let me start off by prefacing that this book heavily discusses mental illness, abuse and rape. With that being said, I absolutely enjoyed every second of it. This book follows Stephen (heart surgeon), and his soon to be ex wife Pam; their two daughters, and most importantly the "Younger wife" Heather.
Stephen falls in love with Heather while they work on changing Stephen and Pam's house. Pam
unfortunately develops dementia after some head trauma and goes into a nursing home.
It doesn't take long before Heather, herself, experiences some falls that result in head trauma. Is it her drinking? Or is it something more sinister.
Stephens children however, have their own personal traumas that seem to effect their daily lives a it which leaves the reader to wonder if their mental issues is a product of nature vs. nurture, or is it all a coincidence?
I appreciated how this book touched several "taboo" issues without making it feel preachy . If you are looking for a fast paced, twisty thriller that leaves you on the edge until the end, this book is for you.Thank you Net Galley for the amazing ARC.

Sally Hepworth is so good at messing with your expectations. Her books look like they are just generic WIFE books, but they are not! When did WIFE replace GIRL in GasLit? And what does that say about us as a society?

This was a really good, fun, twisted read.

This tells the story of two sisters..., and their dad who remarries.... but wait..

Their mother has Alzheimers, so their dad wants to divorce her so he can marry a new love interest... And there is more....

Did I happen to mention that the new wife is the same age as the daughters?... and thats just the tip of the iceberg.

The story is told from multiple perspectives, which I loved.

There is a big mystery, which I don't want to reveal because it might spoil things. But you wonder - is one person crazy, is someone else evil, what is really going on??? I couldn't stop reading to find out the truth...

This is a quick, easy read, but will totally grab you.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review.

If you are a mystery suspense lover who has not started reading Sally Hepworth, you are missing out.

The Australian author is quickly becoming the most dependable name in literary mystery fiction. I have loved all her books, and the latest is no different. The book features adult sisters and their reaction to their father's much younger girlfriend/fiancee. Hepworth has a gift for fully developed characters and a slow burn to twists.

I really cannot say enough good things about this author or The Younger Wife. When you finish, read her other books as well.

Wow! This was one of Sally Hepworth’s best books yet! I devoured this book in a day. Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read this wonderful book.

I am a huuuge Sally Hepworth fan after reading The Mother-in-Law & The Good Sister so I hopped on the chance to get an ARC of her latest novel from @netgalley!

The Younger Wife follows one family: dad Stephen, (ex)wife Pam, and two daughters Tully and Rachel… but Stephen is getting remarried to Heather, a girl younger than his two daughters. We see the drama surrounding this marriage unfold as the story hops between the wedding day & the months leading up to it — not only learning more about the younger wife but seeing the secrets each family member has been keeping.

This book was definitely gripping and I liked the premise - Sally Hepworth knows how to keep you turning the page. Also it was crazy bc this was the first novel I’ve read that mentioned COVID-19, felt surreal to be reading about it in fiction. However, I haaate to say it … this one fell a bit flat for me compared to her other novels (SAD!). I kept waiting for the “a-ha” moment, and a few of the twists (like who was the 1st person narrator in the wedding chapters?) were just meh when the truth came out. Also, no spoilers, but the ending to me was not realistic and felt like a quick way to wrap up the suspense. A positive here is ultimately readers are left with some ambiguity and even though we THINK we know the truth, it’s not 100% certain.

I would definitely say give this a read, if only just to continue enjoying the complex families Sally Hepworth is able to create. Also this one is a quick one, you can read it in a few days easily! Thank you @netgalley for the ARC!

Wow! I loved this book and devoured it in two days. Hepworth masterfully crafts an engaging plot with complex characters who are well developed and interesting. While a "thriller," the novel usually reads more like literary fiction while also keeping the reader guessing. This was absolutely fantastic!

I loved Hepworth's last two novels so I was excited to receive a copy of The Younger Wife from NetGalley. The story revolves around sisters, Tully and Rachel who are dealing with their father remarrying a younger woman after putting their mother in a nursing home due to Alzheimer's. Rachel and Tully are both great characters, struggling with their own trauma while dealing with the new addition of Heather to their family. The discover of a hot water bottle stuffed with almost $100K leads them to question their parents marriage and what they thought they knew.

I highly recommend this book to fans of thrillers and psychological suspense. I stayed up most of the night to finish it, which I seldom do but Hepworth writes great characters and I really enjoyed this story.

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.