I am a big fan of Sally Hepworth novels and I was not disappointed with Darling Girls. I was so excited to receive an advance copy of this novel through NetGalley.

This book had me hooked from the beginning and I never lost interest! I loved the different points of view and I loved the flashbacks to the past. I will say it was hard reading what happened to the girls when they were young. It was definitely a trigger point for me, but I loved the whole mystery of the story. It was one of those books that you keep thinking about even after it's finished.

I have been a fan of Sally Hepworth's book but I think this one is now my favorite! I really enjoyed all the twist and turns, loads of suspense and right up until the end this book was full of surprises. I love a POV style and this book did that very well. These characters were not perfect and sometimes not quite even likeable. Nevertheless, you root for them and want them to find happiness. This book won't disappoint.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Darling Girls is about 3 foster sisters and their experience at their foster home with Miss Fairchild. The sisters get a phone call from the police years later saying that the foster home has been torn down and a body was found underneath the building. They must relive the past in order to help solve the mystery of who the body could belong to.

The story is told from each sisters perspective alternating from present day to the past. The chapters are short and is very fast paced. I could not put it down and definitely recommend!

I loved this book so much. It is a heartwarming, and gutwrenching story of the traumas we endure as children with bad parents, especially those raised in foster care.
From the first page to the last you'll want to know who and why there was a body under the house.
5 star book.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this ARC

Self proclaimed wimpy reader! Yet here I am always diving into these twisted Sally books. This one is extra creepy with some of the trigger-like content, but whew— Sally Hepworth takes you through it. Plot twists, disturbing and a quick binge read.

Darling girls… wow! A tragic story of sisterhood and overcoming childhood trauma. The book wrapped up nicely and just when I thought I figured out the plot, I was wrong! Once I picked this book up I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to see what else this author has in store 😊

Trigger warning!! This book was hard to read. It's well written and the characters are well developed but the abuse is awful.

So good! The book flashes between past tense and present mostly focusing on 3 foster sisters. Wild Meadows was far from a dream foster scenario. Now adults, a body is found under the house they lived in. What happened in that house? You won’t guess the ending. I couldn’t put this one down!

Warning: Child abuse.

I LOVED this book! I liked the perspectives of the three different girls and also the timeline. Former foster care girls go back to their old home called Wild Meadows. Each of the three girls has carried their time at Wild Meadows differently but we get flashbacks of life there which I liked. We also see how they support each other now as adults. This book had me hooked from the beginning and I couldn't put it down! I highly recommend it! This one will be out in April 2024. Thank you Netgalley for the early E-copy of this fantastic book from an author that I will always read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of “Darling Girls” in exchange for an honest review. If you are considering picking this one up be aware that there are several TWs. The book is a constant barrage of images of child abuse in multiple forms. The plot seemed far fetched to me and I just had a really hard time getting into it. It was absolutely horrible to read the constant descriptions of abuse as well. Because of the number of characters throughout the book they all felt kind of flat and didn’t really seem like complex people at all. More like caricatures who were filling a specific type of person. I also counted almost 30 typos in my ARC, and that impacted the experience too as it felt wild to me that there were so many. It was very distracting.

Darling Girls is getting solid reviews, and the plot works well with some good twists and turns. BUT - this book portrays pretty horrific child abuse (mostly psychological torture) on almost every page, so know what you can take before you pick up this novel. I read a lot of mysteries and have no problems reading gore and gruesome content, but this got to me. One disconnect I felt while reading was some of the banter between the sisters - it just felt too light and humorous in contrast to the abuse. Plus, the sisters were each rendered without much depth to their personalities - one is the angry get-in-to-fights all the time no matter the consequences, one is an anxiety-ridden high achiever, and the third is too sappy.

I like Sally Hepworth's other books, especially The Good Sister, so I'll keep reading her works, but this book wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for gifting me an ebook ARC in return for a review.

Another Hepworth novel in the books! I am always up for anything Sally Hepworth writes and really loved this one.

A disturbing case of bones being found under an old foster home, a wicked foster mother, and three pre-teen foster girls who are now women when the bones are found. As close as sisters can be, but genetically unrelated, Norah, Alicia and Jessica return to Port Agatha to speak to police about the discovery. Having endured psychological abuse at the hands of their foster mother, Miss Fairchild, each has trauma and operates differently than a well adjusted person might. One has OCD tendencies, another a dysfunctional idea of sexual relationships and the third has become a well respected social worker. Who the bones belong to is a part of the mystery, but also who may have harmed the person that came to be deceased.

Darling Girls casts suspicions on a host of characters who are not always likeable and always unreliable. Hepworth chose to structure the novel into a now/then format which is my favourite style. I felt like each of the sisters were distinguishable in their chapters and had reasonable motivations. Moving with a consistent pacing kept me interested throughout. The addition of chapters between a psychiatrist and a patient slowly revealed the plot and who the patient was. I did guess the who early on here but it didn’t take away from the story whatsoever.

For fans of domestic suspense and psychological thrillers, Darling Girls will satisfy most readers thoroughly. I cannot wait for whatever Hepworth writes next but in the meantime, North American readers can look forward to this book publishing April 23, 2024. Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

I wanted to like this more, but almost everything felt pretty obvious and instead of being a twisty thriller as promised it was mostly just a sad story. I did like how the author went back and forth with the timelines. I wanted this to be more of a mystery but it really wasn't.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit that I love Sally Hepworth and have loved all her books, especially The Good Sister. So I was looking forward to this one, and it did not disappoint.

This book may admittedly be triggering some as one of the settings is within the foster care system, and there are themes of abuse. However, this did move the plot forward and was therefore necessary to the story.

The book focuses on three women who survived a foster home called Wild Meadows as children. The home was a horrible place to grow up, so the women became closely bonded as a result. Although the women are now adults with very different lives, they all carry the scars of their experience, but they're doing the best as they can (and they still have each other) - until a set of bones are discovered, and the women become suspects.

There are plenty of twists and turns in this book - but the one at the end will leave you reeling. As most of Hepworth's books are, this one is very character-driven, but filled with suspense. It was a page-turner that I highly recommend. The author's sharp writing and plotting are evident at every turn.

This is the first book I’ve read by Sally Hepworth, but it won’t be my last! I found the entire story very engaging, especially toward the end as I was trying to figure out “who did it.” Knowing there would be some kind of twist, I stayed up super late to finish the book, trying to figure it out.

Darling Girls focuses on three young girls, Jessica, Alicia, and Norah, who lived at Wild Meadows foster home. Unfortunately, they endured extreme emotional abuse by their foster mom, Miss Fairchild. But the three girls developed a “sister” bond that was as strong as any blood family, which continued through their adult lives.

The girls managed to escape the abusive home in their early teens and have been living several hours away in the city. Twenty years later they are established in their careers and still maintaining their sister bond when they each receive a phone call from a detective about the discovery of human bones under the foster home they lived in.

The three women travel back to Meadows Hill to be interviewed by the case detectives. The story alternates by chapter from the past to the present day, from the perspective of all three women, which I enjoyed. I felt like I got to know their characters well this way. There are also flashbacks from Miss Fairchild, so you understand her story and how she got to be so abusive.

This book gives insight into the long-lasting effects of being raised by an abusive parent. Unfortunately, some children endure terrible conditions, and I found it very sad, but also fascinating how they were able to overcome it in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 4.5 stars I highly recommend this book!
Publication date: April 23, 2024
#NetGalley #DarlingGirls

This is Sally Hepworth at her best. I absolutely love this book. If you’re a fan of domestic thrillers this one is a must read! I will for sure be recommending this to my friends and family

This is the second book by Sally Hepworth and I have enjoyed both. Darling Girls follows three “sisters”, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, from their time together in Wild Meadows Farm foster home to 25 years later. All three of them are called back to Port Agatha with the discovery of human remains found under the house during demolition. We learn of the treatment they received from Miss Holly Fairchild during their stay with her. All of them think the remains belong to baby Amy who had shown up as Miss Fairchild’s adopted daughter one day and then suddenly disappeared (and all traces of her) when the girls went to the police to report the abuse.

The book alternates between characters before and now, and mixed in is a first person narrative of someone speaking with a psychiatrist who we learn near the end is Miss Fairchild herself from prison. She is telling the psychiatrist about her experience living in the house with her mother and new husband, John, who was very mean to her. We find out that he raped her and she became pregnant. She gave birth to Amy in the basement and for a while stayed down there. One night after John comes down after drinking and does what we can only imagine is sexually abuse her, he leaves the basement door unlocked. Holly slips out with Amy and runs into her mom on the porch. Her mom lets her go but before they can make it down the driveway, her mom and John show up and take Amy back to the house. We are lead to believe that the baby died in their care, but both her mother and John are dead so they can’t defend themselves.

We find out that the remains under the house are not that of the Amy the girls had known because the coroner revealed that the remains did not have a sixth toe. Zara, another girl who came to town when she heard of the demolition, reveals that she had a sixth toe but had it removed. We find out that Zara was the baby Amy the girls knew, and had been stolen by a social worker and given to Holly to care for. When Jessica alerted Holly they were going to the police to report her for abuse, Holly made arrangements for the social worker to take Amy.

The book ends with Holly Fairchild’s point of view where we learn that she lied about being impregnated by her mother’s new husband, that her mother in fact had been pregnant and Holly killed her while babysitting one night. Her mother buried the baby in the basement to protect Holly so she wouldn’t lose both of her children.

Overall, this wasn’t super suspenseful but the twist at the end was unexpected. The characters are great and it reads very quickly (I finished it in one day). Norah is my favorite - love her don’t care attitude and some of the funny things she says. Hepworth is a great writer and I look forward to reading more of her work.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of Darling Girls.

Thank you for the advanced copy read. I’m a big fan of Sally Hepworth novels and this one does not disappoint. I couldn’t stop reading because I wanted to find out what really happened to Amy. I liked how these 3 women faced their nemesis, Ms. Fairchild and were able to let go of their past trauma and find peace.

I’m so excited to review the latest Sally Hepworth book Darling Girls. She always manages to write unique thrillers that include so much more.

Darling Girls follows the story of three young girls thrown into the Australian foster system that truly become sisters. The love and bond that they share is unbreakable.

I thought the book was very well down. There are several content warning like child abuse and generational trauma so please be aware if you plan to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read the eARC.

Sally Hepworth writes interesting thrillers that don't quite fit the mold of typical thrillers, yet each are page turners that I can't put down. This book is about the foster care system in Australia, and three parentless girls that are sisters in every way but biological. The book starts when the women are in their 30's; Jessica is a married home organizer who is addicted to Valium, Norah is a beautiful girl who uses her sexuality to stuff her real feelings and Alicia works in the foster care system herself but can never allow herself any personal happiness,. The story goes back and forth in the present, when the bones of a baby are found in the basement of the former foster home the trio lived in, and the years when the girls were fostered by Miss Fairchild.

Miss Fairchild was a cruel and abusive foster parent. She started taking in foster girls to make ends meet in her large home. She started with Jessica who had no father and was left parentless when her mother died. Although she was initially kind to Jessica, she quickly changed when Jessica started going to school and she then tried to replace her by bringing in Norah and Alicia. The girls were underfed, forced to clean the entire house and then to care for infants which were brought in but never kept because Miss Fairchild never felt "loved". The girls began to rely on each other and only were able to escape their evil caretaker when a young toddler named Amy was suddenly missing from their house. Miss Fairchild wouldn't admit Amy existed and the girls were not believed but were taken out of the house and sent to a care home.

I enjoyed the relationship between the sisters and kept rooting for their happiness. As the police investigated the bones in the basement, a few twists and surprises added to the thriller element but this was more of a story of love and being able to forgive yourself for the past. The parts about child abuse made me sad but I know this stuff exists even though most foster parents are loving and want to help their children. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.