I wouldn't call this a mystery or thriller. Although, it does have an aspect of it at the end. That ending was very satisfying. It's more of a twisted love story. Sally Hepworth did a great job writing it. Her style of explaining this odd love story is mesmerizing. Reading the summary of the book, I thought Pippa would have a pivotal role in the story. I think she's more of a supporting character. I think her personality is bland and uninteresting. Amanda is the star of the story. I needed more of a background story for Amanda, and there were none. Amanda's voice is riveting and eloquent. Amanda's (AFTER) outlook is what hooked me to the book. It pushes the story along. Gabe and Pippa are genuinely a boring couple, yet they are the only ones mentioned in the summary. Overall, it's a great book to read.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for letting me read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I start? I had such high hopes for this newest by Hepworth but it was awful. I didn't like the main couple and the title really was a stretch to relate to the story. The wife, Pippa, was annoying and her husband, Gabe, was worse - I think this did have potential but it was really a mess. Disappointing!

Sally Hepworth's new novel, "The Soulmate" is not about a perfect romance- far from it. Readers will get to know the perfect couple, Pippa and Gabe, in their perfect house. Things start to unravel as the story unfolds and this story is messy and definitely not perfect. Hepworth takes us on an emotional, twisty ride with this book readers will not be able to put this one down!

One of my favorite authors. This book did take me a bit to get into but once I did it was great! A bunch of cliffhangers that kept me guessing until the end.

I love a good Sally Hepworth book, and The Soulmate may be my new favorite!

We meet Pippa and Gabe Gerard, who live in a beautiful beach town overlooking the ocean. The book starts with a woman standing on the cliff, and Gabe walking out to try and talk her down from jumping. Told between alternating perspectives and timelines, we learn all about Gabe and Pippa's marriage and how the woman is connected to their past.

The plot and characters were well-developed, and just when I thought I had everything figured out, a new twist would come. A great beach thriller for the new year!!

Another page turner from Sally Hepworth! Just like all her others, I read this so fast because I could not put it down. Love the twists and turns and no matter how many times I tried to guess what was going on, I couldn’t. The way Sally weaves a tale and keeps you engaged is masterful. Love her books!!!

There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t.

When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral...Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?

I enjoyed this idea of the story. After we find out who the so called jumper was, there are suddenly LOTS of questions and secrets coming out. I was entertained, but it would pick up and slow down. Some parts I found to be predictable, but a few twists that caught me by surprise. I was not a fan of Pippa for multiple reasons. None of which I will go into without giving anything away!

I thought it was written very well with the dual POV, dual timelines, any how it all came together. Relationships, mystery, mental illness, there was a lot that happened in this book. For all that was there, I just felt underwhelmed with the ending. I was surprised with how my opinions changed on characters by the last page!

Sally Hepworth can write an engrossing thriller! I enjoyed the world building and I'm especially a fan of dual (or more) POV. Thoroughly enjoyed the pace of this book and look forward to more from her.

Sally Hepworth never disappoints. Loved The Soulmate!! This book was such an intriguing read and I can’t wait to read more from her. Highly recommended adding to your TBR.

There are many choices in literature. Sally Hepworth will always be my first choice. .I loved the alternating time used to paint the story line. It was easy to follow different characters parts.. The story unfolded slowly but there many the characters were believable as well as unbelievable. Well written - couldn't put it down !

Another great book by Sally!! I liked that the chapters were short- kept me going! I like the different perspectives ! Was a quick read ! Thank you for sharing !

I was immediately captivated from page 1 with Hepworth's latest novel, " Soulmate" There were many twists I did not predict and got me engaged. . At one point I though for sure I had figured it all out only to be turned around. later on. Love when I am caught wrong! . Hepworth never disappoints. Thank you #NetGalley and #stmartinspublishing for the advanced copy. I thoroughly enjoyed this latest novel.

I have to be honest.. this one wasn’t my favorite. It kept my attention enough to finish it to see what happens. I did like the shorter chapters and I thought the time jumps were easy to follow. It also had a couple good twists in there that I didn’t see coming in the end. Overall, it was an okay story but it didn’t stand out for me. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me a copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

THE SOULMATE by @sallyhepworth
Release Date: April 4th, 2023

The scoop:
Gabe and Pippa bought the perfect cliff cottage in a little coastal down. Perfect… until they realize the cliff behind their home is a spot people come to end their lives. Gabe has been successful at talking several people off the, literal, ledge… until he fails. Pippa realizes he knew the victim. Did she fall? Was she pushed? Can she trust the man she believes is her soulmate?

Read for:
🫶🏻 Alternating viewpoints in a unique way
🫶🏻 Marriage and secrets
🫶🏻 Can the people closest to you be trusted? vibes

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING: suicide discussion ⚠️

I started this book last night and finished it four hours later. I did not want to put it down! It was full of twists and excitement and I. Wanted. Answers. This was not your typical thriller. It has a feeling of a fictional book focused on marriage… with a mystery thrown in. Very enjoyable and I recommend it!

Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress, and @sallyhepworth for this eARC. Get your physical copies in April 2023! 💗

What a page-turner! This was a very well-written book with plenty of tension and my jaw dropped a few times! Every chapter made me want to keep reading, and I literally read the entire thing in one evening and stayed up til 2am because I couldn't put it down. The past and present timelines were woven together seamlessly and I loved the different POVs. The line-level writing was spectacular and many lines made me pause to read over them again or highlight them because they were that good and resonated that much. It was a twisty, thrilling ride right from beginning to end, and the post-climax wrap-up was very well executed. I can see why the author is a NYT Bestseller!

We find out right away what happened; the trick is figuring out how and why it happened, and so we go on this tension-ridden journey with two of the main characters. There are so many curiosity seeds dropped, which had me theorizing the whole way, and jaw-dropping secrets revealed at exactly the right time.

So, so good! I'll be recommending it widely!

5 stars

What a read!! Sally Hepworth is a gifted writer. She has mastered the art of properly placing clues to the overall finale and creating so much tension you simply have to keep turning the pages. I loved this book.

I loved the balance between perspectives. Now vs then, as well as Amanda who’s character dies at the beginning we get to hear from her in the past as well as in the present “death.” I thought it was brilliant. The last 70 pages of the book nearly turned themselves. I couldn’t put the books down.

Highly recommend and will definitely be buying a hard copy for myself.

I have never come across a Sally Hepworth book that I didn't like and The Soulmate was no different. From the first word to the last, this book was completely captivating. I found this book to be the perfect blend of domesticity and mystery. I think the best aspect of this work is that the family unit isn't always what it seems. The writing is not at all obvious or predictable which is all the more alluring. This book was definitely on my top ten of this year. A title you won't want to miss.

I love Sally Hepworth books so I was very excited to receive this advanced copy and it did not disappoint!

This book really kept my interest as it was told from two narratives, Pippa, the wife, and Amanda, the deceased victim, and delves into the idea of soulmates through the view of two very different marriages.

Loved, loved, loved this book.

Thank you to netgalley and St Martins Peess for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love sally hepworth!!! This wasn’t my favorite of hers but it was a decent. The short chapters kept me wanting to read more. Some of the twists I guess, some I didn’t.

Thank you Netgalley for eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A riveting, poignant, suspenseful look at the highs and the lows of love, marriage, and the opening of one’s heart, (as raw and vulnerable as it gets) to the dreams and dispositions of another.

A particular other. (And what a difference that choice can make).

Told in the first person POV voice of two women, Pippa and Amanda, who alternate back and forth in time between ‘Now” and “Then’, it’s clear each woman is capable of feeling deep love, and has cast her lot alongside another. That’s where the similarity ends, however, as Pippa, a lawyer and a young mother, struggles with the vagaries of her breathtakingly beautiful husband Gabe, whose irregular and unpredictable behavior is a torment and a constant trial laid out for her loyalty and her love.

“Gabe could hurt me.
But he could also make me fly.”

Amanda, on the other hand, is a fifty-two-year old photographer, married to Max, a wealthy media mogul who appears, on the surface, to be a good man, a steady and dependable man, richly deserving of her fidelity. Or is he?

As Pippa, (owner, with Gabe, of an atmospheric and dangerously precipitous cliff-top house), finds the tension in her life skyrocket in parallel with Gabe’s inescapable propensities, Amanda and her story (and the connection between the two narratives) begins to weave mysteriously around it all, setting the stage for an absorbing and shadowy showdown of sorts, which the reader is led to and left at the very edge of - a fitting ending for a nail-biting finale.

As the author plays with her literary puzzle and what it all implies to the weightiness of loaded terms such as “loyalty’, “fidelity”, and “soulmate”, questions cannot help but surface.

How much of one’s self is safely submergible in another?

Does the answer depend on the “worthiness” of ones choice?

Do each of us truly have a choice, or is there one (and only one) “soulmate” out there for us to claim?

A wonderfully challenging read, I loved this book, - slowly setting the stage for passion, drama, suspense and most of all, a mass of tender contradictions - compelling the reader to bear witness to the distance that can span between the achingly vivid helplessness, or the quiet euphoria, experienced by a woman in love, at a single point in time, each of us falling anywhere (and potentially everywhere) across such a divide, in itself as dangerous as it can be divinely welcoming.

A great big thank you to @Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.