Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Darling Girls.

I'm a fan of Sally Hepworth's books. I like her writing style and tone, and her narratives generally have a good premise that sucks me in.

Darling Girls is less suspenseful and twisty than her previous books, but I enjoyed the story.

It centers around three loyal foster sisters, Jessica, Alicia, and Norah, who survived a tumultuous time with a cruel foster mother during their childhoods.

When a dead body is discovered on the grounds of the foster home, the sisters return to their hometown, but will confronting the truth set them free?

I loved the bond between the sisters; their loyalty, their friendship, their unique traits and issues, and how they came to deal with the challenges and hardships of being a foster child.

It was also great to see the supportive and loving people in their lives; Meera, Phil, and even Norah learned to love someone other than her dogs. Not that dogs aren't awesome. Dogs are better than people, in my opinion.

I'm appreciative of the author highlighting the foster care system in this story and the obstacles and horrors foster children encounter when they enter the system.

I had a good idea what the twist was, and I was pleased to discover I was right.

Darling Girls is about jealousy and narcissism, but also about love, loyalty, and resilience.

First I would like to say thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance to review this book early. That being said this book was incredible, I felt the whole gambit of emotions, from frustration to sadness and even anger toward a character, it was truly a moving experience.
In this story we follow Jessica, Norah and Alicia through the foster care that Mrs. Fairchild provided. Through years of systematic and emotional abuse and gaslighting these girls were finally able to get away and become their own people. Though they are called back to their origins when a body is discovered buried under their former foster home. These three sisters have to stick together and stay strong through the investigation into their childhood and into the relationship between them and Mrs. Fairchild.
This story was heart breaking as much as it was enlightening, it shows that family can be thicker than blood and that sometimes we choose who those people are. I highly recommend this read and would read it again.

Another 5/5 Sally Hepworth novel. Incredible, twisty plot with gray characters. I finished it in less that 24 hours because I couldn’t put it down. Thank you @netgalley!

I want to thank St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth.
“Wild Meadows or House of Horror?”
“Have fun, my darling girls.”
Jessica, Norah and Alicia are foster children who bond while growing up under the evil, diabolical Miss Fairchild. They become closer than sisters as they protect each other. Being mistreated is an understatement! As Miss Fairchild assumes responsibility for many babies that come and go with caring for them very dependent on the older girls. At one point Amy comes to live with them and then she seems to vanish into thin air!
Life goes on. All the women are damaged, one way or another, from their previous lives.
Years later the girls receive a phone call from the police in the town where the foster home was! Something has happened and they need to go back.
Are the girls being accused of something really horrendous? How is Miss Fairchild involved?
The drama grows. Couldn’t put the book down!
Would be a terrific discussion book for book clubs.
Darling Girls publishes April 23, 2024.

Sally Hepworth never disappoints! What a wild story, every time I thought I knew what was going to happen- I was completely surprised. This story follows 3 foster girls from the time they first met to decades later and their foster mother-Miss Fairchild. Miss Fairchild is anything but motherly, she wanted to be the only one everyone loved and when that didn't happen, she found a way to punish you. Years later when the women were on their own , bones were found under their old foster home and they all reunited to figure out what happened. SUCH a good read- highly recommend.

Loved this story of three girls bound together forever and ever by one place. Lots of juicy details, and a twist like only Hepworth can write. I really enjoyed this!

Wow. WOW WOW WOW.

I love Sally Hepworth. To me, the Soulmate was not it. But it didn't dissuade me from her, and when I saw that Darling Girls was available as a Read Now on NetGalley, I grabbed it so fast. I was so excited, especially since it doesn't release stateside until next April, and dove into it immediately.

We meet Norah, Jessica, and Alicia, three foster sisters who are now grown and following three distinctly different paths. What hasn't changed, though, is their love and devotion to each other that started back when they were just children who met at a foster home known as Wild Meadows, run by Miss Fairchild. When the girls are contacted in the present day by police detectives from the town where they grew up, they find out that Wild Meadows has been demolished and that bones were found underneath. Though none of them wants to relive the horrors that transpired there, they owe it to each other -- and some others -- to get it straightened out.

This book jumps back and forth from the past and the present, and we get the POVs of all three girls, plus a special fourth person. This book immediately grabbed me with a sense of foreboding and an overwhelming need to untangle the web of what happened to these three sisters. I don't want to give anything else away, so I won't say any more. However, I will say that this may be Hepworth's best yet and I feel so lucky that I got to read it so early!! Thank you so much @netgalley, you da real MVP.

Wow. This was the first book in a long time I did not want to put down. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy. Hepworth is so good at developing interesting characters and relationships. Alicia, Norah, and Jessica stayed together at a foster home run by Holly Fairchild. It was a difficult upbringing, one that lead them to find comfort in each other. Even as adults, they were their own family- sisters. A tragedy leads them back to their foster home and they face their past. And Holly Fairchild. A must read for those who enjoy psychological thrillers

I usually really like Sally Hepworth books. Most get at least 4 or 5 stars. This one just didn’t do it for me. Not enough twists, not real likeable characters. Never really grasped me and pulled me in.

The bond of sisters is not one to be taken lightly. Especially when that bond was created through the tragedy and trauma of a childhood spent in foster care.
Join three women as they relive their tragic pasts when they are asked to return to the town that brought them together. The home they grew up in leaves a terrifying discovery when it is torn down…human remains. Whose are they and who put them there?

Full of many emotions, at times you won’t know who you are rooting for, or against.

Sally Hepworth did it again. This is my 4th or 5th by Hepworth and all her books suck me in quickly and I read them fast. I was coming out of a month long reading slump and needed a thriller by an author I knew I would enjoy. And this was exactly what I was looking for. Not only was I into the story line as a whole, but each of the sister's had their own little secrets and I was intrigued by those side stories. The pacing was good, the character development was good, the plot was good. And by good I mean it all was great. I am picky and this was 5 stars. So glad I downloaded this one on a whim. And I really wish this were being published sooner so I could talk about it with everyone!

I found this to be a very compelling read about three foster sisters, who lived in a house that was not filled with love. I felt that the characters were well written, and the storyline easy to follow. There’s a very interesting twist at the end that I really did not see coming. I loved to watch the sisters grow into their adult selves despite the challenges they had as children.
Thank you to NetGalley and to St Martin Press for allowing me to read this book. I will definitely press it to my friends.

Loved it. Great reac on my Cheasapeake Bay beach vacay!

This book alternates between the present day life of three adult foster siisters and their tortured early years under care.

From the beginning i was drawn into their seemingly perfect lives and then I was hooked by the actual dysfunction.

So many twists that I was surprised by the last page.

This book will be available April 2024 so put it on your TBR list.

Many thanks to Goodreads, the author and publisher for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC!

Once again another Sally Hepworth book that I could not put down! I devoured this book in 4 hours. I enjoyed following Jessica, Alicia and Norah(without a T) in this story! I loved the dual timelines, the twists and turns and the character development.

Looking forward to see what Sally Hepworth coms out with next.

5 Stars!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.
What a great read, impossible to put down!
Three women, sisters in spirit, who were foster children in hellish circumstances, are called back to the town where it all happened. Now they have to help the police with their inquiries: whose bones are buried under the house they lived in?
They meet the woman who cared for them again, bringing all the horrors back.
A terrific book, Sally Hepworth does it again! My favorite book of the year so far, highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this novel. I really enjoyed it! I had been in a reading rut and I feel like Sally finally got me out of the rut with this one. It had a unique premise and one seriously evil main character. I’ve read most of Sally Hepworth’s books and this is easily one of my favorites!

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

I was so excited to be able to read another ARC of a favorite author Sally Hepworth. This psychological thriller had me guessing from the first page, and surprised till the end.

What I liked:
•the story is set in an unfortunate foster home, but with three likable “sisters” who all came to the home under completely unique circumstances that made them who they are.
•one character or POV in the book is a mystery. I enjoyed that ~ and it kept me guessing.
•the main theme is the mystery of who committed a heinous crime in the foster home years ago ~ did the awful foster mother have something to do with it? Did the three girls know anything? I didn’t know until the end but was trying to figure it out.
•the story is told in present (where are the girls now as women ~ how did their rough childhood effect them?) and in flashbacks.
•the epilogues are satisfying!


What I didn’t like:
•it’s just hard reading about childhood trauma.
•this has nothing to do with the book itself, but I’m listening to a book that has similar themes ~ which I didn’t know when I began reading the books (went in blind to both!), so I get them confused at times!

Sally hasn’t let me down yet. Another riveting story from beginning to end!

This book will be available in April, 2024!

Book 59 of 2023

As a former caseworker for kids in foster care and protective custody, this book really did an incredible job of bringing to life some of the horrors of foster care and how childhood trauma can bond people to one another. I absolutely loved this book and could not put it down!

My husband and I became licensed Foster parents almost 9 months ago. This book shines a light on some situations that can and have occurred. There is no doubt flaws in our system and they need to have light shined upon them. This book had my chest tight and holding my breath for so many pages. It has multiple POV of the foster children that grew up in the same house. After the house has been demolished, bones were found under the house…and the investigation begins. So many questions and not a lot of answers. There was so many twists and turns! If you love a good thriller, this is a must read!!

Another great Sally Hepworth novel! This story about three foster sisters captured me from the very first page and held my attention all the way through! The twists and turns at the end had me feeling completely satisfied, as I really had no idea how the way this was going to end and who was going to be the one that was to blame for the bones under the home these girls grew up in.
If you like Sally Hepworth novels, you’ll love this one! And if you haven’t read one yet, you should, because you’ll be in for a treat!