📚 book review 📚 Thank you to @stmartinspress & @macmillan.audio for the review copy!

I am not a huge thriller reader, but I am a huge Sally Hepworth fan. I loved her last two books, and generally like more domestic thriller/mysteries that are a little more character driven and less edge-of-your-seat-thriller.

Darling Girls was no different. The story is told in dual timelines - with three foster sisters visiting their former foster home as adults, and their past in the house as children.

For being a book centered around childhood trauma and abuse, I felt like the repercussions could have been developed more deeply. I think I’m used to seeing more of a healing journey around issues like this, instead of the book kind of throwing its hands up in the air like “trauma will be trauma”. Therapy can be very effective, and it feels like a cheap gimmick to not explore that more.

That aside, I thought it was a lot of fun. The stakes felt very low, but that didn’t bother me. It was a quick read!

This was my first Sally Hepworth novel, and definitely won’t be my last. This was a weirdly twisted story. It wasn’t much of a thriller, but I still really needed to know what happened to the foster girls while they lived with Miss Fairchild. Alicia, Jessica and Norah remained as close as blood sisters after their experiences living with Miss Fairchild. When, years later, there’s a body found on the property, the girls return to get answers. As we uncover parts of each girl’s history, including Miss Fairchild’s, we learn a lot about what happened in that house. The twist at the end was quite unexpected.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copies of this book.

Sally Hepworth knows absolutely how to write a thriller that will make your head spin and fall in love with every character and this one was no different! Holy shit I loved this one so much!!
If you love a book about sisterhood and girls sticking together this is for sure the book for you. Jessica, Alicia, and Norah were all orphans taken to a girls home to live with Miss Fairchild and as you can imagine, Miss Fairchild is not the woman she appears to be. The three girls band together and have a bond that is truly unbreakable. Passing from current day to their turbulent childhood, you get to learn more and more about where these girls came from. Until in current day, a skeleton is found on the property where they once lived. Who is this mystery person and what happened to them??

Overall, the ending lost me a bit with how fast it all came together but overall it was another HUGE win for Sally Hepworth and I can’t recommend this one enough. If you are looking for a book club pick, this would be so fun! I kind of wished I saved it for my book club because there were so many different personalities and decisions shown in this book that would have made it fun to discuss!


Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the early copy of this book! (That I still can’t manage to post on time.)

Everything Sally Hepworth writes turns to gold for me, and Darling Girls does not disappoint. The main characters instantly draw you in and I couldn't put this book down! I appreciated the character narration being told from differing perspectives and time periods, plus the twists will keep you guessing until the end!

Sally Hepworth hits it out of the park again with "My Darling Girls." She has become one of my favorite suspense writers with her unique stories, complex plots and authentic characters. Darling Girls tackles children in foster care and paints a vivid, and at times, hard to read picture of three girls in placement. Having worked in child protection, I found the stories of abuse and neglect experienced by the girls to be all too real. The girls form a bond, a sister relationship that helps them survive the emotional and physical torment perpetrated by Holy Fairchild, their foster parent. Years later, human bones are discovered under the foster home. As law enforcement investigates, the gorls, now young women deal with the fallout and reckoning of their past. The suspense was riveting as the story moved toward an ending I never saw coming.. Thanks to Sally Hepworth. Netgalley and publishers for the opportunity to read and review this excellent novel.

The clever plot of Darling Girls kept me turning pages, while the characters surprised and intrigued me. I loved everything about this novel and devoured it in one sitting.

The masses were not lying when they said this one somehow got past editing with a TON of type-os. I have never seen anything like it. That being said, Sally Hepworth is an #autoreadauthor for me and I always highly enjoy her #books. This one was still really good, and I enjoyed it and devoured it, but honestly, not in my top three of hers. Full trigger warning: there is a lot of rough child abuse and neglect throughout this one, so be warned. And move over Miss Trunchbull, because Miss Fairchild is your new *you’re in the wrong career field/passion* most hated enemy #1.

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Jessica: Type-A, over organized to a fault, and desperately hiding her secret and overwhelming craving for Valium. Norah: Passionate, aggressive to a fault, and one assault away from landing herself in a jail cell for an extended stay. Alicia: Kind, gentle, and devoted to her life as a social worker and making the lives of foster children better, but crippled by her inability to accept love.

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All three adult women share one traumatic childhood in which they spent years of their lives under the care of the notorious Miss Fairchild - a woman who appeared to be a Good Samaritan but wreaked havoc and hell in their lives in her search for the perfect child.

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Years later, the women are brought back to the small town in which they were fostered by Miss Fairchild, when an unidentified body is discovered beneath the house of horrors they left long ago but never mentally escaped.

I’ve read several Sally Hepworth books and enjoyed them all. Darling Girls is full of suspense. I highly recommend.

This isn't my first book by Sally Hepworth, so I was very excited when I learned I was approved to read the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was a well done, fast paced thriller, which kept me guessing until the very end. I don't always love when a story is told in different perspectives or different periods of time, but somehow it works here. I would definitely recommend this book, and have already encouraged several of my friends to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I always enjoy Hepworth's books and Darling Girls was no different. I loved the intertwining sisters POV’s and the back and forth from their current selves to their past childhood selves who spent a number of their formative years in an unsettling foster home with an unhinged caregiver. When bones are found during an excavation of their former foster home the women head back to there old town to try and make sense (and amends) with their troubled past.

Woooaah, this is easily Sally Hepworth's best book. Talk about wild twists and turns, on the edge of your seat dramatic. I was fully engaged the whole book and couldn't get enough. This book was really dark, different than a lot of Hepworth's books. I loved the back and forth with the different POV's from the sisters, and all the easter eggs throughout the book.

This was WIIIIILLLLLLDDD!! This lady was so unhinged and manipulative. These poor girls!! This was a very interesting story, so many secrets and lies. But the ending, CRAZY!!!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for giving me an eGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jessica and Miss Fairchild are happy together. Jessica really thinks of Miss Fairchild as her mother, but when Miss Fairchild experiences financial difficulties, she chooses to take in another foster child--Norah. And then another. Alicia. Cracks in Miss Fairchild's armor begin to appear, especially when she decides to take in infants. They don't adore her as she'd hoped, as worse yet, the other foster children seem better able to care for them.

Decades later, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia consider themselves to be sisters, bound by a shared, if traumatic, childhood with Miss Fairchild. When a body is discovered on the site of their former foster home, the sisters are summoned to the small town to help with the investigation.

Told in multiple points of view and varying timelines, this novel builds suspense with unreliable narrators and vintage Hepworth whiplash-inducing twists. The characters are all so flawed, due to their sad upbringings (except maybe one, who might be pure evil). Another impossible to put down Sally Hepworth novel. #DarlingGirls #NetGalley

Hepworth knows how to weave a story together so flawlessly. I couldn't get enough of this story. The sisters and their completely different personalities complimented each other so well. If you're looking for a story to hook you from the very first page this one is for you. Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest feedback!

You can't always bury your past...

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have bonded and consider themselves real sisters after being placed in the same foster home growing up. They've always been told they were lucky to be placed in Ms. Fairchild's home which seems like the perfect, idyllic farming estate. But not everyone knew the real side of Ms. Fairchild, or her rules. Years after they have escaped from Ms. Fairchild and her unpredictably, the girls are brought right back to their childhoods when a body is discovered under the foster home they grew up in. Are they witnesses... or suspects?

First off, let me say that I enjoyed the foster care/adoption storyline, as I am a social worker as used to work in this specialty. Unfortunately, some foster experiences really can be this bad. However, I did not find this thriller too thrilling. I felt like I was really just hurrying through to get to the end. This dragged for me and I just wanted to know the outcome.
I do applaud Hepworth's research into the the foster care system, adoptions and social workers. Overall this one just wasn't my favorite, but plenty of people are loving it, so give it a try if the subject sounds interesting to you!

I enjoyed the character development in this and the twist at the end was really fantastic. Fully enjoyed and would recommend.

I really loved this book! I enjoyed the alternating timelines and POV that the book featured. It also gave a look into the complex foster system and its issues while also discussing the traume it caused the main characters.

I enjoyed the journey this took me on and valued the story building as well as the surprise ending!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for thr eARC!
Sally Hepworth does it again and continues to prove she is an auto read author for me! I loved this creepy, dark story about growing up in the foster care system. It had me guessing up until the end- some parts were a little predictable but the twist at the end I didnt see coming- I didnt want this book to end! Will be highly recommending this book

Dark, tragic, and suspenseful, this is my favorite Hepworth yet. I wouldn’t say I was particularly shocked by any of the twists, but I loved the intricacies of each plot line and how well-thought out it was. I felt the back and forth between past and present and the multiple point of views played perfectly in telling the story of Jessica, Norah, and Alicia. The characters are complex and multi-dimensional and made this more than just your typical mystery/thriller.

Darling Girls
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Author: Sally Hepworth

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?

My Thoughts: This was a captivating tale of sisterhood love and secrets, and what happens when you test the boiling point with murder. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were pulled from their homes and placed with Miss Fairchild, the best foster mother that the system had, living on an exclusive large farm called Wild Meadows. However, their childhood was not the fairytales that everyone believes. Miss Fairchild had rules and was highly unpredictable. When the trio finally broke away, they thought they were free. When the farm is sold and a body is found, they become the key witnesses, or suspects?

The story is set in Australia, which I love. The three girls get a call from law enforcement about discovering a body under the place they called home for a few years. They all return for interviews with the detective, but also to hopefully get some closure and healing. The story is narrated in both present and past tense of the three girls. The narrative really gives an insight into what happened to these girls, how they grew through the process, and how they had to do anything to survive. I really love how the story focused on three girls, united by fostering, but kept a sister bond through their lives.

The story is narrated in a third person POV. The narrators are primarily Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, with a fourth unknown person having discussions with a psychologist. Jessica’s life is deteriorating when she is caught stealing pills from a client home and struggling with demons of addiction and being estranged from her husband. She is complex, and we start to discover the layers to her character. Norah has her own demons, struggling with anger and the thought of facing jail time. She is sarcastic and her character’s vulnerability really penetrates my heart. Finally, Alicia, is now a social worker, although she is very insecure and has been unable to have meaningful relationships with anyone. She has a very kind and compassionate heart. The characters were well developed, fleshed out, were mysterious, secretive, and intriguing. The author’s writing style was complex, multilayered, twisty, suspenseful, and just brilliantly written. Our characters were built up in a slow burn manner, the plot is developed in twisty layers, and the ending is brilliant.

TW: emotional abuse, physical abuse, and addiction. Hepworth’s new novel is everything you expect from her. It was captivating, compelling, twisty, dark, and gripping. This psychological thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat. This heart-wrenching novel will be a top book for this year. I have read other Hepworth books before, but I thin this is the best one yet. I highly recommend picking this up today! Please read the author note after the story, it provides the context for this novel.