3.5 Stars.

This definitely kept me guessing. When I thought I knew the twist-NOPE! Plot twist, again! There were some elements that I didn't think were necessary to the story.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this book given the foster kids storyline but I was pleasantly surprised. Although there's obviously sadness throughout the book, I loved the support the sisters provided for each other and how they all were working through their issues. I'd love to read more about the sisters.

I am a HUGE Sally Hepworth fan - so I was beyond ecstatic when I receive an eARC of her newest book (expected release 4/23/24).

Let me just say this - I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN (check trigger warnings) and it’s my new favorite Hepworth hands down.

Darling Girls follows three adult sisters who had been in foster care as children. What they never suspected was that buried underneath the foster home was a dark secret- Human Remains. Jessica, Norah and Alicia are then contacted by the police about the remains, prompting memories to flood back, including the memories of the woman who “raised” them, Ms. Fairchild.

This is a twisty story with true Hepworth elements. If you’re looking for a great psychological thriller add this to your list ASAP!

Twisty, dark, and very satisfying. Sally Hepworth has written another great domestic thriller. Darling Girls flips in the past and present from the perspective of Norah, Jessica, and Alicia who lived together in an amazing estate with their foster mother, Miss Fairchild. All three foster sisters are kind of a hot mess now, Norah has anger issues, Jessica steals prescription pills from her home organization clients, and Alicia feels she is unworthy of love. As the book unfolds, we get a sense that Miss Fairchild may be the source of their emotional baggage. But suddenly they are summoned by detectives to go back to the town they lived in with Miss Fairchild, who sold the house years ago so a McDonald's could go in. But as the builders started to break ground the land, they discover a body of a baby was buried under the house.

Uh, yikes.

And the sisters are not surprised at all by the discovery.

I really enjoyed the pace of the book, and I had a feeling their was some unreliable narration and it paid off in a satisfying way. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC for my honest review.

Sally Hepworth is an auto read for me! This one didn't disappoint. A couldn't put it down. I was rooting for neurotic Jessica, sweet Alicia, and complex Norah and their story of foster care with the evil Miss Fairchild. I enjoyed the alternating narratives and the character development. This is great for those looking for a twisty thriller to read in a day.

TW: foster care, child abuse, death of a child, sexual violence

Thank you Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader copy.

Despite it having multiple point of views, it wasn’t overwhelming, and each chapter was written in a quick way (the pace at least). Sally Hepworth really knows how to catch the audience attention in her writings. Just a trigger warning this book contains child abuse so if you are not comfortable with those this is just a heads up.

Darling Girls felt a bit darker than Sally Hepsworth’s previous work but despite that or maybe because of it, this might be my favorite one of hers! Despite a fairly heavy subject matter, there were still moments of lightness and I just couldn’t keep myself from turning the pages.

Three girls being raised by the same foster mother on a remote farm. Now adults, each one with her own issues, they must revisit the farm and their past because of secrets that refused to stay buried.

What an intriguing psychological tale Sally Hepsworth came up with. I was fully invested in both timelines and though Jessica, Norah and Alicia each had their (major traumatic) issues as adults, their relationship is what made this story so memorable for me. Norah and her dogs and all of her shenanigans could be an entire spin-off on their own. I wouldn’t be surprised if Darling Girls gets picked up for a show adaptation!

If you’re already a fan of Sally Hepsworth, make sure you grab this one! And if you’re looking for a messed up, twisted psychological suspense with fascinating characters, this one definitely fits the bill!

Grateful to @netgalley and @stmartinpress for gifting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Dang! Oh my word! The twists! The turns! The big reveal! I. loved. every. second. of. this. one. There were alternating POVs. There were dual timelines. HIGHLY recommend! I don’t really have anything else to say besides you have to experience it for yourself.

Sally Hepworth’s ‘Darling Girls’ was fascinating and entertaining but slow.

I really liked each of the three main characters: Jessica, Norah, and Alicia. They all ended up in Miss Fairchild’s foster home through unfortunate circumstances and survived horrors at her hands. One thing I especially appreciated was that we got a firsthand view of how trauma affected each of the girls differently. They each had their own individual struggles in addition to coming to terms with their time at Miss Fairchild’s and the recent discovery of bones underneath their former foster home. However, it didn’t feel like too much drama.

What did feel like too much was the numerous switches between POVs and the past and present. Jessica, Norah and Alicia each had both past- and present-tense chapters, and there were also chapters with a mysterious narrator. There were more past chapters than I thought were necessary. I understand that the author was trying to include numerous examples of how horrendous Miss Fairchild was, but at a certain point, it started to slow down the story. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the past chapters were told from only one characters POV or if there were just less POV switches overall.

Although I really liked the premise of this book and the characters, it just didn’t hit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for my review.

Darling girls was very interesting. It went back and forth through each of the girls stories by chapter. There was a big twist in the middle and at the end. I’m unsure how I feel about it. It was kind of confusing and unsure how it completely tied together. Until the last two chapters though I was sucked in and couldn’t stop reading.

I always look forward to a new Sally Hepworth book!!!This was a great thriller that I read very quickly! I am already looking forward to next year and the next Sally Hepworth book! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

First - thank you to @StMartinsPress and @Netgalley for this ARC! I read Block Party early last year so when I was given the opportunity to read Darling Girls I was excited!

I didn’t know anything about the book - so I will preface this with major triggers for child abuse, sexual assault, and child death. Especially the child abuse. Some of this was definitely difficult to read at times - my mama heart can’t take it. HOWEVER, I could not put this book down. I loved that the chapters were shorter so it was easy to breeze through and flipping between the Now and Then kept me engaged not wanting to stop. And the ending 🤯

I think this might be Sally Hepworth's best book yet. It was delightfully twisty in the best way. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were raised by Miss Fairchild as foster children. And right away the reader learns that Miss Fairchild may not have the best intentions as a foster parent. She kept the girls to task in completing chores, cleaning, and babysitting additional foster children that joined them. Their challenging teenage days with Miss Fairchild are interspersed with current day as they gather together when they learn a body was found in the house where they were raised.

I enjoyed the back and forth between the two different time periods as it helped to explain how the girls grew up and became adults. Interspersed in some of the current stories were visits to a psychiatrist. The reader is left guessing who is sharing their story with the psychiatrist and how that relates to the rest of the book. Sally Hepworth expertly dangles little clues throughout to keep the reader turning the pages and tying all the puzzle pieces together.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
Pub date: April 23, 2024

What a heart-wrench this book is! I know it’s billed as a mystery/thriller, and it was but it also really tugged at my momma heart.

Three young girls, each with a loss of family, are remanded to Wild Meadows in the care of Miss Fairchild. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia each have a terribly sad story and have ended up in the nefarious hands of Miss Fairchild whose moods sway with the wind and cruelty is more predictable. The three girls become sisters, forming a bond that can only be formed under the worst of situations. These girls endure much in their time at Wild Meadows and this is shown through a clever narrative of both past and present tense.

In the present, the girls are each with their own unique problems as a result of their childhoods yet still very close when they get notified that bones were found under Wild Meadows. They’re asked back to the town for questioning bringing up a whole host of issues the girls would rather forget.

A moving story with a thrilling conclusion, Darling Girls is a story that both thrilled and horrified me. Female friendships through thick and thin, mental health, and the well-being of children in the hands of monsters is at the forefront.

Chilling, heartbreaking, satisfying and unforgettable!

My thanks to @StMartinsPress for this gifted DRC.

Fantastic fast paced read. Three person point of view not in first person perspective , that I greatly enjoyed. Darling Girls kept me on my toes. I was constantly wondering what the girls are up to, almost as if I know them in real life. It was hard to put this book down. I was wanting more and more. it was beautifully wrapped up not leaving me asking questions. Emotional rollercoaster of sadness and anger. I loved the different personalities of each character. Thank you publisher and NetGalley for this exciting read!

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Darling Girls
Author:  Sally Hepworth
Source: NetGalley
Pub Date: April 23, 2024

Darling Girls is another winner for Sally Hepworth, who remains a favorite author for me. The beautiful and charming Miss Fairchild is fostering three girls. The foster home is lovely, immaculate, and welcoming…until it isn’t. It stays immaculate because the foster Mom is a psycho and makes the girls clean obsessively, withholds food, and torments them. They get very little food, and if they steal any food, they are severely punished. But the three girls, Jessica, Alicia, and Norah, all orphans, become best friends; in fact, they become “sisters” who bond for life. The problem with emotional and physical abuse is that you are scarred for life; you take all that hatefulness and abuse into adulthood. The girls reunite when the police ask them to return to the foster home, where a dead body has been found buried under the house they once lived in, and the story starts to unfold. Ms. Hepworth keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, and the twisty ending is very good. #DarlingGirls #abuse #fosterchildren #fosterhome #fostercare #corruptFosterCaresystem #murder #friendship #sisters #bond #united #secrets #lies #arc @stmartinspress @sallyhepworth @netgalley
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I received a complimentary copy of this ARC. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the opportunity to read this novel. Pub. Date: April 23, 2024.
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This book had me hooked from the start. Another great thriller from Sally Hempworth where you spend the entire book trying to figure out who the mysterious POV was and how it connects to the story. Three foster sisters are forced back to the hometown they escaped from after a body was discovered under the foster house they lived in. The story is told between the three sisters and goes back and forth between the present and the past. The timelines and POV were very easy to keep up with and I spent the majority of the read trying to figure out who the mysterious body was. The final chapter of the epilogue also changed the whole narrative that was created throughout the entire book and I love jaw dropping moments like that. This is definitely a must read for any thriller fans who love to figure out a good mystery.

Darling Girls is another great read from Sally Hepworth. The non-linear storyline about 3 girls in foster care being a part of an investigation will keep you gripped. The book starts as a slow burn but quickly speeds up. It will keep you guessing who do the bones belong to?

Darling Girls was a NetGalley award, but I've read all Sally Hepworth's previous books, so I was fully intrigued and eager to read Darling Girls before its 2024 release. Australia. Small town. Woman fosters several young girls. Abuse. History. Death. Clearly there's a story from the woman's past. Lots to unpack. Absorbed completely by the storytelling approach... started Saturday morning and finished within 3 hours. Wow can Hepworth right. Lots of side stories but the main one was fairly straightforward. Shocker in the end. Really makes you wonder about how people function in this world.

It was a little slow to start but overall great read! I loved the different personalities of the sisters and the ability this book had to pull at your heartstrings and keep you on your toes all at the same time