Sally Hepworth is one of my favorite authors. All of her books have been fantastic but this new book is the best of them all for me. This book has suspense, family, love and forgiveness and is a real page turner with characters that I won't soon forget.

The novel begins at a wedding by an unknown narrator. It's a great beginning and sets the stage for the rest of the book. The story is told by three different women in alternating chapters that both give us their family history and current information in their lives.

The main characters are:

Tully and Rachel are sisters. They are close but still have secrets that they keep from each other. Tully is married with two children and she is a kleptomaniac - Stealing things not because she couldn't afford them but because it made her feel better. Rachel is a baker who is proud of the cakes she makes and decorates but she has a secret from her past that has kept her from trusting men.

Heather is the woman that Stephen plans to marry. She is the same age as his daughters and is trying to be accepted by them. She frequently drinks too much but is sure that Stephen will protect her and they will live happily ever after. The daughters are convinced that she is a gold-digger by wanting to marry a man who is so much older.

Stephen - a well respected doctor and father to Tully and Rachel. His current wife has Alzheimer's and is being cared for in a nursing home when he decides to divorce her so that he can get married again.

The three females who tell this story are keeping major secrets from each other -even Stephen has some secrets. When Rachel finds a hot water bottle filled with money in her mother's possessions, she and Tully start trying to find out the family secrets even though it may change their lives.

This book has it all - love, family, suspense and forgiveness. It's a book that you won't want to put down. The writing is wonderful and the story will introduce you to characters that you won't be able to forget. This is definitely one of my favorite books of the year.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

When I think of a thrilling read, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and can satisfies just about every reader's heart. This is a perfect books to snuggle up with on any day.

Grabbed me from the first chapter and kept me interested throughout! This is a great pick for fans of "Big Little Lies."

Stephen, in his sixties, introduces his two daughters to Rachel who is the same age the daughters are. The three women have issues and addictions. Stephen divorces his current wife who has dementia and plans to marry Rachel.

We follow the three women with their issues. We hear of a Fiona Arthur, who is she? Something happens at the wedding. What happened?

Great read with many questions asked throughout. Unusual ending. I liked the author’s note explaining how she came up with a plot point.

Many thanks to St. Martins Press and Netgalley!

Great book until the end! The ending was so abrupt and rushed I thought. All the buildup about the wedding fiasco and Fiona, and just really no solid good ending to all of it!

The beginning of this book sucks you in right from the beginning, but sadly it ends rather flat. I wish there had been more of a storyline with the younger wife and husband.

Thank you @netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first book by this author and I must say, it was okay. The premise sounded good so I decided to read it. The book started with suspense and had me wanting more. The characters were likable to a certain extent and some characteristics the author gave some of the characters didn’t quite fit the story in my opinion. I think some characters could’ve been left out. The plot was suspenseful. What I thought the outcome was going to be turned out to be much different. This one was an easy read but not explosive in my opinion. All in all, I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️

In The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth, a father’s engagement to a much younger woman leads his two adult daughters to shocking discoveries about the nature of their parents’ marriage and their father’s true character. The Aston family appears perfect from the outside. Stephen is a handsome and successful heart surgeon. Rachel has a successful home baking business. Tully is married to a lawyer, has two young sons and lives in a beautiful, dream home. Yet there’s a major source of sadness in their lives: their mother Pamela suffers from Alzheimer’s and has recently moved to a nursing home as her condition has deteriorated. She no longer remembers her family. To top things off, Stephen has divorced Pamela in order to marry the much younger Heather, the interior designer he and Pamela hired to renovate their home.

The story begins at the end. An unidentified older female narrator attends Stephen and Heather’s wedding. Pamela also attends and she wanders around during the ceremony acting oddly. After the ceremony concludes, the wedding party goes to another room to sign the registry. From that room, the narrator hears a young woman’s scream and “a dense, meaty thud.” We don’t find out what happened or the identity of the narrator of the initial scene until the end of the book. The rest of the story leads up to that moment.

It turns out that each family member has a secret that prevents them from living a full life. Rachel, Tully and Heather are the alternating POVs. Over the course of the novel, Rachel, Tully and Heather are each are forced to confront their secrets and work to move beyond them. In the meantime, Rachel discovers that Pamela hid a secret stash of money and tries to figure out why. She discovers that her father is not the man he appears to be.

I very much enjoyed this book, reading it in no time. I liked it a lot more than Hepworth’s previous book, The Mother-In-Law, which I enjoyed but thought had major flaws. The Younger Wife worked for me on every level. It’s a combination of mystery and family drama that works beautifully. The characters are complex and interesting and the relationship between the sisters draws you in. A big part of the book is the evolution of the sisters’ relationship with Heather, which starts out somewhat hostile but evolves into a friendship. The characters’ individual secrets are intriguing and plausible and it was satisfying to watch them deal with their issues and come out on the other side.

When we finally find out what lead to the scream at the wedding, I thought it made sense and was satisfying.

There were a few things I didn’t like but they didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. It was annoying to not know the identity of the mystery narrator at the wedding, who returns periodically to move the wedding scene along. That felt artificial and manipulative. I was also annoyed to never find out the villain behind Rachel’s secret. I suspected who it was but that was never confirmed, a major omission. Another minor complaint was that Rachel’s new delivery person seemed too good to be true but there was never any indication that he was anything other than what he seemed.

The characters were relatable, and getting insights to them with varying narratives worked well. The gray ending left the reader hanging, in my opinion, but I am sure that was the intent.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Stephen Aston is getting married again. However he's still married to his first wife, even though she is in a care facility for dementia. But he'll take care of that easily, by divorcing her. His adult daughters are not pleased.. Heather is the same age as Rachel and even younger than Tully. Clearly she's a golddigger and after their father's money. Heather has secrets that she's keeping close, and reasons of her own for wanting to marry Stephen. With their mother unable to speak for herself, Tully and Rachel are determined to get to the truth about their family's secrets, the new wife closing in, and who their father really is. But will getting to the truth unleash the most dangerous impulses... in all of them?

Wow! I think this is the best book I have read by Sally. I love the pace of the story unfolding. The back and forth to the wedding and past was good. It kept me guessing. As far as the characters go, I did not like Tilly very much. As the book went on I liked her a little more. I really liked Rachel. She's easy to be drawn to. I was pulled into her individual story. I definitely recommend this book.

Big thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! This book comes out in April 2022 and can be pre-ordered now.

This book will not disappoint! I stayed up late to finish this one. The characters had such different personalities and the story kept me hooked right up until the last page.

The Younger Wife is a family drama revolving around the relationship between a successful doctor and his new fiancée.

When Rachel and Tully are introduced to their fathers new fiancée they are less than pleased when they see she is around the same age as them. Oh, and their father is still married to their mother who suffers from dementia and is planning on divorcing her and marrying Heather.


The Younger Wife is fully narrated by three female characters, Tully, Rachel, and Heather.

Tully and her husband are about to lose their home after a bad investment, and Tully has a shameful secret.

Rachel is a successful baker who hasn’t dated since an incident many years ago, but she is intrigued by her new delivery driver, Darcy.

Heather has a dark past, and is longing to have a relationship with her soon-to-be stepdaughters, Rachel and Tully.

The story was easy to follow along, and the book kept my interest, but I was left sort of disappointed with the ending. I wish there was more closure.

4 stars.

Thank you to St. Martin’s press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected publication date: 04/22/2022

Rounded up from 3.5. This one kept me hooked and I didn't want to put it down, but the ending left me needing even more resolution than we were given. I felt like there were many side-stories and characters that were never fully developed or looped back into the main plot. I liked it, but it just ended up falling a little flat for me, but it was good enough to make me want to keep turning the pages. I loved the alternating perspectives and seeing everything from each character's perspective. - but I also found myself confusing the women. The ending left my jaw dropped, but also with so many questions!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

A decent mystery with an ending that felt abrupt and too unexpected for me.

The Younger Wife grabbed me from the moment I opened it, and I finished it in two days! I loved the multiple points of view, the hints at what terrible thing MAY have happened at the wedding, and the constantly increasing conflicts and resulting tension throughout the novel. While I think trigger warnings of sexual and domestic violence need to come with the book, those issues were ultimately addressed and made me hopeful for the [fictional] futures of these [fictional] characters--and isn't that why we read?!

This book was my first Sally Hepworth book, but it will not be my last! Thank you for sharing it with me!

I couldn't put this book down! Tully and Rachel's dad, Stephen, is marrying a girl younger than they are. And their mom (she does have dementia) is still alive and Stephen is still married to her! This sets the stage for an incredible story of very well defined (somewhat neurotic) characters who stumble through their dad's engagement as they deal with their own HUGE issues.

This book is well written and organized. Each chapter is about a different character and his/her perspective on the situation. The ending was not exactly what I expected - I might have changed a few details, but I suppose it was ultimately satisfying. Highly recommend for a great vacay read!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Younger Wife.

Sally Hepworth got me again! Just when I think I had figured out the book, she completely surprised me with what actually happened. I am learning this is her style and I love it.

In The Younger Wife, Stephen Aston is getting married again, this time to a woman very close in age to his daughters Rachel and Tully. His first wife is still very much alive and he is still married to her. With Rachel and Tully's mother unable to fight her own battles, only Rachel and Tully can protest on her behalf. They are convinced that Heather is not all she seems to be and is just after their father for his money..

Every character in this story has a secret and each person is determined that their secret stay hidden. As is the case with most secrets, they have a way of being found out and then it becomes a matter of damage control. What secrets will come out in this novel, and how will they be dealt with?

I read this book after several historical fiction novels and it was the perfect timing. This book was different and I could not put it down. The twists and turns kept me reading late into the night until I couldn't keep my eyes open. Every time I thought I knew where the author was going, I was wrong. It is one of the things I most enjoy about Hepworth's books, the unexpected events that keep the reader guessing.

I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Sally Hepworth for the copy of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions are entirely my own.

This author is TOPS in the thriller genre. Wow - her books never disappoint and can be devoured in one sitting if you let them. Twists, sisters, secrets - what more do you need to know? Read it!!!

Sally has become one of my go to authors . She creates flawed characters I like and feel empathy for along with great plot twists that keep you guessing till the end and this one was no exception. She is a gifted writer and get see many of her books being made for tv or films

The Younger wife was a great thriller. I am a huge fan of all of the Sally Hepworth books I have read and this was no different. It kept me guessing the whole time. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending but it kept me guessing and I did not expect the ending. I’d recommend this thriller to anybody who loves this author or thrillers.