Thank you, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley, for the arc!

I read DARLING GIRLS in a day because Sally Hepworth has written another wickedly captivating tale that I could not put down. The book blurb draws you in, but then you read the first page and are done for - goodbye all your time until the book is over. It was always "one more chapter" for me because the switching narration between Jessica, Norah, and Alicia in the present and past was so fascinating to tell this strange tale that I needed to know more. And then suddenly, it was the middle of the night, and I finished the book. I would say oops, but I wasn't sorry. Besides being impressed by this weird tale overall, I loved the distinct voices of each character. As I read, I could hear them in my head. Not only the three in the present, I could hear a difference when they were younger - more naive and less jaded with life, yet still that same person. It makes me curious as to how the audiobook will sound! If you are looking for a good suspense novel that keeps you on your toes, this will be my new go-to rec!

Three foster sisters bonded by their past revisit their foster home after hearing a child’s body was found buried there. They relive growing up as foster kids and the impact on their lives. Secrets are exposed. Definitely a good read with well developed characters and plot.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to rate and review this title.
This book was such an easy read. I immediately was engrossed in the story. Each character is complex and keeps you guessing. The mystery aspect was very well done and really got me in the end. I highly recommend

This was a good book, it's told in a present and before timeline with an unknown person in one of the timelines. Alicia, Norah and Jessica were all at one time in their youth foster children, they spent various periods of time together under the care of Holly Fairchild. Holly starts off with Jessica, and they appear to get along, though Ms Fairchild is very task orientated, things have to get done, and for Jessica this means doing chores everyday. When money gets tight, more children are brought in, Norah and Alicia, then babies and toddlers, the original three are tasked with looking after the ones that come after. In the present timeline, the three have stayed close after their time in foster case and are contacted by police from the town where they used to live. The house is being torn down and during the process small bones have been found and do they know anything about that? They go back to the house which brings up memories, some good, some not so good. This was a good book, though I did find the situations the original three went through to be somewhat repetitive, they were constantly being punished for the smallest of infraction. The unknown person is revealing her childhood to a psychiatrist, and she has a dozy of a story to tell. The ending was a bit of a shocker. Thanks to #Netgalley and #St Martins Press for the ARC

This is my favorite Hepworth book so far! So many twists and turns, everything I thought I had it figured out I quickly realized I was wrong again! It goes between a present and past timelines, and has multiple characters POV which add to the drama. It does have multiple cases of child abuse, so be aware if that is a trigger for you. Overall a great read, one I would certainly recommend to my friends! Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and author for a copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review of this book!

This book was horribly wonderful! The dual timeline was seamlessly integrated and not at all choppy, which allowed you to see what actions in their child book attributed to their dysfunctional adulthood. I several times screamed at the book for someone to care about the young characters which was both frustrating but also seems pretty true to real life in the foster system. If I was to recommend this to someone with the least words I would say it was “modern day ‘Annie’ but darker and set on a farm”. Miss Fairchild gives major Miss Hannigan vibes🫣🥴.

Special thanks to the publisher for the advanced review copy

This book had me on my toes the entire time. If you thought who did what- you will be very surprised at the ending

I love Sally Hepworth’s books and was delighted to receive an ARC for her newest one. Darling Girls is a different Hepworth book, with the focus on a body buried under an old foster home. Norah, Jessica, and Alicia are adults now, but they grew up there, under the insidiously abusive Miss Fairchild. Their time in the foster home traumatized each of the women to the degree where she has serious issues as an adult.

Darling Girls trades timelines so we can journey back to the foster home and see the abuse and the way the girls grew up and gives us the present day timeline where the investigation is underway—and throws in a woman speaking to what may be the world’s worst therapist.

While at its core, this book is a whodunit, it’s really about the failures and successes in the foster system. It’s about sisterhood. It’s about the long lasting effects of trauma and the insidious nature of emotional abuse. A little predictable, but that’s fine—it’s not a book that’s trying to hide the killer or the stalker for the reader to figure out. Highly recommend—3.5 stars rounded up.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow. What a ride. This book was phenomenal. I was instantly drawn in from the very first page. Every chapter of the book added value and built up the plot and each of the characters. Sally did a great job at really digging in deep without boring the reading. There was a constant need to want to know more. So good!

The story live has multiple POVs which I always adore. It’s like VIP/front row seats into the characters minds. It’s always a treat to get to really REALLY know a character. Then it also has a dual timeline; past and present day which makes the build up even more amazing. The story is so easy to follow, though, which is great. You can pick it up at any time and put it down (although hard to do because you want to keep reading!!) Seamlessly written.

Some of the plot gets a little twisted so some trigger warning may necessary for some. But I truly think the author did an exceptional job portraying depths of abuse/sharing the harsh reality of the matter but with consideration/sensitivity to readers.

My favorite part about the book would have to be how multidimensional it is, there were so many layers and I loved peeling back each and every one. Bits of the story were somewhat predictable but not in a bad way at all. Even the parts you *think* you know, go deeper than the average human dares to think. Twists upon twists upon twists! I definitely guessed a few but not fully! Incredibly done. This is my favorite book by Sally yet. A solid 4-5 star book but I’m going to give it a 5 because I loved it, would recommend it, and I would even read it again in the future. I can’t wait for it to release next year (April 2024) so I can have a physical copy on my bookshelf. Oh, and the ending?? Perfectly completed the individual story of each character! Could not ask for more from this book!

The "before and present" timelines were both interesting, but I'm tired of dual timelines. I, also, didn't connect with any of the characters. The main twist wasn't a surprise, but it was still an okay read. I enjoy Hepworth's writing and will continue to pick up her books. This one just didn't sparkle.

Sally Hepworth is one of my favorite authors but I felt this was very predictable and I felt the characters weren’t as developed as I would have hoped.

Another excellent thriller from Sally Hepworth! This one explored family dynamics including chosen family and what happens when trauma rears its ugly head. I didn’t find this one as twisty as others but there were still some sweet surprises.

I can't begin to describe how much I loved this book. At first, it took about 10% for me to get into it, but after that I was hooked. I would not consider this book a thriller by my own definition, but it was a crazy experience nonetheless. This book includes both past and present timelines--which I am not usually a fan of-- but I found myself looking forward to each timeline as the story went on. The author also does a wonderful job of distinguishing between each character from the very beginning; I felt like I knew each character personally and I love all of them even with their flaws. Miss Fairchild is truly a sick and twisted villain, and that is all I have to say about her. I look forward to reading more of Sally Hepworth's books very soon, as I thoroughly enjoyed her writing and storytelling.

Thank you so much to Sally Hepworth and St. Martin's Press for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. Darling Girls is expected to be released in April of 2024.

This was my first book from this author and I will definitely be reading more! This was a great book. Not going to lie it was a little rough reading the abuse scenes with the children but it really painted a picture of why the girls ended up the way they did years later. The plot twists weren’t shocking - but what saved this and was the wow factor was they ending. I love endings like this and I hope the ending doesn’t change. The ending is what bumped this from a 3.5 star review to a 4 star review.

The characters were great. I felt their stories were well thought out and I loved their happy endings - especially Norah. I related to each of them in small ways.

Pacing was great. Love chapters with cliff hangers.

Sally Hepworth's Darling Girls wasn't my favorite read by the author. I have read all of her books, and this one was challenging to finish. The foster mother in the book is just awful, so this may have contributed to my opinion of the book. The story centers around human remains that are discovered at the home. As police call back some of the foster kids to question them, it brings up the past for each woman. The story then switches between the past and present and from the perspective of the various characters in the book. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Past and present chapters give insight into how three foster girls grew up together at Wild Meadows Farm and formed a unbreakable bond that was based on their survival.

An investigation has been opened, a crime that may have occurred while the girls were living at the foster home. Now, the girls are reliving everything that happened 25 years ago and it may prove to their worst nightmare. This gets DARK.

I felt heartbroken for the girls, Jessica (suffers from OCD and was my favorite), Norah (who tends to react with anger) and Alicia (she became a social worker).

It was hard to read about the abuse, the crimes at the foster home, and the horrible way they were treated by the foster mother, Miss Fairchild. I can't say that I "enjoyed" the backstory. I did like the chapters with Dr. Warren, the therapist. His jaw even dropped at some of the revelations. I was super curious about who he was counseling, although he seemed a bit incompetent!

This is the fourth Sally Hepworth novel I’ve read. They are all very different but what they have in common are surprising twists as the story unwinds and firmly grounded, well developed characters. I’m not usually drawn to this particular kind of book but unlike many others in this genre, Hepworth so fully entrenches you in the lives of the characters, you really want to know what has happened and is going to happen to them.

This is a story about foster care. The underlying question explored is how an abusive childhood rooted in insecurity and the search for love and safety can ever be overcome. The reader is first introduced to the three main characters when they are adults. We can see from the beginning that they are still somewhat damaged. Jessica has a pretty strong case of OCD that has made her successful in her work as a home designer but intrudes significantly in how she constructs her life. Norah has anger issues that have backfired on her and Alicia, a well intentioned social worker, is extremely fragile and insecure. But they have one very positive thing going for them. These three very divergent women consider themselves sisters. Having survived Wild Meadows and Miss Fairchild together, they are a family completely devoted to the love and care of one another.

The girls were taken in by a single woman, Holly Fairchild, who lives on a farm called Wild Meadows. Jessica was the youngest and was alone with her for five years. Norah came after an experience in juvie and Alicia, came needing respite care that turned out to be permanent. Holly is a mix of personality—loving, demanding, cruel, exacting, withholding.

In the present, bones are found under Wild Meadows and the police have called the women back to relive the past in order to solve the mystery of what happened to the unidentified child who was buried there.

The story flips between the past when they were children and the present as they deal with issues in their current life that may derail the fragile stability they’ve struggle to maintain. Reliving life on the farm undermines hard won self confidence. Unfortunately, they also have to interact with Miss Fairchild, whose erratic behavior and cruelty dominated their formative years. Having to relive their foster care experience with the police may wholly undo them.

It is a riveting plot with characters you easily care about. The villain is well drawn. There are few shades of gray but you want to know why. I don’t know about other readers but I didn’t see the ending coming. It was a great resolution for all concerned.

The only reason I did not give it a five-star rating are the sections with the psychiatrist felt inauthentic, confusing, and too long. I think I understand the reason for this but slogging through all the painfully classic tropes of abuse took me out of the story rather than deeper into it. It seemed incongruous with how well the rest of the book moved along.

Highly recommend.

Many thanks to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the opportunity this excellent novel.

Sally Hepworth has done it again! Another hard to put down book that is both thought and emotion evoking. As with her other books, Darling Girls is well written, well thought out, gripping, twist filled, moving and shocking.

I actually ended up not reading this one because of content warnings, which include but are not limited to explicit child abuse, harsh profanity, sexual harassment, and fantasized suicidal ideations. Will not be reading this one.

I would like to thank St Martin Publishers for allowing me to read an early release of Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth.
This book follows Alicia, Jessica and Norah throughout their time in foster care at Wild Meadows with Miss Fairchild and as adults navigating life. It is a duel timeline, so you get to see what has caused them to be the way they are as adults and how they deal with the trials and tribulations of adulthood. You are also there as a mystery unfolds.
I really enjoyed the writing and the story kept me wanting to pick it up to find out what happened next. The last 50% of the book had me on the edge of my seat and antsy to pick it back up.
All in all a great read and would highly recomend.