A very entertaining story until the very ending which was disappointing. I really enjoyed getting to know all three main women and wonder about some of the details of their lives. There seems to be foreshadowing but then we aren’t sure which to believe. I also liked the layout of the story of telling the ending first, then looking at it from three different perspectives. Really wish the ending was different. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

Wow! Wow! Wow! Another great book by Sally Hepworth! Fast-paced read that kept you guessing until the very end…and the ending was crazy!

Received an ARC from NetGalley.

I had not read anything by Sally Hepworth before, but now want to get my hands on more of her work.

The Younger Wife is about a family in Australia: Stephen, a respected doctor, 30-something daughters Tully and Rachel, wife Pam who has early dementia, and prospective new wife Heather who is younger than the daughters. Stephen has divorced Pam so he can marry Heather, and the daughters are unsure about accepting this woman into the family. They are having problems of their own: Tully takes care of two rambunctious small boys while letting off steam with a little shoplifting. Her husband Sonny has made some financial misjudgments which threaten their comfortable lifestyle. Rachel uses food to escape past traumas, but has channeled that into a successful baking business. She has always rebuffed male admirers, but that may be about to change. Heather had secrets of her own. Another woman is part of the story, and we gradually learn her role.

This is a page-turner going back and forth between the wedding day and the past (and continues on after that at the end). There are twists and turns, and we get to know the characters more fully. It’s a bit of chick lit, a bit of psychological drama, and just a good read.

This was a fun read! Slow burn family saga and we got to see the characters develop and grow. I really enjoy Sally Hepworth’s books - they never go where I think they’re going!

Sally Hepworth does it again! The Younger Wife is a domestic suspense with enough twists to make your head spin! Interesting storyline with an ending I did not see coming. Highly recommend!

You know a novel is outstanding when your devour it in one day and then want friends to read it so you can discuss the storyline (and that ending!). Lots of twists and turns that keep the plot going, but the story never felt rushed. Highly recommended!

Hepworth does it again with this fantastic mystery/thriller. Wonderful writing, twists and turns! I had a hard time putting it down and now that I'm finished I need to rethink about it all again. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

The latest book from Sally Hepworth does not disappoint!

In this tale, mother Pam is suffering from dementia when her husband Stephen divorces her so he can marry the much younger Heather, much to his daughters' Tully and and Rachel's chagrin. But there are secrets about Stephen - or are there? And his new wife and daughters carry secrets as well

The story opens with a wedding and an accident. The rest of the book is told in alternating perspectives from Tully, Rachel and Heather, leading up to the wedding.

I still think about this book after I finished. Truly fantastic!

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

Swipe for Synopsis

💍 I am a fan of Hepworth’s family suspense novels. I really liked The Mother-in-Law and I loved The Good Sister (seriously, if you haven’t read The Good Sister, you must!). But this book didn’t captivate me quite as much as her others and it is 95% because of the ending!

💍 There is a ton of gaslighting going on in this book… or is there? The author does a fantastic job of making the characters, and the reader, question their sanity! You won’t know if what you are reading is truth or not! And therein lies the genius, and the downfall, of this book in my opinion. Because you never find out the truth! Yes, it is a clever device to reinforce the ambiguity of the story, and to demonstrate how devastating gaslighting can be (assuming it is even really happening!), but ACK! I’m just a voyeur of lives here, not a participant… tell me what was really going on!

💍 Ok, rant done. I will say, the characters were interesting. I particularly connected with Rachel and I wanted more of her story than I got. If I am honest, I was more interested in the sisters’ lives than with their dad and his new wife. I feel like Rachel and Tully’s stories ended too abruptly and I really wanted to know more about them. Maybe the author should stick to sister books? Because she writes about sisters quite well.

💍 I do feel like I need to backtrack just a bit and clarify. This isn’t a bad book at all – I just felt slighted by the ambiguous ending and that is my personal issue. The story is written very well and it kept me engaged throughout. Any book that evokes emotion, even if it is frustration, can’t be all bad. The author wrote exactly what she wanted to write. She wanted us to question the ending, to wonder what really happened, because that is the entire point of the story – NOT KNOWING THE TRUTH! She forced me to be a participant in this book, rather than just a reader… so kudos to her!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC of this book, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I sat on this one for a bit before I decided to write my review. Overall, I really liked the book and it delivered the suspense and family drama I've come to know and love from Sally Hepworth's books. The opening clues us in that something goes wrong at Steven's marriage to his younger wife, but we don't know what it is, and through small snippets interspersed with the previous year's timeline, we can start to piece it together. It brings the family issues along with the suspense just as well as her other books.

My only issue - and perhaps this could be seen as a spoiler so read at your own risk - is how the ending handles domestic abuse and believing victims. I do not think there was any malice intended in the way it was written, but it feeds into the doubt and gaslighting that many survivors feel and that's a dangerous line to tow. I'm also not sure it added anything to the story, so I can't say why it was thrown in at the end.

I thought I hadc this book all figured out--I actually thought I had it figured out toward the beginning and everything I read agreed with what I thought. Until the very last chapter,--it threw everything that I had imagined and what the characters had imagined into question. Was Stephen really an abuser (I almost had myself believing it was him who raped Rachel), did Heather really imagine Stephen trying to strangle her (she had no marks) and in the end seemed to be a drinker, and what was the deal with Fiona, and why was it Rachel who snapped?. I don't know what I think of this book, it is a quick and interesting read, I loved the sisters and thought they added depth to the book, but I must admit I found the ending very disconcerting.

★ ★ ★ ½

I was so excited to be given an ARC of this highly anticipated 2022 release & I was hopeful that it would turn my opinion of Sally Hepworth around, and it did…sort of! I read the Mother in Law earlier this year & it sadly was a miss for me but not so much that I was turned off the author completely & I am so glad I gave her another chance!! This book follows 3 characters, two sisters Tully & Rachel and their dads new soon-to-be wife Heather and dealing with the new (& old) family dynamics. I think this book really has it all when it comes to what I look for in a good thriller: interesting family dynamics, relatable characters, cliff hanger chapters, unreliable narrators etc. but something was just off about it for me…I found the majority of it to be very predictable & sadly no crazy twist at the end like I hoped for!! While this was not the thriller I had dreamed of it was a family drama that was really enjoyable and I would read more about the 3 women and their dynamics together & in their personal lives! Please note some content warnings dealing with domestic violence, pregnancy loss and gaslighting! Official ruling: good but not great!
Thank you so much to Sally Hepworth, St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the advance copy!! Be sure to check out this book in April 2022!!

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

My second read by this author, and it was just as wildly entertaining and propulsive as the first. Alternating POVs, quick chapters and a whole lot of family & psychological drama, this was just the suspenseful and quick read I needed after a stretch of disappointing holiday reads.

The Aston family certainly has its share of issues; as with many books in this genre, content warnings abound (domestic violence, gaslighting, miscarriage, addiction, rape, dementia). We’re following Stephen, successful and charming doctor who is getting remarried to Heather, a significantly younger woman with a complicated past. Stephen’s wife, Pam, has advanced dementia, and has been making accusations against Stephen. Daughters Rachel & Tully have their own & combined dramas, and are not thrilled with their father’s impending marriage.

The tension & suspense is really well done. The concept of the unreliable narrator didn’t feel stale here, and I thought all the POV chapters really flowed. Marriage, motherhood, caring for an aging parent with a memory disorder are all explored.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, speedy suspense read filled with dark family secrets, The Younger Wife is a winner. I only read a handful of novels in this genre per year and this one didn’t disappoint. The ending will be really polarizing though, and some will love it and some will not! (I felt queasy).

Thank you so much to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The Younger Wife is available April 5, 2022!

I've read Sally Hepworth's other books and would consider myself a fan. I found this book as enjoyable as her other books. Although the premise is rather common. the characters are well-written and the book was engaging from start to finish. I devoured this book so quickly. Thanks for the advance review copy.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 352 / Genre: Mysteries & Thrillers
U.S. Release Date: April 5, 2022

Sisters Tully and Rachel have always had fond memories of their childhood and their loving parents. Until now. Now, their mother Pamela is suffering from advanced dementia and has been moved into a care facility while their father Stephen has moved on and is engaged to Heather, their interior designer, who’s younger than both his daughters. In the time leading up to the wedding, both daughters and Heather begin to face the inner demons that they can no longer keep buried — a shoplifting addiction, a drinking problem, and a rape that no one knows about. And while they face these demons they all begin to look at Stephen in a new, much more sinister light. Is it all in their heads or are they finally seeing the real him?

Another intriguing mystery with compelling characters and a fast-paced storyline by @SallyHepworth. Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advance copy of this book. I loved it!

Can you imagine your dad getting married to someone your age? I surely cannot.

The Younger Wife is a domestic suspense novel with all the family drama. Rachel and Tully find out that their father, Stephen, is going to be getting remarried to Heather, who is their age! The icing on the cake is that Stephen is still married to their mother. The wedding day wasn’t what they expected though, nor were the events and exposed secrets leading up to it!

I really enjoyed The Younger Wife. It was a little hard for me to follow in the beginning keeping up with the three main characters, but once it got my attention, it kept it. It had me guessing and wondering what the missing pieces to the puzzle were. I did feel like there were a few bits and pieces to the story I would have liked to know more about. The ending didn’t quite do it for me, but I still enjoyed the majority of the book.

4 stars for me!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and leave an honest review!

You can snag this book when it is released in April 5, 2022!

*There are some trigger warnings I feel like that need to be mentioned: abuse, rape, miscarriage. (They were fairly subtle but may be upsetting to certain people.)*

WOW!! This book was fantastic! I will say, it wasn’t my favorite by Hepworth but it was still a major win for me! I loved the sister relationships and the focus on “problems” and I was kept guessing until almost the end. I was able to figure out the twist early but I still enjoyed the read!

4.5 This is definitely one of my favorite thrillers I’ve read this year. We have wonderfully complex characters with a plot that keeps the pages turning. I loved the exploration of trauma that happened here and the writing was very good. I read a Sally Hepworth thriller a few year ago and wasn’t the biggest fan, but this novel has me re-evaluating and thinking about going back and reading some of her other things.

This has all the elements to make it a hit thriller in 2022!! Publication date is currently 5/5/22!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, the author, and Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

It has been a while since I sacrificed sleep to see what happens next. This was that book for me. With compelling characters and an intriguing storyline, I was absolutely hooked from beginning to end.

The Aston family appear to have it all. Rachel and Tully are sisters. Their father is marrying a younger woman. Their mom has dementia and is in a care facility. Despite appearances, everyone has issues. This wasn't my favorite but I'll read anything by Sally Hepworth!