I enjoyed this one. I liked the writing and the twists. I did see a few things coming but that didn’t make me dislike the book. I was entertained throughout. Some of the things are hard to read, there is straight up child abuse mentioned as well as foster care - be aware. I liked the shifting timelines and the multiple POV - those are things I almost always like in a thriller. I wouldn’t say this is the most shocking thriller I’ve ever read, but I was entertained and flew through this one in a day. I’m happy with that!

Sadly this one didn't totally live up to my expectations or the recent hype around it. I thought the pace was quick enough and enjoyed the back and forth timelines, but there were a handful of parts that felt way too exaggerated or almost cheesy? Almost felt forced in some areas which just felt off. But like I said, it was a quick book and maybe a good one for a beach/pool read that doesn't make you think too much and you can just flow through it.

My new fave from Sally Hepworth. I could NOT put it down. But wowowow was it dark!! Lots of TWs (which can be spoilers, but in this case the whole book is basically about child abuse so pretty easy to sum that up.)

No one writes a f*cked up story that you don't want to put down like Sally Hepworth. Some might even say she's our very own Miss. Fairchild -- she lures us in and then finds ways to slowly break us down.

Jessica, Norah (with an H), and Alicia are sisters, not by birth, but by their shared placement as foster children at Wild Meadows, a lovely farmhouse complete with stables, land, and a pristine pool, owned by Miss Fairchild, their foster mother. While Wild Meadows is beautiful from the outside, Miss Fairchild submits the girls to daily tortuous physical and verbal abuse and erratic behavior -- and she keeps taking in babies for temporary placement and leaves all the caretaking to the girls. The girls finally concoct a plan to escape and leave Wild Meadows, and Miss Fairchild, behind for good.

Fast forward twenty-five years later, and the police contact each woman after remains are discovered at Wild Meadows during demolition. The girls reluctantly agree to go back to Wild Meadows and aid the investigation, but going home isn't always as easy as they say. Especially when everyone has secrets they would like to stay buried in the past.

I love Hepworth's sharp, quick writing, and I always appreciate the relationships -- especially between sisters -- that she examines in her books. I found the ending of this book to wrap up so quickly, which was odd because the girls lives at Wild Meadows were told with such detail.

I would recommend listening on audio because the narrator is fantastic. There are a lot of characters but she does a good job slightly differentiating the tone and inflection of each woman.

Four stars. Thank you, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was too dark for me but I LOVED the twist on who the psychiatrist was interviewing. I never saw it coming, Unfortunately, that brilliant twist was not enough to get me to enjoy this novel about child abuse in a foster home. Trigger warnings abound. The twist was enough for me to keep reading anything Sally writes, though!

Woooaah, this is easily Sally Hepworth's best book. Talk about wild twists and turns, on the edge of your seat dramatic. I was fully engaged the whole book and couldn't get enough. This book was really dark, different than a lot of Hepworth's books. I loved the back and forth with the different POV's from the sisters, and all the easter eggs throughout the book.

Please be aware of all the triggers in this one, because I wasn't aware of any of them and it threw me a little bit and I wasn't super comfortable for some of it. Also keep in mind this isn't necessarily a thriller, so don't have that mindset going in.

Sally Hepworth never disappoints. This book grabbed me from page one and kept me in a choke/heart hold. It covers child abuse/foster care so it may be rough for some people. It is a great book that will have you emotional. Lots of twists and unexpected turns. It definitely kept me guessing.

Thank you Netgalley, Sally Hepworth and Macmillan for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This book was outstanding! I loved the bond between Norah, Alicia and Jessica! Miss Fairchild was a truly monstrous human being! I never saw the twists coming.

Very hard to put down...great surprising ending that leaves you simply in awe at Sally Hepworth's mind. I truly enjoyed it! I have already recommended to a few friends!!

Thanks for this ARC, NetGalley,

I want to preface this review by saying I’m a HUGE Sally Hepworth fan. The Good Sister is one of my fav books EVER! So to say I was excited to get an ARC of her latest novel would be an understatement.

Darling Girls follows three girls who are in foster care with the evil Miss Fairchild. The book alternates between the present day with them as adults and the past as children under her “care.” The book opens with human remains found under Miss Fairchild’s home. She along with the three adult women are all questioned and their past under her roof is slowly revealed.

I think if you go into this book thinking it is a thriller, you will be thoroughly disappointed. To me, this reads more like lit fic with a mystery element. There’s no suspense and I didn’t find myself gripped like I usually do with her books.

Other than finding out whose body is under the house, there was nothing propelling the story forward. I also found that there wasn’t enough characterization with the adult women’s storyline. Show me how their horrific childhood has impacted them as adults.

The ENDING… is rushed and a bit overcomplicated. This needed to be layered throughout instead of being dumped at the end.

I like this premise a lot, I just think the characters needed further development and it was in desperate need of more plot points to make the read more engaging.

I loved this book! On my instagram book reviews (Gina's Kinny highlight @ginaadolphinzz) I give it 4.6/5 stars, 4 stars on Goodreads. I love Sally Hepworth! I thought this was gripping and addictive. I enjoyed the timeline going from the past to present & all POVs. At first i thought it might get confusing with 3 POVs, past and present and the psychiatrist chapters but it all came together seamlessly and was easy to follow. The twist at the end had me shocked!! I will highly recommend this to my friends/followers. Thank you for the ARC! I also chose this as my BOTM because I wanted to have a hard copy so I can lend it out because I enjoyed that much!

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth tells the story of three foster sisters, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, who grew up under the strict care of their foster mother on a farm, hiding dark secrets beneath a seemingly perfect upbringing. Their past comes back to haunt them when a body is found under their childhood home, turning them from witnesses into potential suspects in a disturbing case.

Sally Hepworth's books have been hit or miss for me so I wasn’t sure what to expect from Darling Girls. The intriguing premise initially excited me, however, I didn't anticipate the heavy subjects being described in such graphic detail. While I expected the thriller to be dark and twisted, the story turned out to be more sad and heartbreaking. It unfolds through three distinct POVs, but the audiobook's single narrator made it challenging to differentiate between them—I would have preferred multiple narrators for a more immersive experience. The narrative alternates between the present and the characters' childhoods, with the present timeline being more slow paced and the past providing a faster pace. Unfortunately, I found the ending somewhat predictable. I gave this three stars and I recommend taking a look at the trigger warnings beforehand.

Another engrossing Sally Hepworth novel, although this one contains challenging material, with stories of abused children in foster care. Plenty of twists to keep the reader guessing.

This is the fifth story of psychological suspense I have read by Sally Hepworth. Two of these books were highly entertaining and engaging, while the remaining three, including Darling Girls, were less compelling. This was a fast-paced book, but it contained some unnecessary threads, and I thought parts lacked credibility. The four main characters were well-developed and intriguing. I was not expecting the surprising twist near the end.

This was a dark and disturbing tale of the mental and physical abuse of children in foster care. It is a sad truth that some people become foster parents for prestige, money, and to get free help in the home or on farms from the unfortunate children. It is a sad truth that some uncaring foster homes cause life-altering trauma. This unsettling story shows how abused, unloved children become adults with issues of anger, self-esteem, anxiety, and addictions and have difficulty forming adult relationships. It ignores the fact that some foster parents are caring and have the best interests of the children at heart. The story includes sexual blackmail, violence, and a drug overdose, with pre-foster placement alluding to rape and pedophilia and the possible killing of a baby.

Alternating chapters tell the stories of three former foster children and chapters of an unknown person in sessions with a psychiatrist. Jessica was placed in foster care at age five on the farm of Miss Fairchild. The foster mother was both emotionally and physically abusive, manipulative, and unpredictable. She gave a pleasant and generous face to the public and social services. Young Jessica was presented with the false adoring side of the bright, cheerful woman, and she clung to her for love, approval, and attention. Jessica was shattered when this was withdrawn, and she experienced hostility or was ignored.

Later, Norah, age eleven, and Alicia, age twelve, joined the now similar-aged Jessica. They were forced to clean the house for many hours, kept awake at night, fed a scanty diet, locked in the dark basement, and constantly criticized, threatened, and punished. The three young girls formed an unbreakable bond, always regarding each other as 'sisters.' Miss Fairchild began taking in babies to foster. She soon loses interest in each baby and makes the girls look after them until sending them back. She next takes in an adorable two-year-old girl, Amy and dotes on her but becomes enraged when Amy prefers the three older foster 'sisters.' Amy vanishes, and there is no record that she has ever existed. Authorities believe Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are making up the child's presence.

Twenty-five years later, a child's body is found under their former foster home, now being demolished. The police are involved. Jessica has developed OCD but has turned her disorder into an asset. She has a thriving business organizing the homes of clients. She has feelings of stress and anxiety and has been discovered stealing prescription drugs from the homes where she works. She is distant from her calm, kind husband due to her stronger bond with Norah and Alicia. Norah trades sexual favours for household and yard work. She has always had anger issues she is unable to control. She lashed out at a man she dated, injuring him, and he was hospitalized. She may be jailed for assault. Alicia has become a social worker to give children the best foster placement possible. She lacks the confidence to enter a relationship.

The three 'sisters' are now called back by police investigators to the place where they grew up. They never wanted to see or think about it again. The police are anxious to identify a child's body recovered at the former foster home and question everyone who lived there at the time. Are they being questioned as witnesses or prime suspects? The three 'sisters' fear the body is that of Amy and also are suspicious that one of them may have killed her. Also present for the investigation are three former babies that Miss Fairchild only kept briefly. The investigation has some surprising reveals. The story ends with the changes Jessica, Norah and Alicia have made for a better life. Who was Dr. Warren, the psychiatrist, interviewing? This was a shock.

Thank you, Netgalley and the publisher, for this twisty and surprising story with a disturbing
examination of foster child abuse. The date of publication is set for April 23.

Ahhh- my new favorite Sally Hepworth book. This story is told from 3 sisters POV and goes between present day and their childhood in a foster home. Kept me at the edge of my seat with a story about strength, and how some bonds can never be broken.

I first read a Sally Hepworth book as an ARC, and I absolutely loved it – the ending was a complete shock to me, and I was riveted from the first page. This book didn’t quite hit that same level for me. It felt more predictable, although the ending still caught me off guard a bit. There was a LOT going on in this story – multiple perspectives, going from present day to the past and then back again. Thankfully that wasn’t super hard to follow, but something to be aware of. All this to say that while I enjoyed the book, this wasn’t my favorite of the author’s that I’ve read.

It's also worth mentioning that there are a LOT of trigger warnings to this book, including child abuse, foster children, death of a child, sexual abuse, physical abuse, death of a parent, trauma, and more that I’m probably not thinking of right this second.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for giving me the chance to review this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sally Hepworth does not miss! This story, revolving around three foster sisters, with alternating POVs and timelines, was exciting and interesting and wicked. Foster sisters are called by police after a body is found buried beneath their former foster home. While I suspected the end result, it was really satisfying to see the way it came through. I couldn’t put it down once I hit the last quarter of the story. I also loved the different characters, showing how the foster system and different childhood traumas can affect someone.

I have enjoyed Sally Hepworth novels in the past, and this one did not disappoint. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were complex characters whose stories were revealed like an onion...layer by layer as the chapters unfolded. Miss Fairchild sounds like every foster child's worst nightmare. It was a twisting story that kept me guessing the whole time. Well written and highly recommend reading this if you like a thriller.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

This was really good; I didn't expect the ending. Twisted in a good way. It took a few chapters for me to get into it but after it was a great read. I liked seeing how the sisters were after they grew up. It also highlighted how hard it can be to be in the foster system.

I have read several of Sally Hepworth's previous novels, so I jumped at the chance to read an early copy of Darling Girls. Like her previous books, Darling Girls is an intriguing mystery with great characters, and I enjoyed this one, too. This new book is deeply unsettling, with a foster home that appears nearly perfect and a foster mother that is evil behind closed doors.

The three main characters, foster sisters with a lifelong bond, clearly had been damaged by their time in foster care, and especially the years under Miss Fairchild's care. When a body is discovered buried under the now-demolished house, the three women return to their former foster home to assist the police with solving the mystery. The story is told in dual timelines, with interjections by an unnamed person discussing their past with a therapist. The overall effect is creepy and sad, as the many layers of abuse and gaslighting are revealed.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC of Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth. The opinions in this review are my own.