Sally Hepworth's books can always be counted on to pull me in, keep me hooked until the last page and provide some interesting twists. The Younger Wife follows right along with the others and I was pulled in from the beginning.

This book provides a little bit of everything -- troubled family drama, anxiety that presents in different ways, dealing with dementia in a parent, the father moving on with a much younger woman, bankruptcy, sexual assault, abuse, alcoholism, gossipy neighbors and so much more.

The story revolves around the lives of the Astons -- Stephen and his daughters, Tully and Rachel. In addition, there is his soon to be ex-wife, Pamela who is suffering from dementia and his girlfriend, Heather who is younger than his daughters. Tied into all of this is a mysterious narrator that pops in and out of the story. You don't find out who that is until towards the end. It's all a quite salacious and inventive tale that keeps the reader guessing the whole time trying to figure out which theory is right.

It's a fun and twisty story. However, it does touch on some serious issues that can't be taken lightly. The Younger Wife is well-written and is definitely another hit for this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

This is a Netgalley ARC review. All opinions are solely my own.

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth will take the reader on an emotional roller coaster.

This is written from several points of view and none of them are insignificant. When the book started I thought I could see where this was going: older doctor leaves sick wife for younger version and daughters aren't thrilled. Yeah. It goes there a bit but the twists this book takes are surprising.

I was most intrigued by the very different psychological disorders that this book explores. I was really glad that Rachel's backstory was not what I thought it would be.

There are definitely triggers in this book so proceed at your own risk.

This starts with a shocking act of violence at a wedding but who is injured, how are they injured, and who did it isn't revealed until the end. Heather is marrying Stephen, father to Tully and Rachel, with Stephen's ex-wife Pam, who suffers from dementia, in the audience. Told from the POV of Tully, Rachel and Heather, this is all about secrets- the secrets within a family and the secrets we keep even from ourselves. Tully is a wife and mother- that's her identity- with a problem. Rachel is a baker who has buried herself in her business. You, like Heather, likely will guess the reason early on. Heather has worked her way out of her troubled childhood into a career as an interior designer. And Stephen, the man who binds everyone together, has a secret too. Who is Fiona? Heather prompts, inadvertently, the fall of the house of cards in this family. Unusually for this sort of thriller she's not, well no spoilers from me. Hepworth takes on a number of hot button issues in this page turner. I cared about these women - all of them - more than I expected to. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Excellent read.

Ohhhhhhhh my goodness this book was completely unputdownable!!! Just when I thought I knew where it was going, it twisted and turned and then freaking whacked me upside the head with an earth shattering ending!!! The Younger Wife has a writing style reminiscent of Liane Moriarty’a earlier books. Fast paced family/domestic suspense! I laughed. I gasped. And I sighed and groaned when I had to do real life stuff. (And don’t tell my kids’ dentist but I flaked on my daughter’s appt today so I could keep reading!!! Shhhh 😉 Don’t worry… I rescheduled it for day after tomorrow when I take one of my other girls!)
This was my favorite Hepworth book to date!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. I really wanted to like this book, but I am so tired of women writing female characters as hysterical, drunk, stupid, unsure, and/or unreliable. I thought it was going to turn out okay with the man getting what he deserved in the last 10% of the book, but then he basically got a redemption story in the epilogue. What an odd choice.

The Last Mrs Parrish meets the Girl on the Train. What happens when your Dad decides to marry the interior decorator when he’s technically still married to your Mom with dementia? We (the audience) starts at the wedding, where something goes terribly wrong and then we play catchup. I absolutely love books where the chapters are the characters. I liked learning about Stephen’s two daughters - the neurotic Tully, the broken Rachel and of course the younger wife, Heather. Excellent book. Could not put it down.

I have just read The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth.

The story starts off with a wedding. The groom is a heart surgeon, the bride younger that the grooms two daughters, and the ex-wife has dementia.

This was the second book that I have read by this Author and found this one very interesting. It kept my attention throughout it, and I thought the characters were especially unique and certainly not perfect, or without issues.

I did enjoy it, and especially the dramatic ending.

Thank You to NetGalley, Author Sally Hepworth and St. Martin's Press for my advanced copy to read and review.

#NetGalley

Wow! The twists and turns kept me on the edge and turning pages! After all the twists, I did not see that coming at the end! Absolutely clever writing!

That’s it… worst ending ever!

After reading, The Good Sister, I was so excited to read Hepworth’s new novel, The Younger Wife. A domestic suspense surrounding a struggling family with two sisters whom their father marries a younger woman while his previous wife is suffering from dementia.

Unfortunately, this one doesn’t come close to the previous book I read of hers. This novel is a slow burn, characters were not very likable except maybe the one sister, Rachael. The narrators are unreliable but not in a good way. I felt strung around for way too long and I kept waiting for some surprising twists and turns but it never really happened. I felt the book was a bit unrealistic and portrayed the female characters and subject matter poorly. I could not believe that it ended the way it did. Up until the ending the book was nearly a 3 for me but that ending killed anything enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this story of Stephen Aston with a current wife, former wife, current fiancé and two daughters. The various POVs helped to move the story along although as I was getting more and more intrigued with one POV, that ended and another POV began along with shifting time periods.

There are plenty of secrets held by everyone and you learn small pieces throughout the story. The two daughters of Stephen along with his fiancé, all had disturbing events in their childhood and carried over as adults.

The book begins with the wedding of Stephen and Heather, you hear a scream, ambulances arrive and then the story goes back in various time periods for each of the characters. As the story twists and turns, you think you know what’s happening with each character and then left wondering which story is true?

I’m not so sure that I cared much for the characters but enjoyed that I didn’t know anything for sure about any of the characters. You think you know the ending but then Ms. Hepworth throws in some additional scenes and left me wondering – did that just happen? Which is the truth? Was there a horrible mistake or not?

I usually like things with a known ending but this left me wondering for a few days after reading and I decided to count that as a plus!

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing me with the new work to enjoy.

Entertaining read about a family in Australia. The father decides to marry his young interior decorator despite the fact that he is still married to his first wife. She is actually younger than his two daughters. Their mother suffers from dementia and lives in a special nursing facility. The father divorces his demented wife in order to marry the new younger woman. Lots of family drama, everyone has a secret past, nice short chapters.

I really tried to get into this one but it didn’t grab me from the start. I went as far as I could with very minimal interest or connection to the characters. This author is a bit or miss for me but this one was definitely more of a miss.

Thank you SMP for the gifted copy.

This is a really difficult review for me to write. I really wanted to like this book, and for the first few chapters, I did. As far as plot goes, I enjoyed this book. I was intrigued from the first chapter - a wedding, and someone grabs a candlestick, and it seems that someone gets clobbered by said candlestick. Who, and why? What led up to this event?

On the other hand, I found several things about this book extremely problematic, and the more I read, the more uncomfortable I felt. You have two sisters, and both have issues that are laughed off and ignored, but are quite serious. Nobody seems to care that one sister basically compulsively overeats, "eats her feelings" as it's described, and the other sister is clearly a kleptomaniac and has major anxiety issues, yet is made fun of several times. Not to mention her son clearly has something going on and that's laughed off until the very end of the book. Rachel has clearly been through some sort of major trauma, and it seems that everyone missed the signs? Then you have the descriptions of abuse, possible gaslighting, miscarriage, etc...Oh, and the entire plot point that the dad is still married to his wife that has dementia, meets someone, and decides to divorce the first wife to marry the new lady. I know this is the point of the book, but it just was super sketchy to me.

The worst part was the epilogue. WHY???? Why was that necessary? It took the book from 3.5 stars down to 2.5 for me. I was disgusted by it, to be honest. It should have been left alone after the last chapter.

Sally Hepworth is the Queen of the dysfunctional family genre! She never disappoints. The Younger Wife is an excellent read with characters that pull you in. Each character has their faults and when all are combined, you have one heck of a story!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've read and enjoyed a few books by Sally Hepworth - this genre of domestic suspense with a twist or two is just too much fun to read. The Younger Wife was no exception and I found a lot to love about this novel. It was easy to get to know the characters and root for the two sisters in this novel as well as their mother and entire situation. It was well written, and there was a sense of foreboding throughout. I found it hard to put down and devoured the whole thing in a matter of otherwise busy days.

There are a few trigger warnings to be aware of: domestic abuse, rape, miscarriage, alcoholism, murder, child abuse --- some of these to greater extents than others and not really a spoiler when considered generally.

I did feel that the ending lacked a little something but I was still wholly satisfied with the way it all wrapped up and the "future" we could see of these delightful characters and their families.

THank you so much to St Martins Press and MacMillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well. This was a huge miss. I wouldn't be able to recommend this book and I'm honestly pretty shocked. Lots of gaslighting... but not in a sexy fun way, in and I can't believe it was published way. I really hated the plot for this- a mother has dementia due to years of abuse. The characters were unlikable and put a bad taste in my mouth. The female characters were painted as delusional over-reractors and I don't feel any of these issues were handled with care.

Whew .. okay. I've sat with this book for a few days after reading because I'm so torn on my thoughts. I enjoyed 95% of this book... then the ending came and well ... not a fan. Let me start with what I did like. Great storyline, I loved most of the characters. Rachel was by far my favorite and really rooted for her. Tully cracked me up, but also I believed her struggles. I thought Sally Hepworth did a great job in writing this, it was engaging and I didn't want to put the book down. I think for 95% of the story she tackles sensitive subjects like abuse, eating disorders and mental health disorders with care and accuracy. I was pulled into the story, not sure how things would end.. So what happened the last 5%??? Well it was almost like the author did a 180 and just walked away from what could have been a four-five star read. I didn't care for the ''twist'' or the way the story concluded as a wrap up. It's hard to explain without spoilers but I felt it was an injustice to the characters. With that being said, I will definitely read more by Sally Hepworth. I truly did enjoy her writing style, This particular one just ended in a way that irked me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy and provide my honest opinion.

I loved Sally Hepworth's The Good Sister so was excited to read this. And it did not disappoint. The character development was great from the start showing all of their quirks and weaknesses.

Well, that was a wedding to remember..

The younger wife starts out at the wedding of Stephen and Heather, when the newly married couple head off to finalize everything a scream rings out.

When Stephen, a successful doctor, announces his engagement to Heather, a woman near his daughters age, things begin to get heated. While his daughters want to support him and be happy for him out of their love for their father they struggle with this since their mother is still not only in the picture but also still legally married to their father.

While the first half of the book had me turning the pages as I learned about each character and their secrets about half way through I slowly began to lose interest as some things were drawn out a bit more than necessarily needed. Over all Id give this one 4☆.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book which allowed me early access.

I went into this book expecting one thing and was pleasantly surprised when this story went a completely different direction.

The women were well developed and easy to connect with. Even as they had things that made them less desirable, I still cared about what was going to happen to each of them and who among them was going to end up either dead or the one to make someone dead.

This is definitely a character driven story with a thin layer of menace running through it. I found myself caught up in the lives of each of these women when suddenly something would be casually hinted at that sent me spinning with contemplation. I picked and prodded at these characters, guessing as to what had happened, why it might have happened, and who might have done it, before I’d switch to someone else as the villain. I loved every minute of it.

This was unlike other psychological thrillers I’ve read. It had such a fresh feel to the writing and the creation of the story never felt heavy handed. Overall an enjoyable read that I could not put down!