Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press!

Sally Hepworth is one of the author's that I will always read one of books. The Good Sister is still my favorite, but this was very good. Full of plot twists and it kept me trying to figure everything out.

This was only my 2nd book by Sally Hepworth and it was good! I liked getting to know the main characters and understanding what they had been through as children. There were some tough parts as there was child abuse, but it was written well and was not too much for me. I was very curious to figure out what was going on and there were some surprises, along with a final twist at the end! I will definitely keep reading her books!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Parts of this book I really enjoyed, like the relationship between these adoptive sisters and the lengths they were willing to go to protect each other, as well as the past-timeline snippets of what they went through as children. Unfortunately the present-day timeline didn’t capture my attention in the same way, and the way the “twists” were revealed felt more like withheld information than true twists or reveals. Unfortunately I don’t think Sally Hepworth is the author for me but I hope this resonates with some other readers!

4 stars!

If Sally Hepworth is going to write something, I'm going to read it. I think that where this book really soars, as with many of her other novels, was in the sisterly relationship. The three main characters of this book felt so real. I was continuously rooting for them, and overall I kept turning the pages.

I was really hooked as the chapters switched from present to the past, and also as the mystery unfolded. I would say that this definitely reads more like a slower family drama than a thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Sally Hepworth is an autobuy author for me and I have never given one of her books less than 4 stars. The author's gift is being able to make her characters so authentic, they don't feel fictional. I think her books are classified mostly as thrillers, but really, to me they are more like character-driven dramas with some mystery thrown in. Always, the plots are fast-paced enough I can't put the book down, which makes it all the more amazing that I feel the characters so deeply and personally. My two favorite Sally Hepworth novels are The Good Sister, and The Mother-in-Law. Those were hard-hitting, and beautiful and extremely enjoyable to read. Darling Girls is so well written, but I just couldn't give it the same rating as I gave The Good Sister and The Mother-In-Law because it was a much more uncomfortable reading experience. Reading about child-abuse, whether active or passive, is extremely difficult for me. I was invested in all three "sisters" the book followed, but so disturbed by their childhood stories, especially Alicia's for various reasons. Seeing innocence be robbed intentionally and maliciously was painful to read. However, the mystery felt very realistic and I enjoyed the sisters' relationships so much. As always, I finished this latest book of Ms. Hepworth's and had to just take a break before starting another book so I could really think about it. How does the author knock it out of the park every time? I can't think of a bad book she has written...or even one I was "meh" about!

They survived traumatic childhoods in the foster care system….but their past won’t stay in the past.

Three young girls spent much of their childhood as foster children on a farm property in Fort Agatha, about two hours outside of Melbourne. Their foster parent, Miss Fairchild, seemed to be an ideal choice, pretty and warm….but it was not the idyllic place that it appeared to be from the outside. Jessica, Norah and Alicia formed a close bond and became, in their minds, sisters in order to survive. Years later, after an abrupt end to their stay at Wild Meadows, each has gone on to build a life: Jessica, using her compulsion for structure and order to create a successful home organization business; Alicia, becoming a social worker to help other children find happier placements than she did herself: and Norah, forging a more unconventional career as the taker of employment tests for others. They each bear the emotional scars of their time with Miss Fairchild, and fault lines are beginning to show in their lives. Then each receives a phone call from a police detective asking them to return to Fort Agatha to aid in an investigation. As the farmhouse at Wild Meadows was demolished to make way for a fast food restaurant, human bones were found buried underneath. Whose bones are they, and what connection if any do three damaged women have to them? Will their return to Fort Agatha heal their wounds, or will it destroy their lives?
Darling Girls grabbed me from the opening pages and kept my interest until the very end. The characters, these three young women whose childhood was horrific, are each fully imagined and distinct, and the mercurial Miss Fairchild is also strongly defined. Shared secrets, buried resentments, latent guilt over something unknown and fears that have never gone away are all brought to the surface by the discovery of the human remains. The three “sisters” are afraid that they know exactly who it is, but the reader has only suspicions. Is it Miss Fairchild, the unstable woman who terrorized them for years? Is it another of the children who lived at Wild Meadows? What happened that resulted in the girls being removed from the abusive home situation? Many questions and plenty of plot twists kept me entertained and guessing till the end, and even then there were some surprises. With chapters alternating between the narration of each of the three women as well as an unidentified someone during sessions with a therapist, Darling Girls will pique the imagination of fans of authors Liane Moriarty, Mary Kubica and Lisa Jewell. I thoroughly enjoyed the read, and would pick up a copy of other Sally Hepworth books based on how much I liked this one. Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for allowing me access to an early copy of this addictive novel!

I had read four books by Sally Hepworth and liked them all so I was very excited to read her newest book. It did not disappoint and is now my second favorite after The Good Sister. I felt Darling Girls was a bit different than Sally’s other books but still her at the same time. We follow the lives of Jessica, Norah and Alicia in two timelines. In the past we learn about their experience in foster care with their foster mother Miss Fairchild (yikes). In the present, 25 years later, a body is discovered under their foster home and they must return to a place they thought they left behind. It started a little slow but I enjoyed reading this book and recommend it!

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Sally Hepworth knows how to pen a suspenseful book. Like her other novels, DARLING GIRLS is well-written, thought-provoking, and gut wrenching read.

Alicia, Jessica, and Norah are not biological sisters, but their bond is just as strong for having shared so many years together living with Miss Fairchild, their foster mother. And although they come from different backgrounds, they all suffer equally from the trauma and narcissism of their caregiver.

There is a mystery and several twists, but most of the narrative is serious and moving, with parts that, to me, were disturbing. The past, and often the secrets hidden there, rarely stay hidden.

Hepworth is an autobuy author for me after reading The Mother-In-Law! I love the complexity of the families she writes about. Although some call her a women’s fiction writer I would say she’s more of a domestic thriller writer. She was also the first famous author to follow me on bookstagram !!

About the book,

Jessica, Alicia, and Norah have considered themselves sisters after spending time together at Willowbrook Meadows with their foster mother Miss Fairchild. The book is told from all of the sisters' perspectives from the past and the present. There is also someone talking to a therapist but the reader is not told plainly who that is and must infer until it’s revealed at the nearly end of the story.
The treatment these girls were given was all the worst things that goes through a person’s mind when thinking of foster care.

Years later when the women have moved on with their lives but still remain close there are infant bones found under the house. The three are summoned to the town of Port Agatha for the police to conducti their investigation.

My thoughts:
I loved all the idiosyncrasies of each of the sisters. Norah really stood out to me with her brazen personality and take no crap attitude especially when dealing with men. Jessica is the mother hen to the other two with her successful business of organizing other people’s homes. Alicia has become a social worker, to help bring some good to the foster care system. Each of them have found different coping mechanixms to overcome the trauma of their childhood. I was able to guess some of the secrets before they were fully revealed but tI didn’t see the big twist at the end coming! This is probably my favoirite book from Hepworth if not right up there with The Mother in-Law!

"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."

WHEW. What a story!!! I needed to catch my breath after reading this one because it was DARK. Seriously, proceed with caution because this was a tough read.

This story is about three sisters, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia. They aren't biological sisters, but they are definitely bonded for life after the trauma they experienced together while living at Wild Meadows as foster children. This idyllic estate is owned by the beautiful and pleasant-seeming Miss Fairchild. Each child is placed in her care at a different time, starting with Jessica. For as long as the girls can remember, they've been told how 'lucky' they were to be placed there. What they experienced in this house was far from serendipitous, and no sane person would consider them lucky.

The book starts off years later; the girls are now adults and they are still close, but one day each girl gets a call from the police to return to Wild Meadows because a body was found under the house. The sisters reluctantly return to their hometown and are forced to revisit old demons as an investigation is underway.

This is told in multiple POVs (each girl has a very distinctive personality which made this a pleasure to listen to on audio), and past and present timelines. This story was unpredictable, unsettling, and unforgettable.

I think giving any more information would be criminal because this is the kind of thriller you need to experience for yourself. The way Sally Hepworth described what these girls went through was nothing short of cinematic. I was glued to my headphones and my Kindle. I audibly gasped, my eyes widened at parts, and I *actually* found myself holding my breath at certain points.

This entire book was perfect and the ending was amazing! This is definitely going to be one of my top favorite thrillers of the year. I did guess a few plot-twists, but it's because I am just that good, lol. It was NOT predictable! Lastly, I really appreciated the author's note at the end and that the author actually interviewed children who were in the foster system in Australia. This was well-researched, disturbing, and if you can stomach the subject matter, a must-read for any thriller fan.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and Macmillan audio for the advanced reader copy, and advanced listener copy in exchange for my honest opinion. This publishes on 4/23/24, it is already available on Book of the Month, but if you don't have a subscription mark your calendars and set those Libby holds! This one is a doozy!

CONTENT WARNING: child abuse (physical and sexual), childhood trauma, domestic violence

I’ve read a few books by Sally Hepworth, and for the most part, I enjoy her writing. I also really like the fact that they’re set in Australia and the audiobook narrators have Australian accents, but they aren’t so strong that I can’t understand them. And yes, I have had that problem in the past with a different author.

I wound up alternating my reading between the ebook and the audiobook, since I enjoyed the accent of the narrator, Jessica Clarke, and the way that she narrated the book. She did a great job with this story, and I enjoyed how easily she slipped between characters during the POV shifts in the story.

It isn’t just the characters that we slip between, since this is a dual timeline story. We gradually learn the story through the eyes of each character both “then” and “now.” Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are sisters through their time spent with Miss Fairchild, a foster mother who seemed to offer everything they could possibly ask for. Except like most things that seem too good to be true, this is too. Miss Fairchild isn’t the dream foster mother they hoped for, but quickly reveals herself to be an abusive nightmare. Jessica is the first girl to enter Miss Fairchild’s home, at the age of five, willing to endure ever-growing levels of isolation in order to keep the affection of Miss Fairchild. Norah follows, an eleven-year-old with violent tendencies due to her background. Alicia, a good-natured girl, comes to live with them at age 12 after her grandmother has an accident and has to stay at a rehab for a while.

In the present day, each of the women are struggling with their own inner conflicts. For Jessica, it’s obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and an addiction to prescription pills that she has been stealing from the houses of her clients, leading to the implosion of her business and marriage. Norah is facing potential incarceration as a result of her uncontrolled anger issues. And Alicia is a social worker, helping children to find safe living arrangements, but her own unresolved issues make it difficult for her to move on from her past and get into a healthy relationship and build a family for herself.

But when police get involved and let them know that human remains have been found beneath the house which they have tried very hard to put behind them, they can no longer escape their past. This is the central mystery to the story—whose remains are these? And who put them there?

We slowly learn more about each of the girls, and what they went through in Miss Fairchild’s care, but we also peel back the layers of the onion on the personality of each of the women in the present day. Each of the sisters grew on me in a different way. Norah is the one that I found myself identifying with initially, with her combination of sensitivity and sarcasm to protect vulnerable core, while Alicia was just too sweet not to like. She’s one of those genuinely good-hearted people that you can’t dislike even if you want to. And Jessica had my feelings all over the place during the book, as more information is revealed, but once her true personality is revealed, it was much easier to empathize with her.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It kept me intrigued, and I was surprised by the plot twists and the big reveal. However, the ending kind of left me a little disappointed, and I didn’t love that last twist. It didn’t add anything to the story, and felt like it was there more to ruffle feathers than anything else. The only other thing that I wasn’t exactly thrilled about was the use of “abused child in foster care” as a trope. While I know that this does happen and far more than should ever be acceptable, i’m not generally a fan of this being used as a trope, and think it comes up in books, shows, and movies to the point where it seems as though every single foster situation is abusive, and there aren’t ever any good ones. Other than those things, I was here for the story. Nothing really played out as I had expected, and it kept me engaged from the start to the finish. And I highly recommend the audiobook—Jessica Clarke does a wonderful job and her Australian accent is fantastic to listen to (and easy to understand even if you’re an uncultured swine aka American like me 🤣). Is it just an American thing to love hearing accents different from my own? A me thing? Or is this basically universal? Regardless, while this isn’t my favorite Hepworth novel, it’s still a really good one.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
Narrator: Jessica Clarke
Rating: DNF
Pub date: 4/27

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia all grew up in the same foster home, remaining close throughout their lives. As adults, a body is found beneath their old home, Wild Meadows, and the police contact them when they start to investigate. What follows is a series of revelations about what really happened to the girls when they lived with Miss Fairchild.

Sally Hepworth is an auto-buy author for me, so I was very excited to read this one. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.

The story goes back and forth between the past and present tense, although we spend most of our time in the past while the girls live with Miss Fairchild. They are treated terribly and the victims of child abuse (some of it sexual) while they are there. This isn’t something I enjoy reading about, so I DNF’d the book at 60%. I should mention that I’m definitely an outlier here…there are lots of five-star reviews for this upcoming release, so make sure you check out the trigger warnings and other reviews before taking my word for it.

I listened to the audiobook, and Jessica Clark did a wonderful job voicing all the characters.

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for my complimentary audiobook and Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced copy.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

I’m torn on this one. I did find it engaging and listened to it over 2 days as I was eager to find out what happened. However over the last couple of days the more I think about it the more I don’t like it. I think this author just isn’t for me, I’ve tried several and I feel meh about all of them.

The story is of 3 foster sisters who are forced to go back to the town they grew up in when a body is discovered under their foster home. I did like the different perspectives especially the unique unreliable narrator’s perspective and the ending. But overall the story just fell flat for me and the ending wasn’t enough to redeem it.

What I really look for in a thriller is the atmosphere - a creepy and suspicious edge of your seat type vibe. And these books are more domestic drama than thriller, which is fine it’s just never what I go in hoping for and expecting for some reason.

I am seeing a lot of excellent reviews for this one so I think if you like her other books I’m sure you’ll like this one.

Thank you to @macmillan.audio for my copy, this one is out on April 23rd.

#bookreview #bookish #booksta #reading #bookthoughts #audiobookreview #audiobooks #audiobookstagram

Thank you so much to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and Sally Hepworth for allowing me to review this twisty thriller. I love Sally Hepworth and highly recommend all of her books. She always throws me for a loop with the twists and turns in her books. This one, however, was a bit challenging for me to read due to some triggering details regarding child abuse. I am usually able to read most books with trigger warnings regarding this issue, but I struggled to get through this one in some parts. All of that did add to the character development and was impactful in the storyline, but I would have enjoyed it more without the graphic detail of some events. I still recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fast paced twisty thrillers and Sally Hepworth’s gripping storylines and writing. Just keep in mind there are trigger warnings and it might be good to skip a few scenes. Thank you again for allowing me to review this book.

I didn’t know what to expect from this book at first..but I was HOOKED. The ending had my mouth wide open!! I need more of these sisters in my life.

Synopsis:

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have long been told they are so lucky. As young girls, they were removed from family tragedies and placed into a loving foster home with a doting foster mother, Miss Fairchild. Their idyllic life on a farming estate provided them with an exclusive second chance at a happy life. Their childhood, however, was not as perfect as everyone thought it was because Miss Fairchild had rules and could be unpredictable. In a moment of fear and desperation, the girls break away from Miss Fairchild and hope to find respite in a new life. When a body is discovered under their childhood home, they find themselves thrust into a police investigation. But are they witnesses or suspects?

Review:

Let's start with what I enjoyed about the novel.

This is my first novel from Sally Hepworth, so I didn't know what to expect; however, I was pleasantly surprised. Her writing style is engaging and easy to read. She crafts believable characters who actually sound like sisters. The way the three women speak to each other sounds like how I talk to my sisters. There are moments of humor throughout and they flow into the sisters' interactions. Hepworth's writing style also shines through in the format of the story. The plot is told through past and present chapters from each of the sister's perspectives. While I found the past chapters more intriguing, I was interested in the present mystery plot.

While I read an e-copy of the book, the physical book is 361 pages. Even though it is a little long for a thriller, it reads quickly. Hepworth's writing contributes to the readability, but the setting and the foster family plot are interesting.



Now, for what I did not like. There isn't too much to say, but the mystery elements are not as twisty as I expected. I often hear about Sally Hepworth's books and their twists, but I did not find the twists to be very exciting. Don't get me wrong, the book is good, but I expected a little more.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and gave it 3.5 stars. If you are looking for a solid domestic thriller, this is it. If you are looking for a dark crime thriller like Karin Slaughter, you won't find it here.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher, I loved this book so much and I highly recommend. It’s a 4/5 stars for me!

Thank you, NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press, for this book's ARC! This was my first Sally Hepworth book and I was thoroughly impressed!!
We follow the lives of three adoptive sisters: Jessica, Norah, and Alicia. They have all been dealt their share of abuse from what they were told was the best place to be when needing a place to stay while family matters were taken care of. The reality was these girls were never going to go back to what they knew.
Miss Fairchild promised the girls a happy and fulfilled life but what happens behind closed doors or, in this case, a beautiful farm stays there. The girls are dealing with an unpredictable, manic woman who is constantly putting the girls in dangerous and scary situations. (Trigger warning: Child abuse) When the girls finally have a chance to escape the situation they go. Flash forward to the present each one of the girls is experiencing their day-to-day issues and coping with the trauma they endured as pre-teens. Each girl is completely different from one another yet they would do anything to protect and care for each other. While navigating their own lives they receive a call that a body had been found underneath the farmhouse that they grew up in. But whose body is it and how did it end up there?
The story goes back and forth between the different perspectives and from the past and present. You get to understand what is going on from all angles and understand more about what happened to these girls. Loved that!! I was rooting for these girls throughout the whole book and knew from the beginning they deserved a second chance at life.
As an educator, I will say it was hard to read at times about the girls as kids, my heart hurt for them. I actually wanted to punch Miss Fairchild straight in the face a few times or throw her in the pool myself iykyk! This story had many twists and turns I was not expecting and truly left me feeling uneasy in a good way. I absolutely love reading dark thriller novels and this one was not like the others I’ve read and I really enjoyed that! But seriously that ending had me hollering!! Looking forward to reading other books from Sally Hepworth!

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You know those movies that have an extra scene after the credits? This book was like that. So STAY FOR THE CREDITS!

This fast-paced novel kept my attention throughout, and I was not prepared for everything that was thrown my way. In true Hepworth fashion, she explored relationships and what it meant to be family. The POVs were so distinct from one another, so it was easy to keep them straight. Most of the characters were morally gray, which I loved. Also, I found the bounce between present and past to be successful. It allowed the story to move at the perfect pace.

If you like stories about found families, strong female relationships, and psychological thrillers, this one is sure to be a hit for you.

Sally Hepworth's Darling Girls was another fresh thriller for 2024! The story was fast paced and enjoyable, and I really appreciated a mystery/psychological thriller with a happy ending for the complex characters.