Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy.
Wow. This was a great book. Loved the characters and all of the surprises. It was a bit slow moving at first but that allowed you to get to know the three foster sisters and what their past had been like and what the present was like for them.
Most of the surprises came at the end, right down to the very last chapter. I really liked the foster sisters Norah, Alicia and Jessica. They were likable characters. Miss Fairchild was of course the most disliked character.
Really great book that was well written. I don’t give five star reviews often but this book definitely deserves one and earned it!

This book was such an emotional ride! Having never had siblings myself and enduring childhood trauma, I found myself relating deeply to the girls’ sister-like bond they formed through their troubled childhood. Reading it was heavy, and I felt like I needed breaks but at the same time I was compelled to keep reading to figure out what was going on. The author wrote it in a way that was heartbreaking but also driving, leaving you needing to know what would happen next. The back and forth timeline and multiple POVs were very easy to follow considering the number of them, and I thought this was very well done. I definitely loved the girls and was deeply invested in what would happen. My only complaint was how the detectives were portrayed—I found them not to be very realistic in some areas, but it wasn’t enough to disturb the main story. All in all, I would recommend this book with a side note that some of the content is a little heavy at times.

I really wanted to love this book, I loved her others in the past but I felt like I wasn't interest in what the characters were doing so that made me not want to pick up my kindle to read it. I will definitely give it another shot later.
Thank you

While I’m fairly new to Sally Hepworth’s writing, I am loving what she has to offer! DARLING GIRLS was no exception to this experience, and I really enjoyed it. The characters felt so real and well fleshed out, and I loved the route the plot took. The adoption/foster parent storyline was incredible engaging and felt well-handled. My one concern for this book is that the description includes that Jessica has “a little OCD” when this is never explicitly mentioned in the book. As someone with OCD, yes, some of Jessica’s mannerisms and actions read compulsive. But if you’re going to include it in the description, it needs to be mentioned in the book explicitly and treated with care. The OCD description felt trivial and unnecessary in the face of the book as a whole. P.S. OCD doesn’t just mean you’re organized and good at cleaning!!! A sensitivity reader would greatly help shape that part of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 Trigger warning for child abuse and neglect in the foster care system. Jessica, Norah and Alicia are linked together by their foster mother Miss Fairchild. As adults they think of each other as sisters especially since they survived childhood and the wrath of their foster mother. When each of them receives a phone call requesting them back to the farmhouse they lived in while in foster care because human bones have been discovered, all their memories from the past will come to the present to haunt them. The story being told in alternating chapters of past and present kept me turning the pages. The child abuse is a lot to read so know that going in. The twist in the final chapter definitely upped the ante for me.

This was my first Sally Hepworth and definitely won't be my last!!

I thought I'd figured out this twisty psychological thriller maybe mid-way but then that twist at the last two pages!

This was well-written and had me so engaged I could barely put it down. Quite a few typos but I enjoyed the book enough to ignore them

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was the first book I've read by Sally Hepworth and it did not disapoint. It is a quick ready that draws you in from the start. The book follows 3 foster "sisters" growing up in Wild Meadows, a home with an abusive foster mother. Present day is 25 years in the future from when they left the foster home and human bones have just been discovered under the home. The book changes viewpoints between the girls from present day and when they were in foster care. It displays the true connection that can be established from awful cicumstances and the bonds you can make with family, even when they aren't related by blood.

As the story comes to a close and you think everything is solved and there will be no more surprises, Sally Hepworth provides a satisfying twist you won't expect and will leave you thinking about the ending even after you've finished the book.

Thank you for this arc Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth I could not put it down! Five stars!!!!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Sally Hepworth does it again!! WHEW! I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. It was so fast paced and each chapter left me wanting more and more.

Darling Girls tells the story of three sisters who grew up in a foster home… from hell. The story flips between past and present to tell the twisty tale of these three and their foster mother.

I couldn’t put this book down, and it should be on everyone’s TBR. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC. Darling Girls will go on sale on April 23, 2024.

Darling Girls
By: Sally Hepworth
5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Miss Fairchild is a foster mother who takes in children. Some are treated differently and that can bring them together or pull them apart. She is loving, controlling, unpredictable and horrible other times. The children each deal with her in different ways.

This story follows Alicia, Norah and Jessica. They are now grown but share a past with Miss Fairchild at her farmhouse. Bones are found at the infamous farmhouse and they all gather to find out who their bones belong too. They are known as her Darling Girls!

What could these girls know about the bones? Are they responsible of Miss Fairchild? Or is there more to this story.

Hepworth has written another twisty tale. She is an auto-buy author for me. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for an advanced copy. This novel is available April 23, 2024, which I have already preordered.

#darlinggirls, #sallyhepworth, #stmartinspress, #netgalley, #booksconnectus, #bookreview , #stamperlady50

Sally Hepworth does domestic suspense so well and Darling Girls is no exception.

The Darling Girls of the title are Jessica, Norah, and Alicia. They are sisters in their 30s forever bonded by their time in a foster home under the care of Miss Fairchild. All 3 have lasting memories and nightmares from that time in their early childhood and are trying to overcome that trauma to be successful members of society. When news comes of bones found beneath Miss Fairchild's home, the sisters are called back to the place where they met and confronted with some serious truths about themselves in Miss Fairchild.

The story is narrated by Jessica, Norah, and Alicia in the past at the foster home and current day and we experience their trauma in the past and just want they may know about the bones under the house. There are also excerpts from someone telling their story to a psychiatrist and is not clear until the end who it is (but you can probably guess about halfway through). The story is well paced and just enough is revealed little by little to keep you on your toes until it is revealed exactly what is going on.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is my first @netgalley review and I’m amped to have gotten access to this book so soon! It is Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth. I have others by her on my shelf so it caught my eye.

I am such a thriller girl (especially when I’m in a slump) and this one ticked off the boxes for me! It has a timeline jump that kept me invested, I didn’t guess all of the twists and turns, and I was really interested in the MCs and each of their storylines.

I can’t wait to read more from Sally Hepworth when I’m in need of a fast-paced, domestic thriller to keep me on my toes!

3.5 STARS

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!

A 3.5 star rating because I was invested to see how things played out, who was responsible and if justice would be served!

This may just be my favorite book of Hepworth’s! The story immediately piqued my interest & kept it. Always a bonus when I’m hooked right off the bat. There were some parts that drug a bit (mainly where the characters themselves dwelled on things) which kept it from being 5 stars but overall a great plot & surprising twists. I think she did such a good job making the three main characters so different but also conveying their tight bond of sisterhood despite their differences. Her character development was fantastic in my opinion. Norah was my favorite, almost an oxymoron of a character. Beautiful, but absolute trouble, a heart of gold, and also funny. Most the book had me anxious for the girls & what was to come for them & the plot (how everything would come together). I also think the author did a good job making you feel bad for some characters that you didn’t want to sympathize for because they were so awful. I had some ideas on some of the twist & I was on the right track but I was wrong! The ending was the icing on the cake, super unexpected!!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for the advanced copy, always appreciative!

Another good one by Sally Hepworth. Three girls who were fostered in the same home, have stayed close, like 'sisters'. A discovery of bones in that foster home brings back the past and lots of secrets

This was such an emotional read from start to end. Reading the synopsis, I thought it sounded intriguing but I was not prepared to be fully immersed in the book from beginning to end.

There are major trigger warnings in this book so proceed with caution if you are sensitive to child abuse, child abandonment, murder and sexual assault. It is a heavy hearted read and may not be for everyone.

Alicia, Jessica and Norah (with an "H" lol) bonded together as young girls in a foster home. The foster home was run by Miss Fairchild who for lack of a better word is horrible. She treated the girls like garbage. The girls did not want to say anything to anyone for fear they would be separated. It is only when Miss Fairchild starts bringing in babies to care for do the sisters start to worry. When Miss Fairchild one day drops a young baby and does not let them help the baby, they decide they have to do something.

Years later, the girls are reunited because bones have turned up under Miss Fairchild's house. It has been 20 years and Alicia, Jessica and Norah are forced to retell and relive their abusive time in the home. At the same time, detectives are working hard to find out the identity of the young child found under the home.

This book was one of the best books I have read this year. The writing style was captivating, moving and emotional. I did not spend my time trying to think of theories of what was happening like I do in many books, I just wanted to read and see where it took me. I was blindsided by the ending.

Five solid stars. A heavy hearted tragic read but such a good book. I need to read something light and fluffy after this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced digital reader copy of this amazing novel to read and review.

For everyone else, mark your calendars for April 23, 2024 - the anticipated publication date.

Alicia, Jessica, and Norah are sisters bonded by trauma. As adults, Jessica needs control, Norah lashes out in anger and Alicia resists her true self. As children—they lived on a farm with their foster mother Miss Fairchild. Miss Fairchild had rules— and you had best follow them, or else.

Desperate to escape, the girls plotted together until the perfect opportunity arose for them to escape. Years later as adults, they all receive a phone call that bones have been discovered under the farmhouse. The women are forced to go back—to answer questions about their time there—but what chilling secrets await them?

I liked this one! I am usually a fan of Sally Hepworth’s thrillers because they are always solid reads and this one does not disappoint. I like the multiple POV’s and thought the flashbacks into all of the sister’s childhood experiences were necessary to show what they went through and why they were the way they were as adults. I also enjoy it when books have an underlying message, and this one highlights the flaws of foster care, and the impact it can have on the children inside the system.

I loved this book. The character development, plot, flashbacks, and final reveal at the end were all perfection. This is my first book by the author but it definitely won't be my last. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of "Darling Girls" by Sally Hepworth! I read this in exchange for my honest review.

I'm going to start my review by saying-- I love Sally Hepworth's books. I've read a few of her more well known books-- and they're all just fun reads. Darling Girls is special to me because I felt it had this very unique story about foster children in an abusive household. (If you're triggered at child abuse, maybe skip this one) It was a quick, fun read.

I think this will be a best seller once released!

My absolute favorite book I’ve read by Sally Hepworth is The Mother’s Promise. Although Darling Girls isn’t as good, it’s still a solid read. 3.5 stars. The relationship & loyalty of Jessica, Norah, & Alicia made sense in the context of their shared experiences in the foster care setting. It’s easy to root for them. This author seems intrigued by mental illness and weaves in some interesting aspects there. I think my favorite parts were the chapters with the office visits with Dr. Warren the psychiatrist- a secondary story unfolds…
Thank you to the author, publisher, & NetGalley for an ARC of this book.