"Your opinion is your opinion, your perception is your perception--do not confuse them with facts or truth." (John Moore)

This domestic drama is a study of an unusual family whose patriarch is about to marry a much younger woman after his wife, diagnosed with Alzheimer's, is confined to a care home.

Stephen Aston is a heart surgeon, is in his early 60's, and has two daughters who are both older than his bride-to-be. He wants Tully and Rachel to be happy for him and Heather, but the whole situation is fraught with complications -- especially since Stephen has not divorced his mentally unstable wife, Pam. As all of them begin interacting and making discoveries about each other, long held secrets and issues start to bubble to the surface creating conflict and questions. Most of the concern is directed toward Stephen.

This novel was quite entertaining as the author creates the narrative from several different points of view and with a time shift that makes the reader start the guessing games. Just when you think you have it all figured out, there's a twisty surprise at the end that might leave some readers a bit unsettled. Personally, I thought most of the women were huge hot messes and totally unreliable in their perceptions and quite untrustworthy. Talk about a lot going on -- these women all needed some long term therapy! In any event, I enjoyed the read and, perhaps you are like me, and only want to know -- what happened next?

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-book ARC to read and review.

The version I read was different than the final book…and I must say, I LOVED The Original version. That was such a bold twist at the end, it left my jaw hanging! This is exactly what I want in a thriller book.

I do understand why it needed to be changed for the “delicate” Western World.

I’m so thankful to NetGalley and Williammorrow for the gifted varying versions of The Younger Sister.

The original version of the ARC- 5 Stars
The Final Copy- 3 Stars

Not her best work - I started this one and just found it to be very played out. Younger wife, older man - it just felt stale to me.

This is my second novel by Sally Hepworth, and I loved it almost as much as The Mother. In Law. I Really enjoyed the three different povs, and Rachel was by far my favorite. Hepworth is fantastic at building relatable characters, and Holy Moly was this a screwed up family. This book comes with a few trigger warnings though, domestic violence and child loss. With that being said the ending still still has me a bit confused. It's my understanding that the finished copy has a slightly different ending. This has me ready to stop by the bookstore to check out the difference!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this page turner!

I loved The Good Sister & was thrilled to read this one. I love a good domestic thriller with family secrets, lies and deception. This book is told in multiple points of view and has short chapters, which I loved. Very relatable characters and overall a great thriller.

I was drawn in from the very start. I thought I knew what was going on but each page held another surprise. The secrets and drama of every character kept me reading well into the night, This is a family drama with a lot of twists and turns.

Tully and Rachel are shocked when their father tells them he is remarrying to a much younger woman named Heather. They’ve never met her before and they are immediately leery of her motives. Their mother is still alive but struggles with early onset Alzheimer’s. Everyone has their own secrets they’ve been burying and they start to be uncovered as Heather integrates into the family.

Another Sally Hepworth that I absolutely devoured! There is something about her writing that draws me in. Her very flawed and relatable characters are one. Tully and Rachel were almost comical in their dialogue in parts but also serious where they needed to be. The narrators on the audiobook that was gifted to me by @macmillan.audio and @netgalley was perfect for all the different POVs. I did think that this was misbranded as a thriller, it was more of a family drama (albeit a great one). The length of the novel was short and sweet, and the small chapters kept me turning the pages. Thanks to @stmartinspress for my paper copy!

The Younger Wife was a quick, domestic thriller told from the points of view of Stephen’s daughters – Tully and Rachel – and his new girlfriend Heather, who he begins dating while Tully and Rachel’s mom Pam is still his wife but has dementia. The book begins with the viewpoint of an unknown character who is at Stephen and Heather’s wedding. Someone is killed but we don’t know who or why. The characters in this book all have various mental health concerns including kleptomania, disordered eating, and alcoholism. There is also a good deal of gaslighting going on. This may be a spoiler but it’s important to know that the story is about domestic abuse and how powerful men can convince their victims that they are the ones in the wrong / nothing bad is actually happening to them. The ending of the book has caused many to be angry and feel almost gaslighted themselves. I just thought it was sad.

I have read all of Sally Hepworth’s books and have enjoyed them all. The Younger Wife was no exemption. It was not my favorite book that Sally Hepworth has ever written but I did enjoy it for the most part. It was fast paced, suspenseful, included some twists and the well developed characters all had deep lying secrets that they were harboring. Sally Hepworth writes domestic suspense novels and that was exactly what The Younger Wife portrayed. I particularly enjoyed Sally Hepworth’s admission of where the origin for this book came from in the author’s notes at the conclusion of The Younger Wife.

How would it feel when the adult daughters of a prominent and well respected surgeon find out that their father was planning to marry a woman younger than both of them? That was the reality for both Rachel and Tully Aston. Steven Aston, their beloved father, was divorcing their mother and marrying Heather, who had been hired to redecorate Steven’s and Pam’s home. Pam Aston, Rachel’s and Tully’s mother, had advanced Alzheimer’s and was now residing in a care facility. Pam seldom recognized her daughters anymore and even had difficulty with speaking at times. Everyone in the Aston family was hiding a secret. The secrets ranged from kleptomania, teenage rape, compulsive eating and baking disorders, fear of dating, bad investment advice that led to major monetary losses and change in lifestyle and the effects Alzheimer’s had on the patient and their family members. Rachel and Tully truly believed that Heather wanted to marry their father for the sole reason of getting his money. Was Steven Aston really the type of man he has made all believe he was or was he hiding a long buried and well concealed secret as well? Would Steven and Heather marry and live happily ever after or would circumstances and reactions intervene?

I enjoyed reading the digital version of The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth. It was engaging, fast paced and suspenseful with a few twists. Be prepared to discover a host of deeply buried secrets and a very dysfunctional family. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this advanced digital version of The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I highly recommend this book. Publication was April 5, 2022.

Another absolutely brilliant read by the amazing Sally Hepworth! Thank you to St Martins Press for the review copy! I couldn’t put this gem down and I am highly recommending it to you all!

Rachel and Tully are shocked when their father, Stephen, introduces them to his fiancé, Heather. Heather who is their age, while he is still married to their Mum. Their Mum, Pam is suffering from dementia sadly and has been relocated to a nursing home. Things start happening in the months and weeks leading up to the wedding that start making Rachel and even Heather question Stephen.

This story was really good, easy to read and keep up with and I enjoyed it. Five stars all the way! Y’all let me know your thoughts!

The Younger Wife begins with the wedding of Heather and Stephen. An accident occurs after the vows and then the story goes back a year to tell the story up to the present. An unknown person is the narrator in the beginning describing the events from her point of view. We do not know who this is until later but they are important to the story. It is basically told from four different points of view.

Huge age differences gross me out. I often think of the person being thirty years old and looking at the newborn saying "someday I will marry you" just not for me. But, here we have a successful, sixty-three-year-old cardiac surgeon Stephen Aston who shocks daughters "Tilly" (born as Natalie) and Rachel with his announcement, at a lunch in a public restaurant, that he plans to marry his young girlfriend Heather. A huge stumbling block is that he is still married to his wife and the girls' mother, who is suffering from dementia and is living in a healthcare facility. This is a mere technicality for Stephen. The girls publicly and quietly accept the news, but inwardly they are struggling to stay calm. "Tilly" has huge issues. She is a kleptomaniac, has control issues and is basically a neurotic mess in my opinion, but we never understand why she is this way. Rachel on the other hand has real issues due to an event that occurred when she was sixteen. She doesn't date, women or men, but has a hugely successful cake business. She is described as beautiful and has gorgeous hair which she no longer displays, not fat, but definitely not skinny. We later learn she has eating issues. Heather will also have issues from her upbringing. There isn't one person who does not have issues. Stephen "appears" to be the perfect father and husband.

Heather, who is younger than Tilly and Rachel, had met Stephen and Pamela when she was hired as their interior designer. Stephen plans to divorce Pamela and his daughters to bond with Heather. As the story progresses we see that this family has had its secrets some are better kept than others, but they do no know each other as well as they think they do. The lunch meeting will escalate "Tilly's" issues, and Rachels will not be far behind.

I enjoyed this book despite my own opinions about the topics. It definitely is a page turner as you go through trying to figure out what is the truth, and who is being manipulated. The end (which started at the beginning) was a shock for me. I honestly did not see it coming. The build up to it was interesting to read as the mystery speaker is revealed, and not knowing who was to blame until the very end of the ceremony. I was happy with the ending.

I love Sally Hepworth's writing. She has such a way of telling her story. I loved her other book The Good Sister so when I saw this one I was very excited to receive this ARC! Although I think this probably should be classified more as a family drama/mystery/suspense I still fully enjoyed it! Definitely going to be picking up more from her in the future!

Starts off with a huge cliffhanger! The first chapter ends in what you assume is a murder (of who you don't know) but then keeps you in suspense for pretty much the whole book.
I wasn't a big fan of the ending, but I really enjoyed the easiness of the writing style and the way the story unfolds that makes you question so many things. A fun and compelling read.

Really enjoyed this thriller. The plot is quick paced, short chapters, and multiple POVs. The end will stick with you and make you question everyone. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys family dramas.

Sally Hepworth’s latest psychological thriller, The Younger Wife, is a clever story full of secrets and suspense.

What appealed to you the most in this book?

I absolutely love the way Sally Hepworth can write about family dynamics, especially when it comes to the relationships between sisters. This was a deep and at times darker psychological thriller, but I was surprised to discover that there was so much more than just the main plot. Each character had their own story as they were dealing with their past and mental health issues. I was in awe with the way Hepworth was able to create multilayered characters and then weave their stories together with the main plot.

How was the audio?

The narrators for this book did a fabulous job! They brought the story to life, and since there were different narrators for each character it added even more suspense and emotion to the story.

How was the pace?

The story held a steady pace and the short chapters made it seem fast. This story sucked me in from the beginning! The drama in the first chapter left me wanting more and from there I was held captive.

Do you recommend this book?

I highly recommend this captivating and warped story full of lies and deceit. You won’t want to put it down!

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

It’s a tale as old as time: an older guy with kids decides to marry a much-younger woman, scandalizing his family. His daughters, who are older than the new fiancee, are horrified.

WHAT I DID LIKE ABOUT THE YOUNGER WIFE:
I found this one enjoyable to read! I'll definitely try another book by this author.

I really liked the sister relationship between Tully and Rachel, and thought that each of them was a well-developed character with well-developed issues that tied in to the whole story.

The Younger Wife definitely had some surprises in store, which I appreciated a lot. As I said above, this could have been a very stereotypical “mean stepmother” story, but there’s a lot more to it than that!

WHAT I LIKED LESS ABOUT THE YOUNGER WIFE:
The ending wasn’t completely resolved. If you like a really firm ending with all the loose ends neatly tied up, this might not be for you. There were a few plot points that seemed to sort of be left dangling. This seems to be a trend lately, and one I don’t love. At all!

NOTE: I heard that finished copy had a slightly different ending from the one in the advance reader copy I read, I checked and yes, the additional paragraphs added in the finished copy did help clarify somewhat. I have a full explanation on my blog, with spoilers marked.

Whilst I could understand the angst, the intensity in this story. The challenge of having stepdaughters and ipso facto a stepmother where the daughters are older than you. A wedding and a death, and a story told from three perspectives seemed to lay the groundwork for an exciting tale. Unfortunately this was not a story I related to in so many ways.

A St Martin’s Press ARC via NetGalley

This was the third book by this author that I have listened to or read. Her books always have something of a twist at the end. I liked this one. Evil got it’s just reward and everyone who survived seems to wind up doing pretty well.
The audiobook was very well performed.
Some reviewers seem to think the ending was open for interpretation but I did not. You’ll have to make your own decision.

This is my third Sally Hepworth novel and I have to say, they just keep getting better and better! "The Younger Wife" was a compulsive read for sure.

Written from various viewpoints, this multi-layered narrative was compelling. The characters were so interesting, so damaged, yet seemingly coping... until they weren't.

Some of the chapters were written by an unknown narrator and skipped ahead to "The Wedding". When we come to realize who the narrator of these chapters is, the puzzle pieces begin to slot into place.

Yes, this was a novel about people coping with neuroses and trauma, about how our childhoods influence our adult lives. It is also about how our own memories can trick us and become distorted over time. The book spoke to the way that certain people have the capacity to manipulate others, making them doubt themselves. Overall though, it was about perception. About how others view us, about how we view others. You never really know a person until you live with them... and even then sometimes you are in for a drastic surprise.

"...there is some overlap between the parts of the brain that perceive and the parts that imagine."

The ending tied up most of the loose ends, but maintained an element of ambiguity which made it open to interpretation. This would be an excellent choice for a book club. I'm certain it would generate some lively debate.

This was an expertly written thriller that will doubtless make my list of Top Reads for 2022. A didactic novel about a dysfunctional family - masquerading as a thriller, Brilliant!

A wedding is suppose to be the happiest day right?

This book walks you through the lives of three different women lives, two sisters and their new (younger) stepmom all suffering from their own pasts and demons. It starts on the wedding day and then jumps backwards to the events of the past year. Each character has traumatic life events they are each working through while trying to figure out their father's/fiancee's past.

I wanted to love this book and did enjoy the character development but it left me wanting. More drama, more future storyline, and more thrill/answers. I finished it quickly but definitely was left thinking where was the suspense.