Only listen to this audiobook if you can handle strong accents. I struggle with books like this because I feel like I miss parts trying to understand what the narrator is saying. The story was good not great