Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth was such a great audiobook. Jessica Clarke did a phenomenal job. Her voice reminded me a lot of the narration in some of Liane Moriarty's books. Terrific job!

It has been a while since I really did not want a book to end. I found myself re-listening to chapters just to take it all in and make sure I did not miss a thing.

I will note that the book could be triggering for people who endured abusive childhoods.

The very last bit of the book. OH.MY.GOODNESS. NO!!!!!!!!

I enjoyed the story being told by multiple points of view, and each character was well-developed, The book flipped from past to present throughout.

Jessica, Norah (with an "H"), and Alicia were all foster children of Miss Fairchild. They all came from different backgrounds, but quickly became sisters, forming a bond deeper than biology. Together, they took care of Miss Fairchild's home and dealt with Miss Fairchild's volatile moods.

There are so many layers in this book. Jessica, the first foster child, formed an instant, special bond with Miss Fairchild. She was Miss Fairchild's only foster for many years and was treated like her own child. Jessica strived to please Miss Fairchild and sought her approval.

Norah had a troubled past with many foster homes over several years. Alicia was at Miss Fairchild's for the shortest period of time.

As adults, the women are very close. When they are contacted by detectives about a case related to their foster home, they all return to the scene of their troubled childhood. They are forced to talk about their past,

Gah. I am having a hard time writing this review because I do not want to give anything away.

There is a lot going on. Trust me. It's good. Grab a copy and peel back the layers!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audio copy of Darling Girls in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I've tried a couple of this author's work before and I felt on the fence about them but this one I oddly really enjoyed! It's not a super fast paced book or crazy suspensive. It's more got a family type drama with a mystery element but I was hooked! I really liked the audio format because the narrator was able to have me invested and forgetting I was listening to a book. I like the different povs and time jumps! It was a good drama that had me invested in the outcome. The end wasn't as crazy as I was hoping but I still really enjoyed it. Definitely my favorite one by her that I've read so far.

I loved the way this story unfolded. The use of multiple POVs and past and present chapters really propelled the story. I struggled to connect to the three FMCs, but it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the story. The twists and turns really kept me guessing! I audibly gasped during the final
twist!

I will also say I appreciated how the author brought light to fostering and adoption and some of the issues that come along with that.

Fabulous narration! I really enjoyed the narrators voice and inflections! Definitely recommend grabbing the audiobook for this one!

If you enjoy family drama, lots of twists, and multiple POVs I highly recommend grabbing this book!

When a body is found underneath their previous foster home, Jessica, Alicia, and Norah receive a phone call from police to come in for questioning. Darling Girls follows these 3 girls that found themselves in the same foster home as children and trauma bonded through dealing with their abusive foster mother, Miss Fairchild. Whose body was found? How did they die? Did the sisters have anything to do with it?

Told in the point of view of the three sisters and in both the present and the past, this audiobook completely grabbed my attention! While it was pretty dark and covered some triggering and troubling subject matter- I found myself rushing to finish to find out what had happened. All the characters felt real and relatable to me. Definitely recommend this thrilling mystery!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Add it to your to be read for April 22!

✨Review✨
I went back and forth doing the book as well as the audiobook and I loved the accent of the reader. Three girls who become “sisters” in this foster home that is an absolute nightmare and years later are brought back there because as it was demolished, bones were found underneath. Detectives are questioning each girl as well as the few other girls who were brought to this foster home for a short time. As each character is described, you sympathize with them for how they are from their circumstances they came from. Sally Hepworth keeps you on your toes, and trying to solve the mystery of who it was, and who did it. So many parts come out to play and it leaves you questioning the whole time. Each sister has such a story to tell as to why they were brought to this foster home on the farm with the sweet lady who loved these darling girls. I was completely thrown off with this ending- the final chapter! Wow! Not at all how I thought it’d end but it brought it full circle completely. With all of the characters, details, Sally did a great job keeping you on edge. I had moments of pausing to make sure I was putting each detail together correctly. I always love her thrillers and stories she creates.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and Sally Hepworth for the advanced copy. #netgalley #stmartinspress #sallyhepworth #sallyhepworthauthor #sallyhepworthbooks #sallyhepworthdarlinggirls @netgalley @stmartinspress @sallyhepworth

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, author Sally Hepworth, and NetGalley for providing me the ALC in exchange for my honest review. This audiobook will be released on April 23, 2024.

The remains of a body are found under Wild Meadows Foster Home. The police knock on the doors of three women, former foster children who lived under the domineering care of Miss Fairchild at the scene of the crime. Are they suspects? What do they know? Some answers lie 25 years in their shared past.

The plot takes a while to get “thrilling.” We get a past timeline and a present timeline. In the past, we see increasing red flags from the abusive, unstable fostering of Miss Fairchild. In the present, we get the mundane but messy lives of the three women—Alicia, Jessica, and Nora—which gives us plodding character exploration. When I got to the 70% mark, I was finally all in. Reveals started rolling in, and then we get some plot twists.

I would recommend to people who are okay with slow-burn domestic thrillers. Also note that there are some pretty heavy content warnings: mentioned sexual abuse, flashbacks of verbal/emotional abuse, etc.

NARRATION: The female Australian narrator Jessica Clarke has a pleasant voice. Great!

This audiobook was fantastic! Excuse me?! That ending! Darling Girls is a psychological thriller that really focuses on the characters, their development, and how past traumas have stayed with them into adulthood. This book is dark. I actually want to say this felt darker than some of the other thrillers I've read, and I think it's because it's not crazy to think of this book in a realistic way.

Norah, Jessica, and Alicia are three girls who've bonded in foster care while dealing with the trauma of an abusive parent. Set between three separate timelines, the past, the present, and various meetings with a psychologist this book had me on the edge of my seat. I didn't want to put it down because I just had to know what happened. This is my first book by Sally Hepworth and I am a fan! I can't wait to read her other titles.

Holy smokes this was fantastic!!! It was a little slow to build up, but there were so many twists and surprises. Love it!! strong writing and character building.

While I absolutely love Sally Hepworth, "Darling Girls" is definitely not her best but not her worst. The narrator is intriguing and engaging.

Such a great read! Jessica, Norah and Alicia are foster sisters who are contacted by a detective about bones found at their old foster home, Wild Meadows. The three are questioned and all remember a past they’d rather forget.

I couldn’t put this one down! Great thriller. Thank you for the ALC for my honest review.

Whew. This book is twisted! Such a thriller without being overly scary. Detailing the story of three girls being fostered by an abusive caregiver, you’re immediately rooting for the girls to get out and stay together. As the abuse continues, miss Fairchild looks for love by fostering younger and younger girls. When she’s not given the love she’s so desperately searching for, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have to take over their care. Miss Fairchild eventually adopts a toddler and the girls witness her abusive tendencies start to show up again. In an attempt to save young Amy they get the police involved only to find there was no evidence of an Amy ever existing. Fast forward to the police discovering bones underneath their foster home, the girls are terrified it may be their beloved Amy. Full of twists and turns this is definitely a book you don’t want to miss!

This book has everything that makes up a great entertaining suspense thriller it ticks all the boxes! The audiobook was narrated fantastically and I had no problem distinguishing the different characters.

I was completely invested in the story. It was very character driven and each one had their own distinctive personality traits and were so compelling and relatable.
Miss Hepworth never fails to amaze me with her characterization skills and her ability to weave between the past and present so flawlessly..

I loved the storyline, and how at times it was devastating and then at other times darkly humorous which broke up the heavy narrative perfectly.
Make sure to read the acknowledgment for the author's inspiration and abit more of her humor.
Overall I think this is her best book yet and definitely recommend picking it up on release day which is April 23rd.

Thank you yo McMillan Audio, Netgally and the author.

If you like sister stories of secrets dredged up from the past, DARLING GIRLS is for you. The story follows three sisters in the aftermath of the discovery of a body beneath the foster home they grew up in. Sally Hepworth does sibling dynamics so well, and the bond of sisterhood takes center stage here. While there is a mystery it takes a back seat as a subplot to the main focus of the story: the characters. The sisters were not very distinct in my mind and I think the audiobook would have benefitted from multiple narrators to differentiate each sister. While the ending picked up speed, I found the pacing to be slightly slower than what I was in the mood for.

Childhood trauma does play a major role in the storyline so please know that this story may not be for everyone. Through her lively characters Sally does bring some moments of levity. While I enjoyed some of Sally’s previous novels more, I think DARLING GIRLS will still find its home with many readers.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced readers copy audiobook! Well, that was a super fun ride! Sally Hepworth always delivers a great story. This was not my first Hepworth and it will not be my last! This book is about 3 sisters, well, they aren’t REAL sisters. They are foster sisters, but they are as CLOSE as real sisters and grew up together with their foster mother, Miss Fairchild, and were told they were soooo lucky to be rescued. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia know everything about each other and help each other out as children and stay in touch as adults. Now, a body is found on the estate where they grew up. Who is it? What happened? Who it involved? All 3 darling girls are brought back to estate and secrets from the past are brought to light. This was a twisty, turny, fast read. I definitely didn’t see that big twist at the end!! 😁

I know I'm in the absolute minority but this book was long and unraveled in slow motion. The characters were dull. Also, it is marketed completely wrong. This is fiction/womens drama. There the tiniest of thrills in some of the twists but nowhere near where a true thriller should be.

The POVs are labeled correctly but absolutely needed more than narrators. But I'm sure many will love it.

This is highly addictive!
Shady pasts, unknown human bones found, everyone's a suspect and a tight knit found family with secrets of it's own.
I could not put this down!
I always have high hopes for Sally Hepworth, and am somehow still always surprised when she knocks my socks off.
Also the audio has delightful Aussie accents *swoon*
Much love to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for my DRCs.

I love Sally Hepworth’s writing! This was such a good read. I loved the complex relationship between the three sisters. The ending of this book was so unexpected!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I absolutely loved the regular book version of this so I was super excited for the audiobook.
The audiobook may be even better than the written book. The narrator is amazing and really makes the story come to life.

Wow! This book was fast paced and heart wrenching. Three girls become sisters in a home in foster care. Their need to bond was due to their foster mother being a bit unhinged. Years later, as adults, they have to come together when bones of a body are found on the premises. This opens a door of repressed feelings for some, and the "sisters" have to recall traumatic experiences to the police of their time in this house. I couldn't put this down and needed to know what happened! Kudos to Sally Hepworth for having me hanging on until the final word.

First of all, huge thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

Second of all, it needs to be said that I am a HUGE Sally Hepworth fan. I have read most of her books and I always love them. She always pushes the envelope and writes some of the...most insane...characters I've ever read. I thought I've seen some crazy things from her, but they all seem mild compared to this one. Sally may be just a little unhinged LOL

Anyways, I haven't read an ending of a book that good (bad? disturbing?) in a long time.

This book is insanely readable; you won't be able to put it down. I went into this book blind and had no idea what to expect, which I think made things even more shocking. The way that the past and present storylines unfold here show just how truly talented Hepworth is. She kept me curious and locked-in by unraveling clues and twists slowly yet consistently throughout the whole book.

I definitely thought I had everything figured out and still would have enjoyed it even if I was right, but then I got thrown a major curve ball and now I'm doubting everything I've ever known in my entire life. Thanks, Sally.

Have I mentioned that this book is disturbing? Don't say I didn't, say I didn't warn you!

As far as the audiobook performance itself, Jessica Clarke did a pretty good job!

4.5 stars rounded up