This was definitely a slow burn type of story. The first 1/4 was a bit slow but then quickly picked up and I could t stop listening. I love when audiobooks have multiple narrators, and thankfully this one had a separate voice for each of the four narrators. This book was not at all what I expected, in fact everything was backwards to what I thought was going to happen! This was a good thing! I love a story that keeps me on my toes and keeps me guessing. Each character had so many layers to unfold, that I felt I got the opportunity to really get to know each character. I was little confused how Tully kept referring to her family as “middle class”. They most definitely were not; they were were what I would consider wealthy. Maybe the meaning is different in Australia? Regardless, this was an extremely well written story that will leaving you questioning everything until the very end.

I really did not enjoy the content of this book or the narration.

I think the author included a number of serious issues without any in-depth exploration. I mean even the whole of premise of questioning whether abuse is occurring was really strange and uncomfortable to me.

I also didn't like the narration. One of the voices was especially unpleasant.

I enjoyed the story line and plot. I enjoyed the various point of views. However the ending wasn’t great. The narration sounded off and made it challenging to listen to! Check TW prior to reading.

Imagine your father marrying someone your own age?
I know!!
I just had to listen to this book to see what happens!!
The story is told in multiple POVs which was great. Being able to see how each character thinks and overall react to certain situations was great.
This story is filled with twists and turns and the ending will leave you reeling.
I really hope this opens doors for people to discuss gaslighting and DV.
The audiobook was a great listen. It elevated the book, and I enjoyed listening to all of the multiple POVs.

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the advance listener copy.

I’m beyond disappointed how serious and traumatic events were used as a plot device and then that ending. This is a harmful story and huge disappointment from an author that I’ve loved in the past.

Thanks to NetGalley & MacMillan Audio for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a super quick listen, and quite entertaining. From the cover, I was expecting something much more suspenseful and taut, but the reality is that this book is almost breezy - think Liane Moriarty during the Big Little Lies era.

There are 3 major female characters, bound together by a single male character: Tully and Rachel are sisters in their 30s, the daughters of Pam and Stephen, and Heather, in her slightly younger thirties than the sisters, is Stephen's fiancée. Pam is still alive, but she has early onset Alzheimer's, was recently moved to a nursing home, and was divorced by Stephen so that he could marry Heather, whom he met when she was hired to do the interior design on Pam & Stephen's house. Juicy, right?

*Everyone* in this book has major issues. Tully is a kleptomaniac and has been since she was a child. Rachel suffered a sexual assault at 16 and has never told anyone - not a friend, family or counselor. Heather has been lying about her past because her parents were alcoholics and her father strangled her mother to death after years of domestic abuse. Pam's issues are obvious ... and Stephen? Weeeelllll, he might be a sweetheart, or he might be a gaslighting abuser who's been operating under the radar, posing as a stable doctor for the past several decades.

Honestly, the story is great, it really does remind me of a Liane Moriarty book. I will definitely be seeking out more Sally Hepworth, as I think her book covers have been selling her short. Much has been made of the ending of this book, and I have to admit I found it confusing. I figured there would be a twist of sorts, and there *was*, kind of, but not exactly. It is left open to interpretation by the reader. I'm still mulling it over, as I just finished the book. I like closure, and I am left a tad annoyed that I didn't get it here.

That said, the voice acting was excellent. My big pet peeve is when the voices all slop together and I can't tell who is "speaking," but having 4 distinct narrators was a genius move. Caroline Lee, who has narrated Liane Moriarty's books, is the voice of Tully, and she's great. Zoe Carides, as Rachel, is the real standout, though, but all the voices were pretty wonderful and skilled.

While this book was not for me because I could not connect with the characters or the plot but I can totally see people enjoying this mystery thriller with all the twists and turns!

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to read this novel.

I was 100% not expecting this book to go the route it did. I really enjoyed the pacing, the writing, and the plot. If you like quick paced, juicy domestic suspense novels, I would highly recommend this one!

I also did the audio narration, and thoroughly enjoyed all the different narrators. Thought it added very well to the story line and would suggest this one for audio if you are on the fence about it!

My major complaint is that I can’t stand to read about narcissistic men who beat their wives- even if the get what’s coming to them. This book is absolutely about that so the topic was just not something I enjoy reading about, which made this book kinda tough for me to get through. It is an extremely gripping novel and will, I’m sure, be a best seller.

I have loved Sally Hepworth’s previous novels as she knows how to write family/domestic suspense. This is a well-paced family drama with complex characters and A LOT going on. As we get into the storyline, all of the main characters have issues going on in their personal lives and while some of these problems played into the main storytelling, others it felt like were a bit unnecessary and diluted the overall experience.

Throughout the book though, Hepworth does a great job of casting doubt and making the reader question everything they think they know. The ending left me wanting more but overall an enjoyable read. I will definitely pick up another Hepworth book!

Domestic thrillers are my favorite thriller sub-genre. There’s something so interesting about what goes on behind closed doors. This one was really interesting as you’ve got a younger wife coming into the picture while the first wife, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, is divulging family secrets. But no one knows if the stories are in fact real or if they’re a result of her illness.

I really enjoyed this book. Not just for the story itself but I liked that it talked about the many forms of mental illness and how gaslighting can really affect someone’s psyche.

The characters felt very real and there were interactions between the daughters and the mother that hit close to home. One part mentioned how they wished the daughters could have a conversation with their mom. My grandmother has Alzheimer’s and that section made me think of my mom and how she must be feeling.

Overall, I found this to be a great read.

I have so many thoughts about this book… so I made a list.

1. Sally Hepworth has become an auto buy author for me - and I don’t have many of those in the thriller genre! (Also, why are my two favorite Australian authors both named Sally??)
2. I was absolutely hooked on this book from start to finish!
3. The full narration cast and multiple POVs were great! (minus Tully’s voice- I wasn’t a fan, but I think she was meant to be a bit annoying)
4. As is typical of Hepworth books, they are a lot of family drama and mystery, but not scary at all.
5. Lots of triggers: kleptomania, physical and psychological abuse, rape(off page), eating disorder, dementia.

Here’s the thing: I’m not sure that this book made a lot of sense??? I am not sure what the point was and the more I try to figure it out, the more confused I feel. There were a lot of distracting plot lines. And the ending was surprising in a weird way… BUT!! I had fun reading it and would do it again!

This was such an interesting family drama. It is told from 3 POVs. Each felt like they had distinct voices and was easy to follow. I wish it moved a little quicker at times, but the pacing did help to add some level of suspense at times.

THE YOUNGER WIFE review

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

💜The Younger Wife was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022! Sally Hepworth is the queen of family dramas and her book The Good Sister was one of my favorite reads last year. I’m in between 3.5-4 stars for my rating.

💜Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Stephen Aston is a man in his 60s who is getting remarried, except he’s not yet divorced from his current wife. His new wife is younger than his daughters. Why would a woman so young want to marry a man of Stephen’s age? Is she after his money, or is there something darker going on? Stephen’s daughters are determined to find the truth. But the truth they uncover will change their lives forever.

💜I really enjoyed that this story was told from three different POVs. I never felt confused by the changing narrators (which sometimes happens with a multi-POV book). Each story line had the perfect amount of suspense to keep me invested the entire time. Every time I put this one down, I was eager to get back to the book to figure out what would happen next. The ending fell a bit flat for me, but I still enjoyed this one overall! I will definitely read more by this author (one of my 2022 goals is to read the rest of her backlist)!

I'm usually a fan of this author and was excited to read this one, but it didn't hold my attention like the others and seemed slower paced.

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth pulled me in from the very beginning. I was expecting an age gap story and resentment on the part of his daughters, but I got so much more. I loved how the author wrote the multiple perspectives and let one make their own interpretations of the coercive control and abuse. This domestic thriller really kept my attention. The narration by Barrie Kreinik, Caroline Lee, Jessica Douglas Henry and Zoe Carides all was superb. They each added the right feels and I could envision so many details. I loved how unexpected some of the twists were written. Thank you #NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this pre-release book. I fully enjoyed it.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for gifting me a digital copy of the latest book by a favorite, Sally Hepworth - 4.5 stars rounded up! The audiobook was expertly narrated by Barrie Kreinik; Caroline Lee; Jessica Douglas-Henry; Zoe Carides - they added much to the enjoyment of this book!

Ahh...the younger wife. Steven Aston has just announced to his grown daughters, Rachel and Tully, that he is engaged to much younger Heather. While that may be a lot to absorb, Steven is still married to their mother, Pam, who has dementia and is in a nursing home. Needless to say, the daughters aren't totally welcoming. And everyone has secrets.

Told in varying viewpoints, from the wedding date and in the past, we learn all those secrets. I loved these characters (most of them at least!) and I couldn't put this book down until I figured out all the twists. I've read some reviews that questioned the ending, but to me things were clear enough and I liked it. I love books that have you questioning everyone's motives behind their actions and behaviors. There's also some good life lessons in here as well - the harm that held secrets do to ourselves and relationships and believing in ourselves. I enjoyed the afterword as well, with the author's story of the book's beginnings.

I am at about a 4.35 ⭐ for this one.

First of all I am super excited for a main character with the same name as me ~ although my name is pretty common I don't see it too often in my reads, so that's fun 👏

The story is told by:
Heather ~ fiancee of Dr Stephen Aston, who happens to be around the age of his daughters, (gold digger alert?)
Tully ~ youngest daughter of Stephen, married to Sonny with 2 boys.
Rachel ~oldest daughter of Stephen who owns her own bakery business.
An attendee of the wedding ~ identity revealed later in the book.

I don't want to say too much and risk giving spoilers, but this book is full of secret after secret after secret. And everyone had one or two. Although the plot is not overly unique, it is executed close to flawlessly and I was totally kept intrigued throughout. Each character was well developed and had their our interesting issues that brought the whole story together.

I really love that when there are multiple perspectives there are then multiple narrators ~ it helps me keep track of who's who. Barrie Kreinik, Caroline Lee, Jessica Douglas-Henry, Zoe Carides all did an excellent job keeping me engaged with the story.

I think I'll always be a Sally Hepworth fan.

*Thanks to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio and Sally Hepworth for the advance audiobook. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

This one is pretty hard to talk about without spoilers!

This book is about the Aston family. It is mainly told through the perspective of Stephen's two daughters and his fiancée, though there is a chapter told by his ex-wife. All of them have secrets and things unravel as the secrets come out.

I enjoyed this but did not love it. I was planning on rating it three stars until the last 5-10%. I knocked another star off as the ending bothered me. For the majority of the story, I felt frustrated because the characters have to be really dense and/or self absorbed not to see some things. That kind of thing annoys me because I spend more time on thinking about how dumb they are than enjoying the story.

I listened to the audiobook. There are four narrators and it was fine. I thought I'd enjoy the Australian accents more than I did. But other than the person who narrated Tully, it was kind of flat.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the characters in this book. Learning about what we think about our lives, and childhood is different then what really is. The story lays out facts and little spoonfuls of plot irs a great read

I will recommend “The Younger Wife: by Sally Hepworth to anyone and everyone. from the start to the end, I was enthralled. If you liked “The Girl on The Train”, this is for you. The ending I was not expecting. This is another run and goes get the book books!
This book may even hit you in the feels. This book reminds us that not all we see is what is happening behind the scenes. Each person presents their life as one thing while secretly going through so much. This story is amazing at laying out the trials and tribulations of each family member.