Member Reviews

Darling Girls is a good mystery thriller. It was a fast read for me. I liked the characters and the storyline. It was a little predictable at points. It does have multiple points of view and timelines. Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the ARC.

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Thanks for netgalley and the publishers for the early copies of darling girls by sally hepworth! Sally is an auto buy other for me, I love the way she develops her characters and I love how she always leaves it to the very last second to reveal something wild about the plot.

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Darling Girls might just be my new Sally Hepworth favorite. Let’s call it a close second to The Good Sister (I’m not sure anyone will ever dethrone Fern). Darling Girls is a fast-paced read with multiple points of view and dual timelines. I found the story and characters easy to follow and differentiate between. Hepworth does a great job of making each sister's voice distinct. The twists and turns were great. Some I predicted, others I did not. I highly recommend this novel for lovers of suspense, thriller and mystery.

I started with the ebook and finished with the audiobook. Both were done well. The narrator, Jessica Clarke, does a fantastic job.

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for the audiobook and ARC via NetGalley.

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This one kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time! I loved the setting and the background, as well as the multiple POV from current timeline and before timeline. Very good story, lots going on and the end was unpredictable.

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This story made me cry tears of sadness and tears of joy. This is a heart-wrenching tale of loss, lies, secrets, and manipulation. Everyone has a story but only one person knows the truth. What really happened at Wild Meadows that has contributed to what the young girls of long ago have become? I was gripped by each girl’s story of their time with the malevolent Miss Fairchild. Once they are again brought together by tragedy, secrets are revealed, and lives are changed forever. The incidents of abuse were difficult to read and extremely disturbing. There were times throughout the story when I was unsettled and other times when I was rejoicing. This is a story of triumph, survival, and sisterly bonds that withstand unspeakable trauma. It’s compelling, heartbreaking with an ending that shook me to my core. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my copy.

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Book Summary:

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia may not be bound by blood – but they are sisters nonetheless. The woman that brought them together is no longer in their life, and with good reason. They escaped from Miss Fairchild, and never looked back.
Until now. A body has been found on the farm they once called home. The sisters think they know who it is, but given how young they were when it happened, it's going to be a challenge to get anyone to take them seriously.

My Review:

Hrm. What to make of Darling Girls? Well, it's a complex web of stories, that's for sure! Things never seemed to go the way I expected, for better or worse. Overall, I'd say that this was a compelling read – but perhaps not the strongest I've read this month.
Darling Girls has four different perspectives, the three sisters and one surprise (left intentionally vague until the end). Their tales help to intentionally obfuscate the truth. I don't mind this writing trick, and I certainly enjoyed how different each sister was.
That said, there is something that bothered me throughout this book. It took me until the end to put my finger on it – the blasé relationship with reality. I get it, it's a thriller! But sometimes what was described is not how things would go down in real life (again, for better or worse). But that's just me nitpicking, so I won't let that affect my overall review that much.
I do think the three primary perspectives were stronger than the fourth. There's a reason I feel this way, and it has a lot to do with the big reveal at the end. Naturally, that means I can't go into too much detail.
Long story short, Darling Girls is another fascinating read from the mind of Sally Hepworth. Be sure to check it out! (But also, check the trigger warnings first).

Highlights:
Suspense/Thriller
Multiple Perspectives
Unreliable Narrators

Trigger Warnings
Child/Domestic/Sexual Abuse
OCD
Childhood Trauma

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Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I really wanted to love this book. But I just didn’t. How can so much be going on and also, absolutely nothing, at the same time?? I feel the very last chapter was just added for shock value. I loved Norah’s character. Alicia and Jessica were just insufferable. I will read more from this author and hopefully will get a better gauge of her writing style.

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First listening to the audio version of Darling Girls and then reading the print copy, I was again pulled into the story early on. There are three girls, Jessica , Norah and Alicia who one at a time, come to be foster children at Miss Fairchild’s home, How very lucky for them to have a wonderful home, Wild Meadows! Initially showered with love, the girls are eventually subjected to harsh discipline, stringent rules, and a foster mother whose behavior is so erratic that it’s hard to predict when the next outburst will occur. Luckily, they are able to get out, remain loving sisters to each other, and never ever look back. All true until they are notified that the unidentified bones of a young child have been found beneath the house.

Going back and forth in time, from childhood to adulthood, the story is told in three POVs, and also during an institutional therapy session for an unrevealed character. The reader, Jessica Clarke, does an excellent job with pacing, tone of voice and just enough dramatization. The plot is a bit slow at times yet the storyline held my interest as the possibility of murder looms large and many secrets are revealed. Who could commit such a heinous act? What haven’t the three sisters told each other? How villainous is Miss Fairchild? Is it possible to recover from childhood trauma?

There are many twists and turns right up until the end. Sally Hepworth can be relied upon to keep the suspense going throughout. Four stars for a creative story line well told. Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this Advance Reader’s copy in exchange for my review. It became available on April 23. 2024. I highly recommended it for fans of Sally Hepworth, as well as those who enjoy thrillers . It was thoroughly engrossing.
.

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Holy wow! Sally Hepworth does it again! No one can deliver a surprise ending quite like Sally and Darling Girls didn’t disappoint. I was quickly sucked into this one and loved the multiple POV!

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I couldn't put it down! I loved the twists and turns of the story. When I initially read the summary, I was worried it would be so hard since the foster care system doesn't have the best reputation in thriller books. This book was a great summer read and a bingeworthy thriller. I loved it and the imperfect characters.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

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I’ve read several of Sally Hepworth’s books and this is my favorite of hers by far. It is twisty and suspenseful so I found myself fully engaged throughout.

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Another great read by Sally Hepworth. I have read one other book by her and I loved it. I was excited to see she a new one and couldn’t wait to get right into it. I need books that will grab me from the beginning. I tend to be a bit impatient when it comes to books that I have to wait for a twist or if I need to wait for it to bring me in.

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I really liked how dark this story was. I have not read many books about foster homes; let alone a murder happening here. This one started off as a slow burn for me. I loved how close Jessica, Alicia, and Norah. Each of these women is so different but even with being at the foster home at some point, they all had very different upbringings. The story is dark, eerie and Hepworth had the reader wondering who the dead body was. When it was revealed the age of the body, I was shocked. This is when I could not put the book down! The story unfolded flawlessly and shockingly! I loved the ending of this one.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Sally Hepworth for my eARC!

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Very interesting book, it was very captivating and thrilling. I kept wondering what was going to happen next and wanted to keep reading, it kept me guessing throughout the book.

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I have heard nothing but good things, so when this matched up with a Summer Reading Challenge, I jumped at the chance to finally read it.
I loved everything about this book. The characters, the settings, the side characters. I rooted for everyone, and hated who I was supposed to hate.
I think this is a good, fast paced read for any thriller lover. The only issue I found, was that the final reveal, before the FINAL twist, fell a little flat for me. Just a bit anti-climatic to me. But I did enjoy how it all played out and came together.

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This is a book about sisters born from different wombs.
Due to family tragedies, three young girls are put into foster care and are placed under the roof of Miss Fairchild. From the outside, the girls seem to live an idyllic life but in reality, Miss Fairchild is cruel, manipulative, and abusive. Their mistreatment occurs for 2 years, until the girls run to the police.
Fast-forward 25 years and the girls still haven't healed from the emotional scars left by their evil foster mother. Jessica owns a home organizing business, but is sabotaging her own success. Norah earns a living by helping people cheat on IQ and psychometric testing and has violent tendencies. Finally, Alicia turned to a helping profession but is scared to let people into her life. All 3, while very different from each other, have an unbreakable bond. One day, the police reach out to the 3 women to let them know that their former foster home was being torn down and during excavation a body was found. Now, they must return to the town they avoided for most of their lives to help uncover the mystery of the murdered child and face their own traumas.
Despite the depressing plot, the story was really good. The women were relatable, there was a lot of suspense, and some parts made me laugh. Also, I did not predict the twist at the ending.
Well done Sally Hepworth! What a darling girl!

“Even after all these years, yearning for the love and attention of someone who couldn’t give it to her was much more comfortable than actually receiving it.”
― Sally Hepworth, Darling Girls

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Told from the points of view from each sister, I enjoyed getting their perspective of the events that unfolded. Jessica was the people pleaser, the rule follower, and the leader. Norah was snarky, and the hot head. And Alicia was the quiet one, but very compassionate The bond between the sisters was refreshing to see given their living circumstances and trauma as children. Miss Fairchild was a real piece of work, and you could feel the tension through each sister’s perspective when she entered the room.

I really liked that the story was told not only in multiple perspectives, but in the past and present. Each sister had different personalities, and I liked that they were distinctive. Sally Hepworth managed to create a dark, and twisted family tale. This was the authors darkest book yet that I’ve read given the content. I could not look away, because I wanted to see how the story ended. I was not prepared for the last chapter of the book. I thought I had every question answered, but was delightfully mistaken.

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This author is fast becoming a favorite of mine. With a knack for writing good suspense, this one kept me guessing and surprised me in the best possible way. Looking forward to what's next.

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I highly recommend reading this book, as the twists and turns were plentiful!! I read this book late into the night, and the ending was well worth it!!

Thank you NetGalley, and the author for an Arc of this book which I had the pleasure of reading!

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First, I love Sally Hepworth, so I was so excited to get an ARC of this title. This title started out a little slow and didn't feel like the typical Sally Hepworth novel which was leaving me perplexed, but it still drew me in and I could not stop reading. I was invested in these sisters and the mystery. I'll be honest, I'm a bit of a lazy reader and usually don't have much of an inclination to be an arm chair detective, preferring instead to just go with the story and let it unfold for me. However I kept trying to puzzle out for myself what had happened with that ending leaving me reeling!! This is a book I will be recommending to everyone for summer reading!

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