Wow-excellent!! The Soulmate is so much more than expected, I could not put it down! Told from two different viewpoints and from past and present . The story line grabs your interest and keeps you wanting more until the very end. I appreciate the opportunity to read an ARC from NetGalley and the publishers.

Book synopsis:

“Gabe and Pippa Gerard have just moved into their dream house: a cliffside cottage in a sleepy coastal town outside Melbourne. It’s a fresh start to their marriage, and the perfect place to raise their two young daughters. But the house’s perfect façade hides something more sinister: The Spot, where the tall cliffs have become a popular place for those wishing to end their lives. After talking someone down from the ledge, Gabe becomes a local hero, saving person after person… until one night, he doesn’t. And Pippa sees Gabe the moment after it happened, standing alone at the cliff’s edge, arms outstretched, palms facing out.
The death is ruled a suicide— Gabe said it was a stranger devastated over her husband’s infidelity. But when Pippa discovers that Gabe knew the victim, she has more questions than answers.”
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This book was very unique in the domestic drama/ mystery genre.
Flipping back and forth between point of views and timelines, kept me guessing for the whole book. It also had the unique aspect of providing a point of view from a dead person. I loved that. It gave the reader direct first person insight and knowledge into the victim and their history.
The biggest thing about The Soulmate is no one is as they seem. There are many secrets, lies and psychological issues in Gabe Gerard’s life, and each piece of his history unravels even more of the mystery.
EVERYTIME you think you know something, guess again!

Four stars, great story!
Read if you enjoy psychological thrillers, mysteries, domestic dramas with multiple points of view and duo timeline.

I was immediately sucked into this book. It has both alternating narrators and multiple timelines. It also starts with an event you don’t fully understand. All this adds up to a book I can’t put down. When every chapter ends with questions, I must know!!

Pippa, Gabe, Max and Amanda. Everyone has a secret. Just when you think something isn’t adding up a twist hits. A ghostly narrator also gives this book depth you wouldn’t get otherwise. You are there like a fly on the wall. Very creative.

This book had so many twists and turns. As soon as I thought I had a character figured out they changed.

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope she writes more! I am totally hooked!

All I can say is READ THIS BOOK!! I could not put it down. The Soulmate is so much more than I expected!

I love Sally Hepworth’s books and The Soulmate was exceptionally amazing. An idyllic family enjoying their new start in a small, charming beach community is suddenly thrown into life-threatening chaos. Through an appropriate amount of twists and turns, the truth of their past lives unravel as it all catches up with them. The Soulmate was full of suspense and surprises, and the characters and relationships Sally creates are incredibly engaging and complex. I’ll definitely recommend this to my friends!
Thanks to Net Galley, Sally Hepworth, and St Martin’s press for the advanced copy to read and review!

I would probably read Sally Hepworth’s grocery list if she published it. She is a master of domestic suspense novels and this one is no different.

Tons of twists and turns, kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Puppy has the perfect husband…. Or does she?

This book was pretty short and only took me two days to get through. I think it was enjoyable and kept me entertained. I don’t like books that are super drawn out so I like that this one was shorter and to the point. I liked the storyline and felt that it was a unique mystery. I didn’t see the ending coming so I liked that it wasn’t as predictable as a lot of thrillers out there. Overall it was pretty good read and I’d recommend it!

3.5 stars (3.75 stars?) not quite a 4, but still quite good! This story started out with a wild ride for me, with more than one “WTF just happened” moment along the way. A fav quote: “we trust people based on the strangest, most arbitrary things, none of which have any bearing on whether or not you are inherently good” The ending wasn’t as satisfying as I would have liked, but I wasn’t disappointed.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Sally Hepworth and was very excited to receive this ARC!!! It did not disappoint!

This domestic thriller focuses on 2 couples that seem to intersect when the wife of one couple commits suicide in the other couple's backyard. The narrators are the 2 wives and the timeline is before the suicide and after the suicide. The post-suicide narration really worked well, and I loved the ending on the same cliff where the beginning started.

Like so many of Hepworth's novels, the story is layered so tightly that you do not know what to expect going into it but the story is so good and juicy that you are hooked after the first chapter. Once the layers start to peel away like the skin of an onion, the story keeps getting more complex and intertwined.

The character development is richly done by the alternate narrators and timelines too. I really loved this story and it did not end up where I thought it would at the beginning.

If you have not read Sally Hepworth, you should! Highly recommend!!!

This was another well done, twisty, turny book by Sally Hepworth. I was hooked from the very first chapter. At no point did I see the ending coming.

Can someone really have the perfect husband? Pippa is sure she has her prince charming, despite his little mishaps here and there. Love conquers all...or does it?

Sally is the QUEEN of domestic suspense. I think she is in my top five go-to authors and has never disappointed, albeit the ridiculous high bar I set for her novels.

The characters are intense and their connections to each other are rich and complex.

I had a roller coaster of emotions for Gabe and couldn’t help but feel compassion for the others.

It’s hard to say much else without spoiling the end, but there are so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming!

Truly perfection. 👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼

I highly recommend unless you have triggers with suicide or mental illness.

#thesoulmate #thesoulmatebook #domesticsuspense #domesticthriller #mysterybooks #spookyreads #arc #newbook #newbookreview

Sally Hepworth is one of my favorite authors and this twisty thriller did not disappoint. It kept me turning pages until the very end ! This book tells a story through two POVs. One is Amanda and the other is Pippa. Amanda ends up dead right away seemingly due to suicide and Amanda needs to figure out if her husband had any involvement. You will not be able to put down this suspense novel! I highly recommend it! Thanks for NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth (April 4, 2023)

Hepworth’s The Soulmate is told in an alternating narrative structure between two women; Pippa, who lives in a house on a cliff overlooking the sea with her husband and two daughters, and Amanda, who dies on the cliff. In addition, each women’s narrative alternates between events that happen before and after Amanda’s death. When the story begins, Pippa is washing dishes at her kitchen sink after a family meal, her young daughters play at her feet. When she sees a woman standing near the edge of the cliff, a known suicide spot, Pippa sends her husband outside to talk to the woman, while she calls the police. Returning to the window after placing the call, Pippa witnesses an interaction between her husband and the woman in the dark, the woman’s fall over the cliff, and her husband’s unusual body language in the wake of the fall. Through Pippa and Amanda’s alternating narratives, Hepworth tells a story of a family that is not what they appear.

The Soulmate’s atmospheric opening pulls the reader into the story and its interesting plot will keep him there. Narrators Pippa and Amanda are relatively interesting and likeable, but are one-dimensional characters that could have been better developed for a better story. There are no cliffhangers in this story (pun intended), all parts of the plot are quickly resolved at the end, but there are a few lose ends that may leave the reader puzzled. For example, Pippa’s family often makes cryptic comments, but are never revealed to have had any insider knowledge; they are mentioned several times, but their presence does not affect the plot. As well, Pippa is often described as a self-sufficient businesswoman, but her complete dependence on, and forgiveness of, her husband isn’t explained. Regardless, The Soulmate is a quick and entertaining read for psychological thriller fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance reader copy for purpose of unbiased review.

Thank you, Netgalley, for approving me for the ARC for my first Sally Hepworth novel!

The Soulmate was exactly what I needed for the thriller I was looking for. It was dark, twisty - and I really didn't guess the ending. The tangled web that was woven was just absolute perfection - the connections between the couples kept me on the edge of my seat!

I'm going to say, it did take me a few chapters to get into. It wasn't something I was riveted with from the first sentence.. but the build up was worth it. I will definitely be reading more of hers in the future!

Sally Hepworth is so good at building suspense. It was a slow start, but I knew it would pick up and that the suspense would build and have me turning the pages to find out how it ended. I liked the format of the different times frames and the different points of view. It was interesting to have Amanda's "after" point of view the most to me. I don't want to say too much so that the book is able to work it's suspenseful magic, but I will see there was a twist at the end I didn't see coming that I thought was a great addition to the overall story!

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth
A huge thank you to @stmartinspress for the opportunity to read this #eARC! The release date is April 4, 2023 so go ahead and place your preorder for this right meow!

*minor spoilers ahead*

Pippa and Gabe have just moved to their dream home on a cliff on the outskirts of Melbourne to start fresh. On the surface it seems like they have the perfect marriage but through the eyes of an omniscient dead narrator and Pippa, it becomes clear that Gabe is not the flawless and doting husband, father, and hero he appears and that their marriage has been quite rocky. When a woman jumps off the cliff at The Drop an investigation begins that blows open the doors to their life and puts a huge strain on the family and their marriage. Will they survive the tension or will this be the final push?

This story had a firm grip on me from the first page. I love Sally Hepworth’s narrative style - hook you with an interesting premise and then spoon feed you information with only as much as you have to know at any given time. The clues were there too many of the bombshells dropped at the end and they were tied up in a very satisfying way. The only thing I struggled with at all was the time jumps. They’re completely necessary but I did find myself flipping back a few times to ensure I had taken the proper perspective. I love that Pippa went after what was best for her in the end and I’m so glad Gabe didn’t get a damn thing. 😂

I highly recommend this for those who love a domestic thriller/mystery.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 - 4.5/5

I flew through this one! I am a HUGE Hepworth fan and this one didn’t disappoint! While I didn’t love it as much as her others, I still enjoyed the twists and turns and trying to figure out the background of why Gabe was the way that he was. There were times where the plot felt redundant, but overall I enjoyed!

Wow, this one had me hooked from the beginning! The majority of it was consumed on a three hour plane ride, and less than 24 hours after I had it finished. I loved the way Sally Hepworth described this thriller in her Author Acknowledgements: A murderous love story: an exploration of the bad and good sides of marriage. What we bring to is. What it brings out in us.

Sally does an amazing job of tying together a domestic thriller with the right amount of plot twists to keep you turning the page at a rapid pace to find out where the story will go next. Secrets and lies haunt two different couples in the story that tears at the seams of what you originally believe to be normal relationships. It was exactly what I was looking for in a thriller! This was only my second novel by Sally, and certainly not my last!

What stopped me from going the full 5 stars was the concept of a character having a POV while in a state of purgatory. While it made sense with the overall ending, it just felt odd as the story progressed to have the story told from the view of someone no longer living.

Overall Rating: 4.5 stars
Trigger Warnings: Suicide, ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Infidelity