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.

I could not get into the story or characters for some reason. It just wasn’t a fit for me. The writing style felt different from her other books I’ve read somehow. Maybe I just needed to be in a different mood for this. I do like that the author includes a variety of diverse characters with a focus on mental health.

What a totally dysfunctional yet captivating group of characters. Bad habits and buried secrets abound and methodically exposed. A twisty, suspenseful, brilliantly written story. My fifth Sally Hepworth story and still at the top of her game.

The novel opens with the wedding of Stephen and the titular younger wife, Heather, seen through the eyes of an unnamed guest. His grown daughters Rachel and Natalie (Tully) are bridesmaids, and his newly-exed wife Pamela, is also a guest, though seemingly confused that she's the bride, since she suffers from dementia, She follows as the wedding party goes into another room to sign the marriage certificate - and there is soon a thump, the officiant reappears spattered in blood, and asks if there is a doctor in the house. Since Stephen is himself a doctor, this is a grim indication of what's transpired.

We then go back in time to the first lunch meeting between Heather, Stephen, Tully and Rachel - they are predictably wary of this woman their same age whom their father has taken up with so soon after moving their mother into a nursing home. Heather is desperate to make a good impression, hiding her true past of poverty, alcoholism, and abuse, upholding the posh reinvention of herself. From alternating points of view, we also learn more of Tully, whose husband has lost all their savings in a bad investment, so more important than ever that she hides her stealing habit - and her sister Rachel who owns a baking business, and has just taken on a sexy new delivery employee, who seems like a catch. Too bad her general rule is she "doesn't date. Period." due to an incident in her past that she's never spoken of to anyone.

For those who have read Hepworth's previous works, the cadence will seem familiar - short chapters with alternating points of view and time periods make for a swift read, despite the author's tackling of much more serious subject matter than in previous novels - domestic/psychological abuse, sexual assault, mental illness, etc. She does so with a delicate hand, so somehow doesn't make it feel like too much.

Without spoiling, the ending seemed to be going in a predictable direction, though with an unexpected twist that I found highly problematic from both a plot and characterization point of view. I'm not sure if it was supposed to leave questions remaining, make the reader doubt their assumptions, or leave open for interpretation, though all of these options felt a bit sloppy, leaving too many inconsistencies in the story to be satisfying. 3.5 stars, rounded down for the ending, which may be a matter of preference.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I asked to read the book because I thought hey that cover is legit cool. Well the book was even more awesome than the cover. It's my first time reading anything by Hepworth and sure as frankendoodle won't be my last!

Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. Sally Hepworth has once again written a tightly woven psychological thriller. The book opens with Stephen introducing his adult daughters, Natalie (Tully) and Rachel, to his new fiance, Heather. The problem is that he is still married to their mom, who is in a care facility for those with dementia. The POC shifts throughout the book between Heather, Tully, Rachel, and a few others, and we find out early on that something has happened at the wedding ceremony. The story moves around in time as we get the details of family drama, secrets, and each character owning their own story. One of my favorite characters is Darcy - but you'll have to read to find out more! I liked the character development, the pacing, the plot, and the reveal. Solid 4 star read for me!

I devoured this book in half a day! I can’t remember the last time I did something like that. It was so much fun to read and reminded me of a Liane Moriarty (my favorite) book with personable characters that are a joy to get to know. My only complaint is that I didn’t really understand the “message” after the truth is revealed at the end… what is the reader supposed to take away? But regardless I will recommend it as a fun read.

As a fan of Sally Hepworth's previous work, I was very excited to read The Younger Wife. This book does not disappoint in its character development and whodunit plot line. I enjoyed the multiple points of view and had a hard time putting this book down. In the end, I felt I still had some unanswered questions, but I think that you are meant to leave off feeling like that, so you can relate to the uncertainty of the characters themselves.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This author fails to disappoint. I loved this book, so much different layers of many plot lines tied beautifully together. Another great read by Hepworth.

I literally love everything Sally Hepworth writes. You know you have those few authors that you can’t wait until they release a new book? Sally Hepworth is one of those authors for me. She writes another stunning book about a man, Stephen Aston, who marries a new wife while still being married to his first wife who is in a dementia facility. The twists and turns in this book are spectacular. I was guessing until the very end. LOVED it! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for and arc.

Heather is marrying Stephan who has two daughters Heather's age. Each of their story is told throughout the book. Rachel and Heather believe Stephan is abusive. All three have their own issues to deal with. There's enough twists and turns to keep you wanting more.

It is set in Australia but has little Australian dialect making it an easy read. If you didn't know better, you would think it was set in America.

Gosh I loved this book! I love all of Sally Hepworth's novels and this one did not disappoint. Great characters you can root for, a twist that is expected and loved in Hepworth's novels, and characters and are dealing with their own personal traumas. I love how Hepworth combines a great mystery and deep characters. Can't wait for the next one!

Thank you to NetGalley for the digital advance reader copy of this book.. I loved the multiple alternating points of view in the chapters. Hepworth does a great job keeping the reader turning pages by finishing each chapter with a bit of a cliff hanger. I was, however, a bit disappointed in the ending. I thought there’d be a shocking twist or conclusion, but no such luck. I very much enjoyed the story and will recommend this book to library patrons, I just wish the ending was more fulfilling. 4 stars.

The End.

Let’s start there. Sally Hepworth’s latest novel wraps itself up with an untidy little bow that book clubs will delight in unraveling. Some readers will want to throw their e-readers across the room after finishing. Others will scratch their heads and think, “huh?” And then some will flip back through the pages to see if they misread entire passages. All will come together for a spirited debate about interpretations.

If you haven’t read Sally Hepworth before, she excels at writing page-turning “women’s fiction” with just the right mix of characterization and suspense. In The Younger Wife, two thirty-something daughters learn that their 60-something father, Stephen, is engaged to a woman their age. But wait, there’s more! First he must divorce their mother, who is very much still alive but suffering from advanced dementia.

(Can you imagine? If my mom was still alive, in a care home, and my dad divorced her to marry some chick my age… we would have words.)

So the adult daughters, Rachel and Tully, are supposed to play nice with the future younger wife, even though they’re both struggling with their own personal issues. In fact, all three women have very prominent addiction storylines:

Rachel = food

Tully = shoplifting

Heather = alcohol

But it’s Stephen’s tendency’s we should be worrying about… or should we? Dun dun DUN!!!

Clearly yours truly is addicted to books, and The Younger Wife gave me one of those reading highs where you can’t turn the pages fast enough and always want to get back to the story when you have to set it aside for annoying life maintenance issues. Though I found the presentation of some of the addictions to be a bit too heavy handed, and I personally didn’t love The End, I want more of what Sally Hepworth is selling. Gimme gimme gimme.

This is my second book by hepworth all I can say is Wow. What i page turner. I love her character development. It leaves you wanting more. This is definitely 5 star book

Well heckballs!! I haven't been properly surprised and scandalized by how a story turns out at the end in loooooong time, and this one certainly did that. I completely didn't see it coming and did, in fact, have my mouth hanging wide open for a bit.

The dysfunction is strong with these people. We have Tully (Natalie) who has a pretty upstanding life - but she's a closet kleptomaniac. Then there is her sister, Rachel, who also seems to have a pretty good life, but she's hiding a secret or two and she deals with it all by eating her feelings. Sprinkle in a new much younger new to be bride, Heather, who is marrying Tully and Rachel's father. She portrays herself as fitting into the high society circles, but has a few secrets that she is hiding about where she actually came from. We also have the cliched older father, marrying said new younger wife, along with a soon to be ex-wife he is still married to, but who is suffering from Alzheimer's and is in a care facility - and they all seem to want to include her as part of their blended family. Oh yeah - and there may or may not be a former wife who no one seems to know anything about. Add in some possible abuse and suspected gaslighting, and it's pure craziness and it's scandalous. And I absolutely loooooved it!

Tully and Rachel are freaking out. Their dad is going to divorce their mother (who has just moved into a care home because of her dementia) to marry a woman that is the same age/younger than they are. Some mysterious money turns up and the sisters are forced to consider whether or not they truly know their parents.

I enjoyed reading this book, but I don't think it was super memorable. The plot was fun, but the characters all fell a bit flat - like they each had one thing that defined them and that was as deep as it got. This was a fun read and I'll always read Sally Hepworth's books, but it wasn't my favorite by her.

This wasn't my favorite Sally Hepworth book. I just wasn't all that interested for some reason and I'm not sure why. I didn't really like any of the characters. To be honest, I'm surprised I didn't abandon ship but I did power through. This one will probably be very popular when it releases in April. But it missed the mark for me, sadly. (And now that it's been a month since I read it-- I forgot to leave my feedback-- I can say it's pretty forgetful because I don't remember much.) I wish I had a more rave review....

I’ve read some of Sally Hepworth’s works before but sadly I think this was my least favorite. I did find the story to be engrossing and I enjoyed each of the three narrators’ voices (even when they weren’t being particularly like able ). I see some reviews don’t feel that there was an ending to this story, but I found the ending to be pretty clear - I just didn’t like it. I thought it made several pieces not make any sense and it creates a poor vision of women - particularly in the face of domestic violence. Tully and Rachel’s father has fallen in love again and gotten engaged which would be fine except he’s still married. Stephen’s wife, the girls’ mother, has early onset dementia and is in a nursing facility. To make things more complicated Stephen’s new fiancé is about the same age as his daughters. As expected family drama and suspense ensue! I fluctuated a lot on how many stars to give this one. In many ways I liked a lot of it, but the ending ruined the story for me.

Absolutely loved this one! I am a sucker for a good domestic thriller, and this one didn’t disappoint. I was a big fan of the reverse timeline and figuring out the clues along the way. Couldn’t put it down!