I admit I didn’t love this one as much as THE GOOD SISTER. But I still enjoyed the layered characters, and serious topics brought to light here.

Tully and Rachel are shocked to learn that their father, Stephen, is getting married again. A couple of things don’t sit well with them. First of all, Heather, his fiance, is around their age. But what is really upsetting is that their father is still married to their mother. Unfortunately, their mother suffers from dementia, and Stephen is requesting a divorce.

The book begins with an act of violence, and we are left wondering what happened. As the story unfolds, we learn that both sisters have unresolved traumas and issues. We also learn of Heather’s traumatic past. But what all comes into question is Stephen’s big secret, and is it true?

I feel like I don’t know for sure what happened, and with this serious of subjects (emotional and physical abuse), it left me a bit unsettled. There are some interesting elements here, and the pace moves along quickly. I just felt like the unreliability factor was a little overdone.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐟𝐞 is a tangled domestic drama, with compelling characters, and I look forward to reading what Sally Hepworth writes next.

Thank you to @stmartinspress for this gifted audiobook.

Sally Hepworth is a favorite thriller author. I just love how effectively she can craft such a twisty tale--she truly excels at domestic suspense. The Younger Wife is about a close-knit family (with two adult daughters) that splinters when the dad announces he’s getting married. The problem–he’s still married to their mom, even if she lives at a dementia care facility.

The new woman–Heather– is the same age as one of the daughters–and they voice their strong reservations of their father’s new relationship. Heather may be young, but she knows what she wants, and how to get it. The girls know she must be hiding something, and they’re determined to dig deep enough to find out what.

Sisters Rachel and Tully each have their own secrets, some from the past and some from the present, that are quickly rising to the surface.

Narrators Barrie Kreinik, Caroline Lee, Jessica Douglas-Henry, Zoe Carides take turns voicing the female main characters. We mostly rotate through sisters Tully and Rachel Aston and their soon-to-be stepmother Heather, but get a few chapters from a mystery wedding guest. The guest’s chapters bring us to the present every once in a while, where we know something terrible involving the other characters has happened, then we go back to unraveling more and more of the past, until finally the timelines merge. It’s such an interesting way to tell the story, and super effective at keeping the reader totally invested.

It’s about 11 hours, 30 minutes, but it’s so propulsive you’ll easily be able to devour this story! Thanks to MacMillan Audio and SMP for an ALC via NetGalley Shelf.

"Perhaps the very worst people had some good in them, and perhaps the very best had some bad."
This is a well-crafted book about a dysfunctional family that thinks they are functional.
Steven, his daughters Rachel and Tunny, his new very young fiancee Heather, and his current wife who suffers from dementia all have their own secrets. The book starts off at Steven and Heather's wedding, where someone has gotten very hurt and there is a lot of confusion. The story cuts back in time to start from the beginning, and we get clue after clue about what happens on that dreadful wedding day.

Things I loved:
- the different voices and perspectives on the audiobook made me feel like the characters were speaking to me
- the way that the sisters supported each other through thick and thin

Not my favorites:
- the lack of emotions that the writing seemed to have, since the book dealt with some major emotional stuff.
- the ending was just not what I was hoping for, but was a surprise!

CW: alcohol abuse, death, murder, domestic abuse, kleptomania, rape, manipulation, gaslighting

Sally Hepworth is one of my favorite authors and I’ve been obsessed with her previous books. She has mastered the tense family drama. And she’s great at catching the tiny things that get on your nerves and how these things can start to add up to create wild plot twists.

In this book, we get three different POVs, Tully, Rachel, and Heather. Each of them have demons they struggle with and past trauma they deal with every day. Please, please pay attention to trigger warnings because this book has a lot of heavy themes.

Tully and Rachel are sisters and Heather is marrying their dad, which is always an interesting relationship, but Tully and Rachel’s dynamic with Heather was especially tense because Heather is close to their age. I kept thinking of Chutney from Legally Blonde screaming in the court room, “How would you feel if your father married someone who was your age?!” We know from the beginning that something happens at the wedding but the truth unfolds over chapters of building suspense.

Now on to the ending that I know has been very divisive with early readers. I had seen the original ending, which was vague, ambiguous, and potentially damaging to survivors of domestic abuse. But if the version that’s in the audiobook is how the wide release will be, I can tell the author and editors have been listening to feedback.

Overall I liked the family drama and the character study of these three women. I loved the mystery aspect and the slow reveal of all the secrets everyone had been keeping. I think this would be a great book club pick because of the important conversations surrounding the plot and characters. It wasn’t my favorite of Hepworth’s but I enjoyed it and cared for the characters she created.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this ALC of The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth.

Admittedly, I listened to The Good Sister earlier this year and did not like it. I was intrigued by the description of this book so willing to give the author another shot :) I'm glad I requested and was approved because this was quite the ride.

Each character is flawed, with their own issues, but not 100% unlikable. I liked the sisters' relationship throughout the story and how it changed over the experiences. The gaslighting is insane but (from an outsiders perspective) well-written to show what real-life might look like for someone in that kind of relationship.

I liked the narration. There are 4 narrators for each of the 4 POVs. I found them to be quite expressive which I love in a narrator.

Overall this was a 3.25 for me. Not my favorite but I'd still recommend it - especially the audio!

The Younger Wife audio was so good! I loved the Australian accents of the different narrators; their voices really pulled me into each character’s individuality and helped with setting the scene for the story to take place in Australia.

This book takes the cliche of an older man marrying a much younger woman and turns it into something totally different, which really kept my attention throughout. I don’t know how I would react if my father started dating someone my age while he was still technically married to my mother, but Rachel and Tully come together as sisters, even through their differences, to try to be understanding and welcoming for their father and his new bride to be. However, what they think they’ve known about their father all their lives starts to unravel piece by piece until he becomes someone they don’t even recognize.

The twists and turns were subtle but they were powerful. I was also very surprised by the heavy hitting topics that were sprinkled throughout the various characters’ lives, such as mental illness, dementia and Alzheimer’s, rape, domestic violence, etc. this made the characters feel so real because none of them were remotely close to being perfect.

Definitely one of my must read authors now!

Happy pub day to this spellbinding pageturner !
As far as entertaining domestic suspense goes this one definitely delivered- I couldn’t stop reading. Very twisty, lots of side stories and a whole family of interesting characters. I loved the structure, right from the start (so no spoiler here) we know something’s gone terribly wrong in a church vestry, but we as readers stay with the regular wedding guests and do not know what happened or who’s the victim … we get bits and pieces of the story in time jumps back with different POVs and it is absolutely compelling to see it unfold. The parts I struggled a bit with were the moral ambiguity, I did not really feel good about the ending and the feeling that some of the side stories were started and were dropped the minute they didn’t serve the main story any more. It would have been interesting to read more about Rachel, Tully and Heather but that was not to be …I started to wonder if perhaps there was just a little too much crammed into the one story. At the same time this book was not meant to be literary fiction or social commentary and for the purpose of entertainment the quick development of events and the sheer mass of events for all protagonists definitely kept me engaged ! If you are looking for a suspenseful domestic thriller this is definitely the right book for you.

This was not so much of a psychological thriller that I thought it was going to be, but more of a family drama. Rachel and Tully are sisters. Their father divorces their mother who has dementia and is in a care facility to marry his new love, Heather. Heather is young. Really young. Everyone has some sort of addiction: Tully to shoplifting, Rachel to baking / food and Heather to alcohol. No one stops to try to figure out what is the root cause of all of these addictions. Everyone, also, has their own opinions about the wedding. At the beginning of the story, you learn that someone dies at the wedding. The entire book goes back to months before and leads you up to the wedding. This was an entertaining story; however, I did know the twist at the end and was not surprised when it was revealed.

I loved the family drama! The multiple POVs were perfect, and not confusing like multiple POVs can sometimes be. I could not put this book down!! I HAD to keep reading and I even put my other books on pause to get through this one. It definitely was a slow burn, but I enjoyed the pace. One thing I will say, I do wish the ending gave more.

I enjoyed Sally Hepworth's THE GOOD SISTER and was excited to begin her newest book. The premise was interesting and I was excited to read it. This is a domestic thriller with touches of unreliable narration. It's hard to know who to trust, who is telling the truth, and who will be believed.

I had high hopes for this and I enjoyed listening. I think it'd be a great pick for book clubs because the ending is subject to debate -- some reviews say the ending is black and white, some say it's logical, some say it's open to interpretation, which are all hallmarks of a book ripe for conversation. I appreciate Hepworth's ability to tell women's stories with care and nuance. Each woman struggles with something -- food, Kleptomania, alcohol, etc -- and each struggle is explored uniquely.

I enjoy Hepworth's books and this one would make a great buddy read or book club pick. I'm eager to discuss it!

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth is a slow burn thriller that is worth it in the end. There are so many characters in this story but I loved hearing the women's side to all that went on. I would definitely recommend this book to all who enjoy the genre and Sally Hepworth books.

Stephen Aston is a top heart surgeon and beloved by his colleagues. He is about to get married again to a woman who is younger than both of his daughters. But first, he must divorce his current wife who suffers from dementia.

Tully and Rachel Aston do not know how to feel about their father's new fiancee. They think she is after his money but both women have their own secrets and lives to worry about.

Heather has her own secrets that have not come out yet. What is the real reason she is marrying Stephen and does this have anything to do with her own past?

With all the secrets this family has and the alarming events that are taking place this story is a page turner despite its slow lead up. I was invested in all the characters and wanted to know what was really going on.

I loved that there were so many narrators in this novel to keep all the characters straight. This was a great production decision and helped me to become even more engaged in the story because I knew exactly who was who. Great narration by Barrie Kreinik, Caroline Lee, Jessica Douglas-Henry, and Zoe Caride.

Thank you to NetGalley Macmillan Audio and St. Martin's Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read three of Sally Hepworth’s books and have rated them all solid B’s, this one being one. She writes a solid thriller with some family drama that I get into and don’t want to put it down until I’m done. There weren’t many twists here, you knew the direction it was headed about 50% through, but I enjoyed reading the story until the end.

What a great story. I really enjoyed the chapters being broken up to focus on each of the female characters. The characters were well developed with this chapter design. I also appreciated the way the wedding was broken up into bits through the book. It made the reader start to make their own assumptions without giving too much away. It was interesting to learn the personal connection of one of the books events from the acknowledgments. This will be a great recommendation for fans of psychological thrillers.

The narrators were wonderful. Having narrators for the four women, made the chapters easier and more enjoyable than one narrator trying to portray each of the characters.

This was sadly a DNF for me. I think this is just not my type of thriller but I can see a lot of people enjoying it. Barrie Kreinik, Caroline Lee, Jessica Douglas-Henry, and Zoe Carides were all amazing from what I heard but this was just a little too slow for me. I appreciate the ALC for my honest review.

I've only recently started getting into audiobooks. I always felt like audiobooks were a way of cheating to say you read the book. However, as my life slowly started to get more hectic with each passing year, I realized I hardly ever had time to read and found myself starting to get jealous that my audiobook obsessed husband was listening to books I wished I had time for while also completing his chores. Ultimately, my jealousy is what convinced me to finally give audiobooks a try. Now, I can't imagine not having an audiobook to listen to at all times.

The Younger Wife is the third audiobook I have listened to and I was very surprised to see that the book was narrated by four voice actors. I can honestly say they were all quite talented and very convincing. I truly enjoyed listening to them narrate this book. 

Regarding the story, it reads at a good pace and the characters are well-developed. It was interesting enough to keep my attention, but I did find it to be a bit predictable. It followed all of the rules for a good thriller/mystery, but I was sad to find out that I predicted the ending. However, if you are ever in the mood for something with a little mystery, I do think this audiobook is worth a listen.

Another great read by Sally Hepworth. Very interesting story very nicely executed. More family drama than thriller but still very enjoyable read. I enjoyed switching between this arc and the audio version. Thank you so much to publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

I love so many of author Sally Hepworth’s previous novels, so I was excited for her newest release, THE YOUNGER WIFE!

I’ve found the best way to really enjoy mystery/thrillers is to read them right after an intense Historical Fiction, or pad them around a light romance, as was the case when I read this. It just makes me enjoy the suspense that much more when I’m not reading 5 of them in a row.

I flew through this story and read it in a day, alternating between the physical book, ebook, and the gifted ALC, and loved the way each format brought the story to life. The narrator

The story centers around a Father getting married to a woman younger than his two adult daughters. There were a few surprises, but the author kept things light around the dark subject matter involved.

*many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

PUB 4/5/22

“It’s funny how desperately the brain will seek an answer if it doesn’t have one. Not knowing is not a restful state. I know this.”

THE HUSBAND. A heart surgeon at the top of his field, Stephen Aston is getting remarried. He just has to divorce his debilitated wife first. THE DAUGHTERS. Tully and Rachel are both older than their soon to be stepmother and they see her as nothing more than a gold digger. THE FORMER WIFE. Locked away in a home and slowly losing her memory, she holds the key to the family secrets. If only she could remember. THE YOUNGER WIFE. Heather has a secret of her own.

Wheeeee this was one hell of a ride. I absolutely adored The Good Sister, which I read in October 2020. Like so much so that I can still vividly remember and picture the main characters and the plot line. And that’s saying a lot based on the sheer volume of books I read. So I was very excited to receive the ARC’s of The Younger Wife.

This book did not disappoint! The audio was fantastic with its full cast of narrators. I always appreciate different narrators when a story has many POV. It really helps to keep the characters straight.

This book was fast paced with quick and short chapters and, although there is a who-done-it element, the actual characters and their growth held my interest more than the mystery factor. Overall a very enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley, St Martins Press, Macmillan Audio, and the author for the ARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! Tully and Rachel are coping with their mother's dementia when their father, Steven, gets engaged to a woman their age. while he is still married to their mom. After Rachel discovers a hot water bottle stuffed with nearly 100k, they begin to question much about their family. Both Rachel and Tully are dealing with their own deep and troubling personal issues and struggles. Told from the viewpoint of Tully, Rachel, Fiance Heather, and someone at the wedding, it leaves the reader guessing from start to finish. One thing that made this a page turner for me was the characters. They were all just flawed enough to be relatable without being too far fetched. Author, Sally Hepworth did a fantastic job with characterization. I read other reviews about not liking the ending. While I do agree with some of that, I also feel the magic of this book was in the heart of the story. This book was gripping in an unusual way. I highly recommend!

**huge thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

Stephen, an older gentleman, wants to marry Heather, a much younger woman....the only problem Stephen is still married to Pam, the mother of his children who is currently suffering from dementia. Tully and Rachel, his daughters are none too impressed with this recent development. The father that they thought they knew would never do this to their mother, right?! Wrong! Throw in the discovery of a hot water bottle filled with cash that Rachel finds amongst her mother's things and you have plenty of questions that are begging to be answered.

The story is told from three POVs of the women in Stephen's life, who all have their own respective issues. Heather, the younger wife, with daddy issues...she seemingly can't handle her alcohol, loses time, and sometimes has accidents that she can't really recall all that well when she is around Stephen. Tully is struggling with impending financial ruin after her husband made some bad investments and has an illegal compulsion that she just can't quit. Rachel is an up and coming baker who suffered trauma while younger and binge eats to deal with stress.

I definitely cared more about the women in the story (their motivations, their histories, their anxieties) than good ol' Stephen. This is a novel that relies on the gaslighting of women, which has become a bit tiresome to me these days. It was a quick read and one that I couldn't put down, but overall I just "liked" it. I enjoyed the audiobook version and thought the narrators (Barrie Kreinik, Caroline Lee, Jessica Douglas-Henry, Zoe Carides) did a good job. Rating: 3 stars.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for my advanced listening and reader copies for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.