Darling Girls captured and held my attention from the very first chapter. Some heavy topics but overall an outstanding read! Huge thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Publication date April 23, 2024

Ok.. I’m SHOOKETH.

I love how dark @sallyhepworth books are, but this one might be her darkest yet! I was hooked right out the gate, and absolutely tried my hardest to figure it out the whole time - my brain is exhausted and I love it!

I loved the different point of views of the sisters as well as the flashbacks showing the way they grew up and what all lead up to this point. You will not see the conclusion of this story coming, I literally had to put the book down and just stare out the window. Basically, what I’m saying is READ THIS BOOK.

TW: Child Abuse

Sally Hepworth is a must read author for me, and Darling Girls does not disappoint. This time a story of the family you make, not the one you’re born into. Jessica, Norah with an H, and Alicia are all foster kids who learn to lean on each other and look out for each other as protection and the only route to survival. Excellent story of bonding and loyalty, repercussions of children lost to the system and problems of not enough resources and looking the other way. However, in true Sally Hepworth fashion, there is a villain that can twist the story and keep you on the edge of your seat. Another great read! ,

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy and opportunity to review this book.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia supposedly had a childhood straight out of a fairytale. Raised on a farming estate in the country with their foster mother Miss Fairchild, the three girls did what they could to survive. Now each woman is dealing with their own set of issues as adults—one has a prescription drug problem, one serious anger management problems, and one relationship issues. When a body is found under their foster mother’s home, the three women head back to place they never wanted to see again to help with the police investigation. Stepping back into their past triggers all kinds of feelings for the women, but most importantly they need to know exactly whose bones are under the house.

Alternating timelines between the present-day murder case, and the girls’ early days with Miss Fairchild, we learn how Jessica, Norah, and Alicia’s personalities were shaped by their traumatic childhoods. The bond between the three women is unbreakable, and the circumstances that created it is devastating. Watching the three adult women continue to fight for agency over their own lives is heartbreaking to say the least. Though very different, the three foster girls are all interesting, and as it usually goes Miss Fairchild, our resident villain, is the most interesting of all.

Sally Hepworth does an excellent job with pacing with this psychological thriller. There are several plots twists that will certainly keep the reader guessing. One I figured out halfway and never saw coming, and another towards the end that provides a perfect ah-ha moment. If psychological thrillers are your jam, definitely pick this one up next month when it is released!

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, St. Martin’s Press, and the author Sally Hepworth for the advanced copy of the audiobook. Darling Girls is out in audio format on April 23rd. All opinions are my own.

I love a great Sally Hepworth thriller. This was kind of a slow burn, not very thrilling but good. It took me a couple of weeks to listen to/read the book. It didn't feel like a page turner. The wrap-up was pretty good and I liked the story right up until the end. I think that last twist did me in.. A good book but not my favorite by this author

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED LOVED THIS BOOK. I breezed through Darling Girls so quickly, and even at the very end, with yet another brilliant twist, I was left in awe. There's something about a book that has been developed so well with jaw dropping twists with well-liked characters that makes me say, with absolute certainty, that Sally Hepworth is amazing at her craft. She has become one of my favorite authors for sure.

Having read The Good Sister (which I loved), I was excited to get into this book. And even only 20 pages in, I knew I was in for a great masterpiece. This was such a roller coaster ride with emotions, twists, hopefulness, and great hatred for a few characters. The hatred that the author does so well to get you so boiled up that while you're angry, you appreciate how well the author wrote it. When people would say "edge of your seat," I was definitely on the edge of my seat and craved for such justice that this became such an emotional investment. And the book delivered 100% and more.

The book is centered around three girls that grew up in foster care at Wild Meadows, a home owned by Ms. Fairchild. There is dual timeline between the girls growing up there then, and now as young adults. When skeletal remains are found beneath the foster home, they are called by detectives to inquire about the findings. This begins such a thriller that is worth all the time diving into the three girls and everyone else surrounding them. I loved that the twists were not so over-the-top and wow, that last chapter got me. She got me.

**Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an advanced copy for my honest opinion.
**Expected pub date: April 23, 2024

This book was quite possibly the best book I have read. I love complicated family dynamics, this story of foster sisters, their love and them sticking together no matter what was refreshing. I love that there was a little mystery too! Highly recommend!

I devoured this book, I think I read it in a 24 hour time span, which I have never done before! I loved the story of Jessica, Norah (my favorite, I love that she said her dogs were service dogs for IBS 😂😂), and Alicia, growing up in foster care together and calling themselves sisters. Miss Fairchild is a monster in so many ways. And the ending!!! OH MY GAWD!! I did not see that coming (I won’t spoil it for everyone else). 100 stars, 100/10, this book is awesome!

OK - this is hands down my favourite Hepworth! I was engaged throughout. The idea of three foster sisters and an evil foster mother felt unique. I loved the twist at the end.

Three sisters, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, receive calls by police to come in for questioning regarding some bones that have been found under the foster house where they lived as children. As they mystery of who the bones belonged to is being solved, the stories of the trauma and abuse that the girls suffered at the hands of their foster mother is brought to light.

This is an intense read with short chapters that alternate between the stories of the three sisters, in the past and in the present. It was very well done with a lot of twists and red herrings. I was able to figure things out and was not as surprised as I hoped I would be by the end - thus a 4 star rating versus 5 stars.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an eARC of #MyDarlingGirls by #SallyHepworth in exchange for honest feedback.
-4 stars

This book is amazing. With the dual timelines of adulthood and the times as foster children, this book has everything you are looking for in a psychological thriller. Sometimes, the book got to be too intense and I had to set it down, but boy, was I eager to pick it back up! Besides jaw-dropping events throughout there were some revelations at the end that blew my mind! Sally Hepworth keeps getting better and better!

Another twisty bingeable read. Three girls form a special bond and alliance against their manipulative foster mother Holly Fairfield. The book goes back and forth between the past and present. In the present the “sisters” get a call from the police informing them that remains were found buried under the home where they loved with Holly. This takes the reader on a twisty ride with revelations scattered along the way culminating in the discovery of what truly happened at Wild Meadows. Another shocking ending!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins press for allowing me to read and review a copy of Darling Girls which comes out in April 2024. I have read Sally Hepworth books and have been lucky to read another one of her books. This book has many triggers for example abuse, drug use, and mental abuse. Three girls bond together through living in a foster home in Australia. When the girls are grown and adults human bones are found they have to relive there stories to solve a crime. This book to me I found a little jumpy jumping from one girls story to the next.

This was my first Sally Hepworth book (yes I live under a rock!) and while it was different than what I expected, I really enjoyed my time reading it!

Although it was difficult to read about their history in foster care, I loved seeing how the relationship between the three main characters grew into a close-knit sisterhood. I felt like this ended up being the main theme of the story and the “mystery/thriller” piece took a backseat to this. Some of the dialogue felt a bit cheesy to me but I was able to move on from it and just enjoy the story as a whole.

The twist at the end was somewhat unexpected but in a book with so many untrustworthy characters, I felt like something must have been coming!

I recommend this one if you’re a sucker for a sister-relationship storyline (🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️) and are looking to be sucked into a whodunnit mystery!

Wow! What a twisted, dark and binge worthy read. There were several different characters that we were introduced to, but fortunately it did not complicate the story. Loved the different POVS, dual timelines, crazy characters and the PLOT TWIST at the end?!!! This story is perfect for fans of the darkness that Lisa Jewell and Liz Nugent spin into their books. Thank you for the arc St. Martins Press and Netgalley. I highly recommend this one, great job Sally! *there are lots of potential triggers in this book*

omg, this book was so good. SO GOOD. it held my attention from beginning to end. It had multiple POVs that went between past and present.
Jessica, Alicia and Norah are all very different but their childhood brings them close that they are basically sisters. When their childhood gets brought up because there are bones found under their foster home, they’re forced to go back to their hometown to find out who those bones belong to and relive their past.

There is always something about the authors books that makes it really hard for me to put them down once I start and this had me hooked quickly. Having read most of her other books I know she goes dark with her subject matter but this went even darker than I was expecting it to. There are some major triggers surrounding child abuse so just fyi there and there are many parts of this that are really disturbing and difficult to read about. This was a slow burn with a crazy ending that was a huge payoff for me even though I really did enjoy the entire thing, but the ending kinda blew me away. I love a story about an old murder coming to light so the mystery surrounding that aspect had me captivated and the way things all came together was really good. Overall another really solid read from a trusted author.

3.5- While this one isn’t my favorite Sally Hepworth book, it still packed a punch! I found the beginning to be a little slow but it didn’t take too long before I was sucked in and had a hard time putting it down. I love a good multi-POV, dual timeline and Sally always does a fantastic job with her writing in that style. She also always does a great job at leaving you guessing and this book is no different. I had no clue what was truly going on until the very end and I’m telling you the gasp I gusped! Definitely recommend if you’re in the mood for a good psychological, domestic thriller!

Thank you Net Galley & St Martin’s Press for the digital copy of this book.

I really liked it, I was intrigued right from the beginning and was continually guessing at the outcome. I enjoyed the twists and turns and I liked each of the characters and their stories. I just really dislike in Hepworth’s stories how the ending feels like it’s a recap of things that happened rather than the story coming together. It felt super rushed in the last 10-15% of the book.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
Thriller, mystery. Multiple timelines and POV’s.
Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were always told how lucky they were to be rescued and placed with Miss Fairchild on her family farm. But their childhood wasn’t the fairytale the social workers think. There were strict rules on daily cleaning requirements, specific foods and portion sizes allowed, and punishments based on fears. Then there was the drinking and unpredictable behavior and the babies. Those were their formative years and even though they’ve left the farm, they are still haunted by the past. When a body is found under the home, the foster sisters must return to the area to answer to the police.

🎧 I alternated between an ebook copy and an audiobook. The audiobook is performed by Jessica Clarke who does an amazing job with the story. She has created distinct voices for the three sisters and Miss Fairchild. For me, the best indication were chapter headings and of course, the content as the women each has their own personality and story. I loved the accent of the narrator (Australian, actor) which gave me a completely different location experience from my ebook reading which would be mid-west US. I did listen at 1.5 which is my preferred speed for conversational comfort.

Chilling, intense, and surprising. A compelling read regardless of format. Each of the women has dealt with their perceived trauma in different ways which has molded the lives they are currently living. And it’s all about to change.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Audio.