I enjoyed this book. Sally Hepworth does a great job building suspense. I see that many people weren't happy with the ending but I was. I felt that this story had my questioning everything until the last page.

Everyone in Sally Hepworth’s The Younger Wife is keeping secrets. Cardiologist Stephen Aston is the patriarch of the family. He appears to have it all and is beloved by many, but appearances can be deceiving. His wife Pam is suffering from dementia and had to be moved to a nursing home. His daughters Tully and Rachel have their own deep dark secrets. Stephen’s soon-to-be new wife is younger than both of his daughters and she’s hiding a troubled past. This book started a little slow for me and the family is so completely dysfunctional that it’s a bit over the top. The story is told in alternating points of view of the main characters and jumps back and forth between past and present. It was just okay, not great. Thanks to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my least favorite favorite of Hepworths (they are all really good), but I gotta give it to her, what an intriguing and unique story line. Pam (mother of Tully & Rachel) is in a nursing home debilitated by Alzheimers. Tully and Rachel's father Stephen is planning to get married to a younger wife Heather, who happens to be the interior designer he and Pam hired to redo their home. I did love the opening scene at the wedding with first wife Pam there. I thought, where is this story going to go? Lots of intrigue and that's always a draw for me. There are the flash backs to Pam before she lost her memory, there's the underlying story of what happened to Heather before she met Stephen, and the drama of Tully and Rachel as they are certain Heather's after their father's money. Just a totally unique story.

I started reading this anticipating a thriller only to find out it was fiction following extended family storylines woven together. The book focuses on their relationships and self development. Character development was really well done and it was a smooth read.

*spoilers*

I just didn’t understand why the author wrote the ending the way she did. It was never really clear whether or not Stephen was abusive or if other characters- Heather, for instance, was imagining things. It would have been one thing to leave the book open ended with an alternate ending, but for Rachel to kill Stephen out of her belief that he was abusive and then never to know… it leaves the reader feeling “unfinished”. I really enjoyed the book up until the end.

I’ll read everything by Sally Hepworth. There’s always a mystery, but I wouldn’t call it a mystery or thriller. It’s more like dark literary fiction, with a bit of domestic suspense. Her books remind me of slightly darker Liane Moriarity.
The Younger Wife follows the perspectives of the two daughters and very young fiancée of Stephen, as they struggle to figure out their lives and their relationships. I found it compulsively readable.

The first quarter of this book was intriguing. The opening scene hooked me and pulled me in. I did enjoy each womans individual srories and the sisters relationship. However the rest of it so boring! I feel like I wasted a few days of my life.

I’ve been a fan of Sally Hepworth’s domestic thrillers for a few years.


I loved the twists and turns we learn about as the story unfolds and could not put it down. What I loved most about this book were the all the relationships between the characters.

Suspenseful, twisted, and well written. I didn’t love the ending, but I also did not see it coming.

A suspenseful read from an amazing writer.. I highly recommend all of Sally's books! Stephen Aston is getting married again to Heather, but he's still married to his first wife who is in a assisted living facility for dementia. His daughters Tully and Rachel look at Heather as nothing but an interference. They are determined to get to the truth about all the family’s secrets. And will.getting to the truth fix matters or just cause the most dangerous impulses come out in all of them?
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

This was a miss for me. I thought the plot line was not delved out and the characters were all kinda annoying and I didn't relate to anyone or like anyone. I thought the ending was a little ridiculous and had some major trigger warnings that were just randomly thrown in.

I typically love her books and this was somewhat of a let down. I didn’t love it but also didn’t hate it. It was just okay. I thought some things seemed far fetched and didn’t make sense plus I had it figured out early where it was all leading and that tends to ruin a story for me.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Thanks for the ARC. What can I say? I didn't want to put this book down once I started reading it. I did but could not wait to get back to reading it. I loved it. Will recommend!

I received this book as an ARC from @NetGalley and I really enjoyed it. The story follows two sisters, Rachel and Tully, who are in disbelief as they find out their father is dating someone who is younger than they are. Without any spoilers, some shady things begin to happen that make the family question everything they know about their father. The story had felt a bit predictable to me in the beginning, but towards the end, I began to question all of my predictions and thoughts. 4/5 ⭐️’s

I’ve been a fan of Ms. Hepworth’s domestic thrillers for a few years now and The Younger Wife definitely fits into that genre. Its a twisty road that as a reader I wasn’t sure where it was going to. Each of the characters carry a secret that has affected their lives but Tully and Rachel are the ones taking steps to help their trauma.

I enjoyed this one but wasn’t my favorite of hers.

I love a suspenseful story that is hard to put down which is just what this was. I enjoyed the family drama and each of the character's story. I loved the twist at the end and I thought I had it figured out at the halfway point, but I was wrong. I would recommend this to anybody that loves the mystery/suspense genre.

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth is a fun and fairly fast read. This book is told in alternating views by the women in the story, who all have very different views. Tully and Rachel are the daughters of Stephen, who is married but is planning his second marriage. I loved the twists that we learn about as the book goes on.
I really enjoyed the ending and read it over again to get even more enjoyment out of it.
This is my honest review of the ARC given to me by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press.
#NetGalley, #St. Martin’s Press

Another fantastic book by Sally Hepworth. I love that her books have a plot that draws you in from the beginning, but there is always so much more. You care about the characters and what happens to them. Her books always leave me excited to see what is going to happen.

This book is like a handbook on gaslighting. Stephen is getting married. Again. The trick? His current wife is still alive. She has dementia and is living locally in a care facility. His daughters, Tully and Rachel, aren't real thrilled about Stephen's fiancee Heather, but each has their own secrets they are dealing with so they begrudgingly start to get to know her. What unravels is a story full of twists and turns that are extremely well written by Hepworth.

I think what I love most about this book is all the relationships in the book. Hepworth writes sisters and the ups and downs that can come with sisterhood so well. I loved Tully and Rachel and how they supported one another while still being so very different. I also really enjoyed the relationships they each had with the men in their life. Tully has a secret she has been hiding from everyone...even her husband...and it's starting to bubble out of control. As it comes to light, it was heartwarming to see Tully wrapped up by those who love her. Rachel's story is absolutely heartbreaking and so very real. The way that her relationship with Darcy grows through his patience and understanding is fantastic.

And then there's Heather. Heather who thought she had grown up and escaped one nightmare only to find that she's questioning whether she is in another. The entire book has you questioning Stephen and whether he did or didn't do certain things. Which is what a gaslighter wants. It's so craftily written and really shows how truly dangerous someone like Stephen can be. I would caution readers about the content in this book as there is rape as well as both physical and emotional abuse.

I truly feel Sally Hepworth is in a class to herself. Her writing always has you questioning until the end (and even beyond). I highly recommend this book and cannot wait to see what she brings to us in the future.

Stephen is dating a younger woman. He announces to his daughters that they plan to get married. The unusual thing about this is that he’s already married. But his wife is incompetent. Suspicions surround the characters, as there are secrets and addictions, among other things.

I quite liked it!
I loved the characters, but specifically grew to like them more over time. They were so human with so many faults. I loved how the book called out specific notes about how things changed during the Pandemic and how that affected how people acted in certain situations or why they found themselves on certain situations. Made it feel more real.

Apparently there’s an element or two in the ARC that I read where the ending was changed a bit. I was initially mildly annoyed by the semi-uncertain ending, but also grew to like it. It made me keep thinking about it. The small change(s) I’ve read about seem to simply provide a confidence and confirmation in the end. I’m sure that nice to have as well.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. I’m sad it took me so long to make it a priority, but I’m so glad I read it!

The Younger Wife
by Sally Hepworth ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Based on how many different things were going on at the same time I expected a big finale or a twist. Also, that ending broke the whole mood of the book. I understand what it meant but still. I loved Sally Hepworth previous book and her writing style but I didn't love this one.

The book starts with the wedding of Stephen Aston and his young wife Heather. Right after the wedding, a crime happens and we are taken back a few months before the wedding to get to know each character. Stephen is a prestigious heart surgeon that got a new girlfriend as young as his daughters Tully and Rachel. His former wife has dementia so he decided that it was time to replace her, get divorced and merry the woman that was designing their home: Heather. Heather has her own family dramas and traumas and the biggest one is domestic violence, where her father killed her mother. Tully and her husband are going through a bad financial situation and on top of that Tully is a Kleptomaniac (An impulse control disorder that results in an irresistible urge to steal). Rachel was r@ped when she was a teenager and never told anyone. She bakes cakes and eats a lot to try to cope with her feelings and her past. I think Rachel deserves her own book! Lots of family dramas and different stories going on and then we're taken back to the weeding to understand who killed who. That part was fine, just the very ending and the lack in telling more about the first wife that killed it for me. Still an enjoyable book and I still like the author's writing style.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review