This book was SO good! It was unputdownable. I read it on my kindle and listened on audio when I couldn't read and it was the perfect way to get through this quickly to find out everything that was happening. The twists were good - I didn't see them coming.

I ended up really loving this one. It started out slow but I think it was necessary to get to know the characters. I am mad I waited so long to read, because that ending! It was crazy. I thought I had it all figured out and the ending shook me. 4 stars

This book was incredibly good. I could stop reading it. The characters were really interesting and the twists kept coming. I would definitely recommend this to readers! Thank you netgalley for my free copy

This was not my favorite novel by Sally Hepworth. I enjoyed the storyline and the character development, but the "twist" was predictable and had low impact. The best portion was the dynamics between the three sisters, and I would be interested in hearing more about those characters because they were so likable.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth was an easy five star read for me. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are adopted sisters who share a very traumatic upbringing at the hands of their foster mother. Years later, a body is found and they must work together to discover what happened all those years ago.
Darling Girls weaves the past and present together almost effortlessly. At times, it was hard to read given the subject matter. It definitely gets dark. I absolutely loved it. While it is more mystery than thriller, that absolutely had no baring in my enjoyment of this read.

I think I have to preface this with the fact that it really takes a lot for a thriller, especially a domestic thriller to thrill me. I did like this story.. the characters were well developed and the mystery was enough to keep me reading. It was pretty easy to tell who the mysterious POV was going to be and from there the twists were easy to guess. Overall though, it was all kind of sad about cycles of abuse and the effects it has on people for years to come.

A fast-paced, emotional rollercoaster, this novel delves deep into the dark side of family, loyalty, and the chilling consequences of secrets long buried. I love Sally Hepworth and was very grateful to be able to review an ARC!

This was a 4.5 star read for me. I read it in one sitting since it was so fast paced & I wanted to know the ending. I really enjoyed how easy the timelines were to follow.

I enjoy everything Sally Hepworth writes, and Darling Girls is no exception. The relationships between the girls are convincing and the twists are shocking - especially the final twist at the end. I'm already looking forward to reading the next novel by Sally Hepworth!

Sally Hepworth delivers another gripping, emotional thriller with Darling Girls. The story follows three foster sisters—Jessica, Norah, and Alicia—whose troubled past comes back to haunt them when human remains are found at their childhood home. As secrets unravel, they’re forced to confront the dark truth about their past and the chilling Miss Fairchild.

Hepworth’s past-and-present storytelling keeps the tension high, and the sisterhood at the heart of the book adds real depth. Just when I thought I had it figured out, twists kept me guessing until the very end!

Hepworth has a knack for writing engrossing domestic suspense, and in my opinion, her latest novel is her most bingeable book yet.

Darling Girls is centred around three women who spent much of their childhoods at a foster home located on an idyllic farm. However, Miss Fairchild was not even remotely the mother figure the girls hoped she would be, and all three girls suffered abuse at the hands of their caregiver. While they were fortunate to at eventually escape, they now find themselves revisiting their past, as a body had been found under that same house. Jessica, Norah and Alicia are now involved in a police investigation while facing some of their long buried traumas.

I flew through in just a couple of days. It was suspenseful throughout, I didn’t find it dragged at any point like some suspense books do, and the ending was 👌🏻. I highly recommend you add this to your upcoming vacation or summer reading list!

Many thanks to Netgalley for the e-arc!

I think this was a just me problem, and I struggled to care about the characters. This book also wasn't particularly thrilling, I thought it was more of a fiction with suspenseful elements rather than a thriller. I've liked other Sally Hepworth books but this one fell off the mark for me.

So many times throughout this book I thought I had it figured out, but I didn’t. I honestly felt like this was a mini tv series and i never wanted to put it down. To me, this was the perfect mystery book for anyone who loves a story that will make you laugh AND cry. Really enjoyed this one.

This was an amazing thriller - one of Sally Hepworth’s best. Kept me guessing until the end! Recommend to the women in my mystery/thriller book club and on Facebook. Can’t wait to see what other stories come next

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book.
I enjoyed the multiple perspectives, but it also made the psychiatrist scenes harder to follow. The setup was well executed and this was twisty without being over the top.

Sally Hepworth’s Darling Girls is a gripping and emotional family drama that delves into the complex layers of motherhood, sibling dynamics, and the dark secrets that bind families together. With a masterful blend of suspense and heartfelt emotion, Hepworth crafts a story that is both page-turning and thought-provoking, exploring how far people will go to protect their loved ones—and what happens when the truth threatens to unravel everything.

The novel revolves around the relationship between three sisters: Jess, Izzy, and Amanda. They are bound by a traumatic childhood spent under the care of their emotionally distant and manipulative mother, who has left a lasting imprint on their lives. When their mother is found dead, the sisters are thrust into the painful task of confronting their past, and they begin to uncover disturbing secrets that lead to unexpected revelations.

Hepworth’s writing is sharp and nuanced, and she has a particular talent for making the mundane feel significant. The sisters’ complex relationships, their individual struggles, and the deep-seated emotional wounds they carry are explored with great sensitivity. Each character is well-developed, and Hepworth is able to capture the subtle dynamics between them in a way that feels raw and realistic. Readers will likely find themselves empathizing with each sister at different points in the story, even as they grapple with their own flaws and mistakes.

The pacing of the novel is excellent, with the tension building steadily as the sisters uncover more details about their mother’s past and the secrets she kept hidden. The narrative is layered with twists and turns, making it impossible to put down as the story reaches its explosive climax. The themes of trauma, betrayal, and forgiveness are deeply interwoven with the mystery of their mother’s death, creating a compelling narrative that keeps readers guessing.

One of the standout qualities of Darling Girls is Hepworth’s ability to create characters who feel deeply real, even when faced with extraordinary circumstances. The novel deftly explores how the sisters’ bond is tested by both the shadows of their upbringing and the harsh light of truth. The emotional complexity of the characters is a testament to Hepworth’s skill in portraying human nature, especially the messy and often painful dynamics of family.

While Darling Girls is a suspenseful and tightly woven narrative, it also offers poignant moments of introspection and emotional resonance. The novel isn’t just about uncovering secrets; it’s about understanding how the past shapes the present and learning to reconcile with the people and experiences that have defined you. Hepworth explores the cyclical nature of family trauma, and how the wounds of one generation can echo across the next.

That being said, while the plot is strong and engaging, some readers may find the pacing slows down a bit in the middle of the book as the focus shifts more to emotional exploration than outright suspense. However, for those who appreciate well-rounded characters and a story that’s as much about personal growth as it is about plot, this will be a minor quibble.

Overall, Darling Girls is an emotionally charged, suspense-filled novel that is sure to leave an impact on readers. With its richly developed characters, emotional depth, and compelling mystery, Sally Hepworth has delivered another engaging read that will resonate long after the final page.

This was a good read. I liked the story but the mystery was predictable. I felt that the begging part was a little boring but once I was 60% through the pacing picked up.

Okay, so I just finished "Darling Girls" by Sally Hepworth, and, like, wow, it was definitely... something. I'm giving it three stars, because it kept me reading, but I also had some issues.

The whole "creepy childhood home" thing? Totally got me. I was so ready for some major scares, and it was definitely spooky. The sisters, Jessica, Max, and Norah, they were all messed up, which is good, I guess? I mean, they had some serious baggage from growing up in this weird house. I kept trying to figure out what happened, and there were some twists, but sometimes it felt like it took forever to get to the point.

I liked how each sister had her own voice, you know? But sometimes they just kept going on and on in their heads, and I was like, "Okay, I get it, you're sad/mad/scared!" I wanted more stuff to happen instead of just people thinking.

The big reveal at the end? It was... okay. I was expecting something, like, super shocking, but it was more just sad. I wanted a bigger bang, I guess. It was still interesting, and I did feel bad for them, but I also felt like some things weren't really wrapped up.

So yeah, three stars. It's a good book if you like family drama and spooky vibes, but don't expect to be totally blown away. It's a solid read for a rainy day.

Not my favorite Sally Hepworth book. I didn't love the format, how you don't know who Dr. Warren is counseling until the end but I can understand why she set it up the way she did. The characters were pretty unlikable. The whole story was a bit farfetched. I read this in April 2024 while boycotting SMP.

Oh, I really liked this. I just never really expected it. Now it is hard for me to give mystery/thrillers a five starr rating. I just don't typically connect with the genre like that, but this came so fucking close. This book was just the definition of a page turner to me. I just couldn't put this book down. It completely gripped me.
I totally understand some the critism towards this book though. It is not very thrilling, and the mystery is more of a secondary part of this book than the main throughline. However, I adored the main throughline. I thought the focus of this book on abuse was really well executed. It genuinely terrified me at times because it is so real. Seeing miss Fairchild just slowly get worse and worse throughout the book while also just convincing every adult in the situation that she's the sweetest human around truly gave me chills. I also liked how this book really focussed on the flaws of the foster system while not villianising foster kids not foster families. I don't have any personal experience on the foster system, so I can't fully talk for the representation but throughout the book I did feel a love and passion for the system, and the focus on its flaws was more so out of a passion for it to be better. That got confirmed to me by the acknowledgements at the end of the book.
I also just really loved our cast of 3 main characters. I thought they were very interesting leads. All three of them are extremely different but they fit together so well. Their sibling relationship is absolutely everything to me. I love how they just found each other and truly bonded together. I also thought Sally Hepworth did a great job showing the aftereffects of the girls' trauma in the 'present' storyline of this book. It was all just put together so incredibly well.
Like I mentioned before the mystery is a secondary part to this story, but it was really well executed. It is introduced very early on, and different small reveals surrounding it were done throughout so that my interest stayed peaked throughout the entire novel. The way things unraveled at the end also just kept me at the edge of my seat, and I overall just really thought this was a great book and I totally understand the hype around it.