This book was a great psychological thriller filled with twists. Having worked in the child protection/foster care system, this book really hit me on a few levels. It pulled me in and made me want to keep reading. I did figure out some of what was going on early on in the story, but there were definitely some twists I didn’t see coming! Definitely recommend if you like a good psychological twisty book! Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC.

Darling Girls is a twisty and suspenseful journey through the dark side of the foster care system. I found it tremendously enjoyable despite its flaws (more on those in a bit) and finished it in well under a day.

First and foremost, I loved the characters. Well, maybe not Miss Fairchild quite so much, but the three sisters were delightful. I especially liked Norah and her unconventional attitude, although it kept throwing me off when the author would mention her looks because I could only imagine her as a Melissa McCarthy look-alike (Melissa McCarthy is gorgeous, but she's definitely not six-foot tall with olive skin and bright blue eyes). The chapter on her date with Kevin was hilarious.

The plot was fast-paced and suspenseful, and it kept me guessing right up until the very end. And that last chapter? I certainly did not see that coming! The twist at the end is fantastic, and to say that one of the characters is unreliable would be an understatement.

Also, there's a greyhound (and a greyhound mix) in this book! Yay! My hound is happy for the representation, although she would like for me to point out that it's a very rare greyhound who can work up enough energy to destroy a couch.

As previously mentioned, I did feel that this book had some flaws, although they're mostly minor nitpicks that didn't really detract much from the story for me. But here they are anyway, in order of plothole-y-ness. 1. This is the main one. DNA testing exists. It's really easy to find out who bones belong to (or don't belong to) if you have suspected relatives around to take samples from. You can even figure out the relationship between two individuals based on DNA percentages shared. Why does this book pretend like DNA technology doesn't exist? 2. Babies don't “remain attached” to you for hours and hours after birth if you don't cut the cord. To the placenta, sure, but not the mother. 3. Why would you extradite someone to Russia for a crime committed in Australia? (I realize that this was mostly a joke between characters, but still.) There's also a Raiders of the Lost Ark thing going on in this novel where the main characters really don't make much of a difference to the final outcome.

But, still, this was overall an exciting and well-written book and I really enjoyed my second foray into Sally Hepworth's writing (the first was The Mother-in-Law, which I also liked a lot). Final rating: 3.75 stars, rounded up.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.

I could not put this book down. I have always been a Sally Hepworth fan and she has done it again. This is a story of three sisters raised in the foster care system. The story takes past in the past and the present along with each character telling their point of view. Being able to see each character’s point of view pulled my attention in from
The beginning. There was a great plot twist at the end. I also liked how the story was wrapped up with each character at the end.

Sally Hepworth writes an entertaining story about sisters who grew up together in a foster home with an insidiously abusive foster mother. This is her best novel since The Good Sister in my opinion. The subject matter is serious but she writes it in such a digestible way. Great characters and there is almost a light ess to it.

My review is going to be difficult because this book had such heavy topics. It was hard to digest at times. So be fair warned it has triggering on top of triggering content. I had to read this super slow because there’s a lot of abuse.

The truly sad thing is… these things do happen in real life. The monsters in this book do exist. And that makes it tough.

I think the writing is realistic and well done. And the characters are so layered and i really felt them and felt for them.

I was truly disturbed at points. Many points.

Sally hempworth always touches on tough topics and i think she does them well.

This book is dark and disturbing so go in expected that, but it’s a well written book.

Well the cover drew me in, although there wasn't a lot about swimming pools. I feel like that was a little misleading. A body is found underneath an old foster home, and three girls have to return to their past to figure out who it could be. There was a lot of abuse-really sad, but I believe this is how it is in foster homes, but the secrets were good. The ending was great!

Another winner in the books for Sally Hepworth!! 🌟 To be honest, I enjoyed this book the whole way through, but the ending- the last chapter just blew me away, and turned what would have been a four star book straight up to five stars!!! That’s how you close out a book! Well done, Ms. Hepworth. Well done 👏

Darling Girls focuses on three foster “sisters”, who grew up together for a couple of years at Wild Meadows foster home in Port Agatha. They are all grown and living their not so best lives, when they each receive a phone call 25 years later from a detective about the discovery of human bones on the site of Meadows Hill.

All three of the women who are so close they call each other sisters, go back to Meadows Hill to be interviewed by the detectives on the case. Jessica, Alicia, and Norah all have flashbacks from their time at Meadows Hill and with their cruel and abusive foster mother, Miss Fairchild. It’s a mystery who the bones could belong to, because as children no one ever believed them and they were gaslit for years.

This book was a very good portrayal on the life-long lasting effects of being raised by an abusive, narcissistic foster parent/parent. There was also a good character study done on that of Miss Fairchild, and how she was able to manipulate everyone around her.

I highly recommend reading this book, as the twists and turns were plentiful!! I read this book late into the night, and the ending was well worth it!!

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and the author for an Arc of this book which I had the pleasure of reading! All opinions are my own. Publication date: April 23, 2024

I love Sally Hepworth, but this one was difficult for me to get through. The book finally captured my interest around 75% of the way through. The last chapter was GOOD - I would even say it was the perfect ending for thriller lovers, but leading up to that last chapter was a bit of a struggle.

There isn't a book by Sally Hepworth that I haven't loved, so I had high expectations for her latest novel, Darling Girls. I just finished reading (after devouring it in less than 2 days) and can confidently say it's my favorite Hepworth book to date. Darling Girls includes all of my favorite things: a storyline told from multiple people in different times, a character that you love to hate, a plot that is anything but predictable, and an ending that had me saying "wow!"

I do want to point out that this early ARC did have multiple spelling errors that need to be fixed, but besides that, I have 0 complaints. I will be telling everyone about Darling Girls and cant wait to see it on best seller's lists!

I only discovered Sally Hepworth this year and I am captivated by her writing. She does it again with this book. I could not put this book down, finished it within 24 hours.

Thank you, NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Sally Hepworth for this ARC.

Trigger/Spoiler Alert: There is mentally, physically and emotional child abuse in this book. I personally just skimmed through the parts that were upsetting.

I should have waited for the weekend to read this book and I should not have started this book late in the afternoon, I could not put it down and ended up staying up longer than I should have just so that I could finish it. The book was predictable in some ways but there were plenty of plot twists that it kept me drawn in. I was also drawn into Alicia, Jessica and Norah's friendship/sisterhood. The bond they had was so strong and after reading their story of what Ms. Fairfield put them through, it is very obvious that they only had each other. Their past also explains why Alicia, Jessica and Norah behaved the way they did as adults. Yes, they got on my nerves and each one of them need therapy, but they were that way because they went through abuse that no child should have gone through. No child should have gone through what they were put through. I know they were fictional characters, but it still made me angry, and the heartbreaking reality is that there are children out there who experience these horrible things in real life. Okay, back to the book, it didn't just cover how Ms. Fairfield treated the girls, but it also had the mystery of who did the bones belong to that were found on the property. I had to know who were the bones and how did they end up buried under the house?! There were just so many was that this book kept my interest and kept me sucked into it. I really would love to see a sequel, I need to know how the characters are doing! I'm now invested in their lives.

Another fantastic read by @sallyhepworth. This story sucked me in from the start and I could not put it down. A story about three women who were formerly in an abusive foster care situation and the way it affected them into their adult lives. Their adult lives are turned upside down when the remains of a young child are found of the property of their former foster home. I loved the multiple POV of the women both in the present and past to weave this story into the dynamic suspense/ thriller. And can we talk about that last chapter, it truly blew my mind in the best way possible!

Sally Hepworth can do NO WRONG!

I absolutely loved this book and devoured it in 24 hours. The story was told through the POV of three sisters with flashbacks to their childhood from each of their perspectives. This narration really helped shape the story and for the reader to understand each of the characters and their history.

Every chapter had me itching for more and I found myself saying “just one more chapter” before bed about 20x 🤣

Alice’s story in particular made me emotional - all of the girls stories did! I will definitely be recommending this book to others!

After reading The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth, I was so excited to receive an ARC of Darling Girls. One of my favorite genre tropes have to do with getting revenge and this book did not disappoint at all. I finished it in 5 hours and I don’t think I’ve ever read anything so fast. I love Hepworth’s witting style and the twists were great. If you love women’s fiction and thrillers, this will be your new favorite book.

O.M.F.G

Ok ok I love Sally Hepworth. All of her books? Amazing. But ‘Darling Girls’ has creeped its way up to my ALL TIME favorite novel of Hepworth's.

The amount of emotion packed into this was actually insane. So many twists and the ending left my jaw on the floor.

I absolutely blown away. This book was absolutely phenomenal.

I always look forward to a new Sally Hepworth book! This one was excellent—I really, really wanted to make it last longer but it was a story that captured my attention from the start and I could not put it down. The story of three sisters (by choice, not by blood) is the main focus of the book but along the way we get to meet other people who have shaped the lives of these sisters into who they have become as adults.. It’s a somber look into the foster care system and the abuses and neglect that it is riddled with—which only makes you root for each of these sisters along the way, despite one who steals to feed an addiction, one who is prone to using violence to express herself and one who is emotionally guarded and afraid to be loved. The ending was one I didn’t fully piece together until the last few pages! I highly recommend this book & this author!!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. Wow!! This was by far the best book I have read all summer!!
The storyline was very unique and helped me to race through this book in 2 days. Thrilling, suspenseful and a whip lash ending. Highly, highly recommend

A great book by Sally Hepworth. There were heartfelt moments, a nice conclusion and twist at the end to keep you engaged throughout the whole book.

A breath of fresh air! Unforgettable characters and a plot that kept me interested. It was definitely a slow burn for me but once I got a couple chapters in, I was hooked! Kept me up way past my bedtime. Can’t wait to read more from this author

You will go from sad to wtf to awww to WTF through out this book.

I liked the three sisters. Miss Fairchild is a true villain. Like a well written and fleshed out villain.

Be prepared for this one as there is a lot of abuse in it, describing the foster home and foster system. The relationship between Norah, Jessica and Alicia is lovely in the book but how it came to be and what it means is incredibly heartbreaking.