Sally is one of my favorite authors and this book did not disappoint! I love summer reading and this one was perfect! The girls really are darling or are they?

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Jessica, Norah and Alicia are foster sisters with an unbreakable bond who grew up in an emotionally challenging and abusive foster home with their foster mother Miss Fairchild. Now adults living in Melbourne, each girl continues to struggle with how their upbringing has impacted their adult lives. Jessica is an OCD, successful home organizer with a secret pill problem, Norah is a reckless, serial dater trading sex for odd jobs getting done around her home and Alicia is a social worker guiding and placing children in foster homes to try and right the wrongs that were done to her. When they receive a call from a detective in their former town of Port Agatha asking them to come home to discuss bones that were found on the property they formerly lived on, they are thrust back into a life they thought they left behind. They are forced to confront their past and once and for all get to the bottom of why they were tortured by their "Mommy Dearest", Miss Fairchild.

I loved how this book rotated POVs among the 3 different girls as well as Miss Fairchild. Hepworth did a great job of interweaving the past and the present to flesh out the entire story and I really liked learning the history behind Miss Fairchild as well. She gave a lot of depth to the back stories of all 3 women and I like how she bonded them together from childhood to adulthood. All things considered, I found the plot to be a bit predictable but, that aside, I thought this was another great thrill of a read from Sally Hepworth!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eARC of Darling Girls. All opinions in this review are my own.

I don't like reading about child abuse and after reading 26%, I realized this is not the book for me.

Another gripping and engaging Sally Hepworth read! Sally is the queen of hooking you from the start and never letting go.

I really appreciated that she took a shot at the broken foster care system (the themes are relevant around the world) in an approachable medium. Sure, it’s a fictitious thriller, but she still explores the brokenness of the system that is supposed to help our most vulnerable population — children — and sheds light on how much needs to be done to fix it.

As far as the story goes, I couldn’t get enough. We have three characters and we follow all three POVs in the past and present, and I never got confused. She did a great job differentiating their stories and their voices. And the interwoven plot lines and mystery behind what brought them back to where they grew up was solid.

I didn’t love the ending, but I won’t go into details why here out of fear of spoiling. But if anything, it definitely provided a shock factor.

Can’t wait to read more from Sally Hepworth!

This was my second read from Sally Hepworth and I really ended up enjoying it! I had been taking a hiatus from thrillers/mysteries and this book made me remember why I enjoy it! I really loved the twists and the unexpected ending!

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press for the ARC

This book was really good! It was little slow to get into but I loved all the flashbacks and I enjoyed that the story was told from multiple points of view. I also like that the character speaking with their psychiatrist is woven throughout the story. I was surprised to discover who it was at the end. Overall, good book!

This was another hit from Sally Hepworth. I really enjoyed her last novel, The Soulmate, and this one delivered just as much. The multiple POVs and timelines were a great way to hear the story from all different sides. The fast-paced nature of the book kept me wanting to read. I enjoyed the found family trope of the three foster sisters banding together and remaining in each other's lives. The last few pages of the book were truly shocking and left the reader wanting even more.

**Blog Review scheduled to be posted April 4, 2024

The overall summary of the book was intriguing: a dead body was found at three foster sisters' old foster home. Throughout the entirety of the book, I enjoyed getting to know the three sisters more. One thing I have always appreciated about Hepworth's writing is her characters. When I felt her plot fell a little short, her characters made up for it.

The book follows four different perspectives: three foster sisters (Jessica, Norah, and Alicia) and one mystery therapy attendant. All the narrators felt extremely unreliable to the point where I questioned every little thing. I am a little picky when it comes to unreliable narrators (and by a little picky, I mean extremely), but I enjoyed the payoff in this one. My biggest pet peeve is when an unreliable narrator reveals some huge secret they had no reason to keep, but the reveal of the major plot twists felt justified. Again, Hepworth writes such strong characters that all their decisions and inner thoughts MADE SENSE.

Hepworth tackles some difficult topics in Darling Girls, including foster systems and the sexual abuse/harassment of children and adults. There were times that I felt uncomfortable, so if this is something that would bother you, I would suggest skipping this one.

While there was an exciting mystery to it all, do not go into this expecting an action-packed thriller. It read more like a mystery, especially because of the ending. I never felt like anything was too at stake, which sadly made me feel underwhelmed at the ending. I also felt the organization of the story was a little off. Some things were revealed a little too early, lessening the suspense in the story.

Overall Feels
While the ending fell short, I am not upset that I requested this one. I still had a good time, and I think if I went in with different expectations, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. The pacing and the strong characters are what kept the book in my good graces. I'll continue to look out for Sally Hepworth's novels in the future!

I recommend this to anyone who loves reading family dramas and mysteries. 3.5/5

Absolutely adored Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth! It's possibly her best yet. The dark, suspenseful tone had me hooked from start to finish. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were captivating main characters, and I felt like I knew them inside out. The seamless transition between past and present, from their time with foster mom Miss Fairchild at Wild Meadows to dealing with a body found there, was masterfully executed. The pacing was spot on, keeping me gripped throughout. A perfect weekend binge read—I'm eagerly awaiting Sally's next masterpiece!

I really liked this book. I feel it was easy to follow and I was quickly addicted to the book. I love a good thriller.

As a huge fan of Sally Hepworth, I was excited about her newest release. I have to say, this one isn't my favorite. Dealing with a house where a woman hosts foster children, Darling Girls deals with some of the worst aspects of the foster care system. We primarily follow three girls who have become sisters to each other, creating a found family who can truly rely on each other. They are contacted regarding some human remains found under the house where they met while staying with an abusive foster mother. Told in flashbacks and transcriptions from therapy appointments, this book teases out the story of what happened when they were young, who the remains belong to, and how they got there. I guessed quite a lot of the reveals in this book, and although that isn't a deal breaker for me, the book didn't bring enough emotion and involvement to the table to make up for it. I'll continue to read from this author, but this one is a miss for me.

Loved! Sally Hepworth is one of my top authors and this might be my favorite one yet. Dark and suspenseful- I was completely invested. What a wild ride. I loved Jessica, Norah, and Alicia as the main characters. I felt like I really knew them and could understand their motives. The way the story line flipped between the past when they lived with their foster mom, Miss Fairchild, at Wild Meadows to the present as they deal with a body found at Wild Meadows was really well done. I loved the pacing. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. This was the perfect weekend binge read and I can't wait for more from Sally.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are the darling girls. These three grew up in what looked like an idyllic foster home from the outside, but in actuality, it was a nightmare. Wild Meadows is run by - dare I say a bipolar woman - Miss Fairchild. She has a fancy face for the public and a sinister one for the girls where evil lies just under the surface of her soul.

The story moves from past to present with much frequency offering insight into past traumas of each girl and what their life was like living at Wild Meadows. In the present time, each girl has found their own way of coping as an adult and remain close like sisters.

The mystery of a dead body found on the property of Wild Meadows was interesting, but it seemed to be in the background. I found myself wanting more of the present timeline and less of the past. I think it was necessary to include some chapters on what it was like for these girls as children, but it was too much and I found myself disappointed every time the narrator said the word "before."

Sally Hepworth does a good job of shedding light on mental health awareness and the emotional impact trauma leaves on a person. These women did resonate with me. I enjoyed the narrator with her pleasing Aussie voice and calm tone. Though it still took me over a month to finish it. I think if I was reading this book instead of listening I might have given up before the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advance review copy.

A thrilling page-turner filled with lots and lots of questions with every page! Really enjoyed this.
This was the perfect book to take on vacation So bingeable! Lots of twist and turns and if you were driving I would yell cliffs ahead. I didnt not see that ending coming at all I was shocked.

My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A wild ride! This was Sally Hepworth at her best! Darling Girls explores the struggles for children growing up within the foster system. The story surrounds a murder, with a body showing up buried underneath an old foster home. Just as you think you know what happened, Hepworth changes everything! The bonds between foster sisters were powerful. All of them were uniquely troubled but came together with love for one another. All three perspectives were shared and there were flashes from "then vs. now." You will find yourself rooting for them and being filled with absolute disgust for their foster mother, while also questioning--who can be trusted?

This is my new favorite Sally Hepworth novel, I read it in under 24 hours. I was completely hooked in less than twenty pages. The flashbacks to present were done so well, where sometimes it can get a little muddled. Every time I thought I figured out the twist, a new twist blew me out the water. I appreciated how the story wrapped up for each character dealing with what they went through in childhood and finding their happiness in the end. I also enjoyed that it wasn’t buttoned up perfectly with the final twist at the end.

Three foster sisters receive a phone call that human remains have been found under the foster home they met in. This brings them and their old foster mother, back to the small town to help find out whose remains they are.

The three girls all have their own issues as adults after their troubled upbringing under the care of Miss Fairchild. Told between the past, the present, and another story line of someone in therapy recounting their time at the home, we see the abuse and learn the story of what happened at the home.

The characters were well thought out and defined, both in childhood and adulthood, and the story flowed well. I really enjoy the writing of Hepworth.

Sally Hepworth has done it again! Its very hard to describe the book without sounding degrading toward foster families/mothers, but I did think the author did a great job telling the story without disgracing all fostering families.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Throughly enjoyed this book with all its twists and turns. I also enjoyed the different points of view. It kept me entertained and I didn’t want to put it down.

4.5 stars

A twisty thriller that had me speeding through it. I loved the alternating povs between Jessica, Norah, and Alicia - my heart really went out to them for all that they endured. It was quite difficult for me to get through those chapters.

The twists at the end were so satisfying as well! I did correctly call one of them and I'm so happy I was right.