This is a tough one to review. Sally Hepworth's sweet spot is family relationships and hidden secrets, and she weaves her magic again here. The set up is perfect for conflict and tension: mother has dementia, father divorces her so he can marry his new girlfriend, but brings his former wife to the wedding. Two daughters trying to navigate a situation that Emily Post never envisaged so zero protocol for how to handle any of it, and they have secrets of their own...

However, I agree with others on the ending. It shocks you, makes you question what the characters have all been saying, and you go back trying to match it up with the rest of what you read, but then are left with more questions.

Oh Sally, you devious little minx. 🙌🏼 This was a RIDE. I wavered throughout this entire domestic suspense and the ending left me SHOCKED. The ending is going to be a deal breaker for many on this one but I loved it! It was so devious, and scandalous, and AWESOME. The characters are all so interesting in this book and I was fascinated by all of them. I read this book in one sitting, enthralled from page one. The multiple viewpoints were executed perfectly and keeps you entertained from the beginning. Loved it!

I really give it 4.5. This author is wonderful. This book and The Good Sister kept my attention the whole way through. I believe this book sheds a lot of light on how domestic abuse can affect the abused in a very paranoid, gaslighting manner. I love how the hidden money in the book came from a real experience. I've only dreamed of turning real-life experiences or dreams into best-selling novels.

Thank you to @netgalley and @harpercollins for this advanced reader's copy for an honest review.

This story starts out intriguing because it is so real to so many people. Covid-19 struck our country like a Tsunami. Those who were old enough to remember that day, 3/13/19 know exactly where they were when the announcement that the shut down of our country was the only news on any TV station. For me, I left my 5th grade classroom that day not knowing that I wouldn’t return to that room for the rest of the year. 2019 and 2020 continued to get worse and worse. Jodi Picoult’s book Wish You We’re Here told a delicate tale of how Covid-19 affected everyday people on a daily basis.

The characters in the story were easy to relate to and represented the struggles of so many. I read furiously through the first 1/3. After Diana arrived in the Galapagos Islands and the story seemed to have shifted to a story about “finding her meaning in life” and a “love story” as she learned to adapt to island ways, I began to feel disappointed. Something about this story and most definitely because I love Picoult, made me forge on.

Part 2 shook me from my trance because I did NOT see that coming! Wow! Just WOW! I am so happy I continued reading. The second half of the book was just incredible. As Picoult has proven time and time again, life isn’t always the way it seems and events don’t always end happily or tied with a near bow. Picoult’s books are real, raw, important, and they are the stories that people need to hear.

If you started this book and felt a bit of a lull in the first half, don’t give up. You won’t be disappointed.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of The Younger Wife. I am a huge fan of Sally Hepworth, and was thrilled to review her latest.

The Younger Wife focuses on the Aston family - the father, Stephen, his ex-wife, Pam, and their two daughters, Tully and Rachel. After Pam develops dementia, Stephen finds a new partner, Heather, who is set to become the younger wife. As the story develops, we learn about the sisters' pasts and Stephen's character comes into question. Is Stephen as perfect as he seems?

This was an enjoyable book, but there were parts of it that I did not connect with. I was curious about the mystery that developed between Stephen and his former lovers, along with Heather. However, the resolution was a bit anticlimactic and the ending left me confused. I felt unsatisfied and left with more questions than answers. Although this book kept me guessing, it wasn't my favorite of Hepworth's novels. It lacked the captivating storyline and strong execution of the domestic thriller style that I have come to know her for. Still, I look forward to reading her upcoming works!

✨The Younger Wife✨
▪️Read December 2021▪️
▫️Release date: April 5, 2022▫️
Thank you

Tully and Rachel are about to meet their father’s new girlfriend who is closer to their age than their father’s…how awkward. What could this new woman possibly want from their father if not money and status? It also feels like an ultimate betrayal to their ailing mother with dementia whom their father is still married to.

As Rachel and Tully try to work through this new girlfriend situation with their father, they are both working through their own previous traumas that are wrecking havoc on their current lives. They have kept their secrets even from one another, but as they learn to work through the surprising engagement, divorce, and eventually wedding news of their father, they come to realize they should share their own worries with each other now more than ever.

I love that part of this book idea was sparked by a real life event with the author. If you read this book, don’t skip the acknowledgments at the back of the book! This book included so many twists and tiny details that I hadn’t come across in previous psychological thrillers- loved it!

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the eARC of The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth. I love this author and was over to the moon to receive this advanced readers copy.

Sally Hepworth has done it again! I loved this book! I couldn't put it down and it has just the right amount of suspense to keep the reader engaged! This is a quick read because you want to find out just what is going on!

Rachel and Tully are sisters. Their mother, Pam, is in a nursing home with dementia.. Their father, Stephen, is getting ready to remarry Heather who is younger than both of his daughters. All of these players are keeping secrets from one another. Both Rachel and Tully have issues that nobody knows about. Heather is hiding a family secret. And, let's not even talk about Stephen!

When the day arrives for Stephen and Heather to get married, of of the previously mentioned characters will end up dead. Who is it? Why? And most importantly, who is the killer?

Now, the ending! The ending will be interpreted in many different ways. I'm still not sure about it or what exactly it means, but I think this was the author's intent. It sure leaves the door open for a great discussion.

Hepworth has also taken some pretty important topics: childhood trauma and abuse and has created a story that is both entertaining and dramatic at the same time.

I loved it! This one releases on April 5 2022!

3.4 stars rounded down to 3.*

I've become a big fan of Sally Hepworth. Her writing reminds me of Liane Moriarty, with slightly more darkness to her mysteries.

This book was on track to be a 4 star story...and then it ended without the twist I've come to expect. So I bumped it down a bit. That is not to say I didn't enjoy it, because I did. But I wanted the ending to have more of en edge.

The Younger Wife is the Story of the Aston family- an upper-middle class Australian family dealing with early onset dementia on the part of the mother, Pam. The father, Stephen is, by all accounts a doting, loving husband and father in addition to being a renowned surgeon. In his attempts to cater to Pam, he hires an interior designer to renovate their home. Over the process, Pam deteriorates to the point that she has to move into a care facility, and Stephen finds himself in love with the designer, Heather. Stephen & Pam's grown daughters struggle with their own personal issues, and when faced with the relationship between Stephen and Heather (years younger than even themselves), the girls have to come to terms with family secrets.

It all comes to a head at the wedding of Stephen and Heather-with Pam and the girls present.

Worth your time, but not a lot of suspense.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Sally Hepworth, you never ever let me down! I read this in two days and was sorry to see it end.

Stephen Aston is getting remarried to a younger woman. His daughters Tully and Rachel aren't keen on Heather, his younger girlfriend. One good reason could be that their mother is still alive and suffering from dementia. Things start to happen that have his daughters and Heather wondering exactly what kind of man Stephen really is. Is he an abusive monster? Have his daughters just missed the signs all these years? Maybe their minds are playing tricks on them, maybe not. What we have is a story that takes us along for an incredible Is he or Isn't he ride. The ending will have you doubting yourself! I am going to believe I was right all along so don't stop me!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this gifted copy.

Another great book by Hepworth. Told in alternating perspectives, two sisters and a soon-to-be stepmother navigate their lives and uncover secrets along the way. The backdrop of the wedding incident kept you eager to read on to see what happened....and an unexpected ending typical in Hepworth's novels. The ending just seemed a little abrupt/unrealistic....

4.25/5 - Hepworth does it again with a domestic thriller, featuring members of a family each hiding major secrets, upcoming nuptials, and knowledge of a death in the first page, but no idea who, how, or WHY!!

Immediately you are gripped by the story - who dies? How did they go? Was it foul play? And who the HECK is narrating the prologue?? Never fear - it all unfolds so delicately, so perfectly, that you have to keep turning the page just to get to the bottom of it. And then…just when you KNOW you have it figured out, you realize maybe, just maybe, you don’t know jack (or Stephen).

The best part is that every one of the characters has their own journey that also (somewhat) gets resolved by the last page. It is very satisfying and at the same time, infuriating. And I wouldn’t have it either way!!!

This was an ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Sally Hepworth has most definitely become the queen of the domestic “thriller” in my eyes. I mean seriously. Bow down to her. She’s fun stuff.

And this upcoming release may just be my favorite. I was so excited to get this I even broke my own habit of having an ARC in my queue for months, then missing the publication date altogether and finally reading it a year after release. So my apologies that you all have to wait until Spring, but come April you should definitely check it out.

We open at Stephen and Heather’s wedding. It’s a bit of a shock to the guests to see Pamela, Stephen’s first wife, seated front and center with the family, but that’s how things work in this day and age. And really, the shock and awe of Stephen divorcing Pamela when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s has already sunken in. The story here is delivered in sort of “Liane Moriarty” style with the happy nuptials, immediately followed by a “meaty thud” while the marriage license is being signed and the wedding officiant reappearing covered in blood. We then go back a year to find out exactly who was bludgeoned, how it came to be, what weapon was used and why it all happened. And boy oh boy what a ride it was.

Helpful hint to all: Don’t just throw out granny’s old hot water bottle. You never know when it might come in handy : )

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

“It felt like everything that she’d trusted to be real and true had turned out to be a mirage and now she didn’t know what or who to believe.”

I read and really enjoyed Sally Hepworth’s book, The Good Sister, so when I saw this title on NetGalley I knew I had to request it!

Rachel and Tully’s dad, Stephen, has a new girlfriend (Heather). They day they meet Heather, the couple announces their engagement. And also, at 34, she is younger than either of the sisters. Oh and also Stephen is technically still married to their mom, Pam, who is in a nursing home with dementia.

So yeah, what could go wrong?

I actually wasn’t sure what direction Hepworth was going to take this.

The book begins with a snippet of Stephen and Heather’s wedding from the point of view of a wedding guest who knows something significant about the groom and his previous bride. Something happens at the wedding that results in an ambulance taking someone to the hospital.

A police officer says, “All I know is that a crime has been committed here today. Everyone present is considered to be a witness…”

The guests have their theories— it was the confused ex-wife going after her husband! It was the daughter who went after the bride! We don’t know!

So we go back in time a year prior to unravel the events that led up to whatever ‘accident’ transpired at the wedding.

We rotate between each of the females’ POV— Tully, Rachel, and Heather.

We learn that each woman has their own struggle and coping mechanisms for their anxiety: Tully- stealing, Rachel- eating, and Heather- alcohol.

As they struggle to process their dad’s new engagement to a younger woman while their mother’s awareness deteriorates, Rachel discovers a hot-water bottle filled with 100 grand in cash that her mom had stowed away.

Had her mom been planning to leave her dad? Were all of her mom’s previous head injuries that caused early onset dementia really accidents? Could her dad be an abuser?

All three women weigh the evidence and their own personal experience and come to different conclusions. Or do they?

Hepworth must like open-ended books because, like the last page of The Good Sister, in The Younger Wife, we are left to wonder a bit about the outcome of the wedding events.

Which of our narrators are reliable? Or are none of them?

This is a good psychological thriller that will have you second-guessing your theories. Would recommend!

Sidenote: Some reviewers didn’t appreciate a cast of characters of women portrayed as hysterical/dysfunctional but that the men were all saints. Apparently this is a trope? I don’t know anything about that, but for one, female authors tend to write more female characters. Plus most fiction readers are probably female and connect more with females. I’m not sure if I see what they saw in this book. I didn’t feel it was unfair to me and I wasn’t bothered by the character choices.

In other news, as this author is Australian, here are some fun new Australian words from the book for your vocabulary:

lippy- lipstick

milk bar- suburban general store

op shops- thrift stores

icy poles- ice cream or popsicles

tosser- a useless idiot

footy- Australian rules football (If you’ve watched any Australian Survivor— which you should— you would know this one)

blissballs- protein/energy bites

Bluey- a very good kid’s TV show that is entertaining for adults too!

party pies- a small meat pie

fairy bread- triangles of white bread with butter and colored sprinkles— apparently very popular, just ask Hugh Jackman! For more info, read this.

stickybeak- prying person

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

I'm kind of bummed about this one. It is an easy and quick read, but not on the same level that I am used to from Sally Hepworth.

I didn't like that the focus was on domestic violence that may or may not be happening, especially from Heather's point of view. It stepped beyond having unreliable narrators.

Many of the characters were facing internal battles and I appreciated that they went to counseling for assistance. These were the most interesting components of the book, and they were not the main story line.

And then the story just ... ended. I didn't like the twist, as I feel like it minimizes domestic violence and the impact it has on victims and their families.

Tully and Rachel struggle to accept their father's new, younger-than-them fiancé, Heather. Not because they don't want him to be happy, but because he is still married to their mother, Pam, who is in a care facility for dementia. Things get messier when Pam gives her daughter a very suspicious hot water bottle

I would love to give you a better plot summary than that but it is better if you just read it for yourself.

Sally Hepworth was a new-to-me author in 2021 and I have become quite the fan. I am getting more familiar with her writing style and now understand that in her stories, things aren't always as they seem. Knowing this, it was fun to jump into this book on high alert looking at everyone for everything, even before I knew what I was looking for.

I loved that, as a whole, this family was a hot mess but also that many of the characters had personal challenges to work through as well.

With short chapters, multiple POVs and an alternating timeline, I finished this book in record time.

The ending was a doozy. I predict that readers will either love it or hate it. Either way, it will make for a great discussion.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC. The Younger Wife will be available on April 5, 2022!

I received an eARC of The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
5 stars! Sally Hepworth has done it again! I'm always happy to read anything by her. I highly recommend it for fans of domestic suspense!

Sally Hepworth once again produces a page-turner of a book featuring three women — Tully, Rachel, and Heather — with complicated histories and problems. Something happens at the close of Stephen and Heather’s wedding, but we only find out what it is toward the end of the book. In flashbacks we watch the women’s growing belief that Stephen Aston is not the perfect father/husband-to-be he appears. Is he really an abuser? This worry sits on their shoulders as they struggle with their own problems: kleptomania, alcholism, rape survival. Since we only see Stephen through the eyes of these women (as well as the words of his former wife who has early dementia), we have to make up our own minds. Hepworth keeps us guessing while we grow closer to all the women and root for their happiness.

This is the first book by Sally Hepworth that disappointed me. I am always surprised by the direction her books take--I thought The Mother-in-Law would be a domestic thriller, but it was more of a family drama. I thought The Good Sister would be a family drama, and it was more domestic thriller. I enjoyed TMIL, and loved TGS, so I had high hopes that this would be another good domestic thriller. It was clear to me this would be a family drama, which I was fine with. The story moved along fine, but I didn't feel very connected to the characters. What broke down for me was the ending. It completely destroyed any good thoughts that I had about this book, and just made me extremely uncomfortable. This is a definite skip in my opinion.

I wanted to love this. Hepworth does so many things well here -- getting the reader to question what we believe, twisting and turning and pulling the story forward. I've enjoyed this in her other works, and I'll definitely read what she writes next. But I'm definitely sensitive to stories of women being believed, and I felt uncomfortable being asked to play that game with this subject matter.

PSA: If you or anyone you know is experiencing violence in a relationship please reach out to the Domestic Violence Hotline (US) 1.800.799.7233 Also, my door is always open. You are the expert on your own reality and I believe you.

I was super excited to get the ARC of The Younger Wife because I’ve heard so many good things about Sally Hepworth.

I really thought The Younger Wife was going somewhere from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down, but ultimately I give it 1 star because I found the content incredibly problematic on many levels.

**** SPOILERS AHEAD ****

While Sally Hepworth claims to write about “female mental health,” she in fact endangers it by painting females in a horrible light and directing the reader to question their motives and experience at every turn. There’s too much of that in real life and using doubt of female stories and mental health disorders as a plot device is frankly irresponsible. Especially when at the end the “crazy” female is not vindicated but instead at fault. Diversity rep does not mean casting doubt on the entire experience of that person!

As someone who experienced violence and gaslighting in a relationship, the ending of The Younger Wife infuriated me. I can’t imagine how it would have felt fresh out of that experience to again question whether I actually misunderstood the whole situation. Thankfully I have distance, a great partner, fantastic friends, and an amazing therapist as support.

Let me repeat that if you experienced violence, you deserve to be believed and supported. No one else can tell you what you felt, saw, or heard.