I enjoyed the story of these three women who were bonded through trauma as youth in foster care, and the current day mystery that brings them face to face with their childhood monster. All of the characters were very well written; flawed as they were. The character of Miss Fairchild was equally well written, although terrifying. Sally Hepworth has delivered yet another wonderful, character driven story. I definitely recommend this one.

I've read all of Hepworth's book and enjoyed them, so I was eager to start this ARC. Darling Girls moves from present to past with multiple POV that are not at all difficult to keep track of. We get to know the three main characters better through glimpses into their past, which helps us to understand their present struggles. An intriguing physiological thriller with twists. If you enjoy Sally Hepworth's writing style, you'll definitely enhoy this one. Trigger warnings: deals with foster care and abuse.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC and opportunity to procude an honest review

Darling Girls tells the story of three girls in foster care at Wild Meadows and how they had to stick together to survive while under Miss Fairchild's care. Once the newness of each child that came to live in the house wore off, the girls were left to help raise them. Miss Fairchild ran a very strict household. The girls struggled to meet her expectations. But somehow together, they made it out. Now years later, they all travel to Wild Meadows to help uncover who was buried there.
Sally Hepworth pulls you in and keeps you guessing until the final chapter. Like others, I thought I had it all figured out many times. But I was wrong. Hepworth is a great storyteller. I highly recommend her work to others and will continue to seek out her future work. Special thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Sally Hepworth for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 4.5 stars for me.

Darling Girls is about three girls–Alicia, Jessica, and Norah–who bonded together in the foster system. We see them in the present day as they make a return to their foster home and confront their past. Their story is told interspersed with flashbacks to their childhood living with Miss Fairchild–their foster mother. You come to care about the girls and root for them to overcome their past trauma.

I really struggled with reading about their foster care situation and the abuse by their foster mother. So you should know going in there are triggers for those things.

It's well-written and well-paced. If you are a fan of Sally Hepworth you will enjoy Darling Girls.

Thanks to St Martins Press and Netgalley for the advanced copy.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me the ARC (ebook) copy of Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth. First of all, Sally Hepworth is one of my “go-to” authors for domestic suspense thriller novels. The minute I finished reading her previous novel, The Mother-In-Law, I was hooked. This was the 5th novel that I have read of hers. She usually has good character development and throws in a little mystery in her novels. Darling Girls in no different. In fact, Darling Girls has more of a mystery suspense than her previous novels.

Darling Girls is about 3 “sisters”, foster sisters not sisters by birth - Jessica, Nora, and Alicia. Each with their unique personality which developed mainly in their response to their upbringing. Jessica, the rule follower with OCD tendencies; Nora, the rebel with anger issues, and Alicia, big hearted with low self esteem. We soon find out that their foster mother, Holly, is more than a “strict parent” with rules to follow. She verbally, mentally and physically abuses them. The story flashes back from past to present, revealing snippets of their abusive upbringing by their narcissistic foster mother to current day when they receive a call from a detective telling them the bones of a child was found buried on the property of their old foster home.

And so the mystery begins… who do the bones belong to? What really happened 25 years ago? Can these 3 sisters move on from their past? This novel was full of twists and turns - some I was able to guess and some I totally did not see coming! Recommend for those who enjoy suspenseful, fast paced thrillers.

I found Darling Girls, about three foster sisters who return to the foster home they fled decades earlier after a body is found buried beneath the house. I found Jessica, Norah, and Alicia to be compelling characters and loved their dynamic—specifically I felt the perspectives, both past and present, to be well done. However, was the central mystery started to unravel I felt it kind of fell flat and was left lacking a bit. As such, I wasn't fully sold on Miss Fairchild and her motivations. Still, though, a mostly exciting thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy, in exchange for an honest review of this ebook.

Sally Hepworth has done it again. Darling Girls is a story that is filled with twists and turns!

This is the story of 3 foster sisters who remain family because of their bond growing up in an emotionally and sometimes physically abusive home. I would give a trigger warning at the beginning of this story. (I grew up in a loving home, and this story caused me to shudder).

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as other books by Hepworth.

Another great book by Sally Hepworth! The story is told from the points of view of the main characters which are Jessica, Alicia and Norah. They go from past to present in which they recount their horrible time in Wild Meadows when they were in foster care. As you read each of their stories your heart just goes out to them. I was rooting for them and their well-being throughout the book. This was a great read and I strongly recommend it! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This is Sally Hepworth at her best I devoured this book in two sittings. The characters were so well developed that I wanted to reach out and hug them myself. This is a scathing review of all that can go wrong in foster care. I did not see that final twist coming and I gasped out loud on the last page. This may be Sally’s darkest book yet.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review. All opinions are my own. Thank you for the copy!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and intended to post a full review after St. Martin’s Press made a statement about the racist actions of their employee. I never considered that St. Martin’s Press would just never say anything. However, it seems as if that is what the publisher is content to do so I will be moving on and will unfortunately not be providing any further feedback on this book.

I read this in one day. It’s that good. I loved the plot about girls that grew up in foster care and a body being found in the ground years later. All three of the foster girls were really good characters. And the foster mom made you really hate her. The book did a really good job going back and forth in time and it all making sense. I didn’t feel like there were random gaps missing.

Oh my goodness! Talk about sick people! Yowza. There are 3 women starring in this novel. They are life long “sisters” by virtue of their togetherness in a foster home for a few years.

The idea of the plot is a good one, but for me, it just didn’t work. There were too many holes and inconsistencies – throughout.

Yes, there were a lot of twists and turns, but … well, it was a bit over the top for me.

I believe I’ve enjoyed every one of Hepworth’s books, but this one was not as good as most of them.

Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sally Hepworth can do no wrong! She is the queen of slow-burning domestic suspense with EPIC twists!
I was hooked from the very beginning and I loved hearing each of the girl's perspectives and truly feeling the different relationship they each had with their foster mom.
My only issue is the span of time between them leaving her and seeing her again after the body is found. I feel like even though they were no longer in her life, it was 1) a bit too easy for them to leave their foster home with a controlling mother and 2) hard for me to believe Jessica or Miss Fairchild wouldn't go looking for one another.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy read. Two words... Miss Fairchild!

Darling Girls had me hooked from the beginning with all of its psychological twists and turns with excellent character development. Sally Hepworth is a queen when it comes to writing psychological thrillers proving that she is a master at her craft! This was an engrossing read that I devoured in two days because I needed to know what was coming at the end! Miss Fairchild is a twisted and sick villain that I will not soon forget. It saddens me to know that there are children out there who may have foster circumstances similar to these horrific experiences. Thank you again for the opportunity to read this disturbing thriller!

This book was SO good. I loved seeing the perspectives from the all the sisters. The only thing that confused me in the beginning was the therapist sections, because I didn't know what character it was referring too. But the end was a fantastic twist that I wasn't seeing. I completely believed that Miss Fairchild had been abused and forced to give birth at home. I loved going back and forth between past and present. Overall a 5/5 star read for me and I look forward to reading another book by Sally Hepworth.

When bones are discovered at their foster home, three women must return and face their painful past. With found family themes, a broken foster system (potential TW), multiple POVs, and therapy sessions of an unknown person, the queen of domestic thrillers did not disappointed and is her best (and darkest) yet!

This book follows three women who became sisters in foster care, back to the town they grew up to talk to the police about a long ago crime there. Each woman carries a lot of baggage from their traumatic childhood that comes to light as they get questioned by the police about a body found in their childhood home. Twists and turns I didn’t see coming led to a satisfying end of the book. The beginning was a bit slow as it built the storyline and characters but it started getting going and I couldn’t wait to see how it ended.

Going into this book I had no idea what it was about, but I knew I had to read it bc Sally wrote it!

Again Sally did not disappoint! I loved the 3 girls and their stories. That Miss Fairchild she is def a monster!!

This book kept me on the edge of my seat and the ending well was not expecting that…

First I would like to thank the author and the publisher for the arc of this book. I picked it because of who the author was without really reading the description. The book was not at all what I expected but I really liked it! I stayed up way too late reading it because I couldn’t put it down! I started and finished in the same day because I needed to know how it ended. There were lots of twists and turns that I did not see coming and I was on my toes for a lot of it! I would definitely recommend. I currently have the soul mate sitting on my bookshelf in my tbr pile and now I’m ready to read that next because I liked this one so much!

You wouldn’t think that someplace with a name as nice as Wild Meadows could hold such dark memories…

Alicia, Norah, & Jessica may not be biologically related, but their fierce bond as sisters was forged in the nightmarish foster home of Miss Fairchild twenty-five years ago. Each of these three women have their own ways of managing the trauma of their past, but when bones are discovered beneath Miss Fairchild’s house & the police want to talk to them about their childhoods, those coping mechanisms will be put to the test…

This story is told mainly in two timelines with four different focuses: each of the three girls/women, & a mystery patient pouring out their origin story to a psychiatrist named Dr. Warren. I’ve enjoyed books from Sally Hepworth in the past, & she’s shown once again that she’s a master of revealing bits & pieces of information in exactly the right places throughout her stories for maximum impact. Many good & bad aspects within the foster system are addressed in this book, & in addition to being a shocking thriller there are several points made that are food for thought.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

P.S. I loved Norah’s dogs! Their names (& the meaning behind them) were hilarious :)