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

Pippa and Gabe have been married for 7 years, with 2 young daughters. They have moved to a small coastal town in Australia to their dream house. This house is on the cliffs, near the sea and unfortunately as they soon find out they have a front row view of a popular suicide spot on the cliffs called the drop. Pippin is a lawyer who works from home, while Gabe takes care of her daughters. At the start of the book we get the idea that something bad happened in their life prompting the move.

As it turns out, Gabe becomes a local hero for his ability to talk people attempting suicide away from the ledge and saving their lives. However, eventually their is a woman he can’t save, and the circumstances are somewhat suspicious from the start.

Overall, I thought that this book was ok but not great. Pros: lots of twisty turns and well developed characters. Cons: plot dragged and meanderd (especially in the middle) and I thought the ending was very hard to believe. I think a lot of suspense readers will enjoy this book, but it just not my cup of tea.

Thank you the Netgalley and St.Martins press for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and review.

Can you imagine living in a beautiful place only to have it tainted by a cliff where people go to die? Well, that is what Pippa and Gabe do. They buy a house for themselves and their girls, and it is beautiful. Yet, Gabe finds himself talking people off of the cliff quite often. so when a person Gabe talks to ends up jumping, of course, we will see Gabe spiral a bit. Yet, there are other things in play with this one, and as our story continues between Pippa (now), Pippa (then), Amanda (now), and Amanda (then), we learn that there is more to this than what meets the eye. Everything comes full circle, and I was a bit surprised at a few revealings that came about. This author has a way of pulling you in and leaving you wanting more.

Alternating POV books can be hard for me to follow at times however this was not the case with this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book was suspenseful, frustrating, sad, but overall kept me on the edge of my seat. The characters were well done. Pippa is an angel from the heavens above. The chapters were quick reads and kept the book moving so I never got bored or fell into a slump.

Gabe and Pippa Gerard have just moved into their dream house: a cliffside cottage in a sleepy coastal town outside Melbourne. 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. Plus, the woman’s husband swears she wouldn’t have jumped. Why would Gabe lie about not knowing her? Why would she have been at The Spot, if not to jump? And did she really jump… or was she pushed?

My review:
This is my favorite Sally Hepworth book so far! The dual POV worked well for this story -- bonus points for the uniqueness of Amanda's POV! -- even though the timeline shifts were sometimes a little confusing.
The best thing about this one was how the title actually exemplified the entire storyline, especially the ending! How, really, can you tell if someone's your soulmate?
On the negative side, I do think the last twist - how everything is interrelated - was a bit on the suspension-of-disbelief side. But I completely enjoyed this book nonetheless. Excellent writing and character development!

I enjoyed this book. I find that I am really digging suspense here lately. First of all Pippa is a saint. I would not have stuck around after all of Gabriel shenanigans. This one will leave you feeling frustrated, mad, surprised, sad, and on the edge of your seat. I did like that we got Amanda's POV even as she was a ghost and observing everything. I did think that there was more to the story with Max. I will say that I didn't see that ending coming. If you really like suspenseful books that puts you through it, then this one is for you.

My first Sally Hepworth read so I didn’t know what to expect other than knowing she writes popular domestic thrillers. I finished it in a day so there’s no denying that it was a very bingeable read. There are a total of four different timelines for two different characters, both housewives with a connection to each other. Despite the many timelines, I didn’t find it all that difficult to keep up. This also has very short chapters, so it was easy to read and went by fast, but I admittedly felt a tad bored at times. I normally love a twisty domestic thriller but this one was pretty mild on the thriller part, definitely more of a mystery. It actually felt like a soap opera almost, so take with that what you will. There were some nice moments but nothing altogether too shocking. If you really pay attention, it’s not too hard to piece everything together. There was one aspect I really liked and it had to do with a character’s mental illness. Hepworth made a point to mention something and I loved that. I did find the whole book to be slightly underwhelming, especially the ending, but that was possibly my fault for going in with high expectations. Overall, a very fast, easy read that tackles tough subjects like mental illness, infidelity, and the lengths one will go to for the ones they love. I have a feeling people are going to love this one, especially those who love multiple timelines and character POV.

3.5 ⭐️

This was fun and a pageturner but not memorable. I've not read this author before but would pick up another one of her books for a good beach read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.