Sally Hepworth can do no wrong! She is the queen of slow-burning domestic suspense with EPIC twists!
I was hooked from the very beginning and I loved hearing each of the girl's perspectives and truly feeling the different relationship they each had with their foster mom.
My only issue is the span of time between them leaving her and seeing her again after the body is found. I feel like even though they were no longer in her life, it was 1) a bit too easy for them to leave their foster home with a controlling mother and 2) hard for me to believe Jessica or Miss Fairchild wouldn't go looking for one another.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy read. Two words... Miss Fairchild!

Darling Girls had me hooked from the beginning with all of its psychological twists and turns with excellent character development. Sally Hepworth is a queen when it comes to writing psychological thrillers proving that she is a master at her craft! This was an engrossing read that I devoured in two days because I needed to know what was coming at the end! Miss Fairchild is a twisted and sick villain that I will not soon forget. It saddens me to know that there are children out there who may have foster circumstances similar to these horrific experiences. Thank you again for the opportunity to read this disturbing thriller!

This book was SO good. I loved seeing the perspectives from the all the sisters. The only thing that confused me in the beginning was the therapist sections, because I didn't know what character it was referring too. But the end was a fantastic twist that I wasn't seeing. I completely believed that Miss Fairchild had been abused and forced to give birth at home. I loved going back and forth between past and present. Overall a 5/5 star read for me and I look forward to reading another book by Sally Hepworth.

When bones are discovered at their foster home, three women must return and face their painful past. With found family themes, a broken foster system (potential TW), multiple POVs, and therapy sessions of an unknown person, the queen of domestic thrillers did not disappointed and is her best (and darkest) yet!

This book follows three women who became sisters in foster care, back to the town they grew up to talk to the police about a long ago crime there. Each woman carries a lot of baggage from their traumatic childhood that comes to light as they get questioned by the police about a body found in their childhood home. Twists and turns I didn’t see coming led to a satisfying end of the book. The beginning was a bit slow as it built the storyline and characters but it started getting going and I couldn’t wait to see how it ended.

Going into this book I had no idea what it was about, but I knew I had to read it bc Sally wrote it!

Again Sally did not disappoint! I loved the 3 girls and their stories. That Miss Fairchild she is def a monster!!

This book kept me on the edge of my seat and the ending well was not expecting that…

First I would like to thank the author and the publisher for the arc of this book. I picked it because of who the author was without really reading the description. The book was not at all what I expected but I really liked it! I stayed up way too late reading it because I couldn’t put it down! I started and finished in the same day because I needed to know how it ended. There were lots of twists and turns that I did not see coming and I was on my toes for a lot of it! I would definitely recommend. I currently have the soul mate sitting on my bookshelf in my tbr pile and now I’m ready to read that next because I liked this one so much!

You wouldn’t think that someplace with a name as nice as Wild Meadows could hold such dark memories…

Alicia, Norah, & Jessica may not be biologically related, but their fierce bond as sisters was forged in the nightmarish foster home of Miss Fairchild twenty-five years ago. Each of these three women have their own ways of managing the trauma of their past, but when bones are discovered beneath Miss Fairchild’s house & the police want to talk to them about their childhoods, those coping mechanisms will be put to the test…

This story is told mainly in two timelines with four different focuses: each of the three girls/women, & a mystery patient pouring out their origin story to a psychiatrist named Dr. Warren. I’ve enjoyed books from Sally Hepworth in the past, & she’s shown once again that she’s a master of revealing bits & pieces of information in exactly the right places throughout her stories for maximum impact. Many good & bad aspects within the foster system are addressed in this book, & in addition to being a shocking thriller there are several points made that are food for thought.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

P.S. I loved Norah’s dogs! Their names (& the meaning behind them) were hilarious :)

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
This creepy story told of the bond of three foster sisters as they suffered abuse at the hands of a disturbed foster mother. I love complicated thrillers that have twists that are totally unexpected, and this novel did not disappoint.

Jessica, Norah, & Alicia, who are sisters by tragedy though not by blood, grew up in a foster home called Wild Meadows. Miss Fairchild, who to visitors seemed the perfect foster mother, was a monster behind closed doors. Now adults, the three sisters, are thrown back into the memories of their childhood to face unanswered questions when a body is found at Wild Meadows.

Every character in this book is extremely flawed, but with good reason. I enjoyed the sisters’ relationship with each other and their protective bond that they shared. I found myself intrigued by the mystery and was even shocked at some of the plot developments. This was a great thriller that kept my attention until the very end.

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martin Press for the advanced reader copy. I am a fan of Sally Hepworth and will read more books written by Ms. Hepworth. #NetGalley #DarlingGirls

No one does domestic suspense like Sally Hepworth! As children, Alicia, Jessica, and Norah all found themselves at Wild Meadows as the foster children of Miss. Fairchild. Miss Fairchild is terrifying! The woman's cruelty paired with her unpredictability and the fact that she was doing these things to children made me so afraid for the sisters. The girls take a chance and are able to escape Miss Fairchild and they never look back. As adults, the women are called back to Wild Meadows by the police after the mansion is demolished and bones are found underneath the house. Who do the bones belong to, and how did they get there? This book was equal parts heartbreaking, healing, and hilarious. Thank you to Norah and her IBS service dogs for adding a little levity to the story! I highly recommend this and all of Sally Hepworth's other books.

4 stars.*

I'm a big Sally Hepworth fan. She writes compelling, authentic characters. Her women, in particular, are believable and multi-faceted.

Darling Girls tells the story of 3 girls raised in foster care by a woman with serious mental issues. They suffer various forms of abuse and stay because they want to remain together. The book goes back and forth in time from when each of them arrives in the care of Miss Fairchild, to the present day, when the remains of a child are found on the property where they lived. The investigation brings each of the girls (now women) face to face with their childhood issues, and the current manifestation of their traumas.

The twist is awesome. I did not see it coming. Highly recommended.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

I think I've read all of this author's books and they never fail to entertain. This one was no exception. I loved the creepy foster mother and the details of all the madness that took place. I especially liked how the author tied it all together. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book!!! I could not put it down. With alternating POV between the girls, this was a true page turner. And the ending…. WOW. Highly recommend!!!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this advanced copy.

Sally Hepworth is just one of my favorite authors and once again she delivers! This was a heartbreaking book and some parts hard to read. I love books with different POV’s and normally do not like books that go from past to present, but this was written brilliantly. The whole book wrapped up very nicely in the end….THEN THE LAST CHAPTER!!!!!!! I never saw it coming and my mind is blown. Domestic thrillers are my favorite and this certainly did not disappoint!

The ending saved it for me, I almost thought it was way too predictable, but then…

A dual timeline, multiple POV psychological thriller was very well written. I have to say I was convinced it was the easiest mystery to figure out and boy was I way off. Once again, Sally kills it.

This was a great read and really kept me invested. Favorite part hands down was the sister relationship between Alicia, Norah and Jessica, I love how they weren’t biologically related and yet meshed so well together and so clearly loved each other, their entire journey was so endearing and I also loved how different each of them were. Alicia was probably my personal favorite because of her storyline with Meera, gay rights! And I adored her ending, it was perfect for her. (Loved Norah as well) Also I definitely guessed who did what re: the murder but the journey to find out how exactly it all went down was fun regardless. Miss Fairchild was truly the devil incarnate and everything about her pissed me off, great villain though. Overall really enjoyed this and would definitely read another book by this author!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing company for the arc.

This was such a wild ride! I absolutely flew through it and was glued to the pages the entire time.

This is a story about three girls who grew up in a foster home with an abusive foster parent. It’s a very dark premise, but it’s handled with care, and despite the things that occur being shocking, the relationships developed between the three girls are amazing.

This was paced very well. The POVs are split between all 3 girls in both the past and the present. This had the potential to seem disjointed since there were so many things going on at once, but it worked and resulted in a really engaging and interesting time. The reveals were sprinkled in exactly when they needed to be, and there were twists I did NOT see coming!


I definitely look forward to reading more by this author and would recommend this book.

Thank you for giving me the chance at an early copy of this book! I am a fan of Sally Hepworth, and she keeps me a fan with this story of three girls in the foster system who become so connected that they go through things they shouldn't just to stick together. We follow these girls into adult hood to have to revisit their horrible childhood. They have to come face to face with their horrible foster mother, someone they never wanted to ever see again. This book had me waiting to know the end. Sally always has a great twist, and she doesn't disappoint.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for the ARC.

This was super entertaining if not a bit over the top but it kept me reading! I always find Hepworth’s books fun to read and this was no exception.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book!

This was my first book by Sally Hepworth, and I will for sure be picking up more of her books. I love the twists and turns, the characters, the entire plotline. Everytime I thought I had it figured out, there'd be a little twist that would completely throw me off. And I never felt like the twists were out of left field, they always felt authentic to me. I flew through this book, and it was just what I needed to get out of my current reading slump.