Sally Hepworth knows how to write a story that draws the reader in to the book! The Younger Wife is excellent. I opened it and was so taken in by all the characters in the story.
The family drama starts with the mother being in a care facility with dementia and Stephen wants to divorce her so he can marry Heather. The daughters are so against this happening for many reasons one being Tully and Rachel are the same age as Heather. This is just one of the issues these daughters have in their personal lives. The characters are each telling the story from how they see things.
This was a book that will keep you guessing about what the next page holds!
Thank you NetGalley, Sally Hepworth and St. Martin's Press for the copy of The Younger Wife. This is my personal review.

Read this if you:
*like domestic suspense stories
*liked her book: The Mother-in-Law
*like trying to guess the twists

Sally Hepworth does it again! I read this in one day and I flew through it. I liked how it was told from different characters views. It sucked me in and kept me guessing.

Thank you NetGalley & St Martins Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: April 5

I loved Ms. Hepworth's earlier book The Mother In Law. This recent effort does not meet that excellent standard.
Although this book is still a psychological thriller, it doesn't grad the reader in the same way.
The story begins with two sisters that are to meet their fathers future, much younger, wife.
There are some twists and turns, but overall, only an OK read

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth was a surprise to me. I thought I had it all figured out and then I didn't, then I did and so on. A very good premise of a family in the midst of change and challenge. I will read more of this author's writings.

I don't know why, but this book gave me anxiety, in a good way. I really appreciated the alternating chapters from the major woman character's points of view, and I was really rooting for Heather and the sisters to get some help dealing with their various issues and past traumas. Mostly satisfied in the ending, and I raced through this novel every opportunity that I had. Definitely will recommend; 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 for the sake of this review.

The Younger Wife was a thrilling read that had me guessing until the end! Fantastic character development and clues spread throughout the novel.

Dr. Stephen Ashton is a well respected family man with two grown daughters and a wife suffering from early stages of dementia. After moving his wife into a long-term care facility for her comfort and safety, Stephen meets and falls in love with Heather Whisher, an interior designer who is helping him remodel the home he shared with his wife Pam.

Stephen's two daughters are uncomfortable with their fathers new love for more reasons than one. First, she is younger than both of them, and second their father is still married to their mother. When Stephen announces that he and Heather are getting married and to do that he must divorce Pamela, the daughters are taken aback. Tully and Rachel were raised to be proper young ladies so they don't raise a fuss, but they both wonder what Heather's ulterior motives are for marrying a man twice her age. They also start to question the strange discoveries they begin to make about their mother.

Everyone in this story has secrets which are carefully revealed like peeling an onion. As hints are dropped the reader begins to piece the puzzle together and discovers nothing is as it seems. When an accident takes place on Stephen and Heather's wedding day all are left to wonder how you can know someone your whole life, but not really know them.

I loved this book! The writing was clever and the characters felt like real people. It has gone to the top of my recommended thrillers list. This is the first Sally Hepworth book I have read, but I cannot wait to read more. Her writing reminds me of Liane Moriarty and Shari Lepena and it is fantastic. Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Sally Hepworth for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found this to be a very quick read. Having the points of view of multiple women made the story very engaging and provided well-rounded insight into the background. The fact that nobody recognized Rachel‘s trauma at 16 was a little unbelievable and I would have preferred that the author delve into the repercussions of that a little bit more. But having to cover the main story of Heather and Stephen didn’t allow for too many diverging plot lines.

I love Sally Hepworth’s novels, she knows how to write family/domestic suspense. With that being said, this one has to be my least favorite books I’ve read by Sally so far. This one started out strong for me and was a page turner. I loved the storyline and everything was good right until the very ending. Then I felt a huge letdown, there was so much more potential for this novel and it just fell short for me. This would have been 5 stars if it wasn’t for the ending.

Thank you St. Martin’s press and Net Galley for an ARC in return for my honest review.

Family relationships come into focus in this novel addressing issues of human fallibility, after effects of sexual assault, and mental health. Characters are well drawn, their depth becoming clear as the story progresses. The drama demands attention, encouraging readers to keep turning pages to find out how the family's stories conclude.

This was my first book by Sally Hepworth and it sure won’t be my last! Boy, Hepworth knew how to add just enough domestic suspense/ drama to keep me on my toes. I loved the chapters that included “the wedding” because I knew the reader was closer to finding out what truly happened. I thought the characters were all very likable but really enjoyed Rachel’s perspective the most- a girl after my own heart!

Thank you so much, NetGalley & St Martin’s press for my eARC!

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth (c/o Netgalley) (mystery/thriller, April 2022) The story opens with a wedding, where a tragic event takes place. Rachel and Tully’s mother is in a nursing home with dementia. Their father is dating and soon engaged to a much younger woman. Each of the women have their own struggles that they are secretly hiding. Each of their stories brings light on the surprising conclusion. I have been a huge Hepworth fan. This was an engrossing, fast-paced read. However, I just didn’t love this one though as much as her others.

This was a delicious read on a rainy afternoon. Witty, realistic, and just a little bit dark.

I liked how Hepworth gave us depth with the characters - how on the surface they seemed to have it all - perfect relationships, beauty, wealth, and the sort of family you read about in Hello magazine. Yet, underneath there simmered mental health issues, long, dark secrets, and nothing was as it seemed.

Can't wait to pick up more from Sally Hepworth. Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC.

This was an interesting, strange book about families and their dysfunctions.

Stephen Aston is getting married. Everyone is there - his daughters, his friends, even his ex-wife. That might seem very strange, and her behavior is even more strange - going up to the altar, and going with the group into the sacristy to sign the register. But his ex-wife Pamela has Alzheimer's disease and while some see it as callous to divorce your sick wife and remarry with her there, Stephen (says he's) included her because she likes a party and would be happy to be there with her daughters.

But the wedding ends in tragedy, as from the sacristy comes a scream. Stephen is dead. And no one is talking about how he died.

The story is told from the viewpoints of the new wife Heather, Stephen's daughters Rachel and Tully, as well as a couple of others. It is an interesting study of how one person's opinion can color the memories of others. The ending was a bit unsatisfying (for the sake of not spoiling the book, I won't say why), but it was a quick and enjoyable read otherwise.

Thanks to Netgalley for this advance copy.

Sally Hepworth did it yet again! Highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be on the edge of their seat from the beginning to end. As always, a home run from Sally!

Genre classifications do so much in setting expectations and I find that they constantly set Hepworth up for failure. This unthrilling family drama starts off at a solid pace but then drags it’s way across the finish line with an ill conceived casting of doubt on one of many serious topics that were haphazardly thrown into this book and then glossed over.

I found it lacking in depth and intrigue, with lackluster characters and force-fit storylines as if they were randomly picked out of a hat and Hepworth tried to make them all fit together inorganically.

I don’t know why I keep expecting to like her books more. They are what they are, and they’re just not for me.

Sally Hepworth’s books have a way of grabbing your attention right from the time you pick them up until you turn the very last page. Her latest, The Younger Wife, did exactly that for me. It’s a domestic suspense novel about a very unconventional family that is extremely dysfunctional. The father is a well respected doctor. The mother, who is being divorced, is suffering from dementia. There’s 2 daughters who have issues of their own and then there’s the younger wife-to-be, who was their interior designer. What a hot mess! The story is mainly based around whether the father is an abusive man or not. I have to admit, the ending really left me wondering. I think the author wanted you to come to your own conclusion or belief. It was a little different but a story I really enjoyed and would recommend. I’d like to thank St. Martin’s Press for accepting my request and NetGalley for the arc to read, review and enjoy. I feel you can never go wrong reading a Sally Hepworth book, she’s always got a story that will keep you entertained. I’m giving this a 4 star rating!

It took me a while to find time to read this one because of work, but I finally had some free time this week so was able to finish the last 80% in two sittings.

I really enjoyed 99% of the book, but I feel very strongly that it was wrong to end a book about a gaslighting abusive husband with questions about whether he really was. I would have also expected there to be a section at the end with hotline numbers or websites for people to refer to if they or someone they know is being abused.

This is one of my favorite authors - The Mother In Law and The Good Sister are two of my favorite books of the past few years. I’m afraid the ending of this one will preclude me from saying the same thing about this one. Still giving it 4 stars because I liked the rest of the book.

I’ve enjoyed every Sally Hepworth book I’ve read and this was no exception. I enjoyed the developing characters of Tully and Rachel and their unraveling stories. I’m still unsure about Stephens character even after finishing the book, I’m not sure what’s true or not. I think that may be the point of this book, for one to trust their instincts/gut. Overall a great, fast, expected read from this author!

I have been a die hard Sally Hepworth fan since her first book, The Secret of Midwives was first released.

Hepworth knows how to grab this reader's attention. That opening chapter had me itching to read more and unravel what was going on. With alternating POV it shows a family with lots of secrets. Though I couldn't really connect with these women I did get to know them. There were twists and turns, numerous times I thought I knew what was going on only to be foiled again.

I wouldn't call this a thrilled but rather a domestic drama. Women with issues and to be honest I get the root of these issues for 2 of them but not the other - maybe I missed something important but I don't think so.

The Younger Wife is a story of relationships, tons of gaslighting and over coming. I don't expect my books to have a happy ending all the time but I do like a solid conclusion that leaves me feeling satisfied and unfortunately this one didn't. In fact I would have giving this book 4 stars and maybe even more but I feel cheated and let down (for so many reasons that I can't go into).

Australian author Sally Hepworth will continue to be a go to author for me. I did love the acknowledgements and the seeds that planted this book.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press (via Netgalley) for an advanced digital copy in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you to the author & publisher for gifting me a physical ARC & ebook (thanks to NetGalley as well)
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Sally Hepworth is for sure my top fav authors! Where her previous book, The Good Sister, introduced a character on the spectrum of autism with flair, this book deals with the myriad forms of abuse with panache.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗶𝗳𝗲 novel opens with something terrible happening on the wedding day of Stephen, the doctor and patriarch of the family in this book, and Heather, the much younger wife. We are then transported back to the family dynamics of Stephen’s 2 daughters, Tully & Rachel, as well as their mother, Pamela, who has Alzheimer’s. As you would expect, each character grapples with secrets or issues that the others aren’t aware of. To make matters worse, Rachel and Tully have a very hard time adjusting with the fact that their dear father is going to marry a woman of their age, when Pamela is still actively involved in everyone’s lives, and can’t really consent to this marriage. The chapters are divided into Rachel’s, Tully’s and Heather’s POVs, finally leading back to the wedding day when the unspeakable event happens.

Now here’s where the book may seem controversial or even polarizing to some. The ending. I don’t want to give away too much about that ending that would spoil your reading. I will just say that the ending made perfect sense to me (but I expect some to disagree with me) and that the author wants the reader to think deeply on the moral dilemma of that ending, and the topic of abuse which is very relevant to our times. Now my lips are sealed.

I buddy read this book with @bookybethw & other thriller besties, and we had a great time analyzing that ending, and the story overall. This book makes an excellent buddy read book, and is one of the best domestic suspense stories I’ve read. 5⭐️!