*Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review and to Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC*

I was skeptical going into this book at first, because I wasn't a huge fan of The Soulmate. I am SO glad that I gave Sally Hepworth a second chance. Dynamic and thrilling, Darling Girls will keep you at the edge of your seat the entire read. A family of foster sisters' lives are upturned when they get news of a body found in the basement of their childhood home. It's red herring after red herring as we yearn for the body's identity and their killer. The tonality changes in the narrator between the psychologist chapters and those of the current events was remarkable, especially with the ending. She wasn't doing a different voice per say, but just a slightly different tone that helped me distinguish the characters. It's a spotlight on abuse, addiction, and the foster care system in Australia, so keep that in mind if you have any triggers related to this. I do wish we'd gotten a bit more character growth, but the focus was more on the mystery and I can appreciate that.

Overall a solid thriller that really redeemed Sally Hepworth's writing in my eyes.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are mine.

This is my first Sally Hepworth and I enjoyed the narrator's narration making it a well narrated audiobook. The book follows Jessica ,Alicia and Norah three girls raised in the foster system . To the world their foster mother Miss Fairchild was a sweetheart but behind closed doors she was something else. However they run away only to be reunited and pulled back to the home when a body is discovered
under the home they grew up in, the girls find themselves either painted as suspects or witnesses. It was pretty much fast moving, dark ,moving and a high level look at the dark side of fostering .

Rating:=3.5/5

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook.

I truly think Sally Hepworth can do no wrong.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia may not be sisters by blood but they are sisters by love. Always being told how lucky they were to grow up as foster kids on Wild Meadows, the farm owned by Miss Fairchild. But what no one knew was the abuse they faced under Miss Fairchilds care.

We get concurrent timelines to see the lives of the girls as they were young, living in Wild Meadows and now, as they head back to answer police questions after a body was discovered on the property.

This one was chalk full of likeable characters, tugs at the heart strings and plot twists.

I highly recommend this book.

Suspenseful read that alternates between past and present. The story begins with a character talking to a psychiatrist, but who is it? Everyone has suffered trauma in this story. Loved the loyalty between the girls who cling together to survive with their unpredictable and manipulative foster mother. In the present the girls are brought back to their old foster home when bones are discovered underneath the house. The story speeds up in the second half and a thrilling ending I didn’t see coming!

This was phenomenal! I found reasons to listen.

The story of found family is about three girls who grow up in foster care at a home where, decades later, human remains are found beneath the house.

There is a twisty story for the foster mother, as well.

Highly recommend!

I don't think I could love this book any more than I did! Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth was fantastic, and expertly narrated by Jessica Clarke.

Alicia, Jessica, and Norah ("with an h") grew up together being fostered by Miss Fairchild. Miss Fairchild was abusive, and while they all escaped, the sisters are asked to help with an investigation when a body is found under their foster home, Wild Meadows. I enjoyed each of the sisters and I felt that they were all so beautifully tarnished. We get into the minds of each woman (both past and present), and there is someone who is speaking with Dr. Warren, a psychiatrist. I LOVED the ending!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review. This was a pleasure to read and I simply could not put it down.

In this story we follow 3 foster sisters who are contacted by police to help with an investigation after human remains are found at the old foster home, Wild Meadows, they met and lived at together. The book recounts their time at Wild Meadows and follows along as details of the investigation unfold.

This book was a wild ride and I really enjoyed it. The writing style was extremely engaging and the author did a great job at making the book easy to follow amidst alternating POV's and timelines. I was concerned that with the 3 female foster sisters I was going to get the characters mixed up and become confused but Hepworth did a great job at making each sister unique and easily distinguishable. Their bond was one of the best parts of this story and I felt like I was reading about real people.

Then comes all the twists, which mostly caught me by surprise. The author expertly weaves unexpected developments throughout the narrative, keeping readers on the edge of their seats until the very end. The final chapter had my jaw on the floor and I went back and listened to it a second time to full absorb it. Overall I got through this book so quickly and was reaching for it in every spare moment I had. I think this book would be perfect for someone who wants to read a mystery, that is fairly new to the genre. While some parts are unsettling, I could definitely see this book appealing to people who mostly read general fiction.

I listened to this book on audio and really enjoyed the narrator, however I think my experience might've been even better had I picked up the physical copy as well.

Thank you to NetGalley, and Macmillian Audio for the ALC of this book!

The subject matter of this book had me super interested from the start! It’s haunting and heart-wrenching and so so entertaining. Would recommend to anyone and will likely reread!

First of all, I am quickly becoming a big Sally Hepworth fan! I was *obsessed* with this book. The story is so intriguing and fast paced that you can't stop, I finished it in 24 hours and really enjoyed every moment. I live for a good twist and this delivered! Highly recommend this thriller! I had a physical copy from BOTM and an audio copy thanks to Netgalley and the publisher!

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth rapidly went from four to five stars with that 60th chapter!

Three foster sisters… one seemingly perfect foster mother… secrets buried bone deep…

Each sister was well-developed and unique, making their three perspectives easy to differentiate, each portraying different ways an abusive childhood can affect an individual. I enjoyed seeing how Hepworth handled trauma through each character’s development; each woman was given an appropriately resolute character arc, which made the overall plot satisfying.

Admittedly, this isn't my favourite audiobook recording. There were noises between speaking moments that irked me; swallowing, inhaling, and shuffling are all notable in addition to the text narration. Yes, this is easy enough to oversee, but they are still present. Although not always the case (especially with multiple perspective books), this plot is easy enough to follow along with in audiobook form, making it perfect to accompany readers while performing mundane tasks!

With twists that kept me pointing my accusatory finger up until the end, this thriller has made me itching for another from Hepworth!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary audio copy to read and review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook ARC of this title. This was another captivating mystery/thriller by Sally Hepworth. The narrator does a great job of voicing the different characters and noticeably changes her voice when reading as a child, male, etc. Darling Girls tells the story of "now," when Jessica, Alicia, & Norah find out about bones discovered under their childhood home, and "then," when they were young girls being brought up there. I loved getting to know the characters in this way and I was eager to keep reading, but the ending fell a bit short for me. Overall still a very enjoyable read and I would recommend to others.

This is my 5th suspenseful book by this author (I haven't read her earlier fiction novels though my friend Jenna swears those are her favourites) and I found this one very twisty and captivating but ultimately it is not a new favourite. For some reason, I still have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for The Good Sister because I really LOVED those characters and the story was creepy too.

In Darling Girls, three sisters (foster sisters who are very much a found family) return to the foster house they met at because it has become a crime scene. A crime from decades ago is unearthed and it's impossible to know who to trust as the reader because there are a lot of subtleties involved in the past story. The characters never really completely grew on me, but my heart did go out to them for their past trauma and I feel that content warnings for childhood abuse and neglect as well as child death must be included here. There's also a woven narrative from the foster mother throughout the story and that added another layer and perspective to it all.

It was gripping and would make an excellent vacation/beach read much like all of hers! I do eventually hope to go back and read The Mother's Promise and The Things we Keep by this author.

Darling Girls was a tale of foster sisters caught in the mystery of a body found in the creepy house they were raised in. The characters have dark backstory and were not the most impactful in my opinion. While haunting, the mystery and story were predictable and I found the whole thing to be anticlimactic.

Having read a few of Sally Hepworth’s books already, I was so excited to listen to Darling Girls, the story of three foster girls, their trauma filled experiences growing up and the incredible bond they created while living in this horrific foster home. Their sister-like bond held strong over the years, especially when as adults they are forced to return to the town they grew up in when a body was discovered buried on the property that was once their foster home. What follows will keep you on the edge of your seat! Like her others books, Darling Girls will not disappoint.

Sometimes my mind can wander when I’m listening to an audiobook, but this thriller with its twists and turns kept me throughly engaged from beginning to end. The narration was fantastic, which I find can make or break a book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to listen to Darling Girls and provide my honest review for others. To Sally Hepworth- You’ve done it again! Darling Girls will be added to my recommendations for those looking for a thriller that will stay with them long after finishing the book.

I've never read any Sally Hepworth before but I enjoyed this one! Told in two primary timelines, we get into the mid of 3 foster sisters both in the present (where we know a body was found during renovation of their former foster home) and the past as they survive the abuse of their foster mother. This one definitely has some major triggers so check out your content warnings before diving in. Idk if it's because my mom was a social worker when I was a kid or I am just passionate about it, but it kills me when foster parents mistreat their foster kids, needless to say I was not a fan of their foster mom. The mystery itself is quite the slow burn as we spend a good chunk of the book just getting to know these 3 ladies in the past and present before we learn anything about the connection to the bones in the present. But it's a good slow burn. The audio is great too. I really enjoyed listening to it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of both the audiobook and the digital book. I ended up listening to the audio. At first I wasn't sure that I would like the audio because of the British accent, but I think the accent added to the narrative. I have read many of Sally Hepworth's books and this one didn't disappoint!

This one was a good domestic thriller. These sisters have lived through a lot in their lives but what happens when the past comes back to haunt them. What happened all those years ago? Now the sisters must revisit the worst time of their lives to figure this mystery out.

Narration by Jessica Clarke was very well done with so many characters.

I liked this one and would recommend it if you like family drama buried memories and secrets!

3 stars

I received this audiobook from the publisher Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

Foster sisters who share a troubled past, closer than close except for the secrets the could destroy them. This one was high suspense with all the feels. I literally could not turn it off. The narrator did a masterful job. The bad "guy" was sufficiently awful. The ending delightfully twisty at the same time as it provided a fair measure of closure. Bravo. Highly recommended.

I listened to the audiobook, and at first it wasn't holding my attention but I stayed with it and I'm so glad I did. Jessica, Norah and Alicia have always been told how lucky they are being raised by a loving foster mother. Miss Fairchild is anything but loving!, she's mean, cruel and abusive. They weren't lucky at all. Now years later they all struggle with issues and and are still haunted by Miss Fairchild. When a body is found under the Fairchild home, they are summoned back to their painful past, and might be prime suspects. A gripping and twisted story that didn't disappoint. A great summer thriller.

Thank you MacMillan Audio

Dawnny Ruby
Novels N Latte
Hudson Valley NY

Told from three darling girl POVs, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, this book is set in both the present and the past. The characters are realistically flawed and I found them easy to like. I especially loved their sister bond! Their upbringing with their foster parent, Miss Fairchild, is sad and scary. TW: child abuse. Bones have been found at the site of the house they grew up in and now the sisters have been called back to the town of their childhood in order to help the police figure out just who the bones belong to. I found the police investigation to be completely unbelievable and while I enjoyed the overall story, I didn't find it to be very exciting. That being said, the ending got me. Way to go Sally!

I read the physical book and I also listened to the audio book. I'm giving this book 4 stars based on Jessica Clarke's fantastic narration which brought all of the characters to life. I enjoyed the audio version far more than the print version. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my copy of this audio book in exchange for my honest review.