(So Sorry I posted all my reviews prior to pub date and forgot to come here - not like me, again so sorry)

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So I’ve read a few Sally Hepworth books now and have come to expect a certain level of mindfuckery which she absolutely delivers here in Daring Girls.

Switching between the present and the past we learn the story of three foster sisters who experienced gaslighting and abuse from their foster mother. While everything seems normal at first in both timelines we quickly start to uncover what happened and what has led the sisters to be….. Well… How they are now.

It’s very easy to root for all three sisters too. Having the little epilogue helped a lot as far as the resolutions of their coping mechanisms. I also love the names of Norah’s dogs 😂

It’s a bit hard to read at times between the gaslighting and child abuse. With the tension so high it’s absolutely impossible to put down because in both timelines I was worried about the sisters and then the current mystery! Who’s body was under the house? She managed to put enough humor and lighter moments in to give us a breather thankfully.

Keeping it interesting right up until the last sentence, Hepworth throws constant wrenches in our opinion of things. I was thinking that it was a perfect five star thriller *riiight* up until the last paragraph when she went over my suspension of disbelief in fiction. I won’t say why because y’all have to read to find out but I want to know what everyone thinks when you read it.

In the audio, once I got used to Jessica Clarke’s Australian accent I enjoyed it quite a bit. I think I’d have liked reading this one more because with so many characters and names it’s hard to keep track on audio, although Clarke kept the voices different enough that it wasn’t hard. I would listen to more by her!

Overall I definitely recommend this one for fans of psychological thrillers as long as you can handle some graphic descriptions of child abuse and things that the foster kids had happen to them in prior homes.

https://onereadingnurse.com/2024/04/12/alc-review-darling-girls-by-sally-hepworth/

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4/5 stars. Hepworth is an auto-read author for me, and I enjoyed this book as much as her others! I particularly enjoyed the bond the sisters had. I wished there had been more about the foster mom, and that the end had tied up in a more satisfying way. But overall this was a good one!

An ideal wine mom mystery, Darling Girls is a stress-free reading experience with broad appeal; even with its narrative touching upon subject matters such as domestic violence or drug abuse, it is always through the gentrified lens of glossy entertainment, rather than depicting the frank, ugly reality.

The 'thrills' are mostly derived from information being intentionally withheld, rather than action taking place in its plot (characters did very little other than conversing among each others in different environments), but overall I was entertained by most of its maneuvers (except for one instance where a concealed identity was pretty obvious early on), and the fiery personalities / bonding of the three sisters (which really came to life via its audiobook). The pivotal villain was unfortunately cartoonish and garishly depicted, lacking any compelling nuances (which, could be an intentional choice to lessen the true brutality of their action).

Darling Girls is a fine choice if you're seeking a surface level thrill, with sensationalized melodrama that is involving without graphic violence or gore on page. Even though personally speaking this is overall too low-stake and action-less for my usual preference, the short chapters and lively narration elevates the experience overall.

Echoes of the Past

The story of three young girls, all end up at the foster farm ran by Miss Fairchild. It appeared to be the ideal place on a farm where they could grow up. Unfortunately, things were not as they appeared as Jessica, Norah and Alicia were soon to discover.
They learned that Miss Fairchild had rules and she must always be obeyed or dire consequences would occur.

They could handle the three of them and they became like sisters. Then the babies started coming and everything changed. They found that they could no longer endure the existence at the farm under miss Fairchild and they broke away.

They never saw her again until the notice came in the mail for all of them to gather once more at the farm. It appears that bones were found buried at the farm and they were all being questioned as witnesses…so why did it feel like they were suspects.

They needed to find out the mystery of the bones before they were implicated in the murder.
A story of abuse, mystery and lasting consequences of what they witnessed at the farm as they were foster children there. It left an impression on them, each one in a different way but all were affected by it.

I listened to the audio book. The narrator had a pleasant voice and was easily understood. She did a good job on the narration.

A tragic mystery that will keep you reading.

Thanks to Sally Hepworth for writing a great story, to Jessica Clarke for a great narration, to Macmillan audio for publishing it and to NetGalley for providing me a copy to listen to and review

Sally Hepworth never disappoints! I enjoyed the dual the timeline and the twist at the end was *chefs kiss*! The character development was well written and I found myself invested in their well being from the very beginning. The narcissistic personality portrayed by Miss Fairchild made her so unlikeable I felt like Sally Hepworth had to have encountered a person just like this in real life. Loved every second of this story!

This was such a good read. Twists on top of twists. And oh man what an ending!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the E-ARC. And to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

Sally Hepworth captivates audiences again, this time with a thriller centering on a group of youth who suffered greatly at the hands of their adoptive mother. This might feel like a trope that's been overdone, but the ending is unexpected which gives fresh life to this storyline.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia are foster sisters that grew up under the care of Miss Fairchild. On the outside, it looked as if they were beyond lucky to have such a loving and caring home. However, behind closed doors, Miss Fairchild had rules and expectations that were extreme and outside the realm of normal. The girls managed to escape Miss Fairchild and ventured into adulthood without her.

Years later, they are called back to town due to a body being found under the home that was once Mrs. Fairchild's. They are forced to relive and remember parts of their past- are they witnesses, suspects, or are one of them the murderers? Who is under the home?

This psychological thriller by Sally Hepworth has once again knocked me off my feet at all of the twists and turns! You will be constantly wondering and guessing!

Thank you to the author Sally Hepworth, publishers St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of DARLING GIRLS. All views are mine.

Slowly, Miss Fairchild became Jessica's entire universe. Jessica became intimately attuned to her moods. She knew how to please her, charm her, how to soothe her. She knew when it was a good time to ask for something, and when to accept that all was lost.

I actually really loved this book about girls no one wants who have to come together and take care of matters themselves. This was a redemption read for me, as I didn't get along well with the last book I read from this author. Honestly, I couldn't have picked a better one. Wonderful, loathsome characters whom I both despised and couldn't get enough of. They are also complex enough to have good impact on the plot, so I was surprised a few times. The ending killed me in the best way. Only a few minor quibbles for this book. Will I read Hepworth's next book? Yes, yes I will!

After all, if crime novels are anything to go by, the only person more likely to commit murder than a foster child, is a woman who is childless by choice.

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. The concept is excellent and creepy, and the character introductions definitely hooked me!

2. This text lends well to an audiobook, and the narrator does an excellent job.

3. This power play tug-of-war between the character's is excellent. Exemplary psych thriller fare. I'm finding this story hard to walk away from!

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. The metaphors are cliched, heavy, and bad: Her wrath, when it came, was like a runaway train....

2. I rarely say this, but I wish the denouement had been longer! The climax works, but I was left with too many questions at the end of the book. Especially about Jessica, whose character trajectory is wonderfully complex.

Rating: 🧒🏽👶🏻👱‍♀️🙍🏻‍♀️🧑‍🦲 /5 foster kids
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: May 10, 2024
Format: Digital arc, Kindle, audiobook, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
🤐 dysfunctional family stories
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 family stories, family drama
👭🏽 young girl friendships
💇‍♀️ girl's coming of age
🤫 family secrets

For fans of Freida Mcfadden and John Marrs!!! Absolutely LOVED this book! This is my first read by this author, and I will definitely check out more books by her. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Once in a while you stumble on an amazing book that pulls you in due to the great narration. Jessica Clarke does that in Hepworth's Darling Girls. Her australian accent feels perfect for the book!

I love Sally Hepworth! Everytime she publishes, I want to pick her up to enter her world.

Brief synopsis: Three young girls once lived on a farm with a foster mother named Miss Fairchild. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild, and they thought they were free. But the reach of someone with such power is long, and even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When bones are discovered buried under the farmhouse of their childhood, they are called in by the police to tell what they know.

My thoughts: The setting of this book was intriguing, a dead body found at three foster sisters’ old foster home.The story travels back and forth in time from when Jessica, Norah and Alicia are children to the present when they are contacted by the police regarding the remains of a child found buried under the pool at the old foster home. There are also chapters with one woman speaking to a psychiatrist but we aren't sure who it is until the end. I enjoyed getting to know the three sisters at the center of the mystery. Of note: all of the characters in the story are unreliable, flawed and complex adding to the mystery.

Darling Girls is full of tension, twists and turns and a mystery I wanted to solve.

Trigger warning: Hepworth includes difficult topics in Darling Girls, including foster systems and the sexual abuse/harassment of children and adults.

Many thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for sharing Hepworths latest domestic mystery filled with sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder.

I have been a fan of Sally Hepworth from the beginning, some better than others to me. This one knocked it out of the park to me. The characters were rich and flawed with an unreliable and unknown narrator thrown in there. I was left guessing until almost the end. Really well done.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Sally Hepworth for this audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

I LOVED this book!!! It hooked me immediately and I could not put it down! This was so well done and I immediately ordered a hard copy to send to my best friend because I knew she'd love it too! This narrator absolutely nailed it and I loved the audiobook just as much as reading the ebook!

5 star read for me!

I am a big fan of Sally Hepworth, and this was no exception. This was at times hard to read, but only because the subject matter was tough. It is terrible to think of kids entering the foster system, only to be mistreated. They girls form a very special bond, and will do anything to protect one another.

The matriarch in the book is awful. Even when you hear her backstory, you still hate her. Maybe a little less though. The ending was expected, but a really good twist. I finished feeling very satisfied.

Three girls bond as sisters when raised in a horrendous foster home. Jessica came as a toddler and she and Mrs. Fairchild had a maternal child relationship until Jessica went to school and Mrs. Fairchild wasn't her whole world. Norah came later and was always a strong individual so she came in for most of the abuse Mrs. Fairchild handed out. Alicia came last when her beloved grandmother died leaving her without a home.

Mrs. Fairchild insists the house always be spotless. Sometimes there was food, sometimes not. There was verbal, psychological and physical abuse. But the girls never told anyone as they didn't want to ever be separated. Mrs. Fairchild started taking in babies but she would get tired of them and make the girls take over their care. Finally she adopted a toddler named Amy but again she got tired of her when Amy started transferring her affections to the girls. Mrs. Fairchild started abusing Amy and the girls decided they had to tell someone. But when the authorities come to save Amy, there is no trace of her and Mrs. Fairchild said the girls made her up. Amy is never found but the girls are taken away to a group home where they finish growing up.

Now years later, bones have been found under Mrs. Fairchild's house. They are the bones of a small child. Jessica, Norah and Alicia return to the town to help the police. Mrs. Fairchild is still there and she tries to incriminate the girls. Who was the body and what happened?

Sally Hepworth is an Australian author. Her thrillers focus on various family relationships and are full of twists and turns. This one follows the same formula and readers will be fascinated at this tale of abuse and murder. Each of the girls has made a life for herself, one a social worker, one a home organizer and one moving from job to job. This may be the final piece that makes their lives whole. I listened to this novel and the Australian accent of the narrator grounded the book in its location and added interest. This book is recommended for mystery readers.

I enjoyed every minute of this well- plotted, well-paced novel by the super talented writer Sally Hepworth. I had already read her previous book, The Soulmate, and thought it was excellent. I liked Darling Girls even more.

Three main characters are all courageous, likable, and inspiring women. They were foster kids were raised by an abusive foster mom, and the wounds of their childhood have made them all troubled as adults. They are all working on themselves, and trying to heal and support each other, and I was rooting for them the whole way.

Miss Fairchild, the foster mother, is a narcissist, and accurately represented. Anyone who has spent time in the company of a narcissist will recognize how realistic this character’s behavior is. Sally Hepworth knows her human psychology for sure.

There are also four lovable dogs in this book who add humor and to balance out the sad scenes. There is one chapter where the dogs are farting in the car. I was falling over with giggles as I was reading that part.

Thank you so much Netgalley, St Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio, for giving me free digital downloads of both the written book and the audiobook. Having both forms of media is my favorite way to experience a book, because I can absorb every sentence book by reading and hearing it.

The narrator of the audiobook was terrific, and I love hearing an Australian accent. I need to get more audiobooks read aloud by Australians.

Considering I wasn't a fan of Hepworth's The Soulmate, I was surprised by how much I actually liked this one! I found Darling Girls to be so gripping, and was intrigued by the alternating viewpoints, as well as the flashbacks to the sisters' disturbing childhood. The mystery of the human remains added some twists and turns as well. While I did feel that the story wrapped up a little too "happily ever after," in the closing chapters, the final little twist made for a great ending!

My second Sally Hepworth novel kept my interest. Three women brought up in foster care brought back to their childhood home with the discovery of baby bones buried beneath the house. Dual timeline told by all three girls who all are living with emotional issues as adults. I read via audiobook and enjoyed the narrator. The ending did take me by surprise! Another win for me! Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

As a former foster care worker, this was dark and felt very realistic. A journey few long to take, but many must try. It’s fiction but it’s so realistically written, you’re immersed in the terrors and the dangers. You must get out alive and take others with you to look back. Highly recommend this author and this story.

I have enjoyed previous reads from this author and this book was no exception, despite the VERY dark content. As other reviewers have mentioned, there are several trigger warnings, including child abuse and trauma. I thought the character development was well done and I really liked the sisterly bond between the three main characters. I liked the Dr. Warren chapters and guessed who his patient was pretty early on, which was a win for me because I am not normally a good guesser. I did, however, find the good doctor to be creepy and more than a little bit unprofessional.

Many people didn’t seem to like the twist in the final few pages, but I was fine with it (and I really did not see that one coming at all).

Jessica Clarke did a fine job of narrating the audiobook, although I don't think there was enough differentiation between character voices. This didn't detract from how much I enjoyed it, however.