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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
✨BOOK REVIEW: The Safe Place
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⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 (3 1/2, so rounded up on goodreads to 4)
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✨SYNOPSIS: Emily is a mess. She lost her acting agent, her job and her apartment in one day. Emily is desperate. Emily is perfect. For a summer job offered to her by a successful and charismatic CEO on his remote French estate. Emily soon finds out that this family is hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn’t play along, the consequences could be deadly
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✨REVIEW: Advertised as the perfect summer suspense, I found this book to be hot and cold. Sometimes I was SO into the story, and other times I was not into it at all. I found myself putting the book down more than I usually do, especially with suspense books.
Right on cue with a good suspense book though, I felt that this gave me a very uncomfortable feeling most of the time. You know there is something up with Anna and Aurelia, but I truly felt confused at some points.
Eventually I started to figure it all out, and it was nice to begin to fill in the pieces.
Near the end it felt less like a mystery, or at least it did for me since I figured it out, but everything gets wrapped up for you in those last few chapters. Overall it was a good read, I just wished there was more of a bang to it all.
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✨No phones. No outsiders. No escape. ✨Thank you Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was an Advanced Readers’ Copy and books will be on sale 7/14/20 - grab your copy then and let me know what you think!!
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⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 (3 1/2, so rounded up on goodreads to 4)
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✨SYNOPSIS: Emily is a mess. She lost her acting agent, her job and her apartment in one day. Emily is desperate. Emily is perfect. For a summer job offered to her by a successful and charismatic CEO on his remote French estate. Emily soon finds out that this family is hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn’t play along, the consequences could be deadly
.
.
✨REVIEW: Advertised as the perfect summer suspense, I found this book to be hot and cold. Sometimes I was SO into the story, and other times I was not into it at all. I found myself putting the book down more than I usually do, especially with suspense books.
Right on cue with a good suspense book though, I felt that this gave me a very uncomfortable feeling most of the time. You know there is something up with Anna and Aurelia, but I truly felt confused at some points.
Eventually I started to figure it all out, and it was nice to begin to fill in the pieces.
Near the end it felt less like a mystery, or at least it did for me since I figured it out, but everything gets wrapped up for you in those last few chapters. Overall it was a good read, I just wished there was more of a bang to it all.
.
.
✨No phones. No outsiders. No escape. ✨Thank you Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was an Advanced Readers’ Copy and books will be on sale 7/14/20 - grab your copy then and let me know what you think!!
I appreciate the ARC and I look forward to reading more by the author! I needed more at the end but the story was good. This took me longer to read than I expected but I think that was due to homeschooling and work. When I committed to sitting down to read, it read fast. It did creep me out at times!
I enjoyed slowly collecting the pieces of this puzzle. Downes deftly sprinkled uncertainty and red flags through the pages of this fun thriller. The beautiful and crumbling villa was the perfect unsettling setting. The way the book bounced between Emily and Scott’s perspective and the strange first person accounts of Nina’s descent into craziness made me feel like I was both a step ahead of the protagonist and unraveling the truth alongside her. The ending felt a bit predictable but was nevertheless satisfying!
Thank you to Minotaur Books for the copy of The Safe Place. This book was a fun read and also a very easy one to read as well. It was fun learning about the characters. The story had just enough mystery to make it a good story and at keeping my interest. The main Character Emily was very well written too! 3.5 stars :)
A solid three-star book for me, I enjoyed the story and it was certainly creepy and thrilling in parts but there were definitely areas that could have been stronger. The main issue I had was with the main character Emily - an unlikeable flaky person who is neither smart nor particularly nice. She has no friends and a fractured relationship with her adopted parents. This latter situation evokes no sympathy as it is clearly Emily who is mostly to blame, something she does come to understand eventually.
As we are whisked away to a beautiful luxury estate in France, it is not only the main character who can’t believe her luck. Scott, her sexy and rich boss, plucks her from obscurity on the vaguest of gut feelings she’d be “good” for a role he has chosen her for. Scott is clearly supposed to be up to something suspicious, but we the reader really can’t dislike the poor man, who is under a lot of stress to the point that he viciously self-harms. His wife Nina is a beautiful, weird enigma, and I confess she gave me the willies from the start.
I must admit that I did not predict the twist, thinking instead that we were uncovering a case of what is now a well-worn plot device; Munchausen-by-proxy. Emily herself eventually wonders if this latter horror is the case but it takes a long time for the story to build even to the point where she begins to feel something is wrong. I would have liked the tension and sense of wrongness to be escalated earlier, though there are small clues early on. Once Emily does figure out what’s happening at the estate and the secret that revolves around Scott, Nina and their child Aurelia- albeit accidentally - her actions make little sense and I must confess I was almost yelling at the page at some points. I heartily disliked the ending, the whole terrible crime being exposed off the page which felt like a betrayal when the reader has been rooting for justice for the whole third act. The implied release of one particular character from accountability is an additional let-down for the reader. Lastly, I had issues with the title, which did not seem to be mentioned in the book (that I can recall) nor suit the story, so didn’t make a lot of sense to me.
As we are whisked away to a beautiful luxury estate in France, it is not only the main character who can’t believe her luck. Scott, her sexy and rich boss, plucks her from obscurity on the vaguest of gut feelings she’d be “good” for a role he has chosen her for. Scott is clearly supposed to be up to something suspicious, but we the reader really can’t dislike the poor man, who is under a lot of stress to the point that he viciously self-harms. His wife Nina is a beautiful, weird enigma, and I confess she gave me the willies from the start.
I must admit that I did not predict the twist, thinking instead that we were uncovering a case of what is now a well-worn plot device; Munchausen-by-proxy. Emily herself eventually wonders if this latter horror is the case but it takes a long time for the story to build even to the point where she begins to feel something is wrong. I would have liked the tension and sense of wrongness to be escalated earlier, though there are small clues early on. Once Emily does figure out what’s happening at the estate and the secret that revolves around Scott, Nina and their child Aurelia- albeit accidentally - her actions make little sense and I must confess I was almost yelling at the page at some points. I heartily disliked the ending, the whole terrible crime being exposed off the page which felt like a betrayal when the reader has been rooting for justice for the whole third act. The implied release of one particular character from accountability is an additional let-down for the reader. Lastly, I had issues with the title, which did not seem to be mentioned in the book (that I can recall) nor suit the story, so didn’t make a lot of sense to me.
Entertaining enough to keep me reading, but slightly predictable and at times boring.
The premise was super interesting but sadly the overall mystery didn’t live up to the intrigue and thrill promised in the synopsis. This might be more enjoyable to people new to the thriller genre, but to seasoned suspense readers, it doesn't offer much.
Nonetheless, the writing was solid and look at that cover, absolutely gorgeous!
** A free finished copy was provided by Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own **
The premise was super interesting but sadly the overall mystery didn’t live up to the intrigue and thrill promised in the synopsis. This might be more enjoyable to people new to the thriller genre, but to seasoned suspense readers, it doesn't offer much.
Nonetheless, the writing was solid and look at that cover, absolutely gorgeous!
** A free finished copy was provided by Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own **
Whoa, what a ride! I knew something was wrong but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on! Emily is down on her luck and takes a position on a two-house resort in France. She doesn't really know what it is she is supposed to do, but she goes anyway. Things seem off but it's all taken in stride. Things get weirder as the story goes on. This story was masterfully told and I couldn't wait to finish and to get things sorted out. Wonderful entertaining story!
Thank you, Minotaur books, for the ARC. This was so much fun!
Thank you, Minotaur books, for the ARC. This was so much fun!
This book had me guessing right from the beginning. I didnt guess right. What a surprise that was!
This was a fun, twisty summer thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed DESPITE calling the major twist in the near beginning. I am sorry, I had to,
Emily is kind of a hot mess. She wants to be an actress but she struggles with staying organized and making it to her day job on time. In one terrible day she loses just about everything she can claim as her own; her agent, her job, and her apartment. Luckily, Scott Denny, the CEO of the company that she just lost her temp job at has taken notice of her and thinks she would be perfect for a new job. This job is a little bit more "under the table" as Emily will be moving to his family's private estate tucked away in France and helping his wife Nina with their daughter, Aurelia, and renovations to the French estate.
Upon arrival to this lush and gorgeous estate Emily can sense that something isn't quite right. So much so that she almost abandons the job to head home. But then Emily and Nina begin to develop a friendship while something else has already started to brew under the surface between Emily and Scott. Aurelia has some medical issues and stranger danger but Emily isn't too worried about winning her over eventually.
Pretty soon this scene for the perfect reset button to her life begins to feel more like a fortress that she can't really escape.
Emily is kind of a hot mess. She wants to be an actress but she struggles with staying organized and making it to her day job on time. In one terrible day she loses just about everything she can claim as her own; her agent, her job, and her apartment. Luckily, Scott Denny, the CEO of the company that she just lost her temp job at has taken notice of her and thinks she would be perfect for a new job. This job is a little bit more "under the table" as Emily will be moving to his family's private estate tucked away in France and helping his wife Nina with their daughter, Aurelia, and renovations to the French estate.
Upon arrival to this lush and gorgeous estate Emily can sense that something isn't quite right. So much so that she almost abandons the job to head home. But then Emily and Nina begin to develop a friendship while something else has already started to brew under the surface between Emily and Scott. Aurelia has some medical issues and stranger danger but Emily isn't too worried about winning her over eventually.
Pretty soon this scene for the perfect reset button to her life begins to feel more like a fortress that she can't really escape.