SALLY HEPWORTH DOES IT AGAIN!

Hepworth is an author that just speaks to me. I love her writing, her storytelling, and her twisted storylines! Darling Girls is a stand out for me in that the characters, plot, and twists had me hooked from page one.

I loved the dynamics between the three sisters and how different they each were. It was wildly entertaining and intriguing learning about their warped functionality and how they were coping with their troubled pasts. Hepworth did a remarkable job manifesting childhood traumas with the sisters' current behaviors and personalities and I loved that psychological undercurrent to the story.

This one really kept me guessing and had me questioning things up until the final moments. I was duped more than once and my jaw may still be on the floor.

There were definitely times when this book was a little hard to read and I became emotional. Hepworth is an all star at connecting her readers to the characters and I felt such pain for the struggles they were facing.

I love how everything came together. I had about 10% left and wondered "how on earth can we tie up all the loose threads out there in this short amount of time"?! But I was wrong to ever doubt Hepworth and everything came together flawlessly without being rushed and with many more surprises around every turn.

The audio for this novel is great. The accents took a little getting used to (Aussie) but the pacing is great and it's such an entertaining read to listen to.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the copy. Don't wait - get this one now!

Okay let me start with: Sally Hepworth and I have a complicated relationship... There are some of her works I loved and some I DID NOT like (looking at you, "The Good Sister" although I'm an outlier with that one, lol) I literally wrote in my last review: "Okay, Sally. Whatever you have next might be the determining factor of my overall opinion of your stories" And the opinion is..... Loved this one so I'll keep going back for more!

Would recommend if you love:
-decades old secrets
-multi POV and multi timeline
-bonds of sisterhood forged by trauma
-mystery with minimal police procedural

This is told from the POV (but third person) of three sisters-by-love-not-by-blood, Jessica, Norah (with an h, this is pointed out 400 times), and Alicia PLUS therapy sessions with a psychiatrist and an unknown person (I figured out fairly early on who the person was and the circumstances of the therapy sessions as well) AND 'before' chapters from the sister's POV from when they lived at the foster home of Miss Fairchild; it sounds like a lot but, for me, was super easy to keep straight, especially because each of the sisters is so different in personality and characteristics.

Trigger warnings for child abuse, bad fostering situations, addiction, SA

This is packed with secrets and had some good twists. I like that each of the three sisters is struggling with their own issues (wait, that sounds bad, not that I liked the struggle but they each had something -- they weren't perfect) but I wished they'd opened up to each other sooner. Some of their 'issues' have more dire consequences than others.

The very last chapter 'twist' was something I actually didn't see coming! Usually the last page twist just for funsies is NOT my thing but this one made so much sense I couldn't really hate it.

This book starts in the present day, when sisters Jessica, Norah, and Alicia each receive a call from the police telling them that a body has been discovered under the former house where they were all foster children 25 years ago. The book alternates between each of their perspectives in both the past and the present, as we wait to see who the body belongs to, and delve into their traumatic foster past, and how that trauma has affected them in the present day.

I have read each and every Sally Hepworth book, and I just really enjoy her style. I’d say that this one is less thriller-y than some of her more recent books - there’s some mystery and suspense, but more in a Liane Moriarty type of way (a comparison I have made with some of her earlier books as well). Don’t let the cover fool you - there is nothing summery or light about this one, and indeed those with sensitivity may want to check trigger warnings as it explores some upsetting stuff. And yet, somehow it’s still written with the lighter touch Hepworth deploys so well. I for one seriously could not put it down and was racing through the pages to see what happened.

Another winning psychological mystery by Sally Hepworth!

Sally Hepworth is one of my favorite authors. I like thrillers, but I’m also a bit of a pansy. I find her books PERFECT. There’s always a ton of mystery, LOOOOTS of drama, things to solve, and characters you love to hate. I prefer my thrillers more b*tchy than scary, and Sally Hepworth delivers on just that! This book is no exception.

We meet many unreliable characters in Darling Girls. She did a fantastic job of introducing the reader to these characters in a way that is easy to keep them straight and differentiate them. I thought everyone was guilty for most of the book and didn’t figure out the twist until very close to the end! I really enjoyed the sister dynamic as I have in other Hepworth books.

Overall, if you want a satisfying and speedy psychological mystery drama, pick this one up!!

Jessica, Norah and Alicia are three foster sisters who are thrust into the care of Miss Fairchild growing up. Despite the idyllic façade, Miss Fairchild’s home is anything but nurturing. And when bones are found under the home decades after the girls have grown, they’re drawn back to the town they’ve tried to separate themselves from.

This psychological thriller was impeccably written with perfectly flawed characters that you couldn’t help rooting for. I especially enjoyed Hepworth’s attention to the sisters’ bond and her way of intricately weaving suspense throughout the book to keep readers on the edge of their seats. She’s masterful!

Thank you to Sally Hepworth, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of the book for an honest review.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth is a study in how mental illness can spread if not stopped and dealt with. Three girls: Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, are now adults, not necessarily functioning well. They had been foster daughters, together, at the home of Miss Fairchild. Jessica had been there the longest with the other two arriving later. As young teens they were best friends and relied upon one another in trying times, which is what living with Miss Fairchild was, nearly always. She was a consummate liar, which constantly put them at risk and pitted them against each other. Things got worse as Miss Fairchild decided to start fostering infants but was wholly unable to care for them. That fell upon the girls. Even to the point of missing school. Things got even worse when she brought home a toddler and announced she was adopting her. They couldn’t stand to watch. Then 20-something years later, each of them got a call from the police. They had torn down the house and were building a McDonalds, and had found bones. Could the, now, women come back so they police could talk to them.

This was an amazing book. Each reacted to their dysfunctional years differently: Norah, still prone to violence, used sex in a transactional way, most often to get chores at her home done; Jessica, who in her profession as a home organizer, stole pills from her clients and was an addict; and Alicia, who had an inability to commit, although did a good job as a social worker, oddly enough, placing foster children. Miss Fairchild could charm anyone and did. It was a complicated story, told by a master. A carefully woven plot, complete with flashbacks and real-time stories from the past and the present. The characters were exquisitely written, presenting the worry that there are real people out there who have been affected this way and are only partially functioning. Thanks, Sally Hepworth, for an excellent thriller.

I was invited to read Darling Girls by St. Martin’s Press. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #SallyHepworth #DarlingGirls

“𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵.”

I ate this domestic suspense/mystery up! There are several different POVS including a mystery person. The narrator nailed all those aspects. The past and present timeline that slowly fills you in with all the information was so well done. I do feel like it was a slower pace but the family dynamics keep me engaged and I didn't mind the pacing. A not so typical family with lots of underlining elements.

Foster sisters who have really had a crazy go at it.
I really love how the girls were portrayed. They are strong and resilient after everything they have been through. To get to see their journey was insane but they kicked life's ass and made a comeback. I love it.

𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬
𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐩𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡
𝐒𝐭. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧’𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬
𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐰
𝟓⭐️

Author @sallyhepworth is one of my auto-buy authors because she is ALWAYS provides an addictive, smart, unpredictable story. 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 is Hepworth’s newest psychological mystery, and it did not dissapoint!

First I must say I absolutely loved the sisterhood trope in this story; Alicia, Norah, and Jessica are not sisters by blood but brought together when they were all placed in the same foster home and created an amazing bond. The author did such a great job with the character development, this is a heavily character driven story and Norah was my absolute favorite. This is the type of story where you will remember the characters forever, and they will live rent free in your brain.

The narration continued to flip flop which allowed for a fast paced read. I thought I had most of the answers but I was totally wrong, and the ending was jaw dropping!

100% recommend! Special thanks to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the early copy! This book is available now!

This is one of my favorites from Sally H. I loved how the book was broken into the story of the three girls, Jessica, Norah (with an H), and Alicia! These “Darling Girls” were thrust into a sisterhood when they were kids and each were placed in a foster home with the crazy lady Ms. Fairchild. They all had traumatic childhood stories which lead them there, but the trauma doesn’t stop there. We soon find out, in the present time, when they are adults and a detective wants to bring them all in to talk about their time in the foster home. Why, well because a body has been discovered buried under the house they lived in as foster kids.

I found myself closely looking at each of the girls’ story to see if I can guess what happened back then. I had one girl pegged just from her past but I was so wrong! This one was good and crazy and I liked it a lot! But, the icing on the cake was that ending! I had to go back and re-read a part to make sure I had the explanation correct and It had me with my mouth wide open!

Darling Girls was one of Sally Hepworth's best books! I've had this ARC for awhile, but I just got around to reading it. This book had me hooked from beginning to end.

People- pleasing Jessica just wanted to be loved. Everyone thinks she has it altogether, but secretly she's falling apart. Alicia wants to save foster children, but who is going to save her?
Tough as nails Norah (with an h) is the true epitome of "all my life I had to fight "!
Ms. Fairchild was a psychologist's dream! Narcissistic, controlling & abusive...she was horrible!

The three sisters had a rough childhood in foster care with Ms. Fairchild. They had some traumatic experiences that they would love to forget. Now the past is coming back to haunt them in the worst way when a body is found under their childhood home. This story was so layered. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the big reveal. That ending didn't disappoint!

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martins Press for my ARC.

Sally Hepworth does it again. This book follows a group of girls who have a terrible start in life with the foster system. Once a body is found under their old foster home they are in the middle of the drama. This book is great, it is hard to read about all the girls went though. Ending is great didn’t see it coming.

Jessica, Alicia, and Norah were raised together by Miss Fairchild at Wild Meadows, a seemingly idyllic farm. They were told they were lucky to have escaped their pasts and found a new family. However, Miss Fairchild's rules were strict, and her kindness could be unpredictable.

Years later, when human remains are discovered on the property, the women are questioned by the police, forcing them to confront the unsettling secrets they buried deep within.

The story unfolds through alternating timelines, slowly revealing the complex relationship between the women and their foster mother. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are all well-developed, each with their own distinct personalities and struggles.

Throughout the book, I was deeply invested in the characters and their struggles to overcome their childhood trauma, while the suspenseful atmosphere kept me guessing until the very end.

I really liked this one! Jessica Clarke did a fantastic job narrating the audiobook, bringing the story to life with her engaging voice. Thank you @macmillan.audio @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the gifted copies of Darling Girls.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
I have read 5 books by Sally Hepworth: "The Younger Wife", "The Family Next Door", "The Mother-in-Law", "The Good Sister" & "The Soulmate" & I loved them all so I couldn't wait to request a copy of her latest book, "The Darling Girls".
Once again, Ms. Hepworth had me glued to my kindle trying to wrap my head around all the twists, turns & secrets.
The story was smart, original & addictive.
Everything was tied up in the end to a satisfying conclusion until the shocking final chapter. I couldn't believe the revelation from that final chapter!
I can't wait to read what she decides to write next!

3.5 ⭐️

You ever finish a book and think “wtf did I just read?”

Was this book captivating enough that I could barely put it down? Yes.

Did it make me sad at how cruel people can be? Yes.

Did finishing it give me major Verity vibes? Yes!

While this book wasn’t a super original plot and I wasn’t super surprised by any of the plot twists, it was a quick and captivating read.

Another great book from Sally Hepworth. This one is about the foster care system and three sisters of the heart who go back to confront their past and their foster care mother. It has also has a great ending!

Jessica is a professional organizer. Since she was a girl, she loved to sort and categorize, putting things in an order so elegant that she is now paid for the honor. She’s married, although she feels a certain amount of distance from her husband. Her last client is upset because despite her beautiful organizing, something has gone missing from her home. A bottle of Valium has gone missing, and she is not happy. Jessica pretends not to know anything about it. But this client is not the first one with this complaint.

Norah isn’t interested in traditional dating. Sometimes she uses the dating apps, but that’s more to find someone to do some odd jobs around the house. But she does love her dogs, Converse, Couch, and Thong. They’re big and dumb and underfoot at all the wrong times, but she loves them. She has an online business taking psychometric tests for people applying to jobs, and she does not suffer fools. Like her last date, who just wouldn’t take a hint until she punches him in the nose.

Alicia is a social worker with a heart of gold and a burning crush on a hot attorney. She’s the person the police call when it’s an emergency and they have a child who needs a short-term placement. She is kind and patient and good at her job. Because she understands what it’s like.

When these women get the call, they are living their lives, doing the best they can. Then the detectives from Port Agatha call them, and they are little girls again. They are foster kids living at Wild Meadows with Miss Fairchild. And after what they went through those years with Miss Fairchild, they are now sisters with an unbreakable bond.

The detectives ask the women to come back to Port Agatha because an excavation at the house has revealed human bones buried under the house. And the detectives have questions.

As kids, the girls learned to follow Miss Fairchild’s rules, as there were consequences otherwise. Food was scarce, and the chores were constant, but the three girls learned to lean on each other for help and support. All they had to do was stay under Miss Fairchild’s radar. The problem was that Miss Fairchild’s radar reached everywhere. And her punishments were designed to break them down.

But now, they are adults. And they’re going back to Port Agatha to face their old fears. To face their old enemy. And to help the police figure out exactly what happened in the basement at Wild Meadows.

Sally Hepworth is back with a nail-biter of a thriller about the ways we get through challenging times. Told in two timelines, from the perspectives of all three women, this story is filled with twists and flips that keep you guessing until the end. Are these women killers? Are they victims? And just who is buried under the house?

I listened to Darling Girls on audio, narrated to perfection by Jessica Clarke. Her lovely Australian accent sets the scene for this layered story, and she tells this story with compassion and understanding but never giving anything away.

I so enjoyed this story of found family and healing. Just when I thought I was getting my footing on what really happened, the rug would get pulled out from under me, and I had to scramble to find a place to stand again. I got completely absorbed by the story and wanted nothing more than to get all my questions answered. Listening to the audio was especially fun for this. I was transported to Australia, to that house of horrors, and I couldn’t wait to find out how everything turned out.

Clearly, this is not a book everyone will enjoy. There are several incidents of child abuse, so anyone sensitive to that will want to skip Darling Girls and try a different Hepworth book instead.

An early copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio and egalleys were provided by St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an E-Arc of this book. The following is my honest opinion *

3.8 ⭐ out 5 (rounding to 4)

Darling GIrls is a psychological thriller about 3 girls (Jessica, Norah, and Alicia) who grew up in foster care under Mrs. Fairchild. Through their experience they form a lifetime bond and consider each other sisters. Well into their adulthood, human remains are discovered under their old foster home and through the girls' point of view, we see everything unfold.

I really love this story. This is the first Sally Hepworth book I have read. I loved how well written it was and how well the many POVs were integrated. Every character had a backstory and something happening that made me keep reading.

Highly recommend. Looking forward to reading the authors other works!

A top notch psychological thriller. Following Norah, Jessica and Alicia through this winding story told in dual pov and dual timelines leaves you feeling emotionally connected to their characters and the mystery behind Miss. Fairchild and her foster home from hell give you the twisty thriller you came in for. All in all a great story!

"Darling Girls" is another well told, exciting story by Sally Hepworth. I enjoyed the character development and the little twisty ending. The book is told from multiple points of view which kept things exciting. The relationship with the 3 women was very entertaining and heartfelt.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this book for my honest review.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia aren’t biological sisters but sisters just the same. They grew up in foster care at an estate on a farm owned by Miss Fairchild. While it may have looked picturesque from the outside it was abusive and terrifying on the inside. They are drawn back into this time as adults when human bones are discovered under the house. They know who it might be but as they tell the police about the past they realize they don’t know as much as they thought regarding their foster mom.

Being a foster parent, I always am horrified reading about foster kids being mistreated and abused. It breaks my heart. If you are able, please consider becoming a foster parent or finding a way to help the foster care system in some way. These kids deserve it💙

I do enjoy Sally Hepworth books and this was a good psychological thriller. Told from the 3 POVs of the women as adults and as young girls as well as a therapy session with a person you don’t know the identity of at first; I enjoyed how it all came together. I felt for the characters and was invested in how things would turn out for them. I knew pretty early how the story would end but was surprised at the very end with the final twist which made the ending much more satisfying! You’ll have to read it to know what I mean:)