Overall, an enjoyable read. I think the first half was stronger and more riveting. The second half loses some steam. And I also saw the twist coming.

Still good. Still readable.

I'm having a hard time rating this one. Although very similar in writing to the PLL series (which I adored many, many years ago), it also wasn't the same.... it was good, but also predictable. I flew threw it, having a hard time putting it down, but I also can barely remember what even happened. I'm giving this a solid 3 stars because there were parts that I really, really liked and parts that I didn't care for. Overall, I'd say this was a good domestic drama and fans of the genre will enjoy this one as well. Thanks to NetGalley for an opportunity to read/review this!

This was such a fast read! I loved everything about it from start to finish. Part Big Little skies with that characteristic Pretty Little Liars feel. It was unputdownable. Great fun!

Andrea, Ronnie and Lauren have their children enrolled in the Silver Swans preschool in affluent Raisin Beach,Southern California. At first glance it is apparent they do not belong in this crowd of bragging elite mothers. Someone also thinks they do not belong. In each of their children’s backpack a note has been placed indicating they know the secrets that Andrea, Ronnie and Lauren are hiding.
When the director of the school is attacked for reasons unknown, the three mothers are the first suspects.
A slow start with a lot of background explaining the past of each of the mothers and the secrets they are trying so hard to keep hidden. As the three mothers bond, multiple secrets are disclosed, fingers are pointed and missing money is exposed to converge in a twisted ending.
Thank you Netgalley and Dutton, Penguin House Publishing for an advanced copy of this book. This was an okay book for me and I am sure there are many fans of Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars) that will love this book. Just not a winner for me. The comments and review are my honest opinion.

I loved Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars series when they came out when I was in high school, and I’ve been excited to follow her work since then. I enjoyed Safe in My Arms and it does remind me of PLL in the kinds of twists and turns it includes. I think it relies a little heavily on some thriller tropes and it was a bit predictable, but still a fun read. Sometimes quick and kind of predictable is exactly what I’m looking for when I need to get out of a rut. I can’t speak firsthand, but I really appreciate the inclusion of a trans character and she seems to have been written with sensitivity and care—I would love to hear what trans readers think about her. Overall, I do think I enjoy Shepard’s YA work more, but I’d still certainly recommend Safe in My Arms.

My thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for an advance reader’s copy.

I think this book introduced too many characters right off the bat and therefore I had trouble remembering who was who the whole time. I think the story itself was also very close to Big Little Lies. Enjoyable but didn’t feel original.

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First off, I have been a huge fan of Sara Shepard since Pretty Little Liars. Many tropes in YA thrillers, such as an unknown, omniscient entity sending threatening notes to a group of friends, were popularized through Shepard's books, and it has spawned a whole generation of similar books. I've read every book she's written since, including her books for adults. Her novel The Elizas is one of my favorite thrillers, and I still think about the plot and its twist to this day Needless to say, I was so excited to get approved to review this book! Thank you again to the publisher for this opportunity!

Safe in My Arms by Sara Shepard is a gripping domestic thriller full of twists and turns. The story revolves around three moms at a prestigious preschool names Silver Swans. Andrea, Lauren, and Ronnie are new moms in the community who meet one night at a school function. They are outsiders, and each of them is hiding a deadly secret. Soon, they start getting threatening notes in their children's backpacks when they come home from school. Who wants them gone? Has someone discovered their secrets? Then, the principal of the school is nearly murdered. Did she know too much? And is the killer after them, too?

Here is a chilling excerpt from the Prologue:

"You lie on the hard, cold floor. You can’t scream. Your head throbs in pain, and you think you might be bleeding. You can hear kids laughing not so far away, on the playground. You want to call out to them, but there’s something wrong with your voice. You can’t open your eyes. The pain is in your back, your jaw, your chest. Pain that doesn’t made sense. This might be the end. It might be coming soon.
Why had you done it—any of it? Why hadn’t you been happy to leave well enough alone? If only you could go back to the beginning. If only you could start over, change things, change yourself. This is what you think about as you lie there, helpless: your regrets.
But also that maybe, just maybe, you deserve this."

Overall, Safe in My Arms is an unputdownable domestic thriller that will appeal to fans of Ruth Ware and Big Little Lies. Just like Sara Shepard's other books, I could not put this book down. I had to keep reading to find out what happens next. If I had to complain about one thing, I would say the first part of this book, when we're introduced to the three main characters, is somewhat dry. That might have to do with me not being a mother and not having experienced sending my child to a new school. If you're a mother, you might find this part of the book very relatable. Once the action kicks off in the first third of this book, it became unputdownable. I ended up finishing this book in one sitting, and I even kept reading while I was eating because I had to find out what happens next.

One highlight of this book are the three main characters. There is LGBTQ representation, and even though I was introduced to three characters at once, I didn't have any trouble distinguishing them. Each felt like they had their own voice and perspective. Another highlight of this book is the reveal and the ending. If you're a fan of Sara Shepard like I am, then you know that she is the Queen of Twists. I wasn't expecting the true identity of the killer at all. I had been putting together clues the whole time I was reading the book, but I hadn't figured it out. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, I highly recommend checking out this book when it comes out in July!

Had a hard time getting into this one. Caught on super quick to the twist. Was still somewhat enjoyable just predictable.

This was a fun mystery beach read. The world of elite preschools, money, and dark secrets. Three moms are the main characters each with secrets they want to keep hidden. They are targeted because someone doesn't want them to be a part of the school.

I liked this one, it was a fun read. I loved the one of the main characters is a transgender women. Each women had their own secrets they didn't want getting out and they went about trying to figure out who didn't want them their. They were each relatable moms. I was able to figure out who was behind it pretty easily. There was a few twists at the end that were great that I didn't see coming!

Thank you to Dutton Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and give an honest review!

Domestic drama in a prep school from the Pretty Little Liars writer.

This was .... exactly what I expected. Drama, too many details, backstories on characters that really aren't as scandalous as they should be. I expect this to be a Freeform drama in a matter of time....

Thanks to netGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

I have to admit I’m not the biggest Sara Shepard fan. I’ve read a couple of her books and thought they were ok but was never really impressed. I really liked the Pretty Little Liars TV show though so I just keep trying her books. I’ve finally found one that I truly like!

Safe In My Arms is about 3 mothers who meet because their kids attend a fancy schmancy preschool. Each woman has something to hide and each one finds something disturbing in her child’s backpack after their first day at school. As the women become friends they also have to figure out who knows their secrets.

This book feels like an adult version of Pretty Little Liars. There is a lot of tense moments and big reveals. I have to admit that I predicted a few of the twists but I enjoyed them none the less. This was definitely my favourite Sara Shepard book by far!

This book was good but not great. It had an intriguing premise, interesting characters, and good twists, but it ultimately felt a little predictable and slow.

I didn’t read Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liar series, but I did watch much of it on TV with my daughter years ago. I liked this story. It was a slower build than I would have preferred. There were a very diverse cast of characters, the whole idea of all the secrets going on at a preschool was a different setting than I’d read before. It was pretty suspenseful and could have been even more of a thriller for my taste because the whole idea had lots of possibility if the book had been a bit longer to develop that. I rarely say a book should be longer. .
Overall it’s worth reading. I received an advanced copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I haven't read Sara Shepard since reading the first four PLL in high-school before she was a house hold name and I absolutely loved her writing style - it kept me captivated. When I saw this adult crime suspense I knew I needed to read it.

I love the nursery school setting but I had a hard time getting into the story. I loved how diverse and interesting the characters were but I just wasn't that enticed by it all together.

Sara Shepard is a great author and writer, but this one just wasn't for me.

I’ve been a fan of Sara Shepard since reading the Pretty Little Liars series so was very excited to read a book from her directed at adults.

Despite not being a mother myself, I found the premise really interesting and loved the setting of an expensive nursery school. It is told from the POV of three new mothers at the school, all with big secrets; Lauren, who is suffering from postpartum rage, Ronnie, who has a dark past, and Andrea, who is trans and keeping it from her family. When they all receive suspicious notes in their kid’s backpacks they immediately come together to try to work out who it could be. When Piper, the principal, gets seriously injured while they are secretly in her office they must once again band together to find the culprit before the blame is out on them.

I instantly loved the main characters and their secrets. It made them really interesting. I immediately wanted to know more about them. I was suspicious of all of the other characters equally which made it a lot more twisty than I thought it would be. This reminded me a lot of Pretty Little Liars and why I loved that book series.

Altogether a very enjoyable, quick read.

Safe In My Arms. I wondered where this book was going for the first few chapters. I thought it took a long time to actually get to the point of the book but it still wasn’t a bad read. The characters are likeable, it just took me awhile to really get into it. Once I did get to what I thought was the main point of the book, I thought it would be much more extreme than it turned out to be, just because of how long it took to get there. I would like to read other books by this author though to see if maybe it was just this story I struggled with. There were some typos throughout the book but nothing to distract too much.

Safe in My Arms is a domestic suspense story about how far a mother will go to protect her child.

Another 5 star page turner by Sara Shepard! I highly recommend this book.

Disappointing! Started off really slow. Very predictable. But the author did get the gender, trans, etc in there so I guess that's what people are focused on in today's world....sigh!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 27, 2021
Sara Shepard, of “Pretty Little Liars” fame, takes us to an elite prep school in “Safe in My Arms”, where every parent has a secret, and one of them will kill to protect it.
Andrea, Ronnie and Lauren all have children enrolled in the elite Silver Swans preschool, run by the sophisticated and seemingly perfect Piper. The three women are just lucky that their children will benefit from the prestigious education, and they form a quick friendship, bonding over the struggles of parenting. When Piper is attacked in her office, the entire Silver Swans community is torn apart, pointing fingers and placing blame at other parents. Andrea, Ronnie and Lauren instantly become the main focus but who is telling the truth?
Initially, I thought this book was going to be one of those daytime soap opera novels about rich, elite parents who try and tear each down in order to have their infant accepted into a private preschool they won’t remember or benefit from. I am so glad it didn’t turn out like that. Andrea, Ronnie and Lauren were likable and honest, and when their friendship was genuine. I loved all of them, and was really grateful to see that they did not have the self-aggrandizing, competition-fueled female friendships that are so commonly portrayed in these types of novels.
As the novel proceeds, it is quickly uncovered that each and every character has a deep secret, making any of them potential suspects. The twists and turns in this novel kept me guessing at every page, and the ending completely surpassed any of my expectations. When the truth was revealed, not only was it plausible but it was surprising and unexpected, which is unusual for a book of this type.
Shepard has a sure-fire knack for depicting the tight bonds of female friendships, and when she uses such diverse and honest characters as she did in “Safe in My Arms”, it makes the plot that much more enjoyable. “Safe in My Arms” is an enjoyable, sucker-punch of a read that will resonate not only with mothers, but with any female reader.

I received a copy of Safe in my Arms by Sara Shepard through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Safe in my Arms is an adult thriller revolving around a prestigious preschool. When the principal of the school is attacked and secrets are tossed around, it’s hard to know who to trust and who is out to get you.

Safe in my Arms reminds me very much of Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars series, except with adults. I really did enjoy this book, the beginning was a bit slow, but once the pace picked up I couldn’t seem to put it down. The characters were interesting and I liked hearing about their lives and secrets. My only complaint about the book is how it indirectly brings up the pandemic and quarantine. I understand that the author wants the story to touch base with the current world, but when I’m reading I really want to escape the reality of the last year, not read more about it. Aside from that, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it.