Loved this thriller and the different perspectives and jumping between time period. It surprised me up until the very end.

4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars! WTH did I just read!! Jessica, Alicia and Norah are foster children that were raised my Ms. Fairchild at the Wild Meadows estate and considered themselves sisters. Ms. Fairchild was supposed to be the epitome of a perfect parent, or was she?

Years later, when the sisters are now women, they get contacted my the police stating that they had found a body at Wild Meadows and are asked if they can come back for questioning. The authorities need help in finding who this person was and if they can assist with finding out who did this.

By going back to Wild Meadows, Jessica, Norah and Alicia start to unpack their childhood and we get to see what did they really go through and if they did have this perfect life that Ms. Fairchild portrayed. This story is told in dual timelines and multiple POVs this psychological thriller was good from beginning to end! Please check the trigger warnings for this book and it is on the dark side but it was really, really good and I definitely recommend it!

This was such a great read! I love Sally Hepworth’s writing. The story flowed so nicely and the ENDING!! I was not expecting that! My mouth literally fell open at it!

This book grabbed me from the beginning anything having to do with young girls kind of raised in an orphanage or in a different situation is totally up my alley I was intrigued by what these young girls went through. Was there a missing girl was there not a missing girl? Did they imagine that there was someone else really a gripping story Sally Hepworth has done it again great book highly recommend.

Another twisty psychological thriller by Sally Hepworth! It was totally worth the hype.

My favorite thing to do reading a psychological thriller like this is to try to anticipate what is actually happening and yet again with Sally Hepworth - I couldn’t! Ha!

I loved every minute up until the very last one!

Thank you for the advanced copy!

I adore Sally Hepworth but sadly this is not my favorite. I found it a bit difficult due to the subject matter, but that wasn’t the reason it didn’t work for me. I felt the twist at the end took the unreliable narrator thing a bit too far and I think broke some of the “not fair to the reader” rules of crime fiction.

Darling Girl by Sally Hepworth is an outstanding thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end. The story is filled with unexpected twists, captivating characters, and a plot that hooks you from the first page. Hepworth’s writing is sharp and engaging, making it hard to put down. This novel is a must-read for anyone who loves thrilling mysteries with emotional depth.

I absolutely LOVED this book! Sally Hepworth is such a fantastic thriller writer. The twists and turns are always unexpected and jaw dropping which is what I look for in any thriller I read!

Creepy foster home!

Miss Fairchild lives on a farm, Wild Meadows in Port Agatha. She fosters children in need. On the outside, she seems like a good person helping out.

The first child to arrive is Jessica. She got there when she was five. Years later, she is joined by Norah who is eleven, and then by Alicia who is twelve. These three girls will endure trauma that will mark them as adults.

Twenty-five years later, all three girls are contacted. The body of a child has been found buried under Wild Meadows' property and they are all called back to talk to the police. The three return to their childhood town where they will relive the worst time of their lives.

The novel is narrated by the three main characters and also by an unknown narrator who is getting therapy sessions. It also alternates between past and present.

The plot was engaging and the girls, because of their flaws, were humanized making the reader empathize with their current situation.

Jessica Clarke did an amazing job narrating Darling Girls. Every time Miss Fairchild said Darling girls it gave me the creeps!

Sally Hepworth has become an auto-request/buy for me.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by St. Martin's Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Good suspenseful story with a couple of surprises. This is a story of foster children and found family. This is a lot better than Sally Hepworth's last book.

thank you to netgalley & st. martin’s press for this arc!!

READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY ↡
👥 multiple POVs
⏪ past + present
👭 close sister relationships

REVIEW ↡
i always love sally hepworth books and DARLING GIRLS is one of my favorites now!! i loved this story, even though it was considerably darker than the other books i’ve read by her. the creepy suspense surrounding miss fairchild kept me very hooked! there were several red herrings to keep us guessing what happened. i liked how none of my assumptions as a reader were true. the final chapter (iykyk) didn’t do much for me - i would have been okay without it, but this was still worthy of 5 stars for me!!

This book was more mystery than thriller and I did enjoy it. This definitely kept me guessing until the end. Three adult women who grew up in foster care, told in past & present. The house they lived in is torn down and a body is discovered underneath. They are brought in for questioning and you then get glimpses in their past. The ending, eeeek.

There's no real mystery here-- you know who the bad guy(s) are from page one. I was intrigued by the three central women, who did feel real to me. The pacing of the before-and-after timelines was well done, and it kept me reading.

(3.5, rounded up to 4)

In Sally Hepworth’s “Darling Girls,” readers are invited into a world where family bonds serve as both lifelines and shackles as three foster sisters navigate a tangled web of secrets, love, and murder. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?

Hepworth masterfully toggles between viewpoints and timelines, allowing us glimpses into each sister’s past, and the tension builds as we learn about their upbringing under the watchful eye of their mercurial foster mother, Miss Fairchild. The sisters’ personalities are distinct, shaped by their shared trauma: Jessica, the pragmatic one; Norah, the dreamer; and Alicia, the rebel. They each harbor secrets that ripple through the narrative, and they learn that the seemingly idyllic Australian farming estate where they once spent their childhood conceals more than picturesque landscapes.

Labeling this a thriller is somewhat misleading. While the narrative of “Darling Girls” does have some suspense, it leans more towards contemporary family drama. The heart of the story lies in the sisters’ relationships with each other, with Miss Fairchild, and with their individual pasts, with the mystery subplot serving as a backdrop.

Be warned, however, that there is an unexpected reveal on the final page that will leave readers with their jaws on the floor. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that Hepworth saves her most potent, gut-punch of a twist for the end and it’s a revelation that reshapes everything we thought we knew.

At its core, “Darling Girls” is a tale of resilience, sisterhood, and the haunting power of memory. This novel offers a compelling blend of both mystery and family drama that is sure to satisfy readers of both.

DARLING GIRLS was my favorite @sallyhepworth book yet! ARC sent from the publisher.

It follows three foster sisters who return back to the home where they were raised after bones are discovered buried beneath the home. This was an intricately plotted read that gave me more of a historical fiction vibe than thriller, and I really enjoyed it!

Read if you like:
✨found family
✨multiple POV
✨flawed characters to root for

So great. Creepy yet delightful. I had no clue where the story was going until the very end. Sally Hepworth is definitely an auto-read author for me.

I expected more from a book defined as a mystery thriller. I expect it to be a little more thrilling and mysterious.

This book wasn't thrilling but there was a mystery. The beginning was too slow for me although the he last 50 pages were great!!

Overall I would say not a bad thriller. Saved by the great reveal!

I'm very ashamed to say this was my first read by Sally Hepworth because, WOW. She did not disappoint!

This is an intoxicating yet sad story about 3 foster children and the abuse they endured at the hands of their foster mom who are called back to place where they grew up when a body is found under their foster mom's house. Hepworth leaves a few red herrings to make you guess what happened and who is telling the truth, and the book ends with a bang. You also can't help but fall in love with the 3 main characters and their found family/sisterhood as they battle back against their foster mom in the present and navigate the feelings from their youth.

I generally struggle with flashbacks and don't find them as entertaining as the current day story, but those parts were well done and kept my attention just as well. Darling Girls was amazingly written and was a truly great binge. If you're looking for a psychological thriller with a domestic twist, you should definitely grab Darling Girls!

🩷 BOOK REVIEW 🩷
Darling Girls by @sallyhepworth
𝙈𝙮 𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: 4.5⭐️

THE VERDICT
I adore Sally Hepworth books! She manages to write thrillers that are so suspenseful that also evoke your heart strings. This story is perfectly weaved together and will make you think about people’s capacity for evil. That final chapter 🤯 DAMN

PLOT:
Three sisters (not biologically, but bound by their shared trauma) spent a few years together in the foster home— Wild Meadows— under the care of Miss Fairchild who was anything but fair to children.

They eventually found a way to get out from her abusive hand.

Now, 25 years later, they’re forced to relive their trauma as old human remains have been found under the foster home. They have to confront their past, their fears, and their trauma, as they are both witnesses and suspects in the new investigation.

#sallyhepworth #darlinggirls #stmartinspress #goodreads #netgalley #bookstagram #books #bookrecommendations #bookreview #5starreview

DARLING GIRLS
By Sally Hepworth

Foster Parent
Found Family
Murder Mystery

Jessica, Holly, and Alicia are foster sisters who shares a bond while under the care of nefarious foster parent Holly Fairchild. They are called together once again when a dead body was found in the home where they used to live. I enjoyed the back story that lead up to the discovery of who the body was and what took place in the past. As much as I love these types of domestic mysteries, the slow burn to the truth with some twists and turns are a bit over used in this thriller genre. I did enjoy it because of the storytelling and the incredible audio narration by Jessica Clarke. I can’t seem to stop listening and begged for a long drive just to keep listening to the book.

Thank you St Martin’s Press and Mcmillan Audio.

All opinions are my own.