The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book gold from alternating points of view. Gabe and Pippa buy their dream house on a tall cliff. The only problem is that this spot has been known for people to come jump to their death- something Gabe has taken upon himself to talk people out of. That is, until he is unsuccessful and someone jumps to their death. Pippa is naturally shaken, but as the events start to unfold, Pippa starts to dig into the past and question all she knows.

This book was a page turner. I loved it and couldn’t put it down. It’s fast paced from the beginning, and there are many twists and turns to keep you engaged. This is for sure one of my favorite suspense/thrillers of the year! I would definitely recommend picking it up.

This book publishes on April 2023, so mark your lists!

Gabe and Pippa finally found their dream home. Its a beautiful cottage on a cliff. The only negative is that the tall cliffs have become a popular place for people to come to take their lives, literally in their back yard. Gabe is always going out to talk the people down and so far has succeeded every time, until one night he doesn't and a young woman ends up dead. Pippa witnessed the incident but has doubts about what she actually saw.

Soon the house is filled with police and there are lots of questions. During the investigation, it comes to light that Gabe knew the victim. Why did he not mention it to the police or Pippa? Is there something sinister going on? Is Gabe lying?

This is a highly addictive read and I recommend checking it out!

When Gabe and Pippa moved to the small town near The Drop, they never imagined they’d spend time preventing people from jumping to their demise. However, when there finally comes a time where Gabe can’t save the woman at The Drop, their world unravels as the connection between Gabe and the woman, Amanda, starts to become public knowledge, Pippa reflects back on then and now, wondering just how they got to this point., and where they go from here.

Gabe seems like a dream come true. Pippa can't even picture what life would be like without her husband Gabe. Then we the readers are given more information of what has gone on in the marriage and all Pippa has endured. Constantly making excuses for his erratic behavior. The story has plenty of twists. This book kept me turning the pages as fast as I could since nothing is as it seemed. Also, touched on a few difficult topics which I applaud.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth in exchange of an honest review.
I just reviewed The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth. #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

I became a quick fan of Sally Hepworth's work after reading The Good Sister a few years ago. She has a talent for writing character focused thrillers that have a lot of relatability, some dark humor, and of course: murder.

With that being said, The Soulmate was not a hit for me. There were parts that I liked: short chapters and a super fast pace made for a fun, easy read. However, I didn't love these characters. Actually, I hated them all. It quickly became evident that the main character, Pippa, seems to ignore all kinds of bad behavior from her husband and makes excuses for him to a maddening level. But, I do think part of what made me mad about her choices was how truly accurate they are for many women, myself included. So I guess it stands to question myself: Did I not like this character, or did I not like how bleakly realistic she really is?

The twist at the end fell a little flat for me, too. This book was a reflection of people at their worst. While I didn't love this one, I didn't hate it either and I will continue to read more from Hepworth in the future. She wrote this during quarantine of 2020 and I am noticing that many authors put out books written during that time that are below the caliber of their other works so I am granting grace to any novels penned during lockdown.

I received a free digital copy of The Soulmate from the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This is an intriguing mystery with a lot of unexpected twists and turns.

When Gabe and Pippa buy their dream house, they discover it is at the edge of a cliff that is a popular suicide spot! Gabe, a stay-at-home father, seems to be good at convincing people not to jump. He even becomes a local celebrity.

One night, while Pippa watches from the house, she sees him talking to a woman at the edge. It seems to be going well, but suddenly the woman falls or jumps or is pushed. What really happened?

I really like Sally Hepworth books,,,,but this one not so much. I liked the back and forth timelines of Pippa and Amanda but the book seemed to drag on at about halfway.. Also, the ending was pretty unbelievable. A!though, I am looking forward to her next book.

I have mixed feelings around this one because it started really good, like hooked me on page one good. The story was told well and definitely created some suspense but once we (as the audience) got to know more about the plot and characters it fell a bit short for me. I found myself skimming some pages and the end wasn’t very exciting. I think overall my hopes got really high because of how the story started and that momentum died down. This was definitely a quick read though and I do recommend it to anyone that enjoys thrillers, 3⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martins Press, and Sally Hepworth for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

I loved this book. At first I was skeptical because of the way in which it was being told, having a dead character tell part of the story, but this helped to carry the story along. There were so many twists and I didn’t see them coming. I was happily surprised.

An interesting dual viewpoint look at how relationships evolve over time. The readers journeys through the "then" and "now" from two different character's points of view--Pippa and Amanda. Both women are married to troubled men and only required one thing from their union, loyalty and fidelity respectively. The book opens with Amanda's apparent suicide and the chapters that follow show how she got to that point and how Pippa and her husband are linked to this event.

I tend to enjoy dual viewpoint, short chapter thrillers as they keep me drawn in. While I did not love the omniscient "now" viewpoint of Amanda, the book flew by for me.

4.5 STARS

The house on the cliff........

Literally on a cliff, known as "The Drop" near Melbourne. It's Gabe and Pippa's dream house, but who moves that close to a cliff with two young daughters? It made my nerves shred just thinking about the ledge! I admit to having a bit of acrophobia so I was on pins and needles everytime the cliff was mentioned (which is a lot). EEK!!

Just a regular family of four living close to a known "spot" that attracts jumpers who want to end their lives. Gabe has made a name for himself since they've moved in, he has saved seven, talking them down. He is sometimes referred to as an "angel".

Everything was hunky dory, until that day.

The woman, the ledge, his outstretched arms...

I'm not giving anything away! One thing leads to another. "I'm going to fix it.", I may have shouted, Noooo.....

I really enjoyed reading this book. Was kept involved and wanted to keep reading to know what happened. Hard to put down.

3.75 🌟
The Soulmate was a suspenseful dual POV with “mini-reveals” throughout the chapters. I enjoyed the short past and present chapters, they framed the characters well and aided the slow feed of plot points as to not reveal the story beats too quickly. A quick read that was ultimately sad but satisfying.

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth

If I could have read this in one sitting I would have done so but I needed to sleep and life can't stop just because I don't want to put a book down. The mostly short chapters each had me wanting to keep on going to the next one. It was a bit of a brain twister as I tried to put the characters at the right place in time during the chapters taking place in the past but this is one book where I kind of enjoyed the challenge. The various times in the past mixed with the present day added to the mystery in a way that I didn't find frustrating.

Gabe and Pippa Gerard have two young daughters and now live in a cottage on a cliff located in a sleepy coastal town outside Melbourne. They've lived in a lot of houses during their short marriage and Gabe's had a lot of jobs since Pippa has known him. Now lawyer Pippa is supporting the family and Gabe is the primary child minder in the family. Things seem to be going well for them, especially since Gabe seems to have found his calling. Their cliff is known as a jump off place for those who don't want to live anymore and since they've lived in this cottage, Gabe has talked seven people out of jumping. He's in the papers and the townspeople know him for being a hero who saves lives.

Then a woman shows up on the cliff, Gage tries talk her down and she goes over the cliff. At least that is what Pippa hopes really happened but she's not sure. Something is not right with what she saw and Gabe is acting strange. Hopefully the police will rule the woman's death a suicide, it was a suicide wasn't it?

We have two narrators, Pippa and the dead woman and we see the events of this story through their eyes, now and in the past. Both woman love their husbands, faults and all. Fidelity and loyalty play a part in this story. Can these women trust their husbands? Can their husbands trust their wives. This is very much a character study and with a huge focus on marriage and partnership. How strong are the bonds within each relationship? Just how much can each partner take?

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

“The Soulmate” by Sally Hepworth was a mystery centered around Gabe and Pippa, a married couple with a checkered past that slowly is revealed after Gabe watches a woman jump from the cliff in their backyard.
There were so many twists and turns that the reader is liable to get whiplash. I enjoyed reading it, but the ending lost me a bit.

I always enjoy her books, and this one was no different. Half of the ending was a complete surprise, which was great, and even the predictable part of the ending tied up the whole story satisfactorily. I burned through this book in a day since it was so compelling and fast.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Gabe and Pippa have moved into their dream home, but this magical place has one big draw back, it's located across from an infamous site called "The Drop" where people go to commit suicide off of the ledge. Gabe has taken it upon himself to talk to everyone he sees who is considering ending it all, and has successfully talked them all out of jumping. When Pippa sees Gabe intensely talking to a woman she is shocked when the woman disappears over the cliff's edge but did she jump or did Gabe push her? Pippa becomes more suspicious when she learns the woman was Amanda, the wife of Gabe's former boss.
I am a fan of Sally Hepworth's previous work and she has created another twisty novel that keeps the reader on their toes. The story is told from the POV of Pippa and Amanda both before and after the fall. At first I thought it was odd to have the story told from the perspective of the dead woman but as it unfolded I really liked it. There are a lot of twist and connections with the characters while no one was my favorite they all kept me intrigued. Hepworth sheds a light on a form of mental illness and how it effects marriages and relationships. Overall I enjoyed this mystery and look forward to more work from her in the future.

I wasn't sure what I was in the mood to read while looking through my arcs. Even though this doesn't come out until spring 2023, it's what jumped out to me. I flew through the book, so it must have been exactly what I wanted.

The Soulmate has two voices and two time periods. We get Pippa then and now and Amanda then and now. The story slowly starts to pull together as the book goes on. Pippa is married to Gabe and they have two little girls. Pippa adores her husband and thinks he makes her whole. They move to a cliff house which is dangerous. So much so that people come there to end their lives. Gabe got a reputation for saving everyone that came there since they moved in. But when a woman shows up, she doesn't leave alive. Pippa was watching, but she couldn't see clearly. It looked like Gabe and this woman were arguing. She then saw his hands up and the woman was gone. Gabe says she jumped and he seemed devastated by it. But Pippa isn't sure that's what she saw. She wants more than anything to believe her husband. After all, she's stayed with him through a lot already and she can't imagine her life without him.

Amanda is married to Max. Theirs was a marriage of convenience and rules. The one Amanda demanded was that Max stayed faithful. He was very rich and didn't come home until late most nights. Amanda was sure she would never love him. They enjoyed each other, but she saw too much infidelity with her own father. He destroyed her mother and she wouldn't be that way. After being married for so long, Max stopped working so much. They spent more time together and traveled. Everything seemed good. So why would Amanda jump?

The book weaves the story together going back and forth from now to then to now again. There were some pretty big twists and the pacing was good. I read 70% in one sitting.

I gave this book 4 1/2 stars rounded up to 5 on Goodreads.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my earc.

I am now looking at Sally Hepworth as a must read author. The Soulmate was excellent and I am going to get all my friends to read it when it comes out. Such a great thriller and as always she kept me guessing until the end. Thank you to netgalley for the advance copy.

Pippa recently moved with her husband and daughters to a cliffside cottage overlooking the ocean near Melbourne. It seems like it’s going to be a fresh start, until a stranger jumps off the cliff near their home while Gabe is out with her, trying to talk her down. But as details start to emerge, Pippa learns that Gabe kept some details from her about the woman who jumped. As she starts searching for the truth, other secrets and connections come to light, causing their tenuous peace to unravel and dark secrets to be revealed.

I really enjoyed this domestic suspense. The author did an excellent job at weaving multiple subplots together in unexpected ways – there were several instances where I was sure I knew what was going to happen but kept changing my mind. I enjoyed that the story was told from a dual POV, both Pippa’s and Amanda’s, and that the chapters were either situated in “before” or “now,” which was a great way to reveal information throughout the book.

The exploration of mental health, misdiagnoses, and how different trauma can show up as various issues was fascinating and incorporated seamlessly into the plot. The examination of relationships, the lies and deceit, and the concept of soulmates were also incorporated well throughout the story. The characters were well written and felt like real people, which made this thriller even more enjoyable to read.

I recommend this work to folks interested in domestic suspense and I’ll be reading more from this author. My thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for allowing me to read and review this work, which is expected to be published 4 April 2023.