Another classic Sally Hepworth with carefully created mysteries and complicated relationships, where you think you have the ending and then she pulls the rug out from under you.

Three girls who are brought together in a foster home, the story goes back and forth between the present and the past to bring together a story of what really napped in their foster home over 20 years ago, and what it has to do with a detective asking them to come back to the town they were raised in.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Darling Girls checks all the boxes for the perfect thriller. Alicia, Norah and Jessica share a bond like no others and when bones are discovered buried beneath the farmhouse where they were fostered as youths, their troubled past along with their foster mother comes back to wreck havoc on their lives. All three sisters have issues of their own and this book perfectly balanced themes of suspense, sisterly bonds, betrayal, childhood trauma and the true definition of family.

I devoured this book in one day! I love Sally Hepworth and this one was one of my favorites. Super interesting triller and twists that I didn't see coming, right to the end.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Net Galley and the author for an electronic ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Three women have a shared past that included being in foster care. Miss Fairchild takes them in one by one. This seems like a selfless act from a childless woman. Miss Fairchild, though, has some issues: she is unpredictable, she has rules that could be considered child abuse, and more. Years later, bones are uncovered at the site of their old house. They're all reunited at the scene to try to put the pieces together. They're better together than apart, but they still have their own trauma to work through.

A story of 3 girls who became sisters in foster care. It's told in past and present and starts with each of the girls getting a call from the police in the town where they were in foster care. They are requested to return and tell their stories of their time at Wild Meadows where Miss Fairchild raised them.

It's a dark story recounting their time with Miss Fairchild but there's some lightness and humour thrown in that makes it easier to get through their stories. Lots of twists too.

Darling Girls managed to be creepy, shocking, intriguing, and heartwarming. This story with its horrifying past and uncertain present was well written to keep the reader engaged and guessing on who's who and what's what.
It took a lens to the sometimes-terrible conditions of Foster homes and how children are preyed on. It was a bit triggering to see how manipulative and evil a Foster parent can be. Hepworth was a genius when it came to the plot twists, especially the ending where a lot of thrillers fall short -I felt like a nice little punch of surprise.
The joy was reading the sisters' resiliency and bond with the intriguing mystery. I definitely recommend this fast-paced and page turning thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley for the gifted advanced reading copy.

***Lots of trigger warnings for this one. Highly recommend you look up the TW before reading***

I finished this book a few days ago and am having a hard time deciding how I feel about it based on the content. Darling Girls was a quick read with alternating POVs between 3 sisters in both the past (“before”) and present (“after”).

Darling Girls kept me engaged and had a twist I didn’t see coming. I think this was classic Sally Hepworth, so if you’re a fan I think this will be right up your alley. Ultimately there’s just something that didn’t sit well with me? For that reason I give it a 3.5 but I do think a lot of you will love this one.

3.5⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for early access to Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth. Once again Hepworth has written a great story.
Jessica, Alicia, and Norah are all products of the foster system who meet at Wild Meadows, a home run by Miss Fairchild. They become “sisters” while there because of the treatment they receive from Miss Fairchild depending on her mood. Years later when the girls receive news that a child’s body has been found buried under the house, they have to return to Wild Meadows where each has to face their past growing up there, Miss Fairchild, and how it has affected their present lives.

This was another hit by one of my longtime favorite authors, @sallyhepworth. I loved the character development and what I felt was a responsible depiction of the trauma of foster care and its aftermath. I enjoyed the dark humor, the dual timelines from the multiple characters’ points of view, and the twists which were unexpected and believable.

I will say that the ending has an extraordinarily dark moment that did not sit well with me, and frankly, I was surprised to see it. I read an early copy and hoping it does not make it to the final version. With that said, this was an otherwise incredible read.

My thanks to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book before its publication date.

5 stars- oh my I loved Darlings Girls by Sally Hepworth- this author has never disappointed me! This one is going to the top of my favorites I’ve read this year. For the last week or so I’ve been immersed in reading about Jessica, Norah and Alicia’s lives living in foster care at Wild Meadows with their cruel and abusive foster mother Miss Fairchild. I liked seeing them in their adult years as they return to the site for a police investigation after bones were found underneath the home they grew up in. Each one’s lives were affected in different ways and I loved the bond these three shared. The story is told in alternating chapters from past to present and alternating povs of Jessica, Norah, Alicia, and a character’s therapy sessions with a psychiatrist. This book is sure to be a bestseller! Thank you St Martins Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

Alicia, Norah and Jessica are not biological sisters, but because of their common history of living in a foster home years ago with Miss Fairchild,they consider themselves so.
Their time at the foster home had been made sad because of emotional and psychological abuse at the hands of Miss Fairchild.
When all three women are summoned to Port Agatha because the remains of a child are found in the basement of their former foster home, they have to face challenges and relive pain from their past.

This is one of the craziest stories I’ve read in quite a while. It starts out pretty straightforward with an investigation into a human remains found on an old property, but quickly unravels into the wildest ride. Twists on twists on twists. I never could’ve predicted the ending and there’s nothing I love more in a book. Excellent.

Having been a foster child myself I understand the absolute wretched way it creeps into who you are as an adult.
These three girls all had unique experiences before connecting at a foster home as preetens/teens. Norah grew up in the system. She doesn't really have a lot of positive childhood experiences to think back on, Jessica's mother died when she was a small child and she was basically raised by the foster mother following. She was an only child and was devoted to her foster mother. Norah was only brought in to help make ends meet. Norah sees everything with men as a transaction. She is beautiful and troubled and loves a good fight and I just really related to her. Jessica is a perfectionist. She had been raised to clean the home top to bottom every single day and then at school she coped by organizing.
She also loves pills.
Alicia was raised by her beloved and doting grandmother. she had a normal childhood with friends, parties, and stability. Then when her lively grandmother is injured she ends up in the foster home with the other girls. It ends up being permanent and I cried for her and her grammy.
Because Alicia is used to normal meals, and discipline, she takes a while to realize that the foster home is not going to be kind to her. That hurt!
I love how the girls are so close as adults. I left my whole situation and never talked to any of those people again.
Anyway I love the slow reveal of details that allows us to get ot know the girls better and see why things are the way they are now.

I loved this book.
You’re never quite sure which direction the mystery is going, and right after you think you have it figured out, a new twist comes along. Good detail, likeable characters(and some not so likeable ones..), interesting plot.
Definitely recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley, Sally Hepworth, Erica Martirano, and St. Martin’s Press for offering me the opportunity to read this book! I enjoyed it!

While the saying “Darling Girls” isn’t uttered a lot in the book…. It will haunt you the way it’s used. I will never say to my daughter she is a “darling girl” now.
It’s true I don’t love a multiple POV book unless it’s done extraordinarily well, and this book nails it. The Author makes great descriptions and distinctions about her characters that makes it easy to slip back and forth between them as well as in before and now storylines.
The additional unknown storyline…. Was a favorite! See if you can figure out who really to blame, is it always the Mother figure?

I received a free copy of, Darling Girls, by Sally Hepworth, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Norah, Jessica, and Alicia, are bonded from their childhood they lived on a farm with a foster mom. Miss Fairchild. Miss Fairchild is not the warm and fuzzy type at all, more like evil and sinister. This book is a little disturbing, but in a good way, wow what a ride. Another remarkable read from Sally Hepworth.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. I've read a few of Sally Hepworth's books and thoroughly enjoyed them so I was pleased to receive the advanced reader's copy of Darling Girls. The story follows Alicia, Jessica and Norah, three women who consider themselves to be sisters, as they grew up together in a horrific foster home with plenty of punishment and a lack of love. Miss Fairchild was the owner of Wild Meadows and she continues to take in foster children for the monthly maintenance payments. She has plenty of secrets of her own from the past. Sally Hepworth always manages to keep her story lines moving along with plenty of twists and turns right up to the very end.

Sally Hepworth has written her way onto my auto-buy list!

This book is full of suspense, twists and "I wonder what this is all about" moments that keeps you turning pages.

Fantastic domestic thriller!!

A must read for 2024!

Darling Girls is a slow burn suspense that follows three “sisters” who grew up in foster care together. When the remains of a body are found underneath their childhood home, they are brought back to the scene of the crime curious as to what can be found.

This was a quick read that kept me glued to the pages. Though, I will admit, the subject matter was darker than usual so definitely look up any TWs beforehand. I loved how we got chapters from each girl’s perspective in the past and present as well as chapters from a mysterious POV recounting her childhood abuse with a psychologist. This set up made for some great twists as the storylines weaved together. Hepworth also did a great job showing how in the present, these girls’ lives were heavily influenced by their childhood trauma and how despite their own issues and mess ups, they would do anything for each other. This depiction made these humanely flawed characters feel realistic and easy to emphasize with. My favorite part was how the story ended!

Read if you like:
-Slow burn suspense
-Character driven stories
-Themes of fostering, childhood trauma, and sisterhood
-Dual and alternating timelines
-Flawed but likable characters

Thank you SMP for the ARC! Pub 4/23

This was a good book. It grabbed my attention right from the start! Miss Fairchild is the foster mother to several girls at her home, Wild Meadows. Three of them, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were able to bond with each other, despite Miss Fairchild’s schemes and objections. She really knows how to mess with the girls’ minds and make it look like she’s purely innocent. I wasn’t expecting the way it ended, but it certainly made sense. I don’t have any experience with foster care and I hope that foster parents like Miss Fairchild are the minority.

This was the second book that I’ve read by Sally Hepworth. I need to add the rest of her books to my TBR list! I received an advanced readers copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.