Absolutely loved this book!!! A genre bending story as usual, that we’ve grown to expect from sally. A little mystery, a little domestic drama, a little general fiction. Wow. Auto buy author always!

Honestly it was really really good!!! I had a great time with this book and I HIGHLY recommend anything Sally Hepworth writes. Those last 150 pages I read in one sitting. I wish it kept going. Thank you for writing another amazing book Sally Hepworth!

This was typical Sally Hepworth. She can be relied on to turn out a solid, engaging, soap opera story that doesn’t require a lot from the reader.
This one follows three “sisters” who shared a foster home, and an unbalanced, abusive foster mother as adolescents. Now as adults, each sister has her own childhood trauma that she’s struggling to deal with; this is exacerbated when they learn that human bones are discovered buried beneath the foster home they lived in.
The story goes back and forth between the present and past; I preferred the flashbacks when the girls were younger, but it was all pretty good. Closer to three and a half, but rounding up to four stars.
Thanks to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for this #arc of #darlinggirls by #sallyhepworth in exchange for an honest review.

First off thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an opportunity to read an advanced copy. This is so much appreciated. Unfortunately, this was my least favorite Sally Hepworth book. I felt like the story focused more so on child abuse than the mystery of whose body was discovered. I couldn’t connect with any of the characters which is important for the reader. As someone that loves children this was a tough read for me. The twisty ending was so violent and left me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I love sally Hepworth's previous work but this was a no for me. Although I didn’t particularly didn’t like this book I’m looking forward to her next book release.

Title: Darling Girls
Author: Sally Hepworth
Genre: Domestic Suspense
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: April 23, 2024

I received complimentary eARC and ALC copies from St. Martin's Press and Macmillan audio via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted

T H R E E • W O R D S

Bingeable • Unsettling • Heartbreaking

📖 S Y N O P S I S

From the outside, Alicia, Jessica and Norah might seem like ordinary women you'd meet on the street any day of the week. Sure, Jessica has a little OCD and Norah has some anger issues. And Alicia has low self-esteem that manifests itself in surprising ways. But these three have a bond that no one can fully understand. It's a bond that takes them back decades, to when they were girls, and they lived on a farm with a foster mother named Miss Fairchild.

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 they thought they were free. But the reach of someone with such power is long, and even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds.

When bones are discovered buried under the farmhouse of their childhood, they are called in by the police to tell what they know. Against their will, they are brought back to the past, and to Miss Fairchild herself.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Darling Girls was an easy add to my TBR when it was announced. I can always count on Sally Hepworth to bring the drama and keep me turning the pages. Marketed as a thriller, in my opinion, her books landed more on the domestic and/or psychological mystery/suspense side of the coin. No matter how you choose to classify them, they tend to be the type of 'thriller' that works for me.

Told from the POVs of three sisters - Jessica, Norah and Alicia, and with mysterious physiatrist sessions interspersed throughout, the plot in this one was deeply haunting. The push and pull of the past and present day timelines came across more as if information was being withheld rather than the slow reveal of the necessary pieces.

Each of the girls had their own distinctive personality, yet their relationship with one another was solid. They bonded over their awful circumstances and it really showed how, even years later, their relationship is strong with a need to stick together. As for Mrs. Fairchild, she was an absolute monster! Sally has done a phenomenal job with her character arc because she definitely had the ick factor. Her lies and gaslighting were so cruel and manipulative, and narcissistic actions churned my stomach, culminating in one final revelation in the last chapter which was absolutely revolting.

While the setting has played a huge role in some of Sally's previous works, I didn't find that to be the case here. There was some much atmospheric potential to make Wild Meadows its own character and I think it would have added a whole other layer to the story if she'd chosen to go that route.

The audiobook read by Jessica Clarke was fine. It added a layer of tension, yet there was also room for improvement. Given the story is told from multiple POVs, and especially with the mystery character therapy sessions interspersed throughout, having multiple narrators or at the very least a clear distinction between each would have elevated the audiobook experience.

While I know some people are going to love this book because of the final chapter, unfortunately, it has the opposite effect for me. In all honesty, it felt like it was added simply for shock value and to leave the leader with their mouth hanging open. To me, the book would have been stronger without it and it lowered my rating.

Darling Girls is certainly not my favourite Sally Hepworth book, yet I enjoyed it significantly more than her 2023 release The Soulmate. It opens up the conversation surrounding a foster care system that doesn't always protect the children involved. Yet it's important to keep in mind, that for every horror story like this one there are many stories filled with love. Sally continues to be an auto-read author for me and I will be curious to see where she goes next.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• strong sister bonds
• found family
• mysterious bodies

⚠️ CW: child abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, sexual assault, rape, sexual violence, pedophilia, neglect, abandonment, toxic relationship, gaslighting, bullying, confinement, kidnapping, torture, body shaming, violence, injury/injury detail, adoption, death, murder, child death, death of parent, mental illness, drug use, prescription drug abuse, addiction, attempted suicide, overdose, PTSD, panic attacks/disorders, pregnancy, vomit, alcohol, cursing

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Love and security were the most basic of rights. Forcing these kids to believe they were lucky to have that was even more damaging than what some of them experienced in care."

This is my fourth Sally Hepworth book, and all I've read I have given four or five stars, so naturally when I spotted a new one I had to pick it up.

Description:
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?

A thrilling page-turner of sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder by New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth.

My Thoughts:
This one kept my attention. Something in the past had been hidden, but was ominously hovering over the present for the foster "sisters". When bones are found at the foster home where they had spent time, they get pulled back to the small town and are forced to face the past. Secrets are dredged up as they search for the truth. I felt really bad for Jessica especially because she had been at the foster home the longest and was treated very well at first, so she still felt some love and loyalty to her foster mother. This was a good mystery and certainly held some tension during the read. I would recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, through Netgalley for an advance copy.

*Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review and to Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC*

I was skeptical going into this book at first, because I wasn't a huge fan of The Soulmate. I am SO glad that I gave Sally Hepworth a second chance. Dynamic and thrilling, Darling Girls will keep you at the edge of your seat the entire read. A family of foster sisters' lives are upturned when they get news of a body found in the basement of their childhood home. It's red herring after red herring as we yearn for the body's identity and their killer. The tonality changes in the narrator between the psychologist chapters and those of the current events was remarkable, especially with the ending. She wasn't doing a different voice per say, but just a slightly different tone that helped me distinguish the characters. It's a spotlight on abuse, addiction, and the foster care system in Australia, so keep that in mind if you have any triggers related to this. I do wish we'd gotten a bit more character growth, but the focus was more on the mystery and I can appreciate that.

Overall a solid thriller that really redeemed Sally Hepworth's writing in my eyes.

This book was SO good! I LOVED the storyline, and how the story was told through the POV of all three sisters, and therapy sessions with a mystery person. I 100% want you to go pick this up! You won’t regret it, nor will you be able to put it down! There is a lot of evilness in this one, the foster mother was super scary. There was a twist I didn’t see coming! This was a perfect buddy read book to discuss!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book.

I truly think Sally Hepworth can do no wrong.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia may not be sisters by blood but they are sisters by love. Always being told how lucky they were to grow up as foster kids on Wild Meadows, the farm owned by Miss Fairchild. But what no one knew was the abuse they faced under Miss Fairchilds care.

We get concurrent timelines to see the lives of the girls as they were young, living in Wild Meadows and now, as they head back to answer police questions after a body was discovered on the property.

This one was chalk full of likeable characters, tugs at the heart strings and plot twists.

I highly recommend this book.

Suspenseful read that alternates between past and present. The story begins with a character talking to a psychiatrist, but who is it? Everyone has suffered trauma in this story. Loved the loyalty between the girls who cling together to survive with their unpredictable and manipulative foster mother. In the present the girls are brought back to their old foster home when bones are discovered underneath the house. The story speeds up in the second half and a thrilling ending I didn’t see coming!

I have been reading Sally Hepworth's books since The Mother In Law was published and our book club has chosen her new book each year for one of our selections. I'm grateful to the publisher for allowing me an ARC of her past few publications. I feel like Darling Girls was darker than her previous books, but no less enjoyable. I liked how despite it being darker it wasn't unrealistic in its depiction of what can happen in the foster system. I was along for whatever direction the author took me in. I was invested in what had happened to the girls and what would become of them in the future. I do wish she would come closer to my area on her book tours in the states.

This was amazing!! It took me a week to read but that’s only because I have been super busy. These three sisters are each so different from each other, but they went through a horrendous childhood together that bonded them for life. This is their story, in their words. (Not a true story, it is fiction, but it felt so real.) I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Highly recommend.

Riveting story! Sally Hepworth delivers another page turner with three women who once lived at Wild Meadows as foster children. Willow Brook is not what it seems and is the domain of Miss Fairchild whose description reminds me slightly of Professor Umbridge. Each women gets to tell us her story as the storyline moves from past to present. Each woman has their unique set of problems but one finds them likeable characters.

The story really takes off after bones are discovered under Wild Meadows. The mystery brings them all together to try to determine whose bones they are. The conclusion of the book left me a bit shocked but it was a great closure to the story. Overall I really enjoyed this thriller. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review.

This is a story of 3 women’s lives today and as foster children in an abuse home. There is a lots of trauma throughout their lives attempting to deal with what happened to them in those years. Please check trigger warnings before reading this book. I listened to the audiobook and it was told well. The story is back and forth from then until now and there are 4 points of view. If your not paying attention, you can lose the refs to whom is speaking. The first half is all background as to what occurred and it was a bit tedious for me. The second half was much better as it is entirely about today and trying to solve the mystery. Overall it’s interesting but sad. I gave this 3.5 stars.

This is my 2nd Sally Hepworth book and I will say I am a fan. Darling Girls was so suspenseful and intriguing. I loved how dark but also sweet this book was and loved the connection with the sisters.

And that twist at the end? My jaw was on the floor!!! Sally knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Oh boy. Families are sure complicated. Families sure come with baggage. And ALL families have secrets.

That is never more evident than in Sally Hepworth's latest "Darling Girls."

As someone who is passionate about adoption and foster care, I didn't know whether to be repulsed by the evil Miss Fairchild....or appreciate the multiple complexities to her character. (The end I should have seen coming (as it is customary in the suspense genre) but I still was a bit surprised.) All of the three girls who had been under Miss Fairchild's care at Wild Meadows, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, all have memories of growing up....and as you might imagine, not many are positive.

I very much enjoyed this book and I know others will too!

Fast paced thriller that pulled me in right from the start and kept me there until it was over. Not especially shocking and maybe the ending was a little overly explained (although I'm sure some people love that there so zero ambiguity left) but overall a good read. There were multiple POVs and timelines selectively switched between to keep you engaged.

I’ve read several books by Sally Hepworth, and I was so thrilled to be granted an advanced digital copy of her newest release.

Darling Girls drew me in from the very beginning and was another suspenseful and emotional ride from this fantastic author.

Told from multiple points of view and bouncing between the past and present of three foster sisters not bound by blood, but by shared trauma and experiences.

Hepworth always keeps you guessing and just when I thought I’d had it all figured out and wrapped up, she left me with a final wallop.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for the advanced readers copy.

This book kept me guessing the entire time. I wanted to see how it would end. I found all of the characters to be very unlikable and I found it hard to connect with them. The ending did surprise me and I don't know how I didn't see it coming. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

Darling Girls is the first book I've read by Sally Hepworth. I was hooked from the very beginning! I'm not going to repeat the synopsis of the book, but I will tell you what I enjoyed. The story unfolds with the telling of the past or present of each character. You learn what each girl went through during childhood & where they are in life currently. I can feel the emotions each girl is portraying. The story kept my attention & I wanted to know what happened. Another interesting aspect that the author put in the book was someone is meeting with Dr. Warren, a Psychiatrist, & telling their "life story" - it never states who it is & keeps you guessing until the end. I really enjoyed how Ms. Hepworth wrapped up the ending with a twist.

If you are looking for a fast paced psychological thriller, then pick this book up! I will say if child abuse is a trigger for you, then you may want to skip this one.
I can't wait to read more books by this author!

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, & the author for voluntarily letting me read this book & give my honest opinion.