Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy everything I read from this author and this book did not disappoint. And the ending was the chef's kiss!! If you are a thriller fan I'd pick this one up.

I devoured this novel! Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are torn from reality and brought back to their tumultuous childhood when human remains are found on the grounds of Wild Meadows. The three foster sisters travel back to provide insight for investigators, all while trying not to get sucked back into the trauma of their upbringings. Bouncing between past and present, and the perspective of all three girls, the story of the past is gradually brought to light and the events of the past catch up to them. But who is sharing the truth? And are they hiding secrets that could come back to bite them?

I just could not put this book down. I was sucked in right from the beginning and I truly had no idea what was going to happen. I love a good mystery that keeps me guessing, and this time, Sally Hepworth executed a great mystery. Highly recommend.

After reading several previous releases by this author, I was very excited for Darling Girls. Audiobook is my preferred format, but was able to have it on audio and print. Many readers will enjoy this one with sisters that are foster children. However this is about the extent of my enjoyment, as the story didn’t seem to keep me drawn in nor did I feel like the cover match with what I was hearing. I will say the last chapter might make people reconsider their opinion, so I am glad I finished. Sadly, this wasn’t a favorite by the author.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia were foster sisters for a short time. Always told how lucky they were. But there were secrets in that house of abuse, both physical and mental. Now it is years later and they are adults, each with their own baggage.
The house they had lived in was taken down and they found a body buried under the house. Now they have to o n for questioning. Miss Fairchild, the foster mom shows up as well.
I liked getting to know all 3 girls and how they ended up the way they did. We also know someone is taking to a psychiatrist and the things that are said is also very disturbing.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's for the book to review.

A very solid suspense story about three foster sisters who are drawn back into the traumas of their past when a skeleton is found on the grounds of their former foster home.

It's an intense book with scenes and themes that may not be for every reader (pretty terrible child abuse)

The twist at the end felt unsurprising to me, but I remain a huge fan of the author and will read whatever she writes. I'm interested to see if the audiobook has a full cast, because that would make for an interesting listen!

I sadly couldn't get into this as much as I did with other Hepworth books. The pacing just felt so incredibly slow to me. When I got halfway through the book, I realized that it felt like basically nothing had happened, and the mysterious / suspense aspect just wasn't doing it for me.

I liked the idea of it, and the ultimate ending was satisfying, but I don't know, the overall experience of reading this one just wasn't for me, and it wasn't my favorite Hepworth book.

ugh i devoured this book. the twists were perfect and i literally hated the foster mother and how awful she was to norah, alicia, and jessica and how she tried to blame everything on everyone else. having kids makes it so hard to read stuff like this sometimes bc it makes me sad that some kids really are treated this way. i loved the relationship between all the sisters and how they were so different but just loved each other and clicked so well. i was baffled at the end and how well Holly played everyone. it made me hate her even more and i just wished they realized she was adding more lies to her lies. and i was even more baffled that she expected the girls to love her after what she did to them!!!! i just couldn’t believe jt. definitely one of the better thriller books i’ve read recently! 5/5
thank you St.Martin’s Press and netgalley for this e arc in exchange for my honest review!

4 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC,
Sally Hepworth is becoming one of my auto-buy/auto-read authors. I'll read anything she writes. Her stories never disappoint; they're always unique, fast-paced, hard to put down, and have amazing, well developed characters. This story had 4 main characters and each one was distinct with their own flaws and personalities which I really enjoyed.
Another thing I love about Sally Hepworth's books, and that I loved about this one is that while her stories deal with difficult topics, it's never too much for me to handle. I know this is something that changes from person to person, but for me specifically I find her books are the perfect balance of tense but not anxiety-provoking. I can enjoy what's happening in the story without being super drawn in or emotionally involved/triggered. That's a hard balance for me to find, so I really appreciate that.
I'd recommend this book for anyone who enjoys mystery/thrillers or stories about familes/sisters/foster families. I'd also recommend checking out Sally Hepworth's other books also! They never disappoint.

Darling Girls, by Sally Hepworth, kept me thinking. While I figured out some of the twists and turns, there were a few that I didn't. The story and writing were both so engaging; I finished the book in two days.
Definitely recommend for others to read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy; all opinions are my own.

Delivers all the twists and turns you'd expect from a Sally Hepworth novel, along with a terrific trio of central characters, complex characters, and emotional depths. Impossible to put down.

In her latest novel, Sally Hepworth takes us into the darker side of foster care.

Three inseparable foster sisters are called back to the town where they temporarily lived under the care of Miss Fairchild. Through flashbacks we learn the history of each of the girls and how that history has impacted them well into adulthood. Each of them is struggling in their own way because of past treatment. Secrets and deceit are prominent themes in this tale that is propulsive and at the same time, heartbreaking.
I was compelled to read forward from the very beginning, it was a page turner!

While the writing was intriguing, some plotlines didn’t feel right to me…. I understand it was all part of character development, understanding the trauma that the girls carry with them adds depth to the story, but it felt a little over the top.

All in all, a good read, just be sure to have a look at trigger warnings, a couple parts in the book were a little disturbing.

I was very disappointed in this one. Normally I love Sally Hepworth's novels but I think my problem with it was the multiple POVs. There are three foster girls (Alicia, Norah, Jessica) and the foster mom (Holly) and then an unknown patient talking to a psychiatrist. Add to that the dual timelines (past and present) that the whole thing was a chore.

I really didn't warm to the story at all, or find myself rooting for anyone.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I just could not get into this book. I ended up skimming some parts. I love a lot of her books, but this one wasn't for me.

This was my third Sally Hepworth book and I hope this is the book that finally gets more Americans reading her books, it was SO good! I loved the 3 girls (later women) in the story. They are so fully developed and I really felt connected to their struggles as adults and horror as kids. The mystery in this was great with a pretty shocking and well done twist at the end. If this is ever turned into a movie or tv show whatever actress who plays Holly Fairchild will have a great character to play. Definitely will be one of my favs this year.

Though I received an e-arc via NetGalley (thanks to the author and publisher) I also bought a hardcover from Book of the Month, glad I did it was worth the money!

This book was crazyyyy! I absolutely loved it though! There were definitely a lot of twists and some of them I could guess but others definitely had me shocked! This book held my interest the whole way through and I didn’t want to put it down! This would be such a crazy movie honestly👀 absolutely loved this book and the way it was told from all 3 sisters sides from the present and past but also told a side from Miss Fairchild talking to the therapist.

Lucky is a very subjective term. Starting with the end in this book’s acknowledgements, the author tells us about how she talked to many former foster children to write this book, and when they use the word “lucky”, it’s in a way most of us don’t. One person may be lucky that they were only sexually abused one time. One may be lucky because the physical abuse they endured didn’t leave permanent damage. One might have luck on their side because they managed to escape their torturers. Yes, luck is a relative term indeed.

Jessica, who runs a home organization business, Norah, a tough woman with a penchant for violence, and Alicia, a social worker, were at one time all residents of the Wild Meadows Farm. Miss Fairchild lived there and took in foster children who had nowhere else to go; quite a noble calling. These three girls had already been through trauma when they got to the foster home, but that trauma was “lucky” compared to what Miss Fairchild had in store.

The girls were forced to do manual labor, barely given enough to eat, weren’t allowed to leave the house alone, and so much more. They soon formed a sisterhood, and when they weren’t working, they were just trying not to make Miss Fairchild angry. Things get even more complicated when short-term foster babies start showing up at the house. At first, Miss Fairchild would dote on them, but she would soon lose interest and it would be up to the girls to take care of the babies’ needs.

Eventually, the sisters move on and start their own lives, but the trauma they’ve been through has followed each of them into adulthood. They’re all dealing with their own demons when detectives start calling. The Wild Meadows Farm is being demolished, and police have found human remains buried under the house. The three women travel back to the town none of them wanted to ever see again, and the investigation begins.

The story about this woman and the foster home is fantastic, and we also get a second story: throughout the book, we hear a woman’s confessions to her psychiatrist, and the mystery woman gives even more insight into the characters (who were all written flawlessly). This book is creepy and heartbreaking, but it’s also thrilling and easy to get invested into. 4.5 stars.

(Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Sally Hepworth and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

The synopsis for this book doesn’t give you a ton of detail and I think that’s perfect because this is definitely one where you want to go in blind! Even though I’ve enjoyed Hepworth’s books in the past and I saw great early reviews for this I think I had low expectations because I thought I knew what this story line would be. Boy was I wrong!

This was so so good. She did such a good job of maintaining this constant level of uneasiness that had me completely gripped. The story is told from the perspective of each of the three women, including in their flashbacks, plus an unnamed party’s therapy sessions. A less skilled author would have confused her readers but she differentiated each unique view in a way that added to the story.

Oooh and the ending was just 😲😲😲 If you read this PLEASE I need to discuss!! Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the eARC!

*Be aware going into this that childhood trauma and abuse play a large part in the story.

Hmmm, Sally Hepworth's books are always a hit or miss for me, however I will always give her books a try. Darling Girls was a miss unfortunately. I found the storyline difficult to follow and the narrator just wasn't for me personally. Excited to read more from Sally in the future!

“Sisters” Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were raised partly in a foster home that forced them to depend on each other. As adults, a set of bones are discovered at the site of their former foster mother’s home.

This book and plot was a little chaotic for me. I didn’t like any of the characters and didn’t find them redeeming (except maybe Alicia) after their experiences. I felt like a bombshell was dropped for one of the sisters and the others were just “okay” and moved on. I haven’t read many by Hepworth, but I did not really enjoy this one.

This was a fantastic read with some intense plot twists I would've never seen coming! I was rooting for Jessica, Alicia and Norah from the start and while I knew Miss Fairchild was clearly an awful human being I could have never imagined how deep it ran. A great small town thriller that I will be recommending to friends!