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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
Summary: Emily Proudman’s life is a mess. She wants to be an actress, but struggles to get jobs. She’s klutzy. Her roommate is a slob. She fights with her adoptive parents. She suddenly gets fired from her temp job as a receptionist and gets an eviction notice from her landlord. As if all that weren’t bad enough, her agent informs her that she’s moving and Emily will no longer have any contacts for acting jobs.
While wandering in a daze trying to figure out what she’s going to do with her horrible life, she doesn’t see the bus that almost hits her. In shock, she realizes that the man who pushed her out of danger is the CEO of her former place of employment, Scott Denny.
Scott Denny is handsome, rich and very successful. When he offers her an unusual lifeline, Emily jumps at the chance. The job details are rather vague, something about assisting Scott’s wife and small daughter, but the job includes a salary, car and relocation to a villa in France. It sounds ideal. Daydreaming about Scott is also a perk for Emily.
Little does Emily know that Scott is trying to find a solution to a huge problem of his own. As she spends time with Scott’s family and works doing odd jobs at the estate, she realizes that there is something very peculiar going on. When she figures out the mystery, she tries to run for her life.
Comments: I figured out the mystery long before clueless Emily did, but I found The Safe Place to be captivating anyway. There was just the right amount of weirdness without resorting to too many cheap plot twists. The characters were overdrawn and overly anguished, but had quirks that made them interesting. Overall, this was a fun read and I found I didn’t want to put the book down.
Recommended for readers of Psychological Suspense. This would also make a great beach or travel book!
While wandering in a daze trying to figure out what she’s going to do with her horrible life, she doesn’t see the bus that almost hits her. In shock, she realizes that the man who pushed her out of danger is the CEO of her former place of employment, Scott Denny.
Scott Denny is handsome, rich and very successful. When he offers her an unusual lifeline, Emily jumps at the chance. The job details are rather vague, something about assisting Scott’s wife and small daughter, but the job includes a salary, car and relocation to a villa in France. It sounds ideal. Daydreaming about Scott is also a perk for Emily.
Little does Emily know that Scott is trying to find a solution to a huge problem of his own. As she spends time with Scott’s family and works doing odd jobs at the estate, she realizes that there is something very peculiar going on. When she figures out the mystery, she tries to run for her life.
Comments: I figured out the mystery long before clueless Emily did, but I found The Safe Place to be captivating anyway. There was just the right amount of weirdness without resorting to too many cheap plot twists. The characters were overdrawn and overly anguished, but had quirks that made them interesting. Overall, this was a fun read and I found I didn’t want to put the book down.
Recommended for readers of Psychological Suspense. This would also make a great beach or travel book!
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
3.5/5 stars
Emily was a struggle actress. She finally hit her rock bottom when her agent dropped her at the same moment she realized she was likely going to be evicted from her apartment. On top of that, she just got fired with no new job prospects lined up. Her old boss takes notice of her and offers her an odd but idyllic job as his housekeeper for his French estate. Emily moves quickly and soon realizes that perhaps she should have asked for a few more details before agreeing. As shocking secrets come to life, Emily finds herself running from deadly consequences and wishing she had her old life back.
Based on the book description, I was hoping for more of a page turner. The book started strong, but when Emily finally arrived at the French estate things slowed down a bit. There was still a lot of mystery, but it didn't have my heart racing. The twist was a bit predictable, but did not ruin the rest of the story. The chapters switched perspectives so we could get glimpses of all the characters involved. At times, the chapter change would also include a small jump back so you could see events that happened simultaneously.
I found the book to lack character depth which resulted in a bit of a weak plot. I was hoping for more motivation and explanation instead of objectively reading a series of events that resulted in dark secrets. It took away from the mystery and at times, felt like character subplots and descriptions were only there to try and throw the reader off from predicting the ending.
Lastly, as an adopted person, I appreciated the passages that described the feeling of being other and unwanted. While more realistic than many other plots I've read, I was a bit confused how any of it fit into the story. It felt like an easy excuse as to why someone would have zero strong family or friend connections.
This was a mystery/thriller with a solid plot but really needed more depth to enthrall me. Overall, it was a quick read and audiences who want a mystery without much scare will enjoy this.
3.5/5 stars
Emily was a struggle actress. She finally hit her rock bottom when her agent dropped her at the same moment she realized she was likely going to be evicted from her apartment. On top of that, she just got fired with no new job prospects lined up. Her old boss takes notice of her and offers her an odd but idyllic job as his housekeeper for his French estate. Emily moves quickly and soon realizes that perhaps she should have asked for a few more details before agreeing. As shocking secrets come to life, Emily finds herself running from deadly consequences and wishing she had her old life back.
Based on the book description, I was hoping for more of a page turner. The book started strong, but when Emily finally arrived at the French estate things slowed down a bit. There was still a lot of mystery, but it didn't have my heart racing. The twist was a bit predictable, but did not ruin the rest of the story. The chapters switched perspectives so we could get glimpses of all the characters involved. At times, the chapter change would also include a small jump back so you could see events that happened simultaneously.
I found the book to lack character depth which resulted in a bit of a weak plot. I was hoping for more motivation and explanation instead of objectively reading a series of events that resulted in dark secrets. It took away from the mystery and at times, felt like character subplots and descriptions were only there to try and throw the reader off from predicting the ending.
Lastly, as an adopted person, I appreciated the passages that described the feeling of being other and unwanted. While more realistic than many other plots I've read, I was a bit confused how any of it fit into the story. It felt like an easy excuse as to why someone would have zero strong family or friend connections.
This was a mystery/thriller with a solid plot but really needed more depth to enthrall me. Overall, it was a quick read and audiences who want a mystery without much scare will enjoy this.
The Safe Place was a pretty quick and enjoyable read.
The synopsis pulled me in because who doesn’t want to disappear to Europe for a little bit?
The story had enough mystery to keep me interested and wanting to know more.
I did have a hard time trying to rate it because while it was a fast paced book, I was left wanting more.
I’m honestly surprised this is a debut! It was so well written. I’ve been on a break from thrillers because I’ve been reading some that are over the top and too predictable. This was the perfect book to bring me back to the dark side!
Thank you to @minotaur_books for the ARC of this book!
The synopsis pulled me in because who doesn’t want to disappear to Europe for a little bit?
The story had enough mystery to keep me interested and wanting to know more.
I did have a hard time trying to rate it because while it was a fast paced book, I was left wanting more.
I’m honestly surprised this is a debut! It was so well written. I’ve been on a break from thrillers because I’ve been reading some that are over the top and too predictable. This was the perfect book to bring me back to the dark side!
Thank you to @minotaur_books for the ARC of this book!
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.
Rating: 3
I think this book was decent for a thriller. The premise was a bit interesting, but also familiar. I felt like a lot of the twists I had some idea of what they would be before they happened. This thriller does wrap up nicely and I enjoy how the character grew from the events of the story. If you need a summer read to read on the beach, I would totally recommend this.
I think this book was decent for a thriller. The premise was a bit interesting, but also familiar. I felt like a lot of the twists I had some idea of what they would be before they happened. This thriller does wrap up nicely and I enjoy how the character grew from the events of the story. If you need a summer read to read on the beach, I would totally recommend this.
I thoroughly enjoyed this ARC of The Safe Place! The feeling of dread kept building and building and when I got to the last few chapters I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough! This comes out in July and is the perfect beach read! Thank you to Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read it!
The first 100 pages were very slow and drawn out.
Took that long to hire Emily to go and work in the villa
Took that long to hire Emily to go and work in the villa
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
At first (I would say probably just the first few chapters) I was quite confused as to who was who and what was happening as the book is told from the perspective of Scott, Emily and occasionally Nina - but this became much clearer after a few chapters!
The concept of this book was fab, it was well-written and wrote in a way that made me want to keep reading and not put it down. I loved the concept of a Emily working for a family and creepy things happening when she is in this strange place! Throughout it was fast-paced and after around half way through it started to get really tense and kept me on the edge of my seat!! There were multiple ways the book could have panned out and I did find that the overall concept of the book was relatively guessable but despite me finding that I could figure out what was happening, there were still many other possibilities so the plot wasn't ever given away completely. Despite me guessing what was happening I still found it to be an enjoyable read and very tense towards the end.
I would recommend this if you are looking for a fast-paced, tense, creepy thriller! I just love the secluded aspect of thrillers I think characters being in a secluded area works really well.
At first (I would say probably just the first few chapters) I was quite confused as to who was who and what was happening as the book is told from the perspective of Scott, Emily and occasionally Nina - but this became much clearer after a few chapters!
The concept of this book was fab, it was well-written and wrote in a way that made me want to keep reading and not put it down. I loved the concept of a Emily working for a family and creepy things happening when she is in this strange place! Throughout it was fast-paced and after around half way through it started to get really tense and kept me on the edge of my seat!! There were multiple ways the book could have panned out and I did find that the overall concept of the book was relatively guessable but despite me finding that I could figure out what was happening, there were still many other possibilities so the plot wasn't ever given away completely. Despite me guessing what was happening I still found it to be an enjoyable read and very tense towards the end.
I would recommend this if you are looking for a fast-paced, tense, creepy thriller! I just love the secluded aspect of thrillers I think characters being in a secluded area works really well.
