After reading The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth, I was beyond delighted to receive an ARC for her newest book, Darling Girls from NetGalley. I really enjoyed this book, and it was on my mind whenever I wasn't reading it. Definitely recommend this if you enjoy mystery thriller with very little gruesome details.
We follow three women who call themselves "sisters" after they all spend some time at a foster home called Wild Meadows. Miss Fairchild, their foster, gives off narcissistic Mary Poppins vibes. The timeline alternates between the three women's POVs in the "before" while they were at Wild Meadows as children, to the current age where they are all adults and BONES were discovered under the foundation of Wild Meadows, and an additional unknown POV who is speaking with a psychiatrist about the goings-ons at Wild Meadows.

With many questions as to if the girls were involved, and whose bones they belonged to, they have to face their childhood memories and traumas to get to the bottom of this. Each woman is a very unique character, with her own good and bad qualities and great depth and character development. Even the side characters were very developed. The twists at the end were not anticipated!! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was my second sally hepworth book. This book was so riveting and fast paced. I was easily sucked in. I usually read more than one book at a time, but this book had all my attention. I’m rating it 4 stars on Goodreads. The reason I’m giving it a 4, there were a lot of sentences that didn’t make sense. The sentences were run-on or out of place. There were also a lot of misspelled and grammatical errors.

Sally Hepworth delivers again! This was a book full of twists and turns that kept me guessing right up until the last page. Sally Hepworth has quickly become an auto buy/auto read author of mine.

It's hard to sum this story up. It is a phycological thriller that comments on the realities of being in foster care. It is also about found family. In many ways this was a hard story to read. The characters were well developed and had multiple layers and nuisances due to their life experiences. I found myself rooting for the three sisters and wanting the best for them.

I appreciated the author's note at the end and encourage you to read it. This was easily a 4.5 star read and would have likely been 5 stars if I wasn't so emotionally disturbed by the story.

There are some trigger warnings that are important to know, particularly around foster care and emotional abuse and manipulation. If you've experienced harm at the hands of a trusted loved one (parent, grandparent, foster parent, etc.) it may be smart to skip.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing a digital Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

When it comes to Sally Hepworth- I drop everything and start reading! I love, love, love her. And her newest novel, "Darling Girls", is no exception. She crafts the most relatable and likeable characters; I can't help but to identify with them. She is a master of characterization. I felt like I truly knew the three main characters.

There are three main characters, but this engaging story is told from 4 points of view. There are the three sisters (not by blood) who grew up in foster care together, building an unbreakable bond, Jessica, Norah and Alicia. The fourth POV is a mystery voice of someone in psychotherapy. These chapters were incredible and so engaging.
The three girls grew up with the odd Mrs. Fairchild as their foster mom. She's odd, cruel, dark and loving all at once.
The girls are now all grown up, but they get a call about their childhood home. Human remains have been found and they must return to the home of their youth where so much has happened.
Solid psychological thriller. Never miss a Sally Hepworth in my opinion. 4 stars.

Hepworth created a psychological masterpiece that might be my favorite book of the year.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are foster children that create a sisterly bond while dealing with their foster mother - Miss Fairchild.

As bones are discovered at their foster home, they all return to unravel what really happened in their childhood and beyond.

Hepworth creates multiple timelines that allow the reader to piece together the story slowly, while still being surprised at every turn. I sometimes dislike multiple timelines (authors can execute it poorly and the result is a confusing story), but these timelines were so clear and easy to follow. The structure made the reading experience so fun and still shocking. All of the twists and turns were so masterful and unexpected, but simultaneously made complete sense.

Each of the foster children’s stories are unique, complex, and heart wrenching, and their individual personalities are very entertaining. I was absolutely on the edge of my seat the entire time, and cleared my schedule to finish this book.

5 stars - would absolutely recommend!

Sally Hepworth has done it again! Enjoyed the past and present storylines, but despite my best efforts, I did not see that ending coming! Waiting patiently for her next novel…

My first read of 2024 did not disappoint! A psychological thriller surrounding the upbringing of three foster girls at the hands of their manipulative and terrorizing foster mother, Holly Fairchild.

This book takes place over the past and present lives of Jessica, Norah and Alicia as they deal with the aftermath of the abuse they endured as girls all while being forced back into the town where it all took place when a body is found under the home they grew up. Throughout the novel, the reader is left guessing whether the girls are keeping a secret and protecting one another or is someone else responsible.

The story and characters were interesting and the twists were thrilling. The author did a wonderful job at giving the reader insight into the heart wrenching experiences that some children who grow up in the foster system experience and weaved it into this suspenseful mystery. There were twists right up to the last page of this book and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a faced passed and interesting thriller.

This is my first time reading a Sally Hepworth novel and I’m looking forward to reading more books by this wonderful author.

Thank you at Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Three girls in a foster home, one no so wonderful foster mother and a major secret!!

This book had it all. Family, secrets, love, self discovery, a mystery, murder, police and dogs!
While I thought I had everything figured out, the last few pages were a complete shock! Did not see that ending at all!

A super fun thriller with a great ending!

Thank you to Sally Hepworth, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy!!

Hemsworth fan, but this one not a favorite. Slow moving, too much back and forth. Still, I wanted to know what happened. Ending was best part.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This was my first Sally Hepworth book, and it will not be my last. The story kept me guessing until the very last pages. The characters were complex and relatable and you really care about them right from the start. If you have children, this may not be a book for you - it is somewhat graphic with the child abuse in the foster home. Very compelling story and hard to put down once you start!

Sally hepworth doesn't miss! Full of twists I didn't expect, this book was very satisfying. Hepworth has become a must-read author for me!

Triggers do include mention of child abuse, overdose, and SA

This book started out a bit slow for my likely but once it got going it got good! I have a few books by this author but haven’t read them. The twist at the end just what me saying what ?!? This book does consist of child abuse and is a little dark so I know it might not be for everyone

I really enjoyed this read! This was such an original story, a little spin on the classic “returns home to solve a mystery”.

Synopsis of the book:
“For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. 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?”

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys domestic thrillers, psychological thrillers, multiple POV’s, and time jumps.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!

4.5⭐️ - Jessica, Alicia, and Norah may seem like ordinary girls, but their childhoods were anything but. They are bonded for life after having lived in Miss Fairchild’s foster home, Wild Meadows. Suddenly, they get a call from a detective saying a child’s remains have been found at Wild Meadows, and they must come in for questioning. But is it because they are helping the investigation, or because they’re suspects?

Sally Hepworth is an auto-buy author for me, and this book only solidified that. I read this in 2 sittings and was hooked the whole way through. I loved the past and present timelines in each of the girls’ points of view, as it allowed us to see exactly where they were coming from and why they are the way they are now. My favourite part of any Sally Hepworth novel is how the main characters are not perfect people, but you still love them and root for them the whole way through. I loved the bond between the sisters so much. I didn’t even guess all of the plot twists. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fast-paced psychological thriller.

In all honesty, if I can’t stop thinking about this book, I may bump it up to a 5⭐️.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and the author for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sally Hepworth is always a solid bet for a twisty mystery and Darling Girls is no exception, sparking throughout that particular teeth-clenching fury that comes with reading about children being mistreated. I enjoyed the unexpected romances (including a queer one! hell yeah!) and could basically not put it down by the time I got to the back half. Really good stuff!

My thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sisters above everything else.

This might be my favourite Sally Hepworth book yet, as I loved this twisty, saddening, unpredictable story. The story kept me on the edge of my seat, and I never saw the twist coming.

One f my favorite reads of the year, and one that will come highly recommended. Dark, twisty and suspenseful, this is perfect for fans of Yellow Jackets and for those who followed the Gypsy Rose and Natalia Grace stories. I loved the unique premise and the razor sharp writing.

Psychological thriller about 3 girls not related by blood but who grow up as sisters in foster care. The book goes between present day and the past and from the POV of the three sisters detailing their life in foster care after bones are discovered where they used to live. Lots of twists and turns and a surprise ending ,but not my favorite book by this author. At times it was difficult knowing which POV I was reading.

Hey all! As always a strong book from Sally Hepworth. This one was only a 4, however, due to the fairly repetitive at times before half. The after half, though, was fantastic. Thanks for the arc!

Sisters Jessica, Norah, and Alicia might seem like normal women to the outside eye, but they have an unbreakable bond that no one can explain. Growing up with the same foster mother, Miss Fairchild, gave these women issues that carry through to today. They went into their adult lives thinking they were free from Miss Fairchild, but when bones are discovered buried under the farmhouse they grew up in they are contacted by the police. Against their will they are brought back to their childhood home to share about what they know, how they grew up, and to face Miss Fairchild again.

This book was amazing. It was dark, twisty, and so raw. As someone who has worked with girls in the foster system it was heartbreaking to read this story at times knowing it’s not too far off from the truth for many children in foster care.

This is one of the few books that made me physically uncomfortable while I read it. As hard as it was I loved every second of it. I never knew what was coming and Hepworth did such an amazing job with the character development of the three women. The ending truly caught me by surprise too which is hard to do with the amount of thrillers I read.

If you like a darker thriller, I definitely recommend this one when it comes out in April!

content warning: sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, suicide, death of an child, addiction, child abuse, sexual exploitation

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy of this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own.