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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
Thank you Minotaur for the gifted copy.
Well, this book was different from what I expected! (not in a bad way)
Emily is a hot mess - a struggling actor, fired from her temp job, getting evicted from her apartment. After she gets fired, she is offered what seems like a dream job - by her former boss. The job? Moving to France and being the carer/assistant/nanny/go-fer/etc to his wife and young daughter. She has to sign an NDA, there is no cell service, cameras everywhere, locked gates...the longer she's there, the more she is thinking something is very strange.
The wife seems mostly fine at first, the daughter has "medical issues" - supposedly a severe allergy to the sun and she doesn't talk. Something is definitely not right.
Emily does end up uncovering their secrets, and the ending has several twisty moments. I think if I had tried to figure it out as I was reading, I could have. I did like the flashback chapters, because it gave me a glimpse into the "why" and "how" of the story. There were some parts at the end that I think might have made more sense if written differently, and I had to go back and reread a couple things.
The Safe Place is an entertaining read perfect for a day at the beach or pool.
Well, this book was different from what I expected! (not in a bad way)
Emily is a hot mess - a struggling actor, fired from her temp job, getting evicted from her apartment. After she gets fired, she is offered what seems like a dream job - by her former boss. The job? Moving to France and being the carer/assistant/nanny/go-fer/etc to his wife and young daughter. She has to sign an NDA, there is no cell service, cameras everywhere, locked gates...the longer she's there, the more she is thinking something is very strange.
The wife seems mostly fine at first, the daughter has "medical issues" - supposedly a severe allergy to the sun and she doesn't talk. Something is definitely not right.
Emily does end up uncovering their secrets, and the ending has several twisty moments. I think if I had tried to figure it out as I was reading, I could have. I did like the flashback chapters, because it gave me a glimpse into the "why" and "how" of the story. There were some parts at the end that I think might have made more sense if written differently, and I had to go back and reread a couple things.
The Safe Place is an entertaining read perfect for a day at the beach or pool.
☀️BOOK REVIEW: THE SAFE PLACE BY ANNA DOWNES☀️
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Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to @minotaur books for the arc of The Safe Place.
This was a 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for me.
I read a lot of thrillers and found this to be enjoyable, but a little more of a slow burn than a fast-paced thriller.
Emily is struggling in life and hasn’t quit had the break through to a fabulous acting career that she had hoped for - so when her previous boss Scott offers her a well-paying job at a mansion in the lovely French coast, it sounds too good to be true.
Emily arrives to find a gorgeous secluded property with two houses where she will help Scott’s wife, Nina, with housekeeping, fixing up the guest house and caring for Nina and Scott’s daughter Aurelia.
Nina and Emily become fast friends, but something just doesn’t sit right with Emily. Nina and Scott have a secret that they don’t want Emily to discover and that they definitely do not want her to share with others.
I thought Emily’s backstory worked well in this story but would have loved to have more. I love the themes that she plays in this one about how we can sometimes end up carrying other people’s secrets even when we don’t want to - and how that can become destructive to our own selves.
I read this in one sitting during a beach/lake day and found it enjoyable.
This was a 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for me.
I read a lot of thrillers and found this to be enjoyable, but a little more of a slow burn than a fast-paced thriller.
Emily is struggling in life and hasn’t quit had the break through to a fabulous acting career that she had hoped for - so when her previous boss Scott offers her a well-paying job at a mansion in the lovely French coast, it sounds too good to be true.
Emily arrives to find a gorgeous secluded property with two houses where she will help Scott’s wife, Nina, with housekeeping, fixing up the guest house and caring for Nina and Scott’s daughter Aurelia.
Nina and Emily become fast friends, but something just doesn’t sit right with Emily. Nina and Scott have a secret that they don’t want Emily to discover and that they definitely do not want her to share with others.
I thought Emily’s backstory worked well in this story but would have loved to have more. I love the themes that she plays in this one about how we can sometimes end up carrying other people’s secrets even when we don’t want to - and how that can become destructive to our own selves.
I read this in one sitting during a beach/lake day and found it enjoyable.
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
”Querencia was a little like Narnia. You could spend weeks there without ever leaving, months even, and on your return to the real world it seemed that no time had passed at all.”
I really liked this. The Safe Place is this slow burn mystery suspense read. Like legitimately the entire time I was just waiting for our poor naive heroine to actually have something happen to her. Like something was there, out of focus, just waiting for this unsuspecting woman to get too close.
I think as you read things slowly click into place, but you don’t quite hear them clicking, and by the end I honestly felt like I was the naive heroine of the story. Like, what just happened? Have I been bamboozled. I clearly don’t want to say too much, because what mystery suspense reads well without the mystery? I was left with a few questions at the end, but I’m pretty sure that was intentional and while I wish I had actual answers, I understand that leaving the reader to dream up their own answers, leaves a certain strong impression as well.
All in all I enjoyed this one. I’d love to pick up another from this author in the future, because while a slow burn story isn’t usually my favorite, Anna Downes did a fabulous job keeping me interested in this cast of characters and all their secrets.
Available NOW!
*ARC from BookishFirst & NetGalley
I really liked this. The Safe Place is this slow burn mystery suspense read. Like legitimately the entire time I was just waiting for our poor naive heroine to actually have something happen to her. Like something was there, out of focus, just waiting for this unsuspecting woman to get too close.
I think as you read things slowly click into place, but you don’t quite hear them clicking, and by the end I honestly felt like I was the naive heroine of the story. Like, what just happened? Have I been bamboozled. I clearly don’t want to say too much, because what mystery suspense reads well without the mystery? I was left with a few questions at the end, but I’m pretty sure that was intentional and while I wish I had actual answers, I understand that leaving the reader to dream up their own answers, leaves a certain strong impression as well.
All in all I enjoyed this one. I’d love to pick up another from this author in the future, because while a slow burn story isn’t usually my favorite, Anna Downes did a fabulous job keeping me interested in this cast of characters and all their secrets.
Available NOW!
*ARC from BookishFirst & NetGalley
A young woman takes a dream job as a housekeeper/PA/nanny in an isolated French villa. The mother and daughter are a bit odd. It's a suspicious situation, but there's not enough to drive the story. Really nothing happens for the first 2/3 of the book. It gets there eventually and the ending picks up.
This book is a bit all over the place but overall pretty enjoyable.
I can’t say that I really cheered for any of the characters except for Aurelia because it was clear something was amiss in this storyline. The level of manipulation, naïveté and wealth in this story leads the reader to suspend reality just a tad as it’s hard to believe they people would or could do the things described in the book.
However, the story kept me engaged and asking questions about what the hell was really going on for quite a long time before they sucker punched me with the truth. I was happy to see character growth in Emily at that point as she definitely grew from just being the victim in the narrative.
Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for my FIRST ever ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I can’t say that I really cheered for any of the characters except for Aurelia because it was clear something was amiss in this storyline. The level of manipulation, naïveté and wealth in this story leads the reader to suspend reality just a tad as it’s hard to believe they people would or could do the things described in the book.
However, the story kept me engaged and asking questions about what the hell was really going on for quite a long time before they sucker punched me with the truth. I was happy to see character growth in Emily at that point as she definitely grew from just being the victim in the narrative.
Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for my FIRST ever ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Really good! A dream job at the right moment...there’s always a catch. The ending made you think back through to book and see why things were the way they were (vague not to spoil). I wish they had addressed Nina more and her past and better explained the smell/stench, but I really liked it.