Heart breaking, is the only way to describe this tale of twisted melancholy. The beautiful estate of “Querencia”, is a pearl of an oasis, but the sweet rot of deception, mental illness and twisted love, makes this a sad but exceptional read. The direction this story takes, makes this interesting and sad. This is not a light, happy read, my heart hurt for those involved by the end. Bittersweet.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Minotaur Books for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, the cover is what drew me in and when I read the synopsis, I knew I had to give it a shot. I was not in any way disappointed :) Emily gets fired from another job, yet again. What she doesn't know is that her boss purposely HAD her fired so he could come in and save the day with an even better job offer. His wife (too bad, Emily) and daughter are staying in Paradise and his wife needs a personal assistant to help around the place and also to keep her company. Well, duh, who wouldn't want to jump at an offer like that? As she has no real connections and can't seem to keep a job, Scott thought this might be perfect for her...and maybe even for him. When she arrives and settles into her Guest House, only to be told that she should never enter the Main House, I was intrigued. What was going to happen and when? The entire book has little twists and turns throughout that make you wonder, okay where is this going? Is Nina a bad guy? Is the daughter going to end up a bad guy? And what IS that smell? It's only towards the end that you find out what the backstory is and what is really going on. Now will Emily be able to get herself out of this predicament? When suddenly she is locked in to Paradise, the odds point to no. I was literally hooked all the way to the last page...but that last page? Maybe it could have gone a little longer. I would have liked to see about ten pages more that would answer any underlying questions. But all in all, I really enjoyed the book. I even learned a little French along the way.

This was a great thriller debut from Anna Downes! This is a perfect thriller to curl up with! Huge Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for this opportunity!

This book was suspenseful and interesting.
Kind of predictable.
Sometimes overly vague.
The cover art is deceiving with its tropical “paradise” vibe.
I felt frustrated by Emily’s ignorance... but I related to her desperate state. A need for financial security and to escape a life you’ve totally screwed up can make someone do pretty dumb stuff. I didn’t understand her hatred for her parents, though, and I couldn’t feel sorry for her since the issues mostly stemmed from her own poor actions. And I didn’t feel like her relationship with Scott was developed enough to justify her obsession.
I liked the progression with her and Nina, though, and I liked the descriptions of the french estate.
I felt satisfied with the ending.
I’d recommend this book to fans of suspense & thriller, mysteries surrounding children, and people who thrive on travel & adventure.

The Safe Place is a perfect beach read! Flawed, believable characters draws one in from the first page. Hauntingly atmospheric, this thriller grips the reader and unfolds like a film noir. I loved it!

“The Safe Place” by Anna Downes
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I was given this ARC by @netgalley for a honest review!
What would you do if you were broke, unemployed, and feeling lost? Would you accept an unconventional job to get a fresh start?
This is a debut novel by Anna Downes. I found this very well written and enjoyable. The characters are relatable as mental illness is real. Everyone probably knows someone that suffers from it, but everyone deals with it differently.
“Emily lost her job, apartment, and acting agent in one day.” She calls her mum for the hundredth time asking for money to get her by until the next job comes around. If she can’t be an actress she doesn’t know what she wants to do. When her mum says no she starts feeling desperate.
Scott Denny is the CEO of a successful business and is looking for the perfect person to work for his family. His estranged wife and daughter live hours away in France while he works in London. His desire to go “home” and see them becomes less and less. His wife is lonely, but unwell and needs help around the property.
Emily is the perfect person for his family. When she accepts the unconventional job offer he calls Nina (wife) and tells her he’s sending someone.
Emily arrives at Querencia and is estonished at how beautiful it is. An Oceanside property with two homes and farmland. She can’t shake the feeling something odd is happening here. It is so remote there are no phones, no internet, and no outsiders. There is Nina and her six year old daughter Aurelia plus a groundskeeper Yves.
Emily falls into a routine and is loving the simple life. She starts questioning things that are going on around the property. One minute Nina will be sweet and motherly and the next she will rage out. She thought she finally found the family of her dreams. When Emily starts to investigate the Denny family she is shocked at what she finds. If there is no escape from Querencia how will she survive?
Thrillers make you work for that heart stopping, throat gripping feeling.

This is *the* summer thriller for your beach bag! Man what a wild ride.. Downes has crafted a supremely suspenseful story full of believable but yet surprising twists and turns. I wasn't sure where the story would take me, but I had to stay up late to find out. The writing is superb - smart but accessible. The plot moves quickly but thoughtfully. The characters seem genuine and complex. This is a definite recommendation for fans of Ruth Ware - a similar creepy gothic sensibility.

When a blurb invokes Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell, it gets my attention. The Safe Place is billed as “atmospherically tense” with “morally complex family dynamics,” but it delivers something else.

A slow starter, The Safe Place begins with the decline of Emily Proudman, an adopted, down-on-her-luck young woman who has been let go from her job. She’s over-extended and begrudgingly about to turn to her adoptive parents for money when she gets an offer she can’t refuse from her dreamy ex-boss, Scott: a sort of mother’s helper job on a remote French estate that solves all of her immediate problems.

Emily falls into a natural step with Scott’s wife, Nina, and their daughter, Aurelia—until…

It’s hard to fully explain my complaints about this book without giving too much away, but there are painfully slow chapters where I had hoped what was being described would tie up to a shocking ending; there were tense scenes that, in the end, left me with more questions than answers about Aurelia’s “true condition,” Scott’s self-mutilation, and the Emily’s past prior to her adoption. I didn’t identify at all with Scott and Nina as parents, nor did I particularly understand Aurelia’s apparent hatred of Scott.

The author employs the usual tropes: a character’s basic needs overriding common sense, rich people and a Non-Disclosure Agreement, and a troubled, special needs child. It’s nothing I haven’t read before, other than that, in this case, it all falls flat.

The author sets up for a far more original ending than what’s delivered, and I can’t help feeling disappointed. While the writing, itself, is evocative and atmospheric, a great book is more than a collection of well-constructed sentences; it involves a cohesive, original plot. This one was just a bit too disjointed for me and felt like it needed a few more drafts.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing an ARC of The Safe Place.

Emily has landed in the best place ever. She is helping Nina take care of her daughter Aurelia. She's kind of a personal assistant. She does lots of different things. Mostly she's a companion. In France of all places. At a beautiful place. She was interviewed for the job by her ex-boss. She had been let go as a temporary receptionist for being late to work several times. She was being evicted from her apartment, she was overdrawn on her bank account and her parents weren't going to bail her out again. The job offer was a great opportunity at the perfect time.
This is a very suspenseful book. It is intense and keeps you reading faster and faster to see what happens next. At the same time you don't want to miss anything, and you don't want the story to end. Excellent read!!

This is one of those mysteries that I could just keep on reading. There is nothing that I did not like about this story - it flowed well, the characters came to life and the storyline was intriguing.
Emily is a want-to-be actress. She has even skipped work to go for some readings, but has never been chosen for any parts. One day she loses her job and when she gets home to her apartment, she finds that she has to leave her apartment also. Just when she thinks that her life cannot get any worse, her ex boss Scott offers her a position that sounds too good to be true - a housekeeper/companion for his wife Nina and their daughter in a beautiful house in France. Emily arrives and falls in love with her surroundings, but she senses that something is not quite right. Eventually she becomes friends with Nina and everything seems to be good except that she is never allowed to discuss her job to anyone. Then Emily discovers something that will turn her life upside down.
This book has a surprising ending and one that will not disappoint.
I thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What a great book! So twisty and unpredictable. It kept me entertained the whole time. I love books that keep me guessing. It made my imagination go nuts trying to figure out was happening! Thats the best kind of book!

In the world we live where everyone is so connected to their phones, computers, internet, etc, I was dying to see what would happen when that was all taken away from someone. This book definitely gave me that creepy vibe and had me guessing all the way until the end!

First, a thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC! It was one of those keep you on your toes, keep guessing but kept getting it wrong type of reads! I read this book in 2 days because it kept me on the edge of my seat. The dreamy cover is what caught my attention first and then the book description was all kinds of suspense and wonder. Emily has lost her job, her acting career is not working out, she finds her parents annoying, and she lives in a sh*thole apartment above a smelly restaurant. A too good to be true opportunity of a lifetime presents itself and she takes it! I won’t spoil the rest but if you love good writing and a suspenseful read, this is the book for you! Well done on your debut novel Anna Downes! You have a new fan for life!

Awesome read! One you just don’t want to put down! I miss the water so definitely a book to imagine while reading! Highly recommend

This book was hard to rate. I had such high expectations, and it fell a little short, but at the same time, I couldn't put it down. I kept expecting it to get better and it was just a little short of what I wanted it to be.

I finished this book awhile back. I’ve been struggling with how to write my review. I really couldn’t figure out if I liked it or not. Some parts I did like which I found added to that suspense factor but the rest of the scenes didn’t support them. There were some scenes that had me trying to figure out what they had to do with the story. They didn’t further the plot and I ended up confused. I did like Nina. She had many layers and I admit I wanted to know more about her. Emily fell flat for me. I think as a whole, I did like the book. It didn’t wow me or have me on the edge of my seat. I felt the wrap up was ok and the twist wasn’t enough to save it. I wanted to like it more than I did. I will read more of the author’s work because her writing is good. I give this 3 stars.

The Safe Place
Anna Downes
On Sale: 7/14/20

If you are looking for an easy poolside or beach read…here it is! The Safe Place is an escape to Paradise! Set in a remote house of the coast France this book was the perfect binge read!

I enjoyed the suspense and pacing of this book. I liked the flawed characters and my time spent just trying to figure out WTF was going on. The atmosphere was 1 part scenic and beautiful while still being weird and creepy enough to spook me occasionally.

I do want to say that I found the book predictable. I solved the twist early on but was still driven by my need to know why it happened the way it did. For most of the book I enjoyed the writing style, however the end felt a little wordy and strange.

Overall, I give this one 3.5 stars. I would pick up another book by this author.

Thank you @Minotaurbooks, St. Martins Press, and Netgalley for an advanced copy of the book for my honest review!

I did not see a lot of this book coming, which is always good. A nicely paced read, although some of the middle could have been cut.

Thanks to Netgalley for the read in exchange for an honest review.

This was ok.. I really wanted more, like a lot more. It kept me almost on the edge of my seat. It was entertaining enough for me to want to finish. It was was odd and predictable but not creepy enough. I don't get how her husband could have kept up with all of it. At the beginning i wanted that job. High paying and easy job.. What can go wrong....

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC

It took me forever to dive into this amazing novel and I apologize to the publisher who granted me access to the advance copy. HOWEVER, once I was properly hooked, a couple of chapters in, I just couldn’t put it down. THE SAFE PLACE is a stunning debut, full of mystery and heartbreak. You just have no clue what’s really going on and what’s happening next, although all the details point in a very certain direction to help you figure it all out. Very likable, well drawn characters, well executed story and well written.
Thanks again to the publisher and Netgalley.