This book isn’t just about the younger wife. It reaches into the entire family. Secrets are discovered and a mystery is solved. The importance of family, mental illness, Alzheimers, domestic abuse, rape, alcoholism and much more come to light. The author presents and handles all these topics well to give the reader a very engaging book

3.5 rounded up

Lately, I’ve read a few books that are really hard to review. And I’m going to add this to the growing list.

I thought this would be more of a domestic thriller, but it fell completely flat as a thriller and danced mightily around domestic. This was a story about a highly dysfunctional family.

It opens with a wedding ceremony. Stephen is marrying Heather, a girl who is 29 years younger than him. Stephen’s daughters Tully and Rachel are older than the bride but, after the initial shock, attempt to accept the marriage. Stephen’s ex-wife, the girls’ mother, who suffers from dementia, is also at the wedding. Caught your interest yet?

If not, try adding the fact that the narrator is an uninvited guest who is sitting at the back of the church. If that’s still not enough, tune in to see what happens as the bride and groom and wedding party step into a side room to sign papers.

Yes, it starts with a bang!

When that chapter ends we flashback to a year earlier. Various characters take different chapters from there forward. Occasionally it jumps back to the wedding.

It began to feel like an interesting character reveal as several of the women slowly disclose the baggage they are hauling around. Baggage that has been somewhat created due to history. Many times it is sad and yet full of drama as these reveals occur.

In time, a thought begins to seep into the daughters’ consciousness. One that might or might not be correct. However, they share it with their soon-to-be step-mother.

But by then each member is so emotionally distraught, that nothing can be completely proven.

My Concerns
Okay, I had no trouble being interested and turning pages, but in time I began to wonder where it was taking me. And then when I found out, I was left with my mouth hanging open. Perhaps not literally, but then again, who knows?

Final Thoughts
My rating in no way means this is a bad story. In fact, it just reflects my feelings that this will appeal to some and not others.

So, after reading a few reviews, if this sounds good, I wouldn’t hesitate to give it a try. As I said earlier, I never lost interest in it. It just didn’t win me over.

I received a digital ARC from NetGalley but I was free to express my opinion.

The Younger Wife starts off with a bang but doesn't allow us readers to see what exactly took place. We are then taken back in time and allowed to see how our flawed characters lead us up to why and what really took place in the opening pages.

This book is told in 3 POVs. Tully and Rachel are the daughters and Heather is the soon to be wife to their father Stephen. Heather's age is around the same as the daughters, hence the title. Sally Hepworth takes these women along with an unknown character and drives this story forward with those compelling and maybe unreliable narrators.

I am always in awe at how Hepworth can draw me in with characters that seem likable at first, but then have me questioning their actions about half way through. I didn't know who to believe and I didn't understand why these characters did the things they did. But slowly the past unravels itself and we learn about each character and what has led them to be who they are today. We question Stephen all throughout and I still don't even know about the ending. But that's what makes this story great. I'm left thinking about it and who I should believe.

This domestic suspense allows us to get to know the characters and their backgrounds so we could decide for ourselves if the outcome was warranted. The pacing was a slow build and the characters drove the story. There wasn't a lot of action, but it was always about planting seeds of doubt in the readers mind. The writing was exceptional and the character arcs helped build the narrative for the story.

The Younger Wife is a uniquely told story filled with messy and flawed characters and keeps you hooked until the end. And that ending will still leave you with questions. Hepworth doesn't wrap everything up with a pretty bow. That ribbon is left for you to decide.
Wonderful storytelling and another Sally Hepworth gem that I recommend.

Sisters Tully and Rachel are shocked when their dad announces he’s getting remarried to a woman half his age when he’s still married to their mother. Sally Hepworth is great at family drama and immediately hooks you in with this one. Told in alternating perspectives, we learn of secrets each character is hiding and troubling pasts they are still navigating.

I didn’t love the characters and wish we got more development from them since they each experienced their own traumas. I also was disappointed by the ending. Overall it’s a quick read, but didn’t love how it felt like it perpetuates unreliable/ delusional women stereotypes. Thanks St. Martin’s Press for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Net Galley and St Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of The Younger Wife!

This was my first Hepworth novel and it lived up to the hype! A family who is newly torn a part due to their mother getting dementia at an early age and being sent to a nursing home. Then they meet their father’s new girlfriend of only a few months and they’re already getting engaged! The new, younger wife Heather is learning to navigate her new life and how it intertwines with her old one.

The step daughters Tully and Rachel are not pleased with their father’s announcement, but they try to learn how to navigate this new shift in their family dynamics. While all members face different obstacles they end up all understanding one another in the end. I do wish the ending was a bit more dramatic and jaw dropping!

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martins Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for honest feedback.

I am a huge fan of Sally Hepworths work but this book fell a tiny bit for me. While it had all the twists and turns of a normal thriller they didn’t feel as “shocking” as is typical for one of her books. The ending is left very open ended much like Colleen Hoovers “Verity” and I’m still trying to decide what I think but other than that this book was kind of “meh” for me.

Was it terrible? No, but there are better books by Hepworth that I would start with.

At the end of this book, there is an author’s note, and Sally Hepworth thanks her publishing partners for sticking with her even through her bad books…well I sure haven’t found one of those yet! This book was fantastic! Full of twists and turns, but also building some beautiful characters with backstories and growth journeys, this is an amazing book!

This story is told from the perspective of three women: Tully, Rachel, and Heather. Rachel and Tully are sisters. Their mom has dementia, and their dad has just announced that he’s divorcing their mom to marry Heather, a woman who could be Rachel and Tully’s sister.

Rachel and Tully obviously have some concerns and are quite upset by the news. On top of this new revelation, Rachel and Tully each have their own secrets that they are struggling with. I really enjoyed their storylines. It was wonderful to see their personal journeys, and it made this story fascinating.

Overall, I thought this book was fantastic! The stories of the three main women were amazing, and the overarching plot drove this to be a page-turning story!

There are some trigger warnings that I feel are important to share for this one. They could be spoilers, so skip if you don’t want to know…
Spousal abuse, forced miscarriage, rape, eating disorder, kleptomania, dementia

I received an ARC of The Younger Wife in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoy Sally Hepworth's books so this is an ARC that I was happy to get and looked forward to reading. This was typical of many of Sally Hepworth's books. Did I have trouble putting the book down?? Yes!! Did it keep me guessing how it was going to end?? Yes!! However, this book did not have the ending you have come to expect from Sally Hepworth. There was no clear cut ending. I am a girl who likes an ending! Don't make me guess what really happened! I like the surprising twist at the end. While I guess you could say this does have a surprising ending, it is up to you to decide what it is.

Sometimes people can hide secrets to everybody around them. Tully and Rachel's family seems a very normal one. But his father Stephen has a girlfrind younger Heather than the two of them and plan to marry her after divotcing her mother, who lives in a nursing home due to her advanced dementia. But Tully has a secret, Rachel has a secret and even Heather has one. But probably the biggest and scariest is the one Stephen is keeping from all of them. Sometimes secrets can be dangerous and sometimes secrets can change our lives. Great plot and with an end that keep you wondering for a long time

An interesting take on spousal abuse. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked it because I wass never sure myself who was the victim and who was not.

I went into this book thinking I knew what to expect and boy, was I wrong! I was intrigued by the synopsis of the husband, former wife, younger wife and the two daughters. I knew Sally Hepworth could write twisty families from The Good Sister, but this was next level dark!

There is a lot going on with multiple POVs (and each character has their own issues/backstory) but it worked for me! I flew through this, engrossed in both each character's individual arc as well as what really happens on the wedding day, which is teased in the prologue.

Beware of major trigger warnings for domestic violence, sexual assault, alcoholism, disordered eating, dementia and anxiety disorders. There is plenty of trauma to go around, but I felt it all contributed to the character's motivations.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sally Hepworth is a master of domestic thrillers. In The Younger Wife, Hepworth weaves a tangled family drama with a strong, character-driven plot. The ending will leave you scratching your head.

I loved this one! It was just a wild ride. It follows two sisters who are trying to learn to navigate the challenges of their father marrying a younger woman. As well as dealing with their mother's illness. This book is full of drama, lies (old and new), and twists. It was fast-paced. Definitely worth the read if you like family drama.

I can’t remember the last book that had me turning the pages as fast as this one! Admittedly, I don’t read many thrillers. Although this one I wouldn’t even categorize as a thriller. It says “domestic suspense” on the back of the book, and I think it’s the perfect description.

The Younger Wife begins at the wedding of a doctor in his sixties, Stephen, and his wife-to-be, Heather, who is in her thirties- basically the same age as Stephen’s two daughters, Tully and Rachel. Stephen’s ex-wife has late stage dementia, and surprisingly, has also been invited to the wedding. The guests at the wedding can see that something has gone wrong- there’s a scream, and a thud, and the minister emerges covered in blood, but what exactly happened, and to who, remains to be seen.

The story then jumps back a year, and alternates POV’s between Heather, Tully, and Rachel, and we learn about all the baggage and trauma each of them are secretly carrying and coping with in unhealthy ways (food, theft, alcohol). Fortunately, the road does lead to therapy! And there’s all kinds of suspicions raised about Stephen, only with his ex-wife having dementia it’s not possible to get her perspective. Having read The Mother-In-Law, and The Good Sister and knowing the twisty endings that Sally Hepworth writes, I was quickly invested in the story and couldn’t wait to find out how it was going to end. But…the end… it’s a little ambiguous. Maybe open to some interpretation. I think that might cause some polarizing opinions , and maybe even lower ratings. I kept thinking about the book the next day or two, so for that reason, I will say that this book was a big win for me. I really enjoyed it all the way through. But I can’t wait to hear more perspectives from other readers.

Thank you @raincoastbooks and @stmartinspress and @netgalley for my physical and digital copies of this book!

Another dark and twisty domestic suspense thriller from the Queen, Sally Hepworth! This multiple POV story revolves around family Patriarch, Stephan Aston, a well respected doctor and father to grown daughters, Rachel and Tully. When Stephen announces his impending marriage to Heather, a woman half his age, both girls are slightly shocked, especially considering their mother has only recently been moved into a care home due to dementia.

Their father begs both girls to try to be friendly with Heather and make an effort to get to know her. Heather for her part, feels intimidated and is trying to put on a good front, while perhaps imbibing a little too heavily on alcohol. Things start getting really twisty when Heather begins to question her own version of reality. Is she just drinking too much or is there a more sinister reason for her recent bouts of bruises and blackouts??

Meanwhile Rachel and Tully are dealing with their own heavy mental health issues. Rachel eats her feelings and Tully has secretly been hiding her kleptomania from everyone but her secrets are about to come out.

It's hard to say much more without giving too many spoilers away but this is a book that makes you question who you can trust and just whose version of the truth is real. I loved the focus on domestic abuse (especially how difficult it can be for women to escape) and the variety of mental illness issues this book covers. The author's note at the end was lovely and I so enjoyed that the inspiration for the story came from the author's sweet Auntie Gwen, who has recently passed. Great on audio too with a full cast of narrators!

Much thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my advance review copies! If you love a good domestic suspense story this one is definitely one you want to pre-order!

CW: domestic abuse, dementia, rape, food addiction, kleptomania

I was eager to read The Younger Wife after loving Hepworth's most recent release last year.
The Younger Wife took me a little while to get into, but ultimately I ended up loving the book and finished it in a day. This was a twisty domestic suspense novel filled with the type of gaslighting that left me as a reader questioning who to believe. There were multiple mysterious elements and storylines, as a young woman, Heather sets out to marry a much older man, Stephen, whose daughters are the same age as his new love. And if that isn't bad enough, Stephen is still married to Tully and Rachel's mother, who is living at a care facility as her Alzheimer's advances.
Things are far from what they seem, and there are secrets at every turn. I loved the complex characters and their individual journeys and the care Hepworth takes in describing a number of conditions. Also, the sister relationships she writes are so strong and vivid, I can't think of anyone who does this better.
I listened to the audiobook version of this book and think it was an excellent way to experience the story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.
Content warnings; physical abuse, rape, loss of pregnancy, murder, and illness of a parent.

"And yet she couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't all that bad. Perhaps the very worst people still had some good in them. And perhaps the very best had some bad."

Sally Hepworth delivers once again with a twisty domestic drama about sisters that have to question everything that they have known about their parents' relationship.

Rachel and Tully are adults, but they are not too happy that their father has decided to get married to Heather, a woman younger than they are. Complicating their feelings is the fact that their mother is still married to their father and very much alive, although dementia has left ther confused and confined to a care facility.

Wrestling with their mixed emotions, Rachel and Tully are trying to contend with their own demons. Tully's husband has fall-out from a financial investment that is seriously affecting their future and Tully's kleptomaniac coping mechanism could land her in legal trouble. Meanwhile although Rachel is flourishing in her bakery business, she is still harboring a horrible secret from her past, one that could jeopardize her quest for love and romantic fulfillment.

As the wedding draws near and emotions run high, secrets will be unearthed, childhood traumas revealed, and the revelations could have lasting consequences.

This was a riveting read that kept me asking questions until the last page-and still comtemplating the ending resolution. Hepworth is a master at creating realistic characters and true suspense.. I highly recommend this read and her other novels!

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's press (HOLLER!!) and the author, Sally Hepworth. This was not my first book by Sally but definitely one of my favourites. I really enjoyed the read and the short chapters. It flowed very well and I I liked how it was packed with a nice bow at the ending. Haha! The book started strong and ended strong. No spoilers here..so go and get a read. It was good

Sally Hepworth has become an auto-buy author for me since reading The Mother in Law a few years ago. Once I start reading one of her books, I just can't put them down and start rushing through to see how the story ends. I have to say that, I wasn't expecting the underlying trauma at the root of the book. I worked in the field of crisis intervention for over 20 years and am so glad that the author handled the storyline the way she did.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for the ARC.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me a digital ARC of this book. The opinions are my own and freely given.

This starts at the wedding of Stephen and Heather, told by an unknown guest.
Stephen, Heather, Pamela (the ex-wife), Tully (daughter), Rachel (daughter) and the wedding celebrant go into the sacristy to sign the marriage certificate.
The crowd hears a scream and a thump; suddenly the celebrant comes out covered in blood and asks for a doctor.
This is written from the POV of Tully, Rachel and Heather, from the moment Stephen has lunch introducing his new girlfriend to his daughters. The girlfriend is the same age as the daughters and their dad is still married to their mom. Pam now has dementia and is living in a nursing home. As the sisters try to come to grips with their father's new relationship, they start to wonder if the dementia was something that "just happened" or if it was caused by something. Events make it seem like Stephen is not the happy-go-lucky all-around good guy everyone thinks he is. Tully has a lot of issues (that I can't even begin to mention), Rachel doesn't date, Heather's parents are dead. This is all brought up but all leads to each woman's identity.
This was a fast-paced easy read, but I felt like it was missing that AH-HA moment. Although everything seems to be wrapped up, I was still waiting for something.