I'm trying to decide what the takeaway here is. I don't want to read into it all too much--and I don't want to be too serious about what is clearly meant to be light entertainment. But is the message here that women don't know their own minds? And that abused women, especially, can't be trusted to know themselves or act rationally? This story definitely kept me entertained and flipping pages, but I really despised the wishy-washy (possibly even lazy?) ending and all that it implied.

The Younger Wife is one of my top reads this year. I was fully prepared to hate the younger wife, Heather, who wouldn’t after she was engaged to a married man with a wife with dementia. But I found Heather to be a completely sympathetic character. I loved the realness in the flaws of Tully and Rachel. They both were complex characters with real problems and dealing with their dad being engaged to woman younger than they were and their mother’s illness. The ending was out of this world and I’m still questioning what I just read. I could not put this book down! The plot was twisted and kept you on your toes while the characters inspire empathy for one must read thriller. Sally Hepworth is on my must read shelf! My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

Nobody does a family drama/mystery like Sally Hepworth. This one is another favorite! This story follows two sisters, a father, and the father's soon to be new wife. The only problem is the father is still actually married! Between the two sisters and their issues, the father still married to their mother with dementia, and the new wife this book was impossible to put down. Lots of twists and turns keep you turning the pages.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected Publication Date: 4/5/22.

Tully and Rachel find themselves thrown for a loop when their father announces he is divorcing their mother with dementia and marrying a woman younger than both of them. As they dig deeper into Heather's secrets and confront their own issues, comments from their mother make them suspect that their parents' marriage may not have been as idyllic as they thought. Knowing the wedding will end in blood, The Younger Wife is an addictive domestic thriller that keeps you engaged as you play amateur detective, judging the reliability of the narrators and deciding who you think is guilty.

Tully and Rachel are sister in their mid-thirties that both have their own personal issues. Their private issues and challenges come to light when their father, Stephen, decides to marry Heather. Heather is only a few years younger than the sisters and Stephen is still married to Tully and Rachel’s mother, who is suffering with dementia. The story begins with the wedding of Stephen and Heather, but the story is put on pause when tragedy strikes, the book then goes back to the past to show the reader how the characters got to that point. I couldn’t put this book down, lots of twists and turns and scandals. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy of this book.

It was destined to be an awkward lunch: adult daughters Tully and Rachel are meeting their father's new girlfriend, the interior designer hired to help him and his wife, Pam, with their new home remodel. However, with Pam's mind slipping into Alzheimer's, Stephen falls in love with Heather, a beautiful woman with a checkered past who's younger than BOTH of his daughters. His engagement announcement sparks the fire that threatens to reveal everyone's secrets.

The characters are delightfully flawed: Tully with her anxiety attacks and compulsions, Rachel with her obsessive eating, and Heather with her deep neediness for a place to belong. I love that the readers get chapters from all three characters' viewpoints. The story pulls you along emotional twists and turns, as all the characters (and the reader!) struggle to determine who the villain really is.

This thriller is a delight, with an ending that will have you second-guessing everything you thought you knew. I highly recommend this book.

TW: abuse, sexual assault

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was very intrigued the whole way through this novel. I loved the varying perspectives and I think that each character was unique in their own rite. I think it would have been better to have a more conclusive ending, however. I feel like it left the reader with doubts instead of certainties. The epilogue could have cleared it up but it didn’t. I enjoyed it regardless but I didn’t like the back and forth about what truly happened.

Add Sally Hepworth to the (very short) list of authors whose books I’ll always read. Her domestic suspense is readable, the characters appealing and relatable. In “The Younger Wife” especially, I can think of several people in my life who have similarities to the book’s characters, which makes it all the more readable and possible.

Family drama and family dysfunction! A crazy twisted family and is their a root to all this craziness. I was really expecting a different ending but this one kind of leaves me going hmmmm. An enjoyable domestic thriller. Thanks to the Publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC

This book was brilliant! I was totally immersed in the story from the first page, and THE YOUNGER WIFE is a perfect example of how to write domestic suspense.

The story begins at the wedding of Stephen and his much younger bride Heather. His daughters Tully and Rachel have grudgingly accepted Heather although they are resentful of their father divorcing their mother, who is languishing in a care home with dementia, to make this wedding happen. Shortly after the vows are finished, there is a scream, blood, and a body. While you're left reeling, the story then goes back in time.

The less details you have going in, the better. While the dysfunction is this family unfolds piece by piece, it's treated with a level of respect that is often lacking in this genre. These issues are not to be trivialized, and the author explored each with the utmost care.

The ending was SO satisfying, and it was a heroic feat not to peek at the last few pages as I was nearing the end as I had NO idea how the author was going to wrap up this story.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this early read. Sure to be a smash hit of 2022!

Set in Australia, The Younger Wife has a lot to recommend it: an up-to-the-minute plot, varied and well written characters you quickly become invested in, and pacing that keeps you turning the pages to see what happens next. Unfortunately, so much of what happens next is predictable. I kept hoping for something unexpected but there were very few surprises.

There is the potential here for a really good domestic thriller. Everyone has secrets and they are not staying hidden away. As these secrets are revealed, there is the possibility to create a great villain but instead the story just sort of glosses over everything. Toward the end things are wrapped up nice and cozy, very much like a Hallmark or Lifetime movie. If you like domestic thriller “light,” this is your book.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

Nothing in this book surprised me, but it was still a fun read.

A young woman is engaged to be married to a wealthy surgeon who:

A) has kids approximately her age and
B) is still legally married to his first wife....that is has dementia and living in a nursing home.

Naturally, this is already a recipe for disaster.

3.5 stars rounded up

Thanks so much to the publisher and Net Galley for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
The story starts off rather slow - Rachel and Tully are two grown daughters, and their father Stephen, has just become engaged to Heather who is actually younger than his daughters. Oh, and Pam Stephen’s current wife who is suffering from early onset dementia . Everything is normal-ish, but the 30% mark it all starts to unravel. Seems that everyone has a secret, and the story takes a sharp turn as pieces are unraveled.
I really enjoyed this story, though it deals with some seriously dark themes. I wont give any spoilers, but I came to care for the characters, I’m still worried one of them at the conclusion. Everyone is not ok. Recommend this book.

This book was outstanding, I could not put it down..Sally Hepworth is a master storyteller. I love reading her books. Read The Younger Wife, you won’t be disappointed.

Sally Hepworth's newest novel is The Younger Wife, but it could be called "The First (or is it Second?) Wife," "The Thieving Daughter," "The Binge Eating Daughter," "The Gold Digging Interloper," or "Be Glad You're Not Marrying Stephen Aston." Never has so much drama, neurosis, and psychosis been packed into one family. The Younger Wife literally starts out with a bang-an unknown person is seriously injured at the wedding of Dr. Stephen Aston and Heather, the much younger woman the good doctor hooked up with after his previous wife was diagnosed with dementia. Despite her diagnosis, you'll sometimes think the ailing Pam Aston is the only one with any common sense. The Younger Wife is a kaleidoscope of trouble-Stephen & Pam's daughter Tully is facing financial ruin, their other daughter Rachel has a serious eating disorder that appears to coincide with an incident from her past, their mother has just been admitted to a nursing home, and the woman who was hired to redecorate Stephen & Pam's lavish home is about to become Tully & Rachel's stepmother. At the center of it all is Stephen-beloved among his peers and patients- but perhaps all that glitters isn't really gold. The Younger Wife is gaslighting at its best-it's nearly impossible to tell the good guys from the bad. Sally Hepworth excels at domestic drama, and The Younger Wife features her most dysfunctional family to date.

The best thing about this book is the characterization. It’s the perfect family drama, with Tully our upper middle class mom with a secret- she’s a kleptomaniac. Then we have Rachel, who eats her feelings and won’t ever date due to a trauma in her teens. (No one cares to question this, as it seems like an obvious concern, so that was the one frustration I had with this family). And then we have Heather, the younger woman about to marry Tully and Rachel’s father—the kicker being that he’s still married to their mom, who is in the advanced stages of dementia. The big issue is that Heather starts to suspect that her fiancé is an abuser, and the sisters worry too. The ending is fairly predictable but I didn’t mind because I enjoyed spending time with these quirky characters!

👰‍♀️When Tully and Rachel’s father announces his engagement to much younger Heather they both begin to dig into old family secrets.

👍🏼A quick, page turning read.

👎🏼The characters (and their development), the lack of true thriller elements

🤷🏼‍♀️Fans of Sally Hepworth will enjoy this fast paced family drama (don’t go in expecting a thriller), and while I did enjoy it I wish there had been more depth to the characters who all had significant issues.

WOW! I could not put this book down! The multiple POVs flowed smoothly. The characters were very well developed. The ending was a complete shock and I didn't want it to end! Sally Hepworth has become an auto-buy author for me. Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for an advanced e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This novel was a great read! I really enjoyed the characters, the plot, and the all around world building. Definitely worth picking up!

In her latest novel, "The Younger Wife," Sally Hepworth succeeds at what every mystery writer most likely aspires to do (and if they don't, they should) and that is leaving the reader asking a ton of questions about what just happened. In her true signature style, Hepworth spins a web of possibilities of the outcome, all the while leaving it up to the reader to unravel the web. I like her straightforward approach to storytelling and her complexity of character, both of which help develop the plot and draw the reader in hook, line and sinker. Ms. Hepworth's many fans will be thrilled with this latest tale, due out in April, 2022. Thank you NetGalley, for this advanced eCopy.