So I just finished the book and I’m a little conflicted.

On one hand, the book had lots of elements I enjoyed: dual pov, multiple narrators, time hopping, messy relationships etc. I enjoyed the whole set up. I liked that we were trying to find out if Amanda did jump or if she was pushed. It went a completely different way than I expected, which I love! I liked that we got Amanda’s perspective while she was waiting in purgatory, so unique!

What also worked for me, (but I can see wouldn’t work for everyone) was the jumping around in time and perspective. We get “before” and “after” for both Pippa and Amanda. But it’s kind of random, so once you’re plopped into a perspective/time period, you kind of had to get a feel for what’s happening or what happened before. It was a little disorienting, but in a good way for me!

Now the cons. The off the wall business aspects were slightly dull to me. I think that’s the weak point for me. I kept thinking “now wait, what’s going on? Who are these people? Who just got killed?” It was the low points for me. Also at the beginning I kept getting confused on which woman and situation I was in. More than once I had to start over the chapter to remember if it was Pippa or Amanda’s chapter.

Final thoughts! This is the first book I’ve read from this author. I think she did a great job keeping pace fast (thank you short chapters!) and creating an intricate plot. I think the business information & tension was lacking for me. However, I think I will pick up another book from this author in the future!

Mental illness and suicide play a large roll in this story. It switches from now to before and offers a unique perspective on death.

Rating: ⭐⭐ (2)

The Soulmate, (Sally Hepworth, April 2023)

I'll cut to the chase: I didn't enjoy The Soulmate. I don't regret reading it by any means, it just...was not nearly as compelling or captivating as I'd hoped it would be.

A classic spousal "who is betraying whom" story, The Soulmate didn't have the execution necessary to avoid underwhelming the reader (me). I more felt like I was trying to get it finished so I could start my next book, than actually experience the ending. (Also, the thing that the whole book was leading up to....was disappointing. I read a whole book for that to be the reveal?)

I would love to discuss The Soulmate with others, because I have questions that I can't ask in a review -- not only because a review can't talk back, but because asking my questions would mean spoilers. I do think The Soulmate would be a great pick for a book club, for whatever that's worth! (Probably nothing.)

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced listener copy. Onto the next!

🎧Audiobook Review🎧

The Soulmate - Sally Hepworth
Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️

“There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t.

When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral...Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?

And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate...lie? As the perfect facade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel.”

Sally Hepworth is a new author for me but WOW. I enjoyed this one! I was immediately captivated by the story and I loved seeing the characters develop. No single character was without flaws and I honestly disliked most of the them. It’s a little too “rich people and all their problems” for me to give it a full 5 stars but I did really enjoy it.

I felt this handled mental illness, especially bipolar disorder, in a realistic, respectful way - though it really took to the very end for that to come together.

The story is extremely twisty and woven together with dual POVs.

Recommend if you like:
- Psychological thrillers
- Domestic suspense
- Dual POV
- Twists and turns!
- Exploration of marriage and fidelity

Publish date: April 4, 2023

🎧Would you deal with living at a “suicide spot” for the scenery?

Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress and the author for a copy of the ARC.

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This audiobook captured my attention immediately and kept it all the way through. So many twists and turns I didn’t see coming, I really enjoyed it. Have already recommended it to several of my friends

If you are looking for a well-written psychological thriller, Sally Hepworth is your author! And The Soulmate is no exception. The way the booked started off should have clued me in to the wild ride I was about to take while reading this. The amount of twists and turns involved had me dizzy.
The book deals with themes such as mental illness, infidelity, and different types of love/marriage. I suppose people show their love in many different ways, but which are you most comfortable with? Would you prefer a marriage based off of something more contractual - deep respect but not exuding love - or a whirlwind romance - where maybe the whirlwind is more of a manic episode then soulmate material?
I found myself questioning what my true understanding of what a true loving marriage looked like in the traditional sense all throughout this book. I also had zero idea how it was going to end and kept reading just to find out.

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth is a domestic thriller and it's the first book by this author that I've read. I really enjoyed the writing style and the dual POV. The story captivated me from the beginning. Also, it is set in Australia which I did not anticipate. I listened to the audiobook version and the narration was immersive and really well done. The narrators matched the characters and were very believable.

I enjoyed the whole story, really. I did not have a lot of expectations starting this book as I've not read any other books by this author before but I will definitely read more of her novels after this one. I do recommend this book to everyone that enjoys a high quality domestic thriller/suspense novel. Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook ahead of its publishing day of 4/11/23. My review is voluntary and was not influenced in any way.

Sally Hepworth is a master at taking a picture and twisting it just enough to have the reader wondering what is true and what isn't. Pippa sees her husband, Gabe, at the edge of the cliff behind their home with a woman. She sees his hands stretched out towards her. And then she sees the woman go over the cliff. Did he push her? Did she jump?

This book contains all of my favorite aspects of a Hepworth novel. There is a picture-perfect marriage where all may not be as it seems. Gabe and Pippa and their two beautiful daughters seemingly have an idyllic life so what could Pippa have to be worried about? There are varying points of view. The book goes back and forth from Pippa to Amanda (the woman who went over the cliff). Both viewpoints are told in the present as well as the past so you get to see so many secret aspects of everyone involved someway in the event. Everyone has their secrets. What Hepworth is great at is keeping you guessing right up to the very end. And I mean...the end. Just when you think you're wrapping up and have it all figured out, she throws another curve at you. She is a master at taking family dynamics and turning them on their side to tell a mysterious and captivating story.

The audio is so well done. There are two narrators and each captures Pippa and Amanda perfectly. The intonation and care they take with this domestic suspense sucks the reader in. I kept finding chores and things to do around the house so I could keep listening.

I continue to be a huge fan of Hepworth and recommend her to everyone I possibly can. Read this book. You will not be sorry you did.

I thought this one was a good popcorn thriller. I didn't quite get why anyone with little kids would want to live somewhere with a cliff known as a suicide spot. I did also feel like there was a lot of miscommunication happening. Bur overall I was curious to find out how everything would connect.
The narration/audio was excellent, the dual narration was great since there was a lot of back and forth between the two women. Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this one.

A fun, fast paced, twisty thriller.

I had a lot of fun reading (listening) to this one. It was interesting seeing things through the multiple pOV's. Especially from Amanda's (a dead woman) viewpoint.

There was so much that linked these people together, and so much that was only parts of the story.

I was not a fan of Gabe. He seemed a mess of a person. There were parts where he seemed so kind, like talking people off the cliff. But once you get more into the story, he had a lot of issues. More so than just his mental health. He just wasn't always a good person to his wife.

Pippa, for the most part seemed decent, besides one thing, which kind of kicks this whole sequence of events off. Well, kind of. Again Gabe is a big part of this mess to begin with....

But, the end! I really liked the end. Though I can't say too much about it.

The audiobook was fantastic. I loved all the narration and it really brought this book to life.

Twisty thriller about marriage and fidelity and mental health. Pippa and Gabe move to a house on a cliffside, a popular suicide spot, it turns out. Gabe turns out to be an effective whisperer to those who come to jump, convincing each of them to abandon their intentions. Until he doesn’t. And the one who plunges from the cliff has many secrets, secrets which involve Gave and Pippa.
It was compelling to listen to and read (I switched back and forth from audio to ebook), and it’s crafted well, with several reveals and tight pacing. I wouldn’t want to hang out with any of the characters, but they were developed well and unique individuals.
One part of the ending bugged me a bit, but I can’t say more without spoiling. If you’re a fan of thrillers, I think you’ll like this one!
Thanks to the publisher for the advance copies.

I read this book on an ereader and also listened to some of the audio book. I really enjoyed the narrator and felt it was really well read!

Here is my review for the actual book.

I didn't like this book as much as I thought it would. I may have set very high standards but the big wow factor just never came for me. I was waiting for a big exciting O M G twist and you know the story just kind of played out.

With that being said this is still a great read, just a little slower than I thought it would be. I am still not sure how i like the ending but it followed the soulmate theme right to the last jump!

Also shows you how much impact a seemingly innocent lie can have!

Friends don't cheat and don't lie! Also know your worth!! The main character took awhile to find hers!

This one started off SO strong. I was invested after the first chapter and with the short chapters, I couldn't help but keep reading. I ended up binging this one in two sittings. There were a couple times I found myself having to go back to check what time point we were in and who's POV it was, but overall I think the author did a good job of helping to keep the reader on track. I did find this harder to keep track of on audio though, so I'd caution people newer to audiobooks on that. Things started to slow down in the second half of the book and the twist seemed somewhat underwhelming.

Gabe and Pippa move to a new house on the ocean and next to their house is a cliff that multiple people tend to take their lives on. Gabe goes to try and stop another person from jumping as he usually does, but things start to go wrong and secrets start to come out. There were some parts that I felt could have been skipped or just threw the story off a bit.

This is actually my first book by Sally Hepworth and I would pick up another! Overall, I'd give this one between 3.5-4 stars

Sally Hepworth latest thriller, The Soulmate, is a fast paced journey through marriage, family, and what each of those requires. Trigger warnings for suicide. The plot is moves quickly and I found myself doing a few extra chores around the house to finish. I do believe her novels are best on audio.

💭Thoughts:
This book grabbed my attention right away! There were multiple POVs, multiple timelines, and lots of different characters to get invested in. The story was full of twists and really kept me engaged.

I enjoyed the soulmates part. I feel like the idea of soulmates is interesting. I’ve read studies that say couples that believe they are with their soulmate are more likely to stay together, whether the relationship is positive or not. I feel like this book exemplified that theory. Pippa deserved better. She was really affected by Gabe and his behavior, whether she chose to realize that or not.

I felt a little let down by the twist at the end. It felt me feeling like, really that was what all the drama led up to! I guess I wanted more.

Overall, it’s a twisty, engaging thriller that I’d recommend to readers who like domestic thrillers.

Sally Hepworth is the queen of twisty domestic suspense in my opinion and almost all follow the same formula - an incident happens that is not what it seems, tying completely separate characters together.
While the story was unique, I think I would’ve found myself skimming the physical book since it’s such a slow burn, but the narrators did a fantastic job of keeping you engaged. The “Now”, “Then”, “Before”, “After” could get a little confusing at times.
Overall, I’d give the story 3 stars but the audio and narration 4.
Thank you MacMillan audio and NetGalley for my copy!

Before The Soulmate, I had somehow never read one of Sally Hepworth’s books? Not sure how that’s possible, because all of them are on my TBR. After The Soulmate? Sign me up to read her entire backlist.

The story itself is an all-too-familiar (to me, at least) narration of two families’ life when mental illness intrudes (as it does). Framed as how they’re related when someone jumps off a suicide cliff in Pippa & Gabe’s back yard. The writing is lyrical and flows like a perfectly-told story. The characters and book are both like onions—layers for days. Both Pippa/Gabe and Amanda/Max have their own love stories—vastly different, but both magical in a way that only true love knows, despite what happens toward the end of the book/after the book concludes.

I also love the world the author created within Pippa and Gabe’s community. The Pantry is a place I absolutely could see myself stopping at for coffee or lunch every day. I felt the emotion (both positive and negative) of having family living nearby and stopping by the house every day. And the neighbors with the flower garden? I wish ours were just like them.

Highly recommend this beautifully written novel.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and the author for a review (audio) copy of this book!

A well-constructed, fast-moving, twisty domestic drama about mental illness, marital infidelity, trust, hope, love, and forgiveness. The advance copy of this audio book was gifted to me by Netgalley and Macmillan Audio and was excitingly narrated by Australians Barrie Kreinik and Jessica Douglas-Henry. The plot development was tight except for a few passages of the wife wandering into what-if imaginings that slowed the story. But otherwise this story was well done and I highly recommend it.

After Pippa and Gabe move to their dreamhouse by the shore overlooking the cliff, a well known spot for jumpers, Gabe, loved by all has talked down multiple jumpers, but when the woman jumps and Pippa thinks she see's his hands and palms out stretched, she begins to wonder. Finding out this woman was Amanda, Gabe's ex boss wife spins Pippa into a tailspin of worry and twists.

Hepworth does not disappoint. Audio version kept me on the edge of my seat with great twists and turns and unpredictable paths. She intertwines a little mental illness as well, hats off to a good picture of Bipolar Disorder. Can't wait to meet Hepworth at the upcoming book signing coming to my town in a few weeks. Definitely do not miss this thriller.

thank you for Macmillan audio for this ARC.

This is a twisty yet heart breaking story all in one. This book has tragic love stories, reflecting dark sense of humor of Hepworth perfectly! Twists are mostly surprising and unforeseen! Especially the last one: broke my heart. This book is about what women can do when they are hopelessly and a little madly in love! Such a wonderful read. definitely grab it when you can.