I read this from NetGalley. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press!

I would and will definitely be suggesting this book to others! I’m writing this now because there are spoilers in this review. If you haven’t read, order now. If you have read, continue on.

I needed to keep reading because I absolutely could not go on without knowing what happened.

The plot was good. Three sisters, foster sisters, coming together to find out the truth about the dark childhoods they all had together. A body is found under the home they formed their sisterhood in and they are called back to help with the investigation. A dark childhood festers in different ways as people grow older. Each sister has her own way of dealing with the past trauma. They all unfold throughout the book. I liked how they were all so different. Three completely different paths are intertwined because of one person, and I’m not even referring to the foster mom.

The narcissistic foster mother is still around, plot twist one. I was surprised when she walked through the door and was then an open part of the investigation. It’s surprising that as much fell through the cracks with these girls as it did, but con people are con people are con people. The drinking. The mood swings. The extremes.

Darling girls come and go, and never fill the void.

The foster moms meetings with the psychologist, plot twist two, taking place in prison, plot twist three, all made sense once you got to it. Throwing the excerpts from the meetings in different chapters really had me wondering who was actually speaking.

Honestly when the police said they imagined it all, I was shocked. It was very sixth sense. You stop and think oh shit that makes so much sense. But then I remembered how much interaction the foster mom had with the toddler.

The ending was good. I kind of figured it was coming but I guess that’s what happens when you watch more true crime than the average woman. I’d like to know more about Scott. I’d like to know more about what happens to the foster mom next. That’s how I know when a book is good, if I am still wondering about it a few days after I finish it.

I kind of hate this book. It's typical Hepworth: very twisty, huge content warnings, pokes at the abuses and vulnerabilities and controversial aspects of motherhood.

While I appreciated the raw and ugly truth of the foster care system, I couldn't help but feel like it was imbalanced and unhelpful. I wish she had written more about the daughter who went on to be a social worker to show even more of the good side.

The book is so full of cruelty, disgusting and perverse cruelty, that I'm left seriously questioning the author's motives. There are horrible scenes of rape and abuse to young girls, a horrible labor and birth ordeal. According to the author's note, she wanted to highlight the very real abuse that occurs in the foster system, but this book went above and beyond; and since it's ultimately for entertainment rather than education, it's disgusting.

This is Extreme Horror/Splatterpunk rather than a domestic thriller.

I voluntarily read and honestly review this book courteous of St Martin's Press and Netgalley.

Read this if you like:
•Domestic thrillers
•Complicated family relationships
•A dark & twisty book

This book was so good! A lot to unpack when 3 foster sisters head back to their foster home to help solve the mystery of whose bones were buried under the house. I was truly intrigued the entire time!

Thank you St Martins for the eARC!

This author is a MUST READ Everytime she releases a book. I can not get enough. She did not disappoint with this one.

Darling Girls follows three foster sisters that grew up together in the house of Miss Fairchild. Now, years later a body is found underneath Miss Fairchild's old home and many secrets will be unearthed
One of Hepworth's best! I loved the dual timelines that showed the girls as they were growing up and now. This story is heart wrenching, The trauma and heartache these girls have to go through is terrible. Hepworth really can make some complex characters! 
This story was absolutely bingeable!

I love sally hepworth and thank you net galley for this ARC! That being said, this one was a bit of a downer for me. First off, if you have any trigger issues, just be aware. The child abuse in this one kind of got to me. Three foster sisters must go back to the awful place they grew up when bones are found there. I really enjoyed the sister aspect. Told in Now and Before times. The story was good and I loved the Now chapters, but again the Before and the abuse kind of bothered me. Good story and overall good book though! Kept me interested.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martins Press, and Sally Hepworth for an advance copy of Darling Girls in exchange for an honest review. I feel like Sally Hepworth is truly the queen of domestic suspense and Darling Girls was another great example of this. Darling Girls is told through three different perspectives (Jessica, Norah, and Alicia) who were all in foster care and taken care of by Mrs. Fairchild. As the book progresses, we see that their lives under Mrs. Fairchilds care may not have been as picture perfect as it seems. We then discover that there was a body found under their childhood home and the questions start flying. Per usual, Hepworth delivers an absolute killer twist at the ending that had me audibly gasping! I think this may be in my top two books by Hepworth!! Grab this fast paced, exciting read on April 23rd, 2024!

Oh Sally Hepworth...your books are each so very different, and yet always so very hard to put down! To be honest, I didn't even read what this one was about, I just started it blindly, which made it all the more fun. This one was a page-turning thriller that also had a lot of heart and left me pretty emotional, imagining so many children in horrific foster care, and what some must have to endure. 

The things that happened to these girls in the book were pretty wild. The alternating perspectives and timelines kept the book moving along quickly and interestingly. There were also quite a few huge surprises near the end that I didn't see coming at all. As always, I was intrigued down to the very last page. If you love Sally Hepworth, then you'll enjoy this one as well!

Spoiler Free Arc Review: 3.5 ⭐️

Darling Girls is a mystery/thriller following the past and present lives on three foster children. Told in multiple POVs we get to know each girls past trauma and how it is affecting her in the present. All of their trauma stems from their odd foster home and abusive foster mother, Miss Fairchild. When an important discovery drags the three girls back to their past, they learn everything wasn’t as it seemed.

Overall this book was enjoyable and the characters were very intriguing. I enjoyed getting bits and pieces of clues from the therapy session notes throughout the book. The last chapter was also an exciting twist ending!

Where the book was lacking was how slow it took off. There was not a lot of story progression until the second half of the book.

I would still recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read by a reliably great author!!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.5/5)

Song: everything I wanted by Billie Eilish

TW: Death of a child, child abuse, sexual abuse, murder, child neglect, rape

Thanks so much to the author and publishers for my copy of Darling Girls, I was invested from start to finish and that ending 😱.

This book was way better than I ever expected, but 𝙼𝙸𝙽𝙳 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚃𝚁𝙸𝙶𝙶𝙴𝚁 𝚆𝙰𝚁𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙶𝚂.

It had complex characters and found family. There were lots of family dynamics bubbling up throughout the book so buckle up, you’re in for a wild ride. There were a lot of characters but they were so well defined that it was easy to feel like you know all of them.

There was a twist that I didn’t see coming, like I knew something was coming, but I wasn’t expecting the exact twist.

Darling Girls is the latest novel by author Sally Hepworth. I have read several of her books including The Soulmate, The Good Sister, and The Younger Wife so I was very excited to read Darling Girls.

Three foster sisters grew up on a property called Wild Meadows. Each of them is told how lucky there are to be at Wild Meadows and with their foster mother Miss Fairchild but Miss Fairchild is not as kind as she seems. The author really delves into the foster system and gives us a look at what the dark side of foster care is like.

Twenty five years later, the sisters who have remained close over the years, receive a call that there have been human remains found at Wild Meadows which is being torn down. They travel back to the town they grew up in to be questioned by the police and try to identify whose remains were found.

This book is really part thriller, part women’s fiction, and part domestic suspense. I really enjoyed the relationship between the three sisters. The book is told from all of their POVs and alternating between present and past. I loved reading about how the sisters became so bonded and how their relationship is still so strong to this day.

I was all over the place with my guesses on who the remains were but it all came together in the end. I really didn’t see the ending coming at all. This book kept me reading all night long and I couldn’t put it down at parts.

I recommend this to anyone who likes a popcorn thriller with a side of women’s fiction and suspense. Sally Hepworth has risen to be a must read author now.

Darling Girls will be released on April 23, 2024. Thank you to Netgalley and Saint Martin’s Press for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

4 stars! This was another great thriller from Sally Hepworth — I read "The Soulmate" earlier this year and thought this one was much more exciting. The past/present timelines weaved together nicely, the characters and storyline were compelling, and I enjoyed the twists and reveals throughout!

Darling Girls follows three adult women, Jessica, Alicia and Norah, who grew up together in foster care at a home called Wild Meadows, under the care of Miss Fairchild. They stay in touch from their childhood to adulthood, and are brought back to Wild Meadows when human remains are found underneath the house after it was demolished. Recounting their past, we learn about what life was like in the house and are drawn deeper in to the mystery of who the bones belong to, and how they got there.

A great, quick thriller that picks maintains a good energy level throughout!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for a DRC in exchange for my honest review.

Sally Hepworth always writes the most gripping psychological mysteries and I love all of them! Darling Girls is no exception…I was instantly hooked, and that ending?! So good! Every character was so well developed and fascinating and I loved the flow of the plot. It’s always heartbreaking reading about the bad homes in the foster system or child abuse that occurs, and I feel like Hepworth brought attention to that important issue, while also handling it really respectfully. Such a good read!

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are not sister by blood, but are each others chosen family. They grew up together as foster children with Miss Fairchild, and unfortunately, their life was far from perfect.

This book was a page turned from start to finish. I enjoyed the past/present timeline coupled with the 3 POV of the women, now all grown up. There was mystery, drama and murder throughout, and I couldn’t put it down. I listened to the audio thanks to (Macmillan audio) and I highly recommend this format. The audio brought this novel to life. There are a ton of TWs (child abuse/neglect) but it wasn’t too much for me to handle which I was thankful for. Overall, a great thriller!

Once upon a time there was a sprawling ranch called Wild Meadows nestled in Port Agatha, Australia. It was originally working farmland in the 1990's. But the winds blew in a different direction and it eventually became a children's home. Believe me, Wild Meadows took on a complete change to its landscape and to the interiors of its designs.

Three sisters, not by blood but by circumstance, have been contacted about their stay at Wild Meadows. Many years have gone by and they are all adults now with various commitments. Jessica is a home organization guru; Norah finds herself in and out of trouble with the law; Alicia provides shelter for foster kids and crisis care.

Detective Ashleigh Patel informs them that in the course of tearing down the old estate, a body has been found long buried in the ground. Sally Hepworth slides in the possibilities here as the sisters gather together. Will they show up in Port Agatha to answer questions or are they hiding something from their past?

Chapters will be headed from Past to Present and in the points of view of the three women. Is there truth in the telling or is this fairy tale time?

Sally Hepworth is one of my favorite authors. Darling Girls is not one of my favorite books. It ranks about 3.5 Stars in all honesty. Hepworth adds a note at the end about interviewing women brought up in foster care. Nightmares in abundance in many cases. We've still not got a handle on foster care and the profound impact of abuse that can no longer be hidden in unreported or ignored cries for help. And yet, there are still good homes where caring individuals have saved so many.

Darling Girls is twisty and shaded in many areas. Hepworth is still a stellar author. It was the prolonged detailed incidents of abuse and the heaviness of the subject matter that weighed this one down. We longed for light at the end of the tunnel and it was long in coming. Still a worthy read in the hands of Sally Hepworth.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to the talented Sally Hepworth for the opportunity.

Due to the on going St. Martins Press reviewer boycott. I will not be leaving a detailed review of this book.
Why is this boycott happening? Directly from readers for accountability: "The boycott of St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and other related imprints is a direct response to the publisher’s lack of accountability regarding statements made by an employee in their marketing department and their failure to respond to concerns about possible systemic issues within the department."

Sally Hepworth never disappoints! I love her writing and this book didn't disappoint!!!

Everytime Sally writes another book I want to read it right away. When I first started rhe book I thought it was similar to herothet books but the foster care aspect was very different which makes this unlike her other books!

The books is fast paced and makes it easy to read and keeps you engaged to keep reading.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book! I have been looking to read one of Sally's books for some time now and I am so grateful that this one came my way! My goodness, this story about three foster sisters, their horrible foster mom and a mystery about a hidden body at their foster home that turns up years later hooked me so quick! The uncovering of the real truth at the end left my jaw on the floor, so clever! I really enjoyed this book and other mystery/thriller fans will too!!

Darling Girls engaged me right from the beginning. I prefer my thrillers to be more about the characters than the fast paced action and this fits that bill. I immediately bonded with these women! Brava to Hepworth who can project a fully formed character with just a chapter or two.
Jessica, Alicia and Norah were three foster children who spent their preteen years at Wild Meadows, which belonged to Miss Fairchild. They were told how lucky they were, but that was only because no one knew what was happening there. Miss Fairchild was unpredictable, to say the least. So, 25 years later, when the police ask for their help as material witnesses because human bones are discovered on the property, they have no clue what to expect.
Alternating between the past and the present and between the three POVs and the psychiatric sessions with Dr. Warren and an unknown patient, the story moves along at a fast clip. It didn’t take long to figure out the identity of the unknown patient and what was coming. The book ends with the kind of twist I expect from Hepworth.
Hepworth takes the reader on a trip into the girls’ past and why they have turned out the way they have. Each is damaged, in their own way. This is a character driven story, so if you’re looking for a nonstop action, you might be disappointed. <spoiler> I did get a kick that seemingly all of Jessica’s customers were on Valium. </spoiler>
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

What a great read! Told through alternating perspectives, this twisty thriller will keep you on your toes and is extremely enjoyable.

Darling Girls reeled me in and kept me coming back until I reached the conclusion. It has a great plot, well thought out characters, and is well written! I can’t wait to seek out Sally Hepworth and see what else she has written.