So glad I requested this! I was thrilled when I got the approval! The whole setting was fabulous and I felt like I was the main character. She was a bit frustrating at times but the twist was so so good. Highly recommend to thriller lovers

I give The Safe Place ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars. Emily is somewhat of a clumsy, young, twenty-something aspiring actress with dead end temp job. She's struggling to make ends meet and soon finds out that she's been fired, has no money to pay the rent, and cannot go to her parents for more money. Scott, the head of the company that Emily worked for, sees something in Emily, something that inspires him to hire her for another position, a position that is somewhat of an experiment that involves his wife, Nina, in the cove of paradise. I found this book to be an intriguing read, and had a hard time putting it down. There were elements of creepiness at times, especially with Scott's behavior. I think, for a debut novel, this was an excellent read. I enjoyed it very much and recommend it to any thriller, family drama, suspense reader.

This was a great book and a surprise to me as I didn’t realize that it would have the suspense and excitement that it had towards the end. I enjoyed the manner in which the author wrote this book, straying from the standard format. There were some interesting characters with Emily being the main character who was a bit messed up both financially and emotionally. She could be any young adult that thinks they know what their life will be but are rudely awakened to reality. The book moved along smoothly and it had enough little mysteries thrown in to make me want to keep reading. I stayed up until 2:00 to finish it. The author did a great job at providing descriptive details allowing me to picture the beautiful house and yard without going overboard like some authors do. I would like to read my books by this author. An all round great book. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for providing me with this ARC to read.

Wow! What a roller coaster ride. This book kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. Great read!

This book was a great debut novel by Anna Downes. It follows Emily, a down on her luck actress who just got fired from yet another temp job she was trying to hold while searching for her big break. She gets back to work late and gets fired. But when her boss runs into her on the street, he has an option that may end up making her dreams...or nightmares...come true.

I liked this book a lot, but I read a lot of thrillers, so it took me a hair too long to get really invested in this story. To me it felt like almost all the action was crammed into the last third of the book. Which is fine, but I would have liked for it to get interesting a little sooner. However the ending was pretty good, so it gets 4 stars from me. I'll definitely be reading more by this author!

I don’t know how to rate this book. To me, the first half of so is extremely slow. It did a great job building the back story, but it is too much back story. The second half of the book is amazing - a fast paced, edge of your seat thriller. I like the author’s writing style, and the plot of the book is great, I just wish the first part was a bit better.

I started off not liking this one much. I have recently read several books with similar type plotlines and this one didn't seem that different. Immature, ditsy girl is offered ridiculously too good to be true job at an amazing location with NO means of communicating with the outside world. What could possibly go wrong? I found Emily whiny and annoying at first, but then I got totally caught up in the story and she grew on me! This is a fun book that will help you escape from the mundane day to day of quarantine life! The plot is very fast paced and does turn out to be a little different from the usual of this genre. I ended up really liking it and look forward to more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley, Anna Downes and St. Martin's Press for this ARC!

Emily Proudman wants to be an actress but has failed pretty miserably so far. She has a temp job at a financial company that she has just lost her job with and she is about to loose her apartment. The owner of the company she just got fired from sees something in Emily that he could use and after doing some research into her life he decides to give her an offer she simply cannot refuse. He offers her a position as a nanny to his daughter an assistant to his estranged wife at there luxurious property in France. With no other options Emily decides she has nothing to loose and take the position.
When Emily arrives at the estate, everything seems too good to be true, the pay, the work, but she ends up loving it. She even becomes close friends with the wife. But soon things seem to be hiding secrets that Emily cannot figure out and leaving is no longer an option.
This was a great thrilling book. Very suspenseful and engaging. Definitely hard to put down even though this is normally not my preferred genre but the synopsis really pulled me in. This would make a great read for the summer for fans of Gillian Flynn.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this great book.

The Safe Place is a fast paced and cleverly plotted thriller! I really enjoyed the twists and turns and was surprised plenty of times. Would love to read more by this author in the future!

Well this was a plot I wasn't expecting! The offer of a very well paid live in job in France seemed to good to be true - and you know how the saying goes........ The flow of this book is seamless and the character's all totally believable. Wonderfully written, the story definitely held my full attention and will stay with me for a long time to come.

This one is a brilliant slow burn, sure to make you forget all about your quarantined current life! Creepy, edgy, and unpredictable. You’ll be turning the pages faster than you thought possible, and might devour in one sitting!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for my honest review.
I was excited to get The Safe Place by Anna Downes because the premise seemed right up my alley. I was thinking of a spooky ghost story, haunted house, or something along those lines. I was wrong.
The Safe Place is written in alternating POV. We have Emily, the MC, whose life is a huge mess. She wants to be an actress but is not any good at it. She doesn’t have any friends or people close to her. She can’t stand her adoptive parents and sees them, and the small town where she was raised, as the enemy. Emily is naïve and gullible. She has no self-confidence and no plans for the future. She’s always running late, and she’s a terrible receptionist.
Then we meet the other POV, her ex-boss, Scott. Scott has a dark past, an anger problem, a drinking problem, and a lot of money. His wife and child live in France, and he never sees them. Let me rephrase that he rarely sees them. It is clear from the start that something is off about Scott, he has a lot of secrets, but when he catches Emily entertaining a child in his reception area after she’s already been fired, Scott comes up with a plan.
Scott offers to change Emily’s life. There’s her first, of many, clues that something is wrong. Of course, Emily, who’s a bit smitten with her wealthy, successful, handsome boss, agrees to the chance at a new life even though it comes with a contract that she won’t tell anyone anything about where she is or what she’s doing.
Emily is flown to France and then driven, by a man named Yves, to a large estate in an incredibly secluded area along the ocean. Yves is a man who is mentioned throughout the story, but we never actually meet him or get to know him. There Emily meets Nina, Scott’s wife, and their daughter Aurelia. From the start, we learn that Aurelia is very ill, and Nina is incredibly protective.
Did you catch all those warnings?
Everything is just fine for a while. And then something happens, but Emily justifies it. Then something else happens, and she explains it again. And this continues until finally, Emily figures it all out.
In the end, I was disappointed in the story. I had a tough time with Emily as our MC. I never connected with her. BUT I was happy to see her grow some at the end. I do wish we had learned more about her past. I found some of Nina’s actions confusing, and I didn’t understand how Emily could justify them. I also don’t know how Scott allowed their situation to get so out of control and ridiculous. We never the answers we need. Sure, in the end, you know the “plot twist,” but there are much more interesting questions in this story, I wish those were pursued.
I believe there are plenty of readers who will enjoy this one. I will recommend it to anyone who is a fan of domestic thrillers, with the side note that it’s more suspenseful than thrilling.

Emily, a struggling actress, working as a temp finds herself at rock bottom after losing her agent, job, and her apartment. With no income and no place to stay she finds herself uncertain of her next move...until her former boss CEO Scott Denny offers her an all-inclusive dream job. Emily packs her belongings and heads to Scott's second home, an isolated French estate. She is told she will assist Scott's wife Nina with whatever tasks she requires and help care for their daughter Aurelia. Emily quickly discovers the job is not quite what she expected but she is desperate to turn her life around. What she doesn't know is Scott and Nina are harboring a dark secret and if Emily doesn't work out this might just be her final performance.

The Safe Place is a domestic thriller in which a woman's dream job becomes a nightmare. Emily's life is in shambles when she is offered what appears to be the perfect job. What Emily doesn't know is that her boss, Scott, has a plan and has specifically chosen Emily for this role. As the novel progresses we get to see events play out from both Emily and Scott's perspectives. For me, this novel took a while to build up to and reveal Scott's "ulterior motive". Literally every character appears to be mentally unstable in some way which made it difficult to figure out where the story was headed. Overall this was a quick and easy read perfect for curling up with on a lazy weekend.

This book made me feel so creeped out. The whole time, I knew something was not quite right, but couldn’t put it together. I loved how the author made me question what I had read and who was truthful. Really good thriller.

Thankyou Net galley for letting me read this brilliant arc, This book has a brilliant story line, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen right up until the last few chapters, great quarantine read considering Emily the main character has been given a once in a lifetime job living in a stunning place in France with no contact to the outside world, is it too good to be true? you’ll have to wait and see, I definitely didn’t imagine the story unfolding the way it did! It was utterly thrilling and mysterious, the suspense of what was happening was so good I couldn’t stop until I’d finished it, the closer you get to the end the the more thrilling it got!

Despite being a little skeptical when I started this book, it soon grew on me and I couldn't wait to finish it to see what happens. The story starts off when Emily gets fired from her current temp job - she's done on her luck, acting career going nowhere, bad relationship with adoptive parents, when out of the blue her former boss - the one who fired her - offers her a job at his house in the French countryside to help his wife and daughter. Emily knows something is up because it's too good to be true - and it certainly is. But Emily doesn't give too much thought to that before she takes the job and off she goes. A bit unbelievable, but a fun quick suspenseful read.

Emily is a starving actress trying to get her big break. In the mean time she is a temp in a large company owned by Scott Denny. Scott sees that Emily can't keep up with the work, is often late and doesn't have any real friends. She is perfect for the position of maid/babysitter/house minder with his wife and daughter at their secluded home in France, Emily is in awe of the home and her new position. Scott's wife is a bit strange and the daughter has some issues but before long they settle into a comfortable existence. It take a few months but eventually Emily starts to feel like something isn't right. There are secrets that everyone is trying to keep from her but why? and what are they hiding?

The story line is imaginative and fast moving. The characters have a weird relationship that is interesting as it plays out. The mystery is good and creative. Overall, the book was okay. I definitely couldn't put it down and have thought about it several times since i finished. I would recommend if you like mysteries and an entertaining read.

I received an ARC of this compelling story. A riveting tale of a young woman trying to find a new start but making an unexpected choice. I was swept along on her journey, excited and then terrified for her. Couldn't out it down! Highly recommend!

Crazy thriller! Such a great idea, different kind of concept. Really enjoyed and kept pages turning. Something exciting and brain challenging to keep me busy. Liked the setting and want to read more by this author in the future.

Tense chilling a book that kept me reading late into the night.Characters that come alive twists and turns that kept me guessing.Terrific psychological thrillers an author who I will be recommending, #netgalley#The safe place