What a tangled web Sally Hepworth has woven! I'm so fortunate to have received an ARC of #TheYoungerWife from #NetGalley.
Hepworth's novel is absolutely thrilling, and slowly exposes the secrets of family members to make sense of an incident at a wedding, through flashbacks and sometimes heart wrenching reveals.
The portrayal of a family struggling with their matriarch's dementia diagnosis is deeply touching, even as it provides intriguing clues into what went on in the past. Yet always underneath it all is the question - is she remembering things accurately and can her memories be trusted?
Hepworth's characters are sympathetic and compelling. The book is incredibly difficult to put down and sticks with you well after you've finished reading.

I love Sally Hepworth and I was really excited to receive this ARC from Netgalley. This one moved a little slow for me, but I was still completely pulled into the story. ⁣
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Rachel and Tully are adjusting to the idea of their father Stephen dating a much younger woman. And now they’ve learned he is engaged to Heather even though he’s still legally married to their mom- their mom who is in a home with full-time care due to Alzheimer’s disease. Heather understands this comes as quite a shock to his friends and family, but she’s still hopeful for their future together. ⁣
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As the wedding gets closer, Tully and Rachel struggle with their feelings and both learn to confront issues they’ve avoided dealing with. Heather also discovers she doesn’t know everything about Stephen. More and more is revealed as the story goes on, leaving the reader to wonder what is the truth and what will become of this family?⁣
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I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and understanding their family dynamic definitely moved the story along. This one will keep you guessing until the end. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘞𝘪𝘧𝘦 is packed with drama and suspense, but still provides plenty of humor throughout the story. Overall, this was a solid 4 star read for me and I look forward to reading more from Sally Hepworth. Thank you St. Martins Press for this advance reading copy- this one is available 4/5/22.

Let me start by saying I had SUCH high hopes for this one. I thought there would be more drama, but I felt like I was reading 3 totally different stories that had some overlap... I know Tully was a family member, but I just did not see the point in her pov. I much rather would have had more back story on Pam and her relationship with Stephen, maybe a flashback of when she was lucid more of an outburst or interaction between the two of them. Overall, it wasn't a bad read, just didn't do it for me, it simply fell short.

I’ve heard such amazing things about this author so I was really excited to receive an early copy of The Younger Wife. Unfortunately it was a bit boring to me and I didn’t really get hooked into it like I wanted. The plot fell a little flat and I felt like the author could’ve done so much more with the story. This was a miss for me. Thank you netgalley for my free review copy.

This is very interesting book; why get married? The children are worry about their father marry a women younger than them? Lots of deceit !

This is a a solid, well constructed family drama with interesting characters and a large side of humor. I enjoyed reading this book, but didn’t find it especially compelling or memorable. Nonetheless, I expect this will satisfy a great many readers. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"No one gasped or stared or begged to know what had happened. People just went about their regular activities as if nothing had changed. It almost tricked Rachel into thinking that maybe it hadn't."

What You'll Find:
✔️Domestic Thriller
✔️Page Turning Suspense
✔️Family Secrets
✔️Multiple, Third Person POV

Tully and Rachel's father is getting married again. And they are not happy about it. Especially since he's divorcing their mother, who has dementia. And the woman he is marrying, Heather, is their age. Heather has her own secrets as well. As the wedding approaches, secrets are exposed, leaving them to wonder what's true and if they even know their own father. But the truth could unleash dangerous impulses none of them were expecting.

What on earth did I just read? The Younger Wife started slow for me but it builds and soon you find yourself turning the pages intrigued by these characters that you aren't even sure you like. It felt like a case of 'all is not as it seems', or is it? My thoughts were constantly changing and by the end I just didn't know what to think. I still don't. Yup, that's about all I can say. I liked it overall. And I think this would make a great book club read. The ending alone would make for some great discussions. Check it out on release day if this sounds in your wheelhouse.

Note: There are multiple TW's: Abuse, Mental Health Issues, Rape, etc. Seek out if needed.

*I received a complimentary ARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and given freely.

Another great book by Sally Hepworth. She writes characters so well and you can't help but enjoy their journeys. I love how well written this book was and even though it was lighter, it touched on dark topics. Can't wait for more of her books in the future!

Sally Hepworth writes compulsively readable fiction and The Younger Wife is a perfect example. Grown up sisters, Tully and Rachel are faced with the news that their father, a heart surgeon, is planning to marry a much younger woman. To complicate matters, their parents are not yet divorced, as their mother is institutionalized and unable to speak for herself. We learn each sister's secrets and the younger wife's as well. The Younger Wife is an enjoyable, fast paced read. I would recommend it to fans of Liane Moriarty, Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain.

This book was a nice easy read by a great author, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
The book follows two sisters in their 30's, Tully and Rachel, who are faced with a new challenge. Dealing with their father's new love interest, Heather, who happens to be younger then they are! To make matters worse, their father is getting into a relationship/marriage while their mother is still married to him, albeit she has dementia and may not know that she is married or who he is when he is sitting right in front of her. The girls think that this is the most horrible thing that could happen to them at this point in their lives, at least dealing with their parents, but they are wrong. Of course everything starts to fall apart at the seams at that point, and whether for good or bad, things are never the same again!

I love Sally Hepworth and the way she weaves twists and turns into a story.
Ultimately this story asks-how well do we know our family? These characters were intriguing and the story didn’t end how I thought it might. I felt strong emotions along with the characters, and I definitely had an idea of what I thought happened. I enjoyed that the ending took my by surprise and left me thinking. I read this one quickly because I really wanted to know what happened.
Thank you to the author, St.Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The book starts with a mystery, someone has been hurt, but who and how badly? It is the story of two sisters, with secrets, their father with secrets and his new girlfriend with secrets. It is more of women's fiction, than a mystery but an enjoyable story of personal growth and asks the question how much do we know the people around us that we love

Dr. Stephen Ashton finds the love of his life...again. He introduces Heather to his two daughters, Tully and Rachel. Tully and Rachel do not like the idea of their father getting married because he is still married to their mother. However, their mother, Pam is living in an assisted living place with dimentia.

The younger Heather tries to befriend the two daughters. Tully and Rachel have their own problems to deal with and adding this new marriage just "ices the cake." As the story unfolds, there is more than meets the eye. The reader begins to doubt Dr. Ashton and his character.

Sally Hepworth has written another wonderful thriller. The reader will not want to put this one down.

This was a page turner for me, and one of the better psychological thrillers I’ve read in awhile.
There are three narrators, Rachael, Tully and Heather. Rachel and Tully’s father stuns them both, when he invites them to lunch and he introduces them to his girl friend Heather,who he plans to marry. The problem is, he is still married to their mother Pam, and she is currently in a care home with dementia, and the bride is several years younger than his daughters.
This is an outwardly appearing perfect family, but as we get to know them, we find that they are all hiding secrets that will eventually tear the families apart. Timelines go back and forth to create the scenario for the finale, which is the wedding day and an ending that will knock you out of your chair. I certainly didn’t see it coming.
Since the wedding scene is introduced early in the story, the reader is left trying to figure out what happened, as the flaws of the characters are divulged throughout the story. It kept me guessing until the shocking end.
My thanks to Sally Hepworth for a entertaining story and to NetGalley and
St Martin’s Press for the ARC. I really enjoyed this book.

The Younger Wife – Sally Hepworth

This was my first ever novel by Sally Hepworth – and boy, oh boy, can I say that it will not be my last!!

Stephen Aston, a renowned and revered surgeon, meets the love of his life in young Heather Wisher, a woman half his age, and has decided it’s time for her to meet his adult daughters Rachel and Tully. Still reeling over their father’s new love interest, especially with their mother, Pamela, recently placed in memory care due to dementia, the last thing Rachel or Tully want to do is meet Heather for lunch. Over their meal, the three women meet and attempt to engage in small talk, trying to find some common ground, before Stephen startles his girls with an announcement.

As Rachel and Tully attempt to accept Heather into their lives, they find that it enriches their own relationship as well, having grown apart as adults. Each with their own lives and secrets that they’ve held for so long, the sisters find common ground as they struggle with these changes to their family. Heather, too, has a past she would rather forget, even as it influences her perceptions of things in the present. And Pamela, despite her dementia, appears to have some secrets of her own, which exhibit themselves in short outbursts, jumbled memories - and an unexpected find hidden in an old water bottle – but what was it meant for? As Rachel, Tully & Heather begin to form a friendship, and the wedding grows closer, the reader will find themselves asking - is Stephen the doting husband and father that he seems to be? Or is he something else altogether?

Told from the varying perspectives of Rachel, Tully & Heather, this book is impossible to put down, left me feeling a bit unsettled as I turned the last page – and continues to resonate even now…

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an objective review. Do you love to read?? Visit netgalley.com and start reviewing books today!!

Th e Younger Wife will keep you on your toes and make you question everything. You’ll laugh at some of the character quirks, wonder at their motives, and feel happy when they achieve some sort of breakthrough. This is one of my favorites of Sally Hepworth’s novels!

Tully and Rachel have been through a lot throughout their lives, but they don’t share their individual struggles with each other. Until their middle-aged mom going into a care home due to her early onset dementia, and their dad, Stephen, decides to divorce her! To make matters worse, he’s falling in love with their interior designer, who is younger than the sisters. Both sisters are shocked, and work to cope in their own ways - through eating and petty theft.

While sorting through their mom’s belongings, they find a mysterious note with Tully’s name and an unfamiliar name, Fiona. Although their Stephen denies knowing this name, there‘s something strange about the look on his face and the pause before his denial.

In the meantime, the new fiancé, Heather, starts having terrible accidents, and she begins to suspect her husband to be is abusing her and lying about it. But she tends to drink and is never quite sure if she can trust her memory. Is Stephen using her drinking to as an excuse to hurt Heather and hide it? Or is Heather imagining his involvement in her accidents? And Rachel and Tully start to suspect things - their mom had a lot of accidents too, but never when she was alone. Is their father an abuser?

I loved the quirkiness and uncertainty of the characters throughout this novel. As a reader, this propelled me through the book. I laughed, I wondered, I worried, and I couldn’t stop reading!! Throughout the story, the point of view shifts between characters each chapter, and this helps the reader feel they have more of an omniscient view. However, the reader still can’t be sure whom to trust. Sally Hepworth has written a quirky thriller and domestic drama that I absolutely loved for its reality yet exaggerated character traits. If you enjoy family drama and mysteries with a little bit of a love triangle thrown in there, you won’t want to miss this one!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Sally Hepworth for the copy to review!

The Younger Wife is one of my favorite reads of 2022 so far! Honestly, for me Hepworth can't do wrong when it comes to me, and I cannot wait for the next read! A fast-paced page turner, that did NOT disappoint.

Rachel, Heather, and Tully were great characters, their differences in personalities and traits were admirable and I loved reading each POV. Sally respected multiple characteristics/issues and wrote each woman's struggle beautifully and in a way that they were all relatable. It's amazing how Sally was able to describe and bring to light how we all have personal struggles, and we all have secrets that we don't want expose, as well as the vulnerability of asking for help, and letting others know the secrets that pains us the most. If you love a good thriller, if you need a face paced read that keeps you turning pages, then this is the book for you!

This one felt more like a Liane Moriarty type women’s fiction/domestic thriller than a real thriller. In fact, most of the “thrill” felt more like a slow burn, and there wasn’t ever any real doubt who the potential bad people might be.

I enjoyed the character development — including the trio of narrators. The first person narration of the wedding itself kind of threw me off, especially since it started the book off and then didn’t return again until the midway point. I’d almost forgotten that narrator existed by the time she appeared again.

There were many serious topics covered here, which I felt like were generally well done although a little over the top at times. Like others, I felt like the ending may have cheapened the rest of the themes in the book. I almost felt like Hepworth did this because the “regular” ending would have been too obvious.

Strangely, I would have enjoyed this book more if it was pitched solely as women’s fiction rather than a thriller, because I did enjoy the themes, characters and the family dynamics, and almost forgot it was supposed to be a thriller until the “mystery” parts of the book appeared again. Once the book focused on that again I felt like the second half of the book was somewhat disjointed from the first.

This was my first book by Sally Hepworth, and I’d definitely read another one. Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Sally Hepworth for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the fourth Hepworth book that I've read and definitely my favorite. It's a fast-paced read that opens at a wedding and is being narrated by an uninvited guest (whose identity is later revealed). From there, the story is told by alternating (and rather quirky) characters--each with their own secret. The (somewhat controversial) ending had me saying WTH? and will most certainly lead to some lively discussions at book clubs!

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the ARC

Based on the title, I was expecting a typical divorced couple, mid-life crisis story. But Sally Hepworth is an expert at unexpected twists and complex characters resulting in a psychological thriller full of family drama.

Stephen Aston is a husband, a father, a renowned heart surgeon and a groom. In order to marry again, he must first obtain a divorce from his current wife but she is suffering from early dementia and not considered “of sound mind”. Stephen’s adult daughters, Tully and Rachel, are skeptical of his fiancée, who is younger than them and clearly after their father’s money. Their loyalties are torn as they try to welcome fiancée, Heather, to the family while dealing with the gradual decline of their mother’s health.

Each of the characters in this novel are revealed layer by layer and no one is as predictable as they seem at the start. This family is consumed by deceitfulness and secrets with an outcome you won’t expect.
Everyone has something to hide. Once again, Sally Hepworth delivers a thrilling tale that has you questioning family loyalties.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to review this novel before its release.