I gotta say, Sara got me. I thought I had it all figured out. But somehow she always manages to shock me. With many twists and turns, changes in perspective, and added suspense. This was a solid read, that I recommend to anyone who likes schoolyard mysteries.

I really enjoyed this fun, twisty tale. I loved the originality, especially using wealthy moms of preschoolers, which is definitely unique. I found it to be very well written, fast paced, and captivating! It was unputdownable, completely full of lies and secrets, and kept the tension and suspense paced perfectly! Well written characters, which really helped me connect to them and their story and made it impossible not to finish! I highly, highly recommend this tangled web, which you will watch unravel throughout the pages in a twisty, chilling, thrilling, and shocking way!

Will buzz around platforms and use my low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

Lauren, Andrea and Ronnie have all enrolled their children in the Silver Swans preschool and daycare for the first time. After the first day they all receive messages in various ways that indicate somebody knows their secrets. The three wind up connecting, discovering the messages the others received and joining forces trying to figure out who might have written them.

Safe In My Arms is another fun read by Sara Shepard featuring characters who do crazy, outrageous things. The characters and the story were well crafted. This is a great read that will appeal to adults and older teens. This one will keep you wondering until the very end, I kept trying to guess what was going to happen, but I was always wrong. The pacing of the story was excellent and it had a healthy dose of twists and turns. I would compare this to Big Little Lies and Pretty Little Liars (which isn’t surprising since she wrote that series as well!) for adults. I highly recommend this book and I think it will be a great summer read. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book prior to publication in exchange for my thoughts.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Dutton.

This is a crackling thriller about three outcast mothers who all have secrets who enroll their kids in a snooty school. Then the principal is attacked and it turns out that someone knows the secrets!

I really enjoyed it, tropes and all.

This was a fun beach read, though it lacked too much mystery and leaned on familiar tropes in psychological thrillers (her memory is messed up!). I did find the trans character to be written with sensitivity and care-- though I would need to ask my trans friends if they found that to be the case from the inside. I'm just glad there is a trans woman in a major novel!

What a crazy ride of a tale! The privileged mothers at a private school are literally under attack by someone who knows their deepest and darkest secrets. I loved this book!

Fun and well paced mystery. The characters were well fleshed out, and made questionable decisions that made them feel more real! I kept on guessing what would happen next but I would always be wrong and the story would go in a completely different direction, which was enjoyable. Sara Shepard is a great writer and it shines in Safe In My Arms!

An adult thriller- mystery -suspense from the author of Pretty Little Liars! The blurb sounds intriguing! Three misfit women’s accomplice to fight against hostility coming from school circle.

Imagine about a ultra elite pre- school in California: all those manicured, wealthy, privileged community enlist their children to get better education even though the economic crisis damaged most of the families’ financial status ( they are volunteered to pay annual 20K for preschoolers! And those people insist they are sane people! )

But newcomer mothers don’t fit in the standards of this elite Silver Swan community. They truly make them feel like impostors acting like decent mothers lurking around the school yard. The school principal Piper already seems like displeased about their existence at their Welcom Breakfast meeting.

Those three women in the beginning of their 30s are coming from different backgrounds. Lauren is coding whizz. She already coded for two games but the economic crisis ruined her business plan. Now she’s stay at home mom, suffering from postpartum anger, estranging with her workaholic screenwriter husband, raising her baby mostly alone.

Andrea is my favorite character raising her 4 years old kid by herself. Her ultra rich father disowned her because she rejected to live in a man’s body when she truly feels like a woman and not accepted to live in a lie! But now she tries too hard to hide her true identity. She needs to protect herself and child from vultures who are so bloodthirsty to write smearing news about their family.

Ronnie has also dark past, running from a dangerous man, trying to protect her child, living with Lane who is also teacher at Silver Swan help for her fresh start. He already proposed her but Ronnie’s not only hiding her real name and her dark past about her family, she’s also hiding her real occupation. She’s a topless maid! She is not ashamed of her job! She does what she needs to do to give Esme proper future and she has trust issues, even though Lane seems like the right guy who can protect her.

Our both three narrators have dark secrets they wish to bury forever! But somebody already checked their closets to bring out those skeletons hid there! Somebody put letters to their children’s backpacks. Somebody doesn’t want them to be around their school community!

And then dear precious school principle gets attacked. Three women become suspects! The investigation about the attack brings out more dirty secrets and the lies they were told for a long time!

I have to say the first half of the book was more interesting. After the attack, the story gets wavered and loses its direction. The twist is a little foreseeable. I loved Andrea and Ronnie more but Lauren was dislikable from the beginning.

It was still mysterious, intriguing, easy one sit reading even though pace was slowed down at the second half and got a little repetitive! But the storyline and concept was interesting! I liked the transgender representation and back stories of misfits!

I’m rounding 3.5 stars to 4 juicy, gossipy, elite mothers stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group/ Dutton for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

One of the most interesting things about this book right now is that the author starts her story post-pandemic and makes some assumptions about what life is about. But this is not a major theme of the story though it comes up often. It's a good little mystery with interesting characters, but even fiction has to be grounded in some reality and the events and decisions the characters make don't really ring true to me. Still, if you need an escape from this pandemic, it's a fun read.

I love Sara Shepherd in this book is no exception. Inside an exclusive community a scandal that rocks the core of their very existence unfolds in this novel. I love the characters and I highly recommend this book.

Sara Shepard usually grabs my attention and holds it from beginning to end. This one was often slow, struggled to get on track and was predictable more than enjoyable. I was so disappointed as I liked the premise, characters and characters backstories

I thought the book was ok- the story was over-the-top, even for this genre. To have so many characters come together with so many significant things they were hiding- it just got to be too much! The beginning was slow, and then later on the way every characters secrets came out/story wrapped up was kind of lackluster and unsatisfying for me. I did appreciate the author had a trans character, and even though she definitely made some questionable decisions at times, she was not a villain. I thought that was respectfully done.

“Safe in My Arms” by Sara Shepard

Lauren, Andrea and Ronnie have all enrolled their children in the same local private school, Silver Swans. They all want what’s best for their kids, and Silver Swans, despite hitting a hard time recently, is still that. But after an awkward orientation where none of them feel welcomed except in the vicinity of each other, they begin to question if they’ve made the right choice for their children and for themselves.
Their discomfort is only heightened when, after the first day of school, they each receive messages in their children’s school bags that confirm their worst fears – they’re not wanted in this school and someone who knows all of their darkest secrets will go to great lengths to get them out. After all, they each have something very important to hide.
Although they don’t know each other well, the three mothers form a bond as they try to uncover who might be this desperate to scare them out of the community.
An almost-murder, a few good twists and turns, the question of how far a person will go to protect their child, and a myriad of secrets make “Safe in My Arms” a wonderfully exciting and easy to devour tale.

Reviewed by Abbey Peralta for Suspense Magazine

I truly thought this was going to be a run of the mill story about yummy mommy's. Boy was I wrong!!! This book examines very different mothers yet oddly the same. I loved this story, I could not put it down. Every time I thought I figured it out I turned the page and saw that I was wrong, way wrong. I will be recommending this to others and to anyone wanting something fresh and new to read.

This is a surprisingly engaging story, but, unless your suspension of disbelief game is strong, you may find yourself getting a trifle frustrated when you discover the outrageous things these characters honestly believe they'll get away with. That is: No one with sense would act the way these people do, but if you can just go with it, you should.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

Andrea, Ronnie, and Lauren are young mothers who have enrolled their children into the prestigious Silver Swans private school. But soon after they are introduced to the wealthy and highbrow community, they each receive a message making it clear they aren’t wanted there. Because of course, each woman has a dark secret of their own...but who has found out and what do they want? This book involves an almost-murder, a whole lot of gaslighting and psychological games, and a healthy dose of twists and turns. I would compare this to Big Little Lies and Pretty Little Liars for adults (fitting, considering the author also wrote that series!)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy to read and review.

I would have retitled this book “A Village Full of Secrets.” Every character has at least one big secret that they don’t want revealed as it may damage their relationships.

Lauren, Andrea and Ronnie have all enrolled their children in the Silver Swans preschool and daycare for the first time. After the first day they all receive messages in various ways that indicate somebody knows their secrets.

The three wind up connecting, discovering the messages the others received and joining forces trying to figure out who might have written them.

Then there’s an almost murder, gaslighting, an unwanted visitor and much more. The book read fast for me, as I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. I thought the pacing was excellent, the characteristics of the three moms rang true and what happened didn’t seem that far out there. I highly recommend this title.

Three women with such different stories! The twists and turns keep you going until you get to a certain point where you just have to finish it immediately. Glad things wrapped up at the end like they did. Enjoyable!

Sara Shepard books always grab my attention, as they are always right up my alley. This one fell short with me, though. I felt the plotline was a bit irrational and while the characters were developed, they felt rushed. This wasn't her usual twisty thriller.

This is a character driven story that has subjects just not appealing to this reader. I did not finish the book so maybe it got better. Just not my type.