Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth is told in the past and present. The story follows the lives of 3 foster children, Jessica, Norah and Alicia. When the girls meet at Miss Fairchild’s farm they quickly became sisters. Their upbringing wasn’t idyllic but they stuck together. Now the bones of a body has been discovered at the farm and the girls must return to confront their painful past.

Darling Girls was an interesting read. I enjoyed reading each of the characters POVs, especially the therapy sessions. The main characters are morally gray but you can’t help but like them. Jessica is an over the top home organizer who steals medication from her clients. Norah is an aggressive, sometimes violent, dog mom. And Alicia is a social worker with a crush on a female coworker. It was interesting to read about their traumatic upbringing and see how that was reflected in their adult lives.

The story unfolded nicely and at a good pace. It kept me intrigued from start to finish but it was certainly a difficult topic to read about. The last chapter left me speechless!

I recommend this book to fans of Sally Hepworth and dual timeline mysteries.

Trigger warnings- child abuse, sexual abuse, childhood trauma

Jessica, Norah and Alicia have all landed in foster care through one tragedy or another. They've also each landed themselves the same foster mom, Miss Fairchild. Miss Fairchild owns a large farm and promises these girls a happy home and life.

Things take a drastic turn quickly. Miss Fairchild is unpredictable. Everything seems to set her off and nothing can possibly be done right. When the estate is torn down several years later and dug up, a body is found... the girls must return to their "home town" and assist law enforcement in finding out who the bones belong to.

Honestly, Darling Girls is one one of the best thrillers I have read in awhile! The twists were unpredictable and I did not see the end coming! Highly recommend if you like psychological thrillers!

Thank you to Sally Hepworth and NetGalley and for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

4.25 stars

Darling Girls was a wild ride that I read SO quickly, this was the epitome of a page turner. I loved the different POVs and multi-timelines, they added so much more depth and drama to the story. The dynamics between the 3 sisters was really lovely to read about, even though it was bittersweet, especially when it comes to their resilience.

We have 3 foster sisters who basically grew up together. They were brought into a home with a super toxic foster mother and survived that. They dealt with a lot of abuse in this home (so minor trigger warning for that! It’s minimal) and it brought them really close together. OK WELL THENNNNNN as adults, they find out there were bones recently discovered buried underneath their old home. Like ok what? They’re contacted by the police and basically brought back into their past in a complete WHIRLWIND. This is where the multi-timelines and multi POVs really come into play. You won’t even believe what happens, I promise lol.

I LOVE when we get epilogues in thrillers, like major *chefs kiss* to me lol! They’re generally so satisfying and this one didn’t disappoint.

I did feel there were some pacing issues. I’m finding feeling pacing issues is becoming more common for me with thrillers. I found some things that dragged and some things were just like wait.. What just happened lol. However, I did really enjoy it and would recommend it!

Thank you to St. Martins Press for my copy of this!

Jessica, Norah and Alicia are sisters in every way possible, except by birth. All three girls were "rescued" from their homes and placed into foster care with Ms. Fairchild who was a loving foster mother, giving children a second chance at love and family. Unfortunately, their foster care life on the farm at Wild Meadows wasn't the beautiful life any of them imagined. Ms. Fairchild also wasn't the sweet mother figure that she let everyone on the outside think she was. Of course, she could be loving but it only took a second for her mood to change and the girls could never be sure what was going to happen next. They managed to escape Ms. Fairchild and their foster home, but now, years later, the girls are called back to the town of Port Agatha as the police investigate the human remains that were found under the house at Wild Meadows. This means making contact with Ms. Fairchild as well.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia all have their own lives now but are still inseparable. Each of them are fighting battles of their own that stem mostly from the way they were treated at Wild Meadows. Together, they go back to tell the investigators what happened during their time in foster care with Ms. Fairchild. Maybe this time, someone will believe them. Or maybe they will be turned into the next suspects.

This was such a good read. The story is told by each sister, "before" and now". I think the twist was my favorite. It was completely unexpected, and I think I may have literally gasped while reading it. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for granting me access to this advanced digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4.75/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

My second Hepworth book did not disappoint!
I devoured this book with its short chapters that always end with you wanting more. Over halfway through I had no clue what was happening… and when I thought I might have figured it out I was again thrown for a complete loop at the very end. Wow. Well done!

The only thing keeping this from being 5 stars was some of the writing style, it was at times choppy and underdeveloped. This could have been due to my copy being an unedited ARC.

Worth the read regardless!

#darlinggirls

Sally Hepworth has done it again! I'll be honest, I liked The Soulmate, but it was a little boring and predictable to me. I went into this one really hoping it would be much better and more like her previous books. I was blown away by this book and my heart was left on the floor by the time I was done.

Now, I can't leave a review without talking about how heavy this book is. I've become really sensitive to books with child abuse and death of children after having my wonderful little boy. I went into this one blind and didn't realize that would be the main subject matter, but I couldn't DNF because it was shaping up to be a fantastic book. So, I kept reading, but my heart hurt so much for the main characters. If you plan on reading this one, just make sure you read all the trigger warnings first. There were several parts that were hard to read as a mother.

Despite that, I was blown away by this book. The pace was quick, the story telling was fantastic, and the way the past and present were layered together really made this novel a success. There were so many twists of different calibers and I was guessing everything until the very end. And then she dropped that very last chapter and my mind was blown. It reminded me a lot of Verity for some reason, so if you liked that one, give this one a read!

I give this one an easy 5/5 stars!

Sally Hepworth does it again! This is such a twisty page-turner.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were all fostered by Miss Fairchild on a beautiful farm. But Miss Fairchild had fairly strict rules and could be unpredictable. The three girls got away and lives their lives away from her. Now a body is discovered at the farmhouse, and they return to answer questions from the police. Who is the body? Where is the baby that Miss Fairchild had fostered?

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC for review.

I love Sally Hepworth books for their shocking (even when you know they are coming) twists and surprises! Every book seems to include at least one big "gotcha" moment. But, I love that this one didn't have that. Instead we got a slow burn character developing unpeeling of a stinky rotten onion of a person/situation. As a foster-adopt mom, I felt traitorous enjoying the wickedness of this story. Not all foster situations are bad! We only tend to hear about them when they are abusive and/or result in psychopaths. And this was bad!! I loved the juxtaposition of the traumas in each of the "darling girls" lives with the literal skeleton in the closet being uncovered. This made for a super intense page turner of a book!

I am already a pretty big fan of Sally Hepworth so I had high expectations for "Darling Girls" and I was not disappointed. This is a tough story to read, having a particular sensitivity to foster care children, however it was beautifully written with well crafted characters making it a wonderful story to read. The twist is so good, I have never felt my emotions shift so much during a book. Ms Hepworth consistently writes such fully developed characters but the three sisters in this book are by far my favorite from her.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication.

Sally Hepworth has written a compelling story in Darling Girls. The book revolves around the lives of three girls brought together for different reasons into the same Foster Home. The situation is horrifying and fascinating at the same time. Add in a surprise revelation at the end and Darling Girls is a most worthy read.

That ending!
I’m a huge Sally Hepworth fan, and this new one is definitely one of my favourites by her.
The story centres around 3 young girls, and a foster home that they all must endure.
Jessica, Norah and Alicia all arrive to Wild Meadows under Miss Fairchild’s care due to different circumstances. The girls quickly form a bond, under the often cruel and terrible care from their foster Mother. They are afraid to let anyone know about the horrible situation at Wild Meadows, for fear of being split up, and being separated from one another.
Fast forward to years later, they receive a call from police, stating the foster home is being torn down and bones of a child have been discovered underneath the house that brought more pain to girls that had already suffered so much.
The story is told from the POV of Jessica, Norah and Alicia as well as interviews from a psychiatrist named Dr Warren. We aren’t sure who this interviews are with, and they are creepy, as well as heartbreaking.
Back to that ending… Ms. Hepworth got me. What a twist and turn of events. There are a few twists along the way, but that last one, wow!
I highly recommend this book due to be released April 23, 2024.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

As a huge Sally Hepworth fan, I was ecstatic to get a copy of Darling Girls! Few books suck me in the way hers do and she has a knack for creating such unique relationships between all her characters that I rarely find in other thrillers. I am not used to her books being as twisty as this one but I really enjoyed this aspect of it. As an avid thriller reader I often am not shocked by plot twists anymore (sadly) but a couple of the ones in this book got me. I would say this book was definitely a bit darker than some but she made some choices that kept it from being too dark or grim to be enjoyable. This was another win for me from Sally Hepworth and I will forever read all her new releases!!

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth is a domestic psychological thriller following three survivors from events that happened in a foster home. It is a highly recommended page turner.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are sisters by choice and remain close after a traumatic childhood. They met at a foster home called Wild Meadows Farms and all endured abuse from foster mother, Holly Fairchild. Twenty-five years have passed and the house is currently being torn down to build a McDonalds. The excavation has unearth human remains and now the police have asked Jessica, Norah, and Alicia to return to Port Agatha for questioning. Returning to Port Agatha and talking to the police brings back the pain.
The narrative follows the point-of-view of four characters -the three sisters and an unnamed person talking to a psychiatrist. Additionally there are past and present timelines so we meet the sisters as adults and also as children enduring the machinations of Miss Fairchild. As adults they are all still suffering from some repercussions from their childhood traumas and the past chapters detail what happened to them.

The well-written plot is very intriguing, twisty, and will immediately grab your attention. However, where the novel really shines is in the fully-realized characters who resemble real individuals with faults and fails. They immediately garner your empathy and support. The subject matter, abuse of foster children, is weighty and grim. The bond the three sisters-by-choice have, based on their shared experiences is more intense and enduring than that which many biological sisters share. Even Miss Fairchild felt like a real person

The narrative unfolds through the eyes of these sisters in both the present and the past. The person talking to the psychiatrist is not revealed until later, but that story line is is also interesting, even though the psychiatrist seems incompetent. Included in the narrative are even some light moments of humor that help with the dark mood, as do the three large dogs. The twisty ending was a surprise but there was one reveal that actually fell flat for me and lowered my rating, but any Sally Hepworth novel is worth reading. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, X, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

4.5 stars

I usually enjoy books from this writer, but this upcoming novel felt particularly strong to me. After (in my opinion) a slightly slow introduction to the book, the plot picks up and stays intriguing until the conclusion. I liked and appreciated the sisters, the ending to their stories were satisfying, and the ultimate conclusion to the book was not one I saw coming, which was fun as well as surprising. All in all, this was a twisty, emotional story with multiple perspectives and facets, all of which tie together nicely in the end.

Title: Darling Girls
Author: Sally Hepworth
Pub Date: April 23, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jessica, Norah and Alicia are three sisters who become family when they are all placed under the care of their foster mother, Miss Fairchild. The sisters all have different personalities and backgrounds but they form an unbreakable bond while under the manipulative and psychologically abusive care of Miss Fairchild.

Twenty five years after they break free from this life, bones are found under the foster home that they grew up in and the sisters are forced to revisit memories that they have tried so hard to put behind them. Unsure if they are witnesses or suspects, they cooperate with law enforcement to help solve the mystery of who was murdered and buried under their childhood home.

The story is told through the points of view of all three sisters and alternates between past and present. Through each of their perspectives, we learn about how their lives have been affected by their childhood. Can this trip home help heal some of the scars from their past? This book was a page-turner for me. I felt for each of the girls and found myself rooting for them to find the freedom they deserved. It was twisty, suspenseful and emotional. My feelings about Miss Fairchild were up and down and the twist at the end wrapped everything up perfectly!

I started this book before bed one night and couldn’t put it down… I finally had to stop reading when my eyelids refused to stay open, and then I finished it the next morning. This is such a good and creative psychological thriller that captivated me from the very beginning.

Told from different POVs through the book, the mystery centers on three women who grew up in a toxic and psychologically abusive foster home and are called back to the area when human remains are discovered under the property during an excavation project. These women are strong but deeply flawed and still suffering from the trauma of their childhoods, but one thing they have to show for their horrible upbringing is their unwavering commitment to one another - they consider themselves sisters in every sense of the word.

In addition to multiple POVs, the story is told in a few different timelines - the past, which was when the girls were kids, the present when they are dealing with the shocking discovery, and an unknown timeline/narrator during which an unnamed character is talking with her therapist. Believe it or not, this bouncing around didn’t feel frustrating one bit; in fact, I really liked being able to compare the timelines and characters in this way. I will say that I did not care for one of the sisters (Jessica) at all in the beginning of the book, but I totally came around to her and genuinely loved all three of our protagonists.

This book invokes some pretty heavy themes and imagery when it comes to children in the foster system, so definitely google the trigger warnings if that sounds like it might be a problem. But if you love psychological thrillers with some murder and secrets, this book will be right up your alley! I really enjoyed it and am thankful that I got to both read and listen to the ARC as both versions are awesome!

This is my second read by Sally Hepworth and was much darker than The Soulmate. It gave me the same grim unsettled feeling as 'The Push' by Ashley Audrain or 'Then She Was Gone' by Lisa Jewell.

The story is told through the POVs of three sisters (Jessica, Norah, and Alecia) who grew up at Wild Meadows foster home. A body was found under the house and the sisters are plunged back into facing their past as detectives interview them for clues. What happened at Wild Meadows? It's a heartbreaking story of survival.

Hepworth does an excellent job showing inside each characters headspace. I felt connected to all three sisters and it was a rollercoaster of emotion. There were a couple parts plugged in that made me LOL and I appreciated them so much for breaking up some of the tension. This is a heavy story dealing with topics ranging from child abuse, neglect, and addiction.

I received an advanced review e-copy St. Martins Press via NetGalley. I am leaving an honest review voluntarily.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia grew up in a foster home and consider themselves sisters into adulthood. When each woman gets a call from Detective Patel, they are asked to relive the trauma that they experienced as children to assist in solving the mystery of a body found under the foster home. As the book alternates between the current lives of the women and their traumatic past at the hands of their foster mother, secrets are revealed and the police begin to question whether they are victims or guilty.
I have really enjoyed this author in the past and found this thriller to be equally entertaining. All three of the women were flawed in different ways, presumably because of Miss Fairchild’s abuse. Miss Fairchild was wacky enough to make the story even more interesting and the twists were surprising but not over the top. It was interesting to hear her story by means of therapy sessions and I liked this creative touch as an addition to the main plot. Nicely wrapped up in the end.

This book was such a wild and disturbing ride. I don’t know that I’ve ever been so hooked on a book and so disturbed at the same time. I wasn’t even sure how to rate it. But the fact it disturbed me so much is why I rated it lower. The child abuse was a bit too much for my liking, and wasn’t necessary. There were so many twists and turns in this book that I didn’t see coming. It’s a super fast read! If you’re a fan of dark mysteries, you would most likely enjoy this one!

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the thriller so much. Hepworth has a way of grabbing her readers and sucking them into her book. I loved the twists she threw in and I swear I had the entire plot figured out - well I didn't! Loved this book so much.