Sally Hepworth writes interesting thrillers that don't quite fit the mold of typical thrillers, yet each are page turners that I can't put down. This book is about the foster care system in Australia, and three parentless girls that are sisters in every way but biological. The book starts when the women are in their 30's; Jessica is a married home organizer who is addicted to Valium, Norah is a beautiful girl who uses her sexuality to stuff her real feelings and Alicia works in the foster care system herself but can never allow herself any personal happiness,. The story goes back and forth in the present, when the bones of a baby are found in the basement of the former foster home the trio lived in, and the years when the girls were fostered by Miss Fairchild.

Miss Fairchild was a cruel and abusive foster parent. She started taking in foster girls to make ends meet in her large home. She started with Jessica who had no father and was left parentless when her mother died. Although she was initially kind to Jessica, she quickly changed when Jessica started going to school and she then tried to replace her by bringing in Norah and Alicia. The girls were underfed, forced to clean the entire house and then to care for infants which were brought in but never kept because Miss Fairchild never felt "loved". The girls began to rely on each other and only were able to escape their evil caretaker when a young toddler named Amy was suddenly missing from their house. Miss Fairchild wouldn't admit Amy existed and the girls were not believed but were taken out of the house and sent to a care home.

I enjoyed the relationship between the sisters and kept rooting for their happiness. As the police investigated the bones in the basement, a few twists and surprises added to the thriller element but this was more of a story of love and being able to forgive yourself for the past. The parts about child abuse made me sad but I know this stuff exists even though most foster parents are loving and want to help their children. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for this advance reader copy of Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia aren’t sisters but their pasts have bonded them together in a way that may be stronger than blood. They grew up together in a farmhouse with their abusive foster mother, Miss Fairchild. When bones are uncovered beneath the farmhouse, they must unbury their pasts to find the truth.

Sally’s books are always a bit twisty, but this one moves into the dark category. Generational trauma and child abuse are major themes, and I think it can be a bit difficult to mix those tactfully in the thriller genre.

The reviews on this novel are very high, so I may be in the minority but this wasn’t my favorite novel by the author. It lacked the levity that she is known for and capable of.

Darling Girls is out April 23, 2024.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm already a big fan of Sally Hepworth but I especially enjoyed this story about three adopted sisters who have to get back to their hometown as a result of a body that's been found under the house they were raised. So many twists here and the ending was the best for me. Hepworth never disappoints.

with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Alicia, Jessica and Norah are sisters with a strong bond. They met when they were living as the foster children of Miss Foster. Though Miss Foster appeared nice to people on the outside, at home she was anything but. She had rules, she played favorites and if you crossed her, there was hell to pay. After finally breaking free, the girls stuck together and still are thick as thieves decades later. They all have their own unique way of dealing with the trauma they endured, some healthier than others. But when bones are found underneath Miss Fairchild’s farmhouse, the girls are each questioned by the police. Against their will, they must revisit their nightmare of a childhood.

This was my fourth read by Sally Hepworth and I swear every one of her books is better than the last! “Darling Girls” was no different, and from the first few pages I was immediately drawn into this story. Told in multiple points of view, readers get snippets of the awful childhood these girls endured. There is also the viewpoint of someone speaking to a psychiatrist. Throughout the story, these interviews are interspersed and the reader never knows who it is til closer to the end. Each girl’s experience with Miss Fairchild was very captivating; I got invested quickly in their stories and found myself rooting for them to break free. Their present day struggles were heartbreaking and I thought the author did a very respectful job at showing how past trauma can shape the future. I couldn’t put this one down until I knew how the story was going to end!

Thank you to Netgalley, Sally Hepworth and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC! “Darling girls” releases April 23, 2024!

This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

Wow what a book! I loved the past and present timelines and although parts were extremely disturbing and hard to read, I could not turn pages fast enough to find out what happened- especially toward the end! Thank you so much to NetGalley for this eARC! I will definitely be recommending this one to my fellow thriller lovers!

wow wow wow~ definitely a darker book than I'm used to with SAlly Hepworth but I LOVED it!!! I wanted to just keep reading!!!

Absolutely love this author and her new one is no exception! This story about 3 girls and their abusive foster mom intrigued me from the moment I started the book. Highly recommend this book!

This book was bonkers. Absolutely amazing. I stayed up so late reading it and I was shocked by the twist at the end.

OMG! Loved this book! The story of 3 young girls placed in foster care, the relationships they build with each other and the lives they lead.

The story follows a dual timeline with the girls childhood and adult lives. The “sisters” become involved in a murder investigation after bones are found in the basement of the abusive home they lived in their cruel foster mother. Whose bones are they and who put them there? Love the twist in this book.

Thank you for the advance digital copy.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth was quickly placed at the very top of my TBR pile, and I'm glad I put it there. From the moment I picked up the ARC to read it, I could not put it down.

Darling Girls is a novel about 3 foster sisters named Jessica, Alicia and Norah who are under the care of Miss Fairchild. Each girl came into foster care with their own traumas which are carried with them into adulthood. With the added abuse of Miss Fairchild, they all have a lot to carry.

The story starts off with one of the women talking to a psychiatrist named Dr. Warren, but we don't know which woman it is. The book is told in each of the girls' points of view and goes from present to past as well as excerpts from sessions with Dr. Warren. During the present time, human remains are found on the property of Wild Meadows Farms, which was Miss Fairchild's home. Each of the women are questioned to find out who the remains might belong to.

I was not ready for the twists at the end and no matter who I thought the body was, I was proven otherwise. The ending was a shock, but it was a good one.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC for my honest opinion.

This was my first Sally Hepworth, but it will not be the last! It was a fast read because it grabbed me right away. This is the story of Alicia, Norah and Jessica... "sisters" forged out of circumstance. They lived with Miss Fairchild, their foster mother, in this house of horror. Miss Fairchild was a wild Jekyll and Hyde lady. Every moment her home wasn't entirely horrible but they learned to be on guard, for most moments were and the good ones were dripping with conditions. This story was a little dark and a lot twisty with a "family you make vibe." I could have never seen the ending coming!! Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! It centers around three foster sisters. Bones are found under the house where they spent their childhood. Even when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about this book and the characters, which makes it an automatic 5 stars for me.

I haven't read The Soulmate, but several people in my buddy read said this one was better.

I loved the premise of this book, and loved all of the different characters too. Sally Hepworth has an amazing way of tackling dark topics in a thriller but someone still making the story seem light enough to digest. I really enjoyed the alternating viewpoints throughout the story and learning about the sisters childhood was my favorite part. Alicia’s backstory in particular was heartbreaking, Hepworth did a fantastic job pulling at the heartstrings. Sometimes when reading a thriller I just want to see how it ends and read too fast, that was not the case with this book I genuinely enjoyed the story along the way. The ending made this thriller well worth the read. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!

I love all of Sally Hepworth's books and this one didn't disappoint! Great story with an ending that was a surprise!
Thank you Net Galley and St Martins Press to read and review this book!

EstImated Pub date is April 24, 2024. Add to your TBR list now!

Alicia, Jessica and Norah became ‘sisters’ after weathering an abusive foster care situation. Now they are brought together to be questioned after bones are found at the house where they lived. Each have moved on to a point, but harbor dark secrets. Will this expose secrets, make them relive the horrors they want to forget and face the person who caused it all?

I have been a fan of Ms. Hepworth’s ever since I read ‘The Things We Keep’, which is still one of my favorites which I highly recommend. This book didn’t disappoint. The subject of foster care and abuse is tough and can be difficult to read, but it is handled well, focusing on the mental effects. As with all her books, her endings are always contain a signature twist (which I love) and didn’t expect. The characters are well developed and thought out. The plot comes together nicely at the end.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

This one was a tad slow for me. While I liked the sisters and the idea the plot it was sometimes a trudge to get through. I do love that each sister went through a major character development and that the story brought us along for their changes. Ultimately I’ll read anything by Hepworth, this one was just not my favorite.

Warning :: you won’t be able to put this one down so set aside a weekend and be prepared to finish in record time .
(Salley Hepworth is on my list automatic must-read authors - I have read almost all her books and have really enjoyed them all) Darling Girls is a domestic thriller that is told from 3 different POVs in past and present timelines with a nice little , thrilling twist right at the end .
This 5⭐️ read is set to publish in 4/23/24 and will be perfect for a weekend getaway .
Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC and the opportunity to give this one a little love prior to publication
#sallyhepworth #darlinggirls #domesticthriller #netgalley #abuse #fostercare #arc #advancedreadercopy #tbr

Given a situation where you would just like to sit down with a book that is so easy to get into, keeps you interested throughout, and serves up a little mystery, a book by Sally Hepworth will never let you down. Such is the case again with her new one “Darling Girls” a story about three foster children, one evil caretaker, and the search for the identity of buried bones. All in all an entertaining escape.

There's something about the premise of this book that totally caught my attention and went to the top of my TBR! This book had my attention from the jump, and I found myself trying to sneak in chapters between work and life. However, it started to fall flat towards the end. I enjoyed the alternating views, and the ending did surprise me quite a bit! In the end, I felt like I wanted a bit more from the plot and twists throughout the book, not just at the ending.

As a note to the editor, I also had a really hard time getting past all of the spelling and grammatical errors as well. I know it's an early copy, but it seemed like there was too many, which was a distraction.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

I read Darling Girls in less than 24 hours. I love the way Sally Hepworth writes, because even if something might be a little slow (which was the only real issue I had with this book, some parts of it maybe took a little too long), her work is still extremely readable. I felt like the three main characters, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were complex and I could see why they were having issues in their lives.

I will continue to be interested in anything Sally Hepworth puts out.