In The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth coming out in April of 2023, Pippa and Gabe Gerard are starting over in a coastal town outside of Melbourne. Gabe has been dealing with mental illness, and Pippa is dealing with the fallout of an affair. Gabe will become the caretaker of their two little girls, while Pippa will work from home as a wills and estates lawyer.

Gabe fell in love with their new house while the terrain is worrisome to Pippa. Right behind their house is a steep edge that has been dubbed the Drop, and more than a few people have ended their lives jumping from it. The first time it happens once the Gerards move there, Gabe is able to talk a person down, and he is soon doing this more and more, rescuing a number of people. He’s been dubbed a local hero in the newspaper.

But one night when a woman comes to the Drop, Gabe fails to talk her out of leaping while Pippa watches from a window. The woman soon disappears over the cliff and is killed. Gabe claims not to recognize the woman although he worked for her husband Max Cameron back in Melbourne before being fired. When the police investigation connects the dots, will Gabe be considered a person of interest in Amanda’s death?

Once the body is identified, Pippa does not understand why Gabe lied, saying he didn’t know the woman at the Drop. Why would Amanda have been at this particular spot if she had not planned to commit suicide? Did Amanda jump, fall, or get pushed from the cliff? The closer Pippa gets to the truth, the more their lives start to unravel.

Sally Hepworth fans will be expecting a twist, and what a twist it is…readers will never see it coming. Hepworth is the bestselling author of seven novels including The Younger Wife and The Good Sister. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her family.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting September 2, 2022.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

I've read all of Sally Hepworth's books and loved each one. She has a unique style with a fun sense of humor. The Soulmate was terrific!

It's told from the POV of Pippa and Amanda. Two women who have married their soulmates. They are also two women who have different ideas of just how far one can and should go to protect their soulmate. The timeline goes back and forth between before Amanda has a tragic accident(?) on the cliff behind Pippa's house and after. Amanda's storyline was my favorite of the two. Marriage and murder are the theme and it is brilliantly executed here.

I really enjoyed this book and am grateful to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Sally Hepworth for an early copy. This is my unbiased review.
Pub Date: April 4, 2023

Another home run by Sally Hepworth. Easy 4 stars. Although I found the ending a little anticlimactic I could not put this book down. The secrets and little twists that were revealed throughout the book kept it so engaging.

Pippa and her husband Gabe live near “the drop” a place where many people come to vomit suicide although Gabe seems to be able to talk most of them down, except Amanda. Pippa thinks something was different about this one, from the way Gabe behaves to what she notified when she looked out at them. From there go back and forth between past and present to find out what led up to that moment Amanda jumped and what really happened.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I read The Soulmate over two days; it was compulsively readable and I just needed to know what was going to be revealed next! The plot was wildly interesting. I’m still not quite sure how it worked, but I remained reading until I finished this.

Implausible but mostly passable for my suspension of disbelief (I am notoriously difficult to please regarding mysteries and thrillers. Reality in a story is very important to me as a painfully literal person).

I enjoyed and recommend this one.

I really enjoyed this book! Starting from the outside, the cover and title automatically caught my eye. I could not put this book down, any free time I had I was reading. It caught my attention from the very beginning and held it all the way til the end. The different POVs with the different time lines meshed well and was easy to follow along. The twist and turns kept on coming all throughout the book. I loved how the ending was all tied up and had no loose ends!

The Soulmate is a 2023 release from powerhouse author Sally Hepworth. Set in Australia, the story follows Gabe and Pippa's marriage and the subsequent trials and tribulations they go through... from affairs to murder to suicide and mental illness. It sounds far more complicated than it actually is, but due to the repercussions of not talking to one another or the problems resulting from other people's interference, this couple has had some major obstacles. Told in the past and the present, along with POVs from two different women, there is much to confuse readers who aren't carefully paying attention. In the end, the mystery has merit, but I felt the consequences of one's actions weren't properly balanced. A murderer, albeit accidental, doesn't suffer. A man confesses but the police seem to do nothing. I'm not giving away spoilers as these are all tangential to the main plots... that said, the writing is strong and the pages quickly turned for me. Recommended.

Review
Thanks to Net Galley for the preview copy of this book.
Sally Hepworth has done it again! Pip and Gabe live an idyllic life with their two small children. Gabe’s engaging personality has prevented several people from jumping to their deaths at the cliff behind their home-that is until Amanda shows up. As Pip watches, Gabe attempts to stop Amanda from jumping, but is unsuccessful. So begins the their story-did Gabe have anything to do with Amanda’s death? Has Gabe been honest with the people around him? Is he who everyone thinks he is?
The Soulmate is told from two pints of view; Amanda’s and Pip’s and two time periods; before the incident and after. Both women have a different perspective, but their stories are woven together beautifully by Hepworth.

I have loved all of Sally Hepworth’s previous books so I was thrilled to get an ARC copy of her latest novel, “The Soulmate.” Unfortunately, as explained below, the current novel was not as enjoyable as her previous works.

In “The Soulmate”, Gabe and Pippa with their two daughters, Freya and Asha, move into a cliffside home in Portsea, two hours from Melbourne. At first, they couldn’t believe their luck when they found the house for a reasonable rate in a desirable seaside location. They soon discovered the reason for the low price: their house abuts the “Drop”, a famous spot where suicides jump off the cliff to their death on the rocks below. Gabe has become famous locally for dissuading jumpers from going through with their plans to hurl themselves off the cliff—that is until one evening when a woman falls to her death in front of him. To Pippa from her vantage point looking out the window at the cliff, it almost seems as if he pushed her, but she doesn’t want to believe that of her husband. Soon she discovers that the woman who fell to her death is Amanda, the wife of Gabe’s former boss from Melbourne, adding to her anxiety.

The point of view alternates between Gabe and Pippa in the past and present, and Amanda in the past and after her death (narrating from the grave), which was a bit confusing at times. Disclosures about Gabe and his past are slowly revealed, which should have added anticipation but instead felt slow and uneventful. Most of the story appeared to revolve around mundane activities such as Gabe and Pippa’s child rearing responsibilities—bath time, bed time, meals, preschool, etc, which does not make for an exciting thriller. Moreover, the ending was somewhat ludicrous and the final reveals felt a bit rushed. On the positive side, the characters were fully fleshed out and the cliffside house was atmospheric, but these positives were not enough to offset what felt to me like a lackluster story.

Thank you St. Martin's Press ​and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.
Sally Hepworth is my favorite mystery/thriller author. She continues to produce storylines that draw me in every time. Twists and turns throughout - yet everything seemed as though it could reasonably occur. Add this to your list for best thrillers 2023.

Torn, that is how I felt after finishing this book. So many lies, both intentional and not, And I guess the ending can be considered “happy” but what a terrible way to live. And still, is this considered “justice”? I found this book sad, just sad. It is a engaging read, but nothing much good comes from this one. Deep, sad, engrossing read.

Wow! This is my first time reading a Sally Hepworth book, and I immediately want to go purchase more of her work. I find that very often I can anticipate what’s going to happen while I’m reading a book or even watching a movie. However while reading the soulmate there were so many twist and turns that I got whiplash. It was a roller coaster and I love the fact that there were so many unexpected surprises. After reading the synopsis, I was like well we all know where this one is going, but it was such a thrilling roller coaster.

I just love Sally Hepworth. She brings incredible depth to issues in a way that hooks you from the beginning!!

Murder? Suicide? Love Triangle? Perfect marriage or just a façade? Soulmate has all the key elements and keeps the reader rushing to the conclusion of this thriller. Told through multiple perspectives and different timeframes, the story unravels in many twists and turns.

It is a story of marriage, mental illness, and relationships as it compares two distinct families: Pippa and Gabe and Max and Amanda. The story opens with Amanda going over “The Drop” with Gabe, unable to save her. He’s known as a legend in the area, persuading many people from committing suicide from this precarious spot on their oceanside property. From there, author Sally Hepworth gives insight into these characters’ marriages and shaky relationships.

Hepworth exposes the true soulmates to a surprising ending. Their marriages are not as they seem, as finally revealed. I enjoyed this tale told from many perspectives, and it was a very quick read. I thank NetGalley for allowing me to read and review it.#NetGalley #Women’sfiction#Thriller

A tale of hope and heartbreak and the strength of family bonds. The book title seemed ironic since the marriages are based more on agreement than romantic love. And yet there is commitment through life's best and worst times. This book delves into mental disorders in such a foundationally realistic way that you are able to feel both the drain to your soul and the family's struggle to pull you through. This is more a story about misunderstandings and mistakes rather than anything sinister, so you can really feel everything along with the characters. And the way the author introduces the fullness of the events not only clarifies what actually happened, but also clarifies how everyone got where they are at each point. The story is seamless and heartfelt, and, at the end of the book, I feel that the the book title is indeed perfect! I loved the story!

Sally does it again with the ultimate domestic suspense novel! I could not put this book down. The plot kept me hooked as well as the different perspectives from each character, done in a Before and After format. It was such a unique experience reading from a dead characters vantage point as well. I also loved the way it was organized in the book with short chapters labeled with the charters name and whether it was from the before or after POV. The book was also filled with twists and turns that I never saw coming!

The book also discusses multiple issues many families and individuals deal with (mental illness, suicidal, infidelity, money issues and many more) which made it much more relatable. I could not recommend this book more! It was such a fun ride.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC!

I received an ARC of, The Soulmate, by Sally Hepworth. I thought this was a good book, but it was sometime hard to follow, jumping back and forth between present and past, and characters. Is Gabe a hero or murderer? What is a Soulmate? What length would you go for your soulmate?

Two Australian couples - Pippa and Gerard, Amanda and Max. From the outside, two good marriages. So why does Amanda jump to her death from a cliff in Pippa and Gerard’s back yard? Max is a lifelong mental health and suicide prevention advocate and is convinced Amanda would never take her own life. Gerard, the one who tried to talk her down, insists she did.

The mystery of what really happened to Amanda, and why, was compelling and filled with surprises. The book is narrated from “then” and “now” timelines from the perspectives of Pippa and Amanda. I was briefly put off by Amanda’s “now” chapters as she was narrating from a post death point of view. I grew to appreciate it and, in fact, her omniscient view point provided a layer of poignancy to the story. As the story unspools from the viewpoints of these two women, the tragedies of miscommunication, differing perceptions, the paths that lives take and the choices that are made, pull at the heartstrings and at times made me want to shout at the characters.

This book is much more than a mystery. Per the title, this is a story about soulmates - marriage and commitment, love and loyalty - and the complexities of relationships. Love is complicated, unexpected, beautiful, and messy and all of this is displayed on the page in the lives of these four characters. At times I liked each of them, at times they each annoyed me, but in the end they were all just human doing their best to live and love.

The plot reminds me of cross between Lianne Moriarty and Gillian Flynn in all the right ways, but remains unique to Sally Hepworth’s unique style. In the acknowledgments, Hepworth says she would “like to think of it as a murderous love story” and that is exactly what she delivered.

Sally Hepworth does it again. I really enjoy her work in the domestic suspense genre. This is her latest book which doesn't come out until April.
This family has so many secrets! Pippa and Gabe are soulmates...right? After reading this story, it changed my idea of a soulmate.

Gabe and Pippa have a great relationship with beautiful daughters and a close knit extended family. When tragedy strikes, we began to see this family unravel. The twists and turns were shocking. I don't want to give anything away, but you definitely need to read this book.

I will say Pippa kind of annoyed me at times. She was a little delusional about what was really going on around her. I wanted her to snap out of it and get a clue lol.

I received a copy of The Soulmate via NetGalley to read and review.

I give The Soulmate 4.5 stars rounded to 5. The first chapter had me hooked and chapter by chapter the author kept peeling back deeper and deeper layers of the story. The twists don’t stop until the very end. Most of them I didn’t even have a sense they were coming!

I have yet to read a book by Sally Hepworth that I didn’t love. She has a way of bringing her characters to life and sucking you into their drama. This one was twisty and suspenseful to the max!

If you’re already a fan, you’re going to love it! If you haven’t had a chance to read her books yet, this is your sign- pick this one up!

I’m so excited to read her short story, Uncharted Waters, that just came out this week too 🤗

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the complimentary ebook!

Pub Date: 4/4/23