5 Stars for Darling Girls!

Sally Hepworth's Darling Girls is a thrilling and gripping novel centered around three women who are intricately connected through trauma and abuse. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia grew up in Wild Meadows with their foster mother Miss Fairchild, an overwhelming, abusive narcissist, who made their childhood a living hell. Now, over 25 years later, bones are found buried under Wild Meadows, and the foster sisters find themselves caught up in a whirlwind investigation.

Told through multiple POV's, between then and now, we the readers experience the psychological violence that Miss Fairchild inflicted on her "darling girls." This book captured me in a way that that I cannot explain. As a social worker who understands the complexities of the foster care system, my heart ached for every child that has suffered abuse at the hands of a system that is meant to protect them. This book is dark but Hepworth's storytelling is beautiful nonetheless.

TW: child abuse, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, and drug abuse.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader copy.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia are in the foster system, and Miss Fairchild is their foster mother. At first, all seems great, as she lives in a big farmhouse with a pool and horses in the backyard. It doesn't take long for the girls to figure out that Miss Fairchild isn't as nice as she seems and they begin to suffer abuse and gaslighting. Many years later, they each get a call from the police. There is a body that was discovered at the farmhouse, and they are brought in for questioning. Whose body was buried under the house and are the girls guilty? This was a quick read that I enjoyed but there are a lot of trigger warnings, including child abuse that was pretty graphic.

Thank you to @netgalley and @StMartinsPress for this ARC. Jessica, Norah and Alicia were all in foster care for various reasons and all soon taken to Miss Fairchild's estate. At first all seemed like a dream until.... Flash forward and the girls are now much older and still keep in touch. They were all contacted by a detective that told them the house was bulldozed for a fast food place and bones were found. The story starts to unravel. Hepworth always writes a good read and with a twist! #DarlingGirls #SallyHepworth #April2024 #StMartinsPress

Sally Hepworth is an auto-read for me at this point. Every new book I’m eagerly anticipating what story she crafts and the twists she takes.

Darling Girls is centered around three women who grew up as foster sisters, who bonded over the trauma they shared under a narcissistic, abusive foster mother. As such, this book won’t be for everyone.

I appreciated Hepworth’s research into the novel, speaking with those who went through the foster system and those who work in it.

The characters she created are each compelling on their own, as well as the dynamic between them. The story alternates from their past to the present, when new things are uncovered at the house of horrors they endured, and they’re forced to reconcile with their own buried truths.

A page turner for sure, this is one Hepworth’s fans and readers of psychological thrillers won’t want to miss.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press.

This is my second read by this author and it is quit clear that Sally is the queen of portraying such manipulative narcissistic female characters.

Darling Girls shows us the cleverness in her writing , by captivating and transporting the reader to another world by her great storytelling, and is such a binge able read , one minute I was on page one and then next minute the book was finished !

" When cruelty becomes familiar in your tender , adolescent years, of course you start to become comfortable with it . You believe you deserve it. But you don't."

Darling Girls is about a small town crime with lots of dark secrets and twists, which bounces between dual timelines and multiple POV's .

Jessica, Norah ( with and h) and Alicia are not born blood sisters but they are bound tighter than most and they will do anything to protect each other even if it means keeping secrets.

It's present day and the girls have been summoned to their hometown because the foster home they grew up in , a body has been found buried on the property and the police have questions .

The dysfunctional sisters are triggered to bring up their past life growing up at Wild Meadows under the care of their foster mom , Miss. Fairchild. From here we watch the story unravel and try to unveil who the dead body belongs to and who is the culprit ?

Darling Girls is a fast paced gripping read , that had humor even in the darkest of moments , loveable characters and characters you will loath , that will leave you breathless at the shocking ending !!

I really think fans of If You Tell a Lie and The Family Upstairs will LOVE this read!!

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Sally Hepworth for this digital ARC!

This was quite an interesting story. It didn't grip me like Hepworth's books usually do. I liked the sisterly bond the girls formed, but it was hard to keep interested in whose bones they found under the house.

Ahh, this was a shocking read.

Brief Summary-
When bones are discovered buried under the farmhouse, three sisters that grow up on the property are summoned by Police to tell what they might know. Now, the girls are reliving everything that happened 25 years ago and it may prove to be their worst nightmare.

Content Warnings-
📌 Child Physical & Sexual Abuse
📌 Childhood Trauma
📌 Addiction
📌 Violence
📌 Death Of A Child

My Thoughts-
I wasn’t expecting this book to get as dark as it did when I first read the description. I still enjoyed it. The plot was fast-paced and suspenseful, and it kept me guessing right up until the very end. And that last chapter? I certainly did not see that coming! The chapters alternate between past and present timelines of three women and how their past trauma shaped their present day lives, which I loved! Stories of abuse are never easy to read, but the author does a great job of balancing the dark with a story of hop

This was my first book from Sally Hepworth and I enjoyed it. I will be checking out her other books. I would recommend this book to people that enjoy Mystery/ Thriller

It was a fast paced read that hooked me from the beginning. I did feel like the final twist is something you couldn't have really predicted from anything in the book, which is something I don't love, so it did lower the rating for me personally, but I know a lot of people don't have the same issue.

Absolutely loved everything about this book! I loved that we followed all 3 sisters, in both past and present timelines. Sally did her research on this one and wrote a compelling story. I have only read The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth but this book makes me want to pick up her entire backlist!

That final twist!! I loved the characters and the suspense. This story made me feel emotions! Thank you to Netgalley, the author and St Martins express for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and St.Martins Press for the e-ARC! First off, i LOVED this!! It took me by surprise, i did not suspect to love it as much as i did due to some of her other work i have read. But this book was a fun, twisty ride with POVS from all three sisters and even a bonus POV 👀 Darling Girls follows three sisters Jessica, Norah, and Alicia that grew up together in a foster home called Wild meadows. It was ran by a narcissistic, abusive woman named Miss Fairchild. Years later, the girls receive a phone call stating that bones were found under the house they grew up in and are wanted for questioning. Whose bones are they?! The book kept me hooked from start to finish, and definitely had my jaw dropping a few times. I loved the little twist at the very end! I also left a review on my goodreads!

The only thing that i had some issues with was the character, Norah. She came off superficial when it came to how she looked, and used her body to get what she wanted. Not only that; the adults in her life talked about her looks and how she could be a model by age 10 which made me feel uneasy. I didn’t like how much her looks were talked about.

WOW! I love Sally Hepworth. Darling Girls is now my new favorite written by her. Tragic, sad, and sweet all at the same time. The bond between these 3 sisters was so special. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up when it drops in April. Short chapters, interesting characters, a lightening fast read!

Sally Hepworth always comes through! In this disturbing story of foster care I was pulling for the girls to make it better off than they were as well as hoping the foster mother would get what was coming to her. The characters are richly described and the writing smooth and interesting. I read it in one day! Great read!

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth was a tough hang for me. I struggle with stories where there is child abuse and this one had quite a bit of it. I generally thought this was one of Hepworth’s better books written recently (I’d struggled with a few since The Mother-in-Law until her last one - The Soulmate - which seemed to be back in stride). I think if you can handle some of the difficult content in this one, it’s worth a read. Hepworth does what she does best: weaving together a complicated and twisted story with complicated characters.
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This book will be released on April 23, 2024.

Darling Girls

4.25 ⭐️

Sally Hepworth is so good at writing a psychological thriller and I was so excited to grab this one from @netgalley!

Told from three different foster care sister perspectives, Darling Girl shows the horrors of growing up in Miss Fairchild’s care. With flashbacks and present day converging, the mystery of what happened in the house all comes slowly together.

This book was so heavy with its topics, but I flew through it trying to figure out what happened. I definitely didn’t see all the twists, which always makes me enjoy a thriller more!

Twenty five years ago, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were placed in foster care with Miss Fairchild at Wild Meadows in Port Agatha. The placement was a horror show of manipulation and abuse. For survival, the girls bonded together and considered themselves sisters, always having each other’s backs. Now adults, still with strong feelings of sisterhood and their own individual neuroses, they are hurtled back to the past when they receive a call that bones have been discovered on the property that once housed Wild Meadows. They return there to be questioned by the authorities trying to solve the mystery. Are the women witnesses or suspects?

Sally Hepworth is a bestselling Australian author; I have read and enjoyed some of her prior books. Told in alternating timelines, and POVs, this is a slow burn thriller with excellent character development, twists, and turns. The horrors that can sometimes be part of the foster care system especially with a pathological caregiver are chronicled here and endured by three bright, resourceful, loyal to each other young females. An engrossing, poignant read that is not all sinister; there is also wit, humor (albeit sometimes dark), and hope for the future of these three women who have formed a non traditional, but strong family.

Random thoughts: Read this book just to find out why Norah’s dogs are named Couch, Converse, and Thong! I think the ending will elicit varied reactions…..what will you think of it?

Sally Hepworth can do no wrong!! I love everything she writes. Darling Girls is another psychological thriller sure to keep you on your toes!

This story is multiple POV alternating through past and present. Writing a multiple POV and dual timeline can be difficult but this book was easy to follow and well written. I never found myself confused with when or who (like I usually do).

It reflects on the life of three foster sisters who created a bond through their shared trauma. After bones are discovered under the foster house they were raised in the girls go back to help police determined what happened there.

I loved the character development of all three girls and I love a good shocking ending! Reading books with such dark themes can be very challenging but the author does a good job of creating strong intelligent characters and a moving story line. The characters were lovable and I found myself really rooting for them the whole time.

I was totally engrossed in this book. Loved the characters, their stories and the twist at the end!!! Highly recommend to anyone who wants a book that is "unputdownable".

Ratings & Reviews
My Review

Denise Satin
282 reviews
4 followers

February 25, 2024
I think this is my fifth book of Sally Hepworth’s that I have read. This one is the tale of three girls who lived in a foster care home of Holly Fairchild. Jessica came first as a little girl, then Nora and then Alicia. The story goes back and forth from present to past about the three foster girls and the brutal foster mother in which they were able to escape. It really was a difficult read because besides that these three girls lost someone they loved and had to be in foster care with a malignant foster care mother. In the present they truly feel like sisters and are close but as adults they still struggle in life due to their experience from the years living with Holly Fairchild. We do get to see the why Holly Fairchild became such an awful person. And then in the present timeline they are get a call from a detective that the house was sold and during demolition they found a body of an infant under the house. They go back to the town and much is revealed. Holly used to take in infants and loved them but when the infants only wanted the 3 girls who were teenagers now she would keep them out of school to tend to these infants. There really is a lot more to tell but I do not want to give away spoilers. Also there is a major twist in the last chapter about the baby that was found dead under the house. But I will share with you that in the present timeline the three girls were able to heal and go forward in their lives. I received this book from the publisher and net galley as an ARC for an honest review. It was a heart wrenching read but I highly recommend this book. Well written by a fantastic author. Thanks again to NetGalley.

Book number 17. For the year. This was an advanced readers copy that I was blessed to receive to my kindle through her galley! This book comes out in the US in April.

I can not tell you how much I like this author! This book was a wild ride about the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood and shows us blood is not always thicker than water. I was invested the entire time. I laughed, I Gasped out loud a few times.. I felt Alllllll the emotions while reading this book! Also had some nice twists to it. 5/5. Excellent read!