Are you kidding me? Sally does it again. I adore her and her books so much and this one was just as wonderful as the rest if not better. The characters are so well rounded and thought out. The intense situations she puts the characters in and how it all works out is forever the best. I also love that this story also includes sisters just like her last story did and I think it has a lot to do with her children but either way I love it you can really feel the sister bond.

Thank you to Sally Hepworth, Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC copy.

I rate this book 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. This was a good mystery. I wouldn’t really say it was a thriller, as it was kind of slower paced, but it definitely kept me interested and wanting to know what would happen, I liked the characters, and how they all had issues and problems going on outside of the main mystery. Sometimes that can feel like too many plot lines, but in this case, I think it worked well.

I didn’t love the ending though. I felt like there was a lot of build up for nothing to really happen. I know the end was supposed to be ambiguous but in this case, it just left me feeling unsatisfied. I would have liked to have seen more loose ends tied up with more concrete storylines.

All in all, this was a good book. I’d still recommend reading it, and will continue reading Hepworth’s future books, but just didn’t like it as much as The Good Sister or The Mother In Law.

Well, this was a surprise! Love all Sally Hepworth books but this may be her best yet. Basic plot is Dad is going to marry a younger girl while Mom is in assisted living with dementia. The two sisters, Rachel and Tully, are attempting to come to terms with this and their own dramas. Definite read.

Surely there is nothing better than an invitation to read a new Sally Hepworth novel. Thrilled, I dived into it over a heatwave weekend armed with the perfect excuse to not leave the house due to the sweltering weather so all I could do was to wipe my brow and quickly turn the pages. A domestic thriller with the central character of Steven, a charismatic older man (a surgeon no less) and the women who surround him, Rachel and Tully his adult daughters, Pam his current wife at the time, an ex and Heather, his new young beautiful girlfriend. We open at Steven and Heather’s wedding where a traumatic event takes place. We then learn about the women and the impact Steven had on them. Think about how we say everything is ‘fine and fairytale ’ when we look on from the outside not really knowing, and think about being on the inside feeling fine yet knowing something is wrong, and then doubting yourself when confronted with the not so perfect truth. Powerful story of love, power and distrust. Much distrust. I even doubted myself at the end.

Thank you for the eARC @Netgalley and @stmartinspress!!

The Younger Wife is a fast-paced, engrossing book that pulled me in from page 1. I was camping and literally could not put this down (not that I was upset!!.

It’s told in multiple perspectives that take you from a wedding in the present day to weeks leading up to the event. It’s also told from the viewpoint of several characters, which sounds like a lot but this surprisingly isn’t confusing. The multiple POVs helps you understand each character and gives them more depth as you look further into their lives. Not one character had a perfect life. They’re flawed and the book goes into great detail on this. Some are elaborated a bit much which felt repetitive over time.

There’s a great deal of discussion on therapy in this book and its importance on recovery from traumatic events. I really liked that representation. It felt refreshing as multiple characters spoke about wanting to attend or having attended therapy throughout the book. The only criticism I have is the repetitive use of the word crazy or lunatic. It didn’t feel appropriate despite these thoughts likely being said in a person’s actual life. There are just other words that could be used in this context.

I still quite enjoyed this book! I wouldn’t classify it as a thriller but definitely a family drama with a bit of mystery mixed in.

At times, I flip flopped between figuring out what happened but I never could solidify an answer.

The ending felt a bit rushed which was too bad. I felt it could have gone into a bit more detail; however, without giving away any spoilers there’s a possibility this was done deliberately to leave you wanting more…

Intricacies of family relationships is played out in a twisted slow-paced read. Some authors use the conclusion to reveal a shocking ending and validate the whole story and then there are those that have you wondering at the end what just happened.

Dr. Stephen Ashton is planning his wedding with a much younger wife Heather. The only thing is his ex-wife who has dementia shows up at the wedding. You know that something tragic has happened during the wedding, but not sure what or to whom. The book plays out the family's complex and complicated feelings leading us up to the wedding day. There are strong bonds and obvious resentments of dad and his younger wife-to-be and his daughters that are close in age to Heather. Rachel and Tully are dealing with a lot of mixed emotions and feeling somewhat betrayal of what they thought was their perfect family and feelings of guilt for their mom.

Mom has more going on than memory loss and has a lot to say even when no one is paying attention to her rambling...😉

Heather is dealing with her own memories of a childhood gone awry and her dad is spending life in prison.

You do not know who to feel sorry for and certainly do not know who is telling the truth or even remembers what the truth is. I was confused by all the vague misguidance or information that maybe wasn't a lie??? Sound confusing?? Wait until you read this!! It is worth the confusion for that last twist I'm still duped by the chicanery.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

I love this author and this book did not disappoint. I read it in one day. It’s compulsive! Great plot, realistic characters who grow and learn and lots of current hot topics. If you like family dramas with hidden secrets, you’ll love it too. The sibling relationship was wonderful. I think this is my favorite book of Ms Hepworth’s so far. She gets better and better. It’s not super serious but definitely not a light book. It would be a great book club pick as there is SO much to talk about. I’d say it’s a girl power book!
Thanks to the pubisher and to NetGalley for such a satisfying read.

I have been binge-reading Sally Hepworth lately and The Younger Wife did not disappoint. She’s my new favorite author.

The story revolves around the wedding of Stephen Astor and Heather Wisher, his much younger fiancé. In fact, she’s just about the same ages of his two daughter’s, Tully and Rachel. Stephen and Heather met while Stephen was still married, although his wife is in a home for dementia. His daughters really wanted to hate Heather, but with character flaws present in each of them, it was Stephen who finds himself in hot water with no shortage of issues himself (or is there?)

Throughout the telling of the story, we find out just how dysfunctional the Astor family is. The author has a knack for perfectly descriptive characters and can weave a story that keeps me up way past my bedtime, like 3 am with a 6 am alarm! But I have no regrets. I’d give up sleep for a book like this any day of the week.

I rate this book 4 stars, but only because I felt the ending felt a bit rushed.

I received an ARC of this book from St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

#Review 👰🏻‍♀️ THE YOUNGER WIFE [@stmartinspress #gifted]
My rating: ☆☆☆☆
Pub date: 4/5/22

“Stephen Aston is getting married again. The only problem is, he's still married to his first wife, even though she is in a care facility for dementia. But he'll take care of that easily, by divorcing her—even if his adult daughters protest.” Full synopsis in the comments below! ⬇️

Sally Hepworth does it again! Her last two novels have put her up there with Liane Moriarty as my “Queens of the Family Drama”™️. I really enjoyed this high-stakes multigenerational story, all about anxiety and (fatal) flaws. I read it in two quick sittings because I hated putting it down. The characters are the most memorable I’ve read from her. I think I liked this one even more than THE GOOD SISTER. My favorite part? The ending. It’s written so simply but packed a huge punch. Highly recommend. Thank you @stmartinspress for my e-ARC! The only bad thing about reading it so early is that I have to wait even longer for her next one. 🙈

Tully and Rachel are sisters who have a mom with dementia, and a father with a young fiancee. The catch is, mom and dad are still married, and dad proceeds to divorce his nursing home-bound wife. Tully has other headaches besides this: her husband has invested in sliding enterprise, and her younger son Miles seems very troubled. Sister Rachel uses food as a shield against a past trauma. Author Sally Hepworth has given us another complex, interesting set of characters, and their actions and reactions lead to a surprising ending.

In the first chapter, sixtyish Stephen marries Heather, who is younger than both of his adult daughters. The ceremony has just concluded when an unseen tragedy strikes. Someone in the wedding party is injured, but we don't know the victim's identity, how serious the injury, or whether it was inflicted by another person. And we won't know until much later in the book.

The action then rewinds to reveal the major players. Stephen recently divorced his wife, who is in a nursing home with dementia. Their daughter Tully is happily married with two children, and their daughter Rachel has a thriving baking business. But both have serious neuroses, caused by issues from earlier in their lives, that are preventing them from achieving fulfillment. Heather, the bride, is a successful interior decorator who has family secrets of her own.

In this compelling psychological thriller, the reader is propelled from chapter to chapter, with occasional tantalizing flashes of the wedding adding more suspense. The author is skilled at building tension (with no graphic violence) at the same time as she is developing her main characters. An excellent, engaging thriller.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of the book.

The Younger Wife but Sally Hepworth is not your run of the mill psychological thrillers. Tully and Rachel’s dad, Stephen, is engaged and set to marry a woman his daughters age. The girls are totally against this as their mother, Stephen‘s current wife, is in an assisted living home for her dementia. Stephen‘s plan is to divorce her and marry his new younger fiancé, Heather. Tully and Rachel begin to uncover family secrets that they must get to the bottom of.

I loved this book and fans of domestic suspense and psychological thrillers will too. Reading multiple points of view from convincing, quirky characters pulled me through the novel, and I couldn’t wait to read the next chapter. When a mother is put into a nursing home for dementia care, the father starts dating a younger woman about the age of his two daughters. When one of the daughters discovers her mother hid a stash of cash with a stranger’s name, she looks into the source of the mysterious money. An engrossing page turner with twisty subplots. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher St Martin’s Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was amazing!!! I had an ARC from NetGalley. So there’s a well respected doctor and his wife has early onset dementia. They have two daughters- both hiding issues since they were younger, but they look like the perfect family. The dad ends up with a younger girlfriend, close to the daughters age. Then end up getting married and then it chaos.
Really I thought I knew the story. I believed the girls and the girlfriend. It made sense but there was always the tiny hint of doubt- I’d go back and reread looking for a clue, did I read that right, did I miss something? But there’s enough doubt because the author sets the stage but doesn’t give a definitive answer. The girlfriend of the dad also has a troubled youth history. The most likable character is Darcy- he ends up dating abd working for the daughter Rachel.
But there were clues early in about the daughters and why they were quirky but again perfect family- did they consciously ignore to maintain the illusion or were they wrapped in themselves and didn’t care?
I liked the dad at first, then I hated him and then I pitied him.
This book ended so well. Can you trust memories or perceived memories, do you know the whole picture? How many can family secrets and misunderstandings ruin people? There were a lot of walls in this family and not enough connection.
I look forward to anything this author produces in the future.

I absolutely loved The Good Sister. I was so excited when I got a chance to read this latest book. Started with the wedding of Stephen and Heather in the presence of his daughters Rachel, Tully and his ex-wife Pam. A crime happened at the wedding but we don’t know what happened, who was hurt. All this narrated by an unknown person. Then the story goes back to a few months earlier.

Most of the characters in the book are like real life people as they are far from perfect. They can’t get any more real than this. They have flaws, ups and downs. Everyone is going through a difficult phase caused by present/past secrets which shaped their lives. Feel some of the issues have been repeated a lot, especially Tully’s. Loved the banter and silly jokes between Rachel and Darcy. It would have been great if Darcy got a few more pages as he is a refreshing character. The bonding between sisters grew as the story progressed.

Expected to dislike Heather when the story started but felt sorry for her after knowing her back story. She jumped from the frying pan into the fire. I don’t know anything about dementia so I can't figure out the behavior of Pam when she was suffering from this, like all the accusations she threw out. Abuse and other forms of assault are the main themes of this book.

I am ambivalent about how the story ended as it left me perplexed. It left me questioning the situations, suspicions in the book really happened or figments of the characters’ imagination? This confusion changed how I felt about this book. It seemed Hepworth tricked her characters and took them for a ride.

Overall, this fast-paced book that pulls you in from the first page.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for giving me an opportunity to read this.

The Younger Wife starts off slowly, luring you along as plot points are revealed one by one until it takes off and you can’t stop reading. The book starts with a wedding where something terrible happens, but we’re not shown what it is until the end of the book. We’re introduced to a well off family where the father is a doctor, the mother has dementia and the two grown daughters are close to them both. But the father wants them to meet Heather, the interior designer and he’s divorcing their mother so he can marry this much younger woman. And we’re shown the perfect life all seem to have is filled with contradictions and flaws, most of all their beloved father. The twists and turns throughout the book are the brilliant and even at the end we’re never quite sure what is really the truth.
A great suspenseful read

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the free book.
Sally Hepworth does it again. I just love her family drama/suspense books, and this was a fun one. Throughout the book, I was left wondering what is going on with the hot water bottle, and what has made this family the way that they are. I loved the three different POVs. This helped build the suspense and increase the hints on what was going on during the book. Also, I bet you can't read the prologue and not want to sit and finish the book in one sitting.
I was shocked, mad, and wowed through my reading experience. There is just so much here, and the layers of complexity help make it the type of story I have come to expect from Hepworth. She captures families and their drama so well, and this one is no exception.

The Younger Wife by S. Hepworth, published by St. Martin's Press is a complex story. Told in a multiple pov, the storyline keptme in suspense from the first page til the last sentence. Nothing is ever clear, the twists and turns are plentiful , I was kept guessing - and this mystery/thriller isn't what I was expecting. The author delivered a highly entertaing twisty read . The story of a family build on love, lies, betrayal, issues and even though there's kind of an hea for some of the characters, other are left hanging in the wind. I loved just everything about the book, 5 stars.

As always, Hepworth's characters are charming, nuanced, slightly absurd, and all the more realistic for it. My problem here is that, though I doubt this was the intention, it would be very easy to take away an overall message that's very...victim blamey? It isn't gaslighting if she's actually crazy? Don't necessarily believe victims? Not exactly any of those, really, but also not not those things, so.

And for the record: Believe women. I would rather defend a liar than silence a victim any day.

Took me a few chapters to get into but once I did, I flew through.

Tully and Rachel, daughters of Stephen, have perfect lives to the casual observer but, secrets on the inside. What secrets is Stephen keeping? It’s a good mix of was he or wasn’t he? And just when you think you’ve got it figured out, the last chapter makes you question it all over again.