I really enjoyed the latest book by Sally Hepworth. It was well written and I read it quickly. It also had some twists at the end that I hadn’t quite put together and saw coming. I look forward to her next book!
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC!

Twenty five years ag three girls met at a foster home. Today they each receive a phone call from the police that there former foster home has been demolished and the bones of a young child have been found. While recounting their stories to the police it is apparent that there was a lot of things going on with the foster mother and their time in the home that no one knows and that wasn't good for any of the girls. They found a way to escape the foster mother, but now are sucked back into her conniving, selfish, hateful orbit and they have no idea how bad she really is and how far she has gone.

I always love Sally Hepworth's books. Her writing style keeps me on the edge of my seat with plot and character development.

The novel follows Jessica, Norah, and Alicia over past and present timelines of their foster child experience. The problem I had was none of the characters seemed all that likable. However, I did not see the ending coming and had to reread it twice to fully grasp.

I will always put Sally's books at the top of my "to read" pile and would recommend this to everyone.

I really enjoyed Darling Girls. It kept me guessing until the end and there were twists that I didn’t see coming. I didn’t want to put it down. At some points, I found the twists and characters hard to follow but overall I really enjoyed the book and recommend it when it comes out on April 23, 2024

Jessica, Alicia, and Norah grew up in foster care with Miss Fairchild. Unbeknownst to the authorities, Mrs. Fairchild was far different behind closed doors than she presented herself on wellness check visits. Miss Fairchild was obsessed with cleaning, held the girls to unrealistic expectations, and was the farthest thing from a warm mother figure. But was she a murderer? When the three women receive a call from police saying that human bones have been found under Miss Fairchild’s swimming pool, the sisters are pulled back into Miss Fairchild’s devious web.

Wow, what a thrilling story! I literally couldn’t put it down. Sally Hepworth is an auto-buy author for me at this point. I tell myself that I’ll only read a few pages and then find myself completely sucked in! I felt connected with all the sisters in different ways. All of them were so desperate to protect each other and were forced to go through terrible things. One of the most intriguing parts was trying to figure out whether Miss Fairchild was a murderer or not and who the bones belonged to. I won’t say more except that there were some excellent red herrings and twists that made me gasp. I love Sally Hepworth’s thrillers and look forward to her next book!

Thank you to Sally Hepworth, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Instagram, Storygraph, Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc.

Oh Sally Hepworth!! I just love her books and this one was no different!!! I loved this dark twisty slow burn of a thriller, we have 3 foster sisters and about their lives now and back when they where kids at Mrs Fairchilds country home as foster children and what they endured there and how it impacted their adult lives! This one is kinda heavy so know that going on, the abuse these children faced wasn’t easy to read about. But saying that I think it was also written really well with enough detail to keep me wanting more but not completely destroying my heart. I thought how it switched to each POV and to now and then was very smooth and it flowed well! I loved each POV equally and couldn’t wait to get back to each to know what happened

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth is a phenomenal thriller that takes the reader through a gamut of emotions with its twists and revelations. Hepworth makes use of four different points of view and switches back and forth between the past and present to reveal the story with skill and compassion.
Sometimes as a reader you have to accept that the author has done her research because you are unfamiliar with the subject matter. This time, for me, I was all too familiar with the subject matter and must say that Hepworth is bang on in her depiction of the darker side of the foster care system.
I found the underlying tale of the sisters in foster care disturbing because Hepworth was so accurate in her descriptions of the emotional impact of abusers in foster care and adoption, and of the horrible care givers who cause the pain. Even as an adult a world away from where this book is set, I recognize that feeling of being 'lucky' that Hepworth portrays so well. Lucky that my experience wasn't as bad as the ones described in the book, lucky to have been able to stay with my sister. I remember the hunger - for food, for affection, for approval, for safety...the list goes on. I relate to the bitterness on hearing the women who mistreated us praised as though they were saints for taking us in, when they really took foster children for the money or adopted for appearances sake, not the children's.
The story in Darling Girls hits home with realistic characters who grow up to be flawed adults. It is compelling, and as their story unfolds with multiple surprises and twists, it grabs the reader and won't let go. It will resonate with this former foster care survivor for a long time to come and is sure to move others as well.
Well-written, suspenseful, with plenty of gut wrenching twists and heartwarming relationships that provide the characters with strength and support, this book goes beyond thriller to examining a social issue often overlooked, with care and skill.
This is the best Sally Hepworth I've read so far.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #DarlingGirls.

Something I really appreciated about this book is how all of the characters actions felt very realistic to their development throughout the book. Everything tracked very well. The ending twist I did not see coming at all, and I appreciated leaving the book a little messy in the end.

Not the next Gone Girl but there is enough here to entertain

One of my favorite mystery tropes pervades this novel—a before and after timeline with additional pieces of the puzzle being slowly revealed.

Darling Girls is set in Australia focusing on three foster children, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia who all lived at Wild Meadows with their maniacal foster mum, Holly Fairchild.

The overall reading experience was enjoyable, particularly the plot. Take the very first page. Someone is talking to Dr. Warren, the psychiatrist. Who is it?

However, there is one thing holding back Darling Girls from being exceptional—its characters. These characters were not very convincing; they felt flat and predictable. It felt as though Hepworth created a character outline describing the three main characters in two sentences. Some form of the word “organized” was used 23 times!

This weak character development ended up seeping into and tainting the narrative voice and the ending.

The narrative voice was rather dull. For a great modern example of a spectacular narrative voice, explore The Fury by Alex Michaelides. Darling Girls is written in the third person; however, Hepworth should have considered the first-person perspective to increase the suspense, really leaning into the narrator’s desperation and terror, quickening the reader’s pulse. Darling Girls also lacked the humor of Hepworth’s The Good Sister.

Because the characters were cliché, the ending was lackluster and overly cozy—downright forgettable.

Not a seminal piece of the mystery genre but Darling Girls solidly holds its own.

I’m going to be the unpopular opinion on this one in that I liked it okay, but didn’t love it. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, I simply found myself getting a little board while reading because it’s quite the slow burn with no real shocking reveals throughout to keep me hooked. But I love Sally Hepworth and there’s no denying that she knows how to write a domestic thriller. There’s a lot of trauma and abuse in this one, and with a small cast of characters it’s pretty easy to tell who is going to be at fault. ⁠
The dual POV is very well written and takes us to a shocking ending that while fun, was a little too late in the “thriller” department for me.

Darling Girls
Sally Hepworth
Pub Date: April 23, 2024

I really enjoyed this book. It follows the story of three foster girls and their experiences living with Ms. Fairchild.

When I say this story gets pretty wild I mean it. I love Sally Hepworths’s writing and this one didn’t disappoint. She has a way of keeping the shock factor up.

This story was told in multiple POVS which I really liked. It helped bring each character to life showing their history and how they ended up in Ms. Fairchilds care. There were so many aspects of the children’s stories that were raw and really pulled at my heart strings. However, it really made the story that much better by using that to draw in the reader.

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for a copy of this book.

I read the Soulmate by Sally Hepworth and I didn't think this book could top it but it did. This book was told from different perspectives and also jumped to a different timeline at times. It was a page turner and just when you think the story is done there is a shocking surprise reveal!

I was so excited to get this ARC on netgalley, as I've really enjoyed other Sally Hepworth books.

This psychological mystery follows 3 sisters who met in foster care, 25 years after leaving the home that made them sisters, bones are found buried under the house. As the investigation goes on, you get all three of their point of views, as well as a mystery person. I thought this would confuse me at points, especially because you also get past and present, but their stories and personalities are each so unique. You really get to know each character, what put them in foster care, their experience with Miss Fairchild, and who they are in present day. I would recommend checking trigger warnings.

4.5⭐ for me! I mean, that ending!

Darling Girls follows three girls that end up in the same foster home. The story goes between the past and current state of all three girls. They get a phone call from a detective to let them know the house they lived in was torn down but they found a body and they needed them to come back to talk and help them figure out who it might be. When they run in to their old foster mother and accuse her of murdering a girl named Amy as she disappeared one day while they were at school. Story tells a horrific side of foster care and sheds light on someone who looks nice and perfect on the outside may not be who they truly are.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Net Galley and the author, Sally Hepworth for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Twenty-five years ago, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were foster children. After a series of unfortunate events in each of their lives, one by one they are dropped off at the sprawling farm house know as Wild Meadows. The house is run by a single woman named Miss Fairchild. The “darling girls” as Miss Fairchild sometimes refers to them are told how lucky they are to be in her care. Unfortunately for them, Miss Fairchild is anything but the ideal foster mother. She reminded me more of mommy dearest.

Present day, Wild Meadows has been torn down and a body has been found. The three girls come together trying to piece together what happened.

This story is told from multiple POVs of each girl in the present and in the past. We also have the POV of one girl speaking to a psychologist, Dr. Warren. Throughout the book, we don’t know who he is actually speaking to. I did figure that out fairly early into the story though.

This book has lots of good twists and turn and will keep you guessing until the last pages.
4 stars

What a comeback for Sally Hepworth!! I read The Soulmate and was severely disappointed. I was glad to receive this arc from St. Martins Press because I am reformed now!

This book was perfect for anyone with a short attention span who needs a good mystery! Told from 4 POV’s and switching back and forth from the past and present, the reader is fed constant insights and information to unfold the tragic story.

The story follows three foster siblings.-Jessica, Norah, and Alicia- who all suffered at the hands of their foster mother, Mrs. Fairchild. Our fourth POV is someone undergoing psychiatric evaluation and kept vague enough that you don’t know who is speaking until the very end. The story starts in the present as the three sisters receive a phone call from a detective about bones being found in the basement of their childhood home and are asked to come back for questioning. We oscillate back and forth from their current situation filled with secrets and anxieties to their terrifying and manipulative childhood under the care of their foster mother.

The story is truly wild and I found myself so caught up in it all. The sisters personalities mixed with their internal struggles at present were a lot to digest but as the reader you’re sucked in wanting to know what happened to them and more importantly, why!?

I loved the sisters bond despite the tragedy of what happened to them in the past and at present. The ending was beautifully done and the last chapter had me in shock! What a story!

While I loved the story, the arc had me scratching my head at times because of a phrase used with Norah. She would say “ It;s Norah without a T” in my ARC and I could not for the life of me understand why? I asked friends and fellow readers if it made sense to them and some of us had this version while others didn’t. It took me out of the story at times and had me googling what the hell it could possibly mean. It’s so insignificant but was the one thing that bothered me to no end!

Sally Hepworth is typically an auto-buy author for me. However, this book was not for me. It should have come with a trigger warning for child abuse. Due to that and the LGBT character, this book is not a good fit for my social media and book blog.

Sally Hepworth has done it again with another thriller that kept my attention and kept me guessing. The dual timeline with a mystery narrator was easy to follow and the transitions were seamless. It's an uncomfortable subject, though, and the book should have trigger warnings as some may have trouble with the subject matter.

Arc Review

Darling Girls

By: Sally Hepworth

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Pub Date: 4/23/24

Sally Hepworth did it once again!!! My jaw is on the floor! This book was absolutely perfection!!! I devoured this book! I never knew I could be so sucked into a book until I read this. The twist at the end of the book was INSANE!!

•This book was told in multiple different povs from the 3 foster sisters, plus a mystery person.
This book was also told in dual timelines
•The foster sisters Jessica, Alicia, and Norah’s bond was amazing.
•The mystery from start to finish kept me intrigued for the whole book.
•Some parts of the book I could predict but it was so good.
•I don’t think I will ever stop thinking about this book.

Sally Hepworth will always be an auto buy author. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!! Be on the look out in April for this page turner!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC for an honest review.

I’m sure we all heard nightmarish stories bout foster homes and foster parents but damn… you wouldn’t think that this much of a back story existed for any of them. Because they wouldn’t be vetted as foster parents if anyone knew, right? Right?

Three sisters (not blood but closer than that) were fostered by Ms. Fairchild. They arrived at her home at different times, but her erratic behavior made me as close as they could be. Years later, each got a call from a detective about a body found under the house they lived in. The sisters had their theory, but truth was much more convoluted and sickening than they expected.

We heard the story from three different narratives on two different timelines. There was another surprise hidden in the narrative. I liked the stark differences in personalities of three sisters and how their traumas were very distinct. I always liked Sally Hepworth stories, but I think this hit the spot more than others