First off a special thank you to NetGalley and SMP for this advance listen on audiobook! I was so excited to dive into another Sally Hepworth book as I have enjoyed her stories in the past.

Fiction is sometimes a challenge for me via audiobook but I really enjoyed the reading, characters and more! I did have to rewind a few times but worth it. Great psychological thriller - another win for Sally Hepworth!

What you see on the outside is not necessarily how things are
How would you feel if your father announced he was marrying a much younger woman while your mother was still alive and married to your father? This is situation that Tully and Rachel find themselves in. Their mother has dementia and instead of their father being there he went and got younger woman.
Meet Heather the new step-mom to be. She comes from a background she is hiding and now suddenly she is questioning her own memories. Could this man be everything or is there something behind that facade?
Sally Hepworth tells this story from the perspective of Tully, Rachel and Heather. Sally gives each woman a very unique personalities and quirks. The narrators in this audio brought the words into living breathing people.
I really liked this book. It was very entertaining and made my drive to and from work enjoyable.

Any Sally Hepworth fan will enjoy this story. Much like her other books this story follows a family that has an unclear dynamic. This book has multiple POVs (Two sisters and their dad's new beau are the main ones) and it makes you wonder if they are viewing the circumstances with a bias lens based on their own anxieties or if these events are really happening.

The book starts out strong with us knowing someone is taken away from a wedding in an ambulance. We don't know what caused this, who is in the ambulance or the outcome of the wedding. This makes the story compelling because we are left watching tensions rise without knowing exactly who is going to snap and exactly what is going to be the outcome. The pacing of the book along with the different points of view keep the story moving along without getting boring.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story! The characters are enjoyable and the book keeps you guessing without feeling frustrated. I have already recommended this book to multiple people and I will keep doing so. Thank you Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read this!

This was an ok read for me but a great listen… so many times the audiobook is what saves a book for me. I couldn’t listen to this as fast as I normally like to listen to audio because of the narrator’s accent so it moved slower than I like.

The Younger Wife is domestic thriller chock-full of family drama. This is my first book by Sally Hepworth. I’ve had The Good Sister on my TBR for a long time, so I was looking forward to finally getting around to read one of her books. We follow 4 POVs, which sounds like a lot, but I actually really enjoyed the different perspectives. The 4 POVs are two sisters, Natalie and Rachel, the younger wife, Heather, and another unknown POV.

We start off at a wedding where an incident has occurred and we are experiencing this from the POV of an unknown guest. We then alternate to our other POVs where we meet heart surgeon, Stephen, who is introducing his girlfriend to his daughters. She is much younger than their mother who their father is still married to and has dementia. She also used to be the couples interior designer. They soon learn he is planning to divorce their mother to marry his girlfriend. Lots of events start to unravel that make all of the women wonder if they really know Steven.

All the characters have their own secrets and issues. There is a lot of gaslighting as well. I enjoyed the family drama and the way the book was told. The ending wasn’t my favorite, but I still really enjoyed it overall.

I loved learning more about each character — some I hated and some I absolutely loved. I definitely had to go back several times to make sure I heard what I heard in this audiobook, because I didn’t want to miss anything concerning the characters.

This book is such a psychological thriller, I can definitely see this as a good book for a book club. The ending can be perceived in different ways and talking amongst friends would be a great idea!

Overall I gave this one 🕯🕯🕯🕯

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the audiobook advanced copy!

It was ok. I honestly don’t really have much more to say than that. I know a lot of people had an issue with the ending in the ARC, but I had the audiobook version which apparently had the updated ending. I looked up how the ARC ended and I’m definitely glad she decided to change it or this would have gotten a much lower rating. I can’t say this was a terrible book, but I feel like she threw in a lot of problems where they didn’t need to be them just for the sake of having them in the book. I really enjoyed Sally Hepworth’s previous books so I will continue reading what ever she comes out with, this one just missed the mark.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

The Younger Wife is a page turning domestic thriller that will leave you wondering what on earth you just read. This story opens with a strange wedding where the groom's very recently divorced wife (who has been suffering from dementia) is suspiciously on the scene when one of the newly married couple is killed. Only the close knit family including the groom, the bride, ex wife, daughters know what happened when screams could be heard in the front of the church far away from the prying eyes of the wedding guests. We are then introduced to each of the main characters: Stephen, the groom who is a well loved doctor, Pam who is his recently divorced wife who is suffering from dementia, Heather who is the new wife and also younger than both daughters, and Stephen and Pam's daughters Tully (who is a wife and mother at her wits end and a bit of a kleptomaniac) and Rachel who is a baker who hasn't had a relationship since she was a teenager. Everyone of these character has either a dark past or secrets they'd rather not have uncovered and one of them isn't leaving the wedding alive.

I had a great time reading this fast paced thriller that I devoured in just one day because I was incapable of taking a break because I had to know what crazy twist Sally Hepworth was going to throw next. Some of the characters I found took longer for me to like than others but as the read further they grew on me. With the help of the author's amazing writing I as questioning what was really happening and if the several narrators we're really reliable. The ending of the book had me stunned and questioning what they ended up doing after the wedding. I wish I didn't have so many questions at the end of the book because I love to carefully wrap up a mystery but the open ended conclusion was still satisfying. I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook because the narrators' voices were just so perfect for the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan for the audiobook copy of this book with me in exchange for an honest review.

Ready for a great psychological family drama? The Younger Wife is the one!

I am shocked to say that this is my first Sally Hepworth novel! That being said, The Younger Wife will not be my last and I am excited to read her previous work.

I enjoyed the three different points of views (Tully, Rachel and Heather). I enjoyed this novel because I got to really learn more about the past and the challenges of each of the sisters and the “younger wife”. Their struggles seemed real - and thus relatable.

I LOVED the different audio narrators. All four of them did an amazing job, and their voices kept me engaged throughout the story.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for my Audio Copy of The Younger Wife. Much appreciated.

It was interesting enough to keep me reading but nothing to write home about unfortunately. I did enjoy it though.

***4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account***

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth hooked me from the start as adult daughters Tully and Rachel watch their father Stephen marry Heather who is younger than them. Up front is their mother Pam who suffers from dementia and who Stephen divorced to marry Heather. When they go in a room to sign papers someone is left bleeding unconscious on the floor.

Who is dying? Who is the attacker? Would you believe by the end these are not the two first questions I needed answered?! This author has created a family with more issues than People magazine. Tully is a kleptomaniac, Rachel has an eating disorder, Heather is becoming an alcoholic. The one thing they all have in common in their relationships is Stephen...interesting.

A professional cast of narrators Barrie Kreinik, Zoe Carides, Caroline Lee, and Jessica Douglas- Henry enhance this soap opera of a family drama.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Macmillan Audio via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Younger Wife
Sally Hepworth
St. Martin’s Press
April 5, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Younger Wife opens with a wedding between an older man and a younger woman. The man’s daughters-Rachel andTully-are there as is his ex-wife Pam who has dementia. Awkward: Especially when the Ex approaches the altar as the vows begin. The bride hands her the bouquet and she sits down for a bit. But as the newlyweds kiss, she is back at the altar with a candlestick in her hands. The whole family retreats to a small room to sign the register and the next thing we know, the celebrant comes out to face the crowd with blood on her clothes and asks if there’s a doctor in the house. Intriguing, no? Yes!

This is a story about domestic families and how secrets shape lives. The Aston’s are a upper-middle class family that seem to have everything going for them. Steven is an accomplished heart surgeon loved by everyone and adored by his wife, Pam. But, Pam suffers from dementia and Dad has fallen for Heather, a woman who is younger than the daughters, Rachel and Tully. Is Heather a gold-digger? What is Dad thinking? He was still married to Mom when he announced their engagement to the shocked daughters! How can he think this is okay?!

There is plenty of drama and personal crises in The Younger Wife with all three women ending up in therapy (even a three-year-old goes to therapy) for suppressing family issues. All the men seem perfect. That’s a problem for this reader.

Hepworth is an accomplished writer and she earns four stars from me. I should mention that I listened to the audio version. The narration is by Rachel, Tully, and the younger wife, Heather. All the voices were good except for Tully’s. It was downright annoying.

There are plenty of triggers in this book: Rape, eating disorder, abuse, and addiction. But somehow, Hepworth makes it work.

I enjoyed the book, but was disappointed at the very end. The very last twist ruined the satisfaction of finally figuring out the truth! You have to read it (or listen to it) to judge for yourself. I still recommend this book and give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

i think this is my second sally hepworth, and i really want to read more from her. i am definitely biased when it comes to australian authors/books, certain australian things will bring me so much joy that i can't help but love the book a little extra for that. i didn't love love love this one as much as the good sister, but it was still a great read and couldn't wait to see how it all played out. i found all the characters well written and the whole idea fascinating, really appreciated the whole doubt thing that i can't go too into without spoiling.
the only issue i had was this - i had the ebook and audio from netgalley (narrator was fabulous, love her!) and the ebook and audio were different. i deleted the book when finished and when i told my friend the differences, she was curious and i tried to redownload but obviously it had been changed. which is fine, but frustrating because i do think the things taken out of the ebook really added to the story. that being said, i now doubt myself that they were even different? did i make that up? (i just checked other reviews, i did not make it up, phew).

This was fantastic. Finished it in one sitting and it reminded me of why I love thrillers. The prologue started with a bang and the different POVS just kept you so intrigued and guessing the plot until the very end. Lots of TW so check those but I thoroughly enjoyed this

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3/5⭐️⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝: I always really love Sally’s use of multiple perspectives to weave a story together. She’ll never leaving you hanging for one crucial TWIST that could make or break the book for you. Instead she is masterful at delivering a family drama that will leave you engaged throughout the entire book, and you will find yourself wanting to finish it all in a single sitting.
⁣⁣⁣
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞: This book will certainly be polarizing because of how the female characters were portrayed. All of the women seemed to have a history of trauma (emotional abuse, sexual assault) and each suffered from a variety of issues as a result of those traumas (memory loss, kleptomania, lack of impulse control, mental illness, binge eating, alcoholism). Each woman had been so gaslit over time that she constantly questioned everything going on around her; but the open ending left the reader to question the characters as well. I don’t doubt that it was intentional, to highlight that most women in similar situations are largely overlooked; but it still left me feeling icky about my own doubts in them.

What an interesting book Sally Hepworth has given us! She sets us up from the beginning to be a bit off balance - with a wedding that's already a bit "quirky" (the groom's first wife, who's suffering from dementia, is a guest) before something mysterious happens to someone right after the ceremony is completed. We're told this by an uninvited guest at the wedding. From there, the story is told from the viewpoints of three women, the two adult daughters of the groom and the new bride, with occasional updates on the wedding from the 4th narrator. At the outset all three women seem to be living pretty successful lives, but we come to realize they're dealing with emotional damage from events that are revealed over the course of the book, and their viewpoints are all influenced by those events. So how reliable are they as narrators? We aren't sure - and as the book progresses neither are they. It's hard to say a lot without giving much away, so I won't say more. I've seen a lot of discussion about the ending - we're still left just a bit off balance. I feel like I know what happened, but am I right?
I combined reading and listening on this one, and enjoyed both. The narration was well done on the audiobook.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing a digital copy for an unbiased review.

This is a story about a not so wicked step mother.

I was with this book until the end, and then it completely lost me; however, I’ve heard the epilogue is changing? So I may revisit this review in the future. I do think if the end is changed, this would be an effective thriller with some chilling elements and a compelling cast.

Spoilers:

as it stands it felt like it perpetuates the “all in your head” narrative abusers promote to continue victimizing the people in their lives.

Sally Hepworth is the queen of complex characters. She writes unique characters that practically jump off the page. The Younger Wife is no exception. Each character is equally damaged and trying to make it by. I’d definitely consider this a domestic thriller that is easy to fly through. While the plot wasn’t terribly complicated the reader’s connection to the characters leaves you rooting for each person until the end. Thanks to the author and publisher for this ARC.

All by itself, Stephen Aston’s second wedding would have been a classic of mixed emotions. His new bride is slightly younger than his two adult daughters, who are serving as bridesmaids while their mother, struggling with dementia, looks on.

Then, moments after the newly blended family disappears into a nearby office for the signing of the church register, the celebrant emerges — covered with blood.

Whose blood? What’s happened? And why?

Those mysteries drive this satisfyingly twisty tale by Hepworth, an Australian writer whose work may remind you of Liane Moriarty’s — high praise indeed. The effect is amplified by the talented cast, which includes Caroline Lee, who narrates Moriarty’s audiobooks.

If you enjoy a reading experience with unreliable narrators, this is the book for you. It was definitely the book for me.

Meet sisters Tally and Rachel and their soon-to-be stepmother Heather... who is younger than them. This book follows all three of these women's points of view, alternating between chapters. Throughout the story, we uncover that all three of them have secrets, very well-kept secrets and traumas. We even slowly begin to see some fuzzy and questionable memories about the sister's father Stephen and their mother -- memories that leave you confused as the reader as to what the truth really is.

I enjoyed following the quirky and heartbreaking stories of these women, and this book was almost five stars for me. However, the ending brought it back to a generous four stars. While this ending was unpredictable, it left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't know if I am more of justice-junkie, but I think this ending plays into a scenario where the women of the story come across as hysterical. It is never actually confirmed if we are seeing a "bad man" or delusions caused by the mother's Alzheimer's and Heather's trauma. I'm not sure who to trust, but I would have loved a clear ending verdict on the father.

Thank you Sally Hepworth and NetGalley for the early access to this book!