Thank you so much to netgalley and St. Martins Press for the arc of this book! Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me.

I couldn’t connect with the characters or this story. I feel like the child abuse was just way too much and way too descriptive for me to continue with this book.

I hope others love this one.

Sally Hepworth is a noted name in suspense and domestic thrillers, and she does not disappoint with this newest one.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are foster sisters who remained closer than biological sisters in their adulthood. They connected when staying with Miss Fairchild, grew to love and protect each other through the hidden abuse and lies, and banded together to hide the secrets. But now, the secrets are blowing open - human bones were found under the former foster home, and the investigation is bringing all three women back to the property and the inevitable confrontation with Miss Fairchild.

If you are already a Sally Hepworth fan, definitely add this to your TBR list, if you are not and like the thriller genre, this is a great new author for you!

Sally Hepworth is an empathetic writer, creating vivid characters that come alive distinctly on the page. Darling Girls gives insight into the foster care system and the complex relationships that result from it and at the same time is clear in showing twists and turns of the genre that will surprise the reader and illuminate the “bad apples”.
Though this is an early review of the novel, I found in terms of pace, plot, and characterization, it’s good to go.

Thanks to NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a good book! I loved following the journey of these “sisters” who went through foster care together. Their personalities were each unique and held my interest as they were interviewed trying to figure out who the bones belonged to that were found under their old foster home. The ending was great! I highly recommend this book!

Three young ladies with complexing and tragic filled childhoods were raised by Miss Fairchild. On the outside people see the girls lives being better off in their foster home. It’s all a facade and the girls want out. Later on a body is found under the home where they lived. Who is the responsible for this? Who holds the darkest secret? I loved this story. It’s another amazing story from this author. The plot is superb, the characters are sublime and it’s an exciting rollercoaster ride. The author keeps the reader engaged in the story until the very end.


Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I enjoyed this one (blew through it in 2 days!) but the ending was so disturbing that it kind of ruined the whole thing for me.

Sally Hepworth really nailed it this time. Darling Girls is the first thriller so far this year to have my jaw hit the floor after finishing it. Darling Girls follows the past of three girls who became sisters while being fostered at the same house with Miss Fairchild. Suffering abuse and lots of trauma, years later a child’s bones are found under the foster home. Hepworth takes you on a wild ride about their upbringing, and brings all twists. This book is living rent free in my head for awhile…

Woah - this one got me!

I flew through this in a day! The build up? Fantastic. The characters? Damaged. The multiple perspectives? Jarring.

Truly truly enjoyed this thriller!

Rescued as young girls, Alicia, Norah and Jessica are constantly told by their new foster mom, Miss Fairchild, just how lucky they are now to be living with her. Their lives before were terrible and now living together at a nice estate together is the second chance for them all. However, behind closed doors, it wasn’t actually as idyllic as it seemed. Miss Fairchild made the girls do everything around the house, including care for infants as they might come in for care. After years of the silent abuse, the 3 girls finally broke free and moved on with their lives. However, years later, the house they grew up in was demolished and bones were found. All 3 girls were brought back to the place they escaped and more questions then answers keep popping up. Who do the bones belong to? Are the girls witnesses or suspects? Everyone has secrets and it’s only just a matter of time before the house of cards comes crashing down.

Sally Hepworth does it again! I’ve not met a book of hers that I can’t put down. I enjoyed the multiple points of views and the back and forth timeline as the story unfolded. Each and every character brought something different to the story line and Hepworth did a perfect job of weaving them all together. This one only took about a day and half to binge as I was desperate to find out what happened. The best part for me is that it was only toward the end as the story was truly unfolding that I was even able to put two and two together guessing everything and I still didn’t have it all right. Hopefully Sally is back at the keyboard already whipping out her next winner soon!

Loved Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth; there were twists and turns while making the book realistic and relatable. Hepworth does not disappoint. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Thank you for the arc. I am a big fan of sally hepworth and this did not disappoint. It was a quick read on a weekend morning. Very enjoyable.

4.5 stars

A marvelously executed thriller by one of my favorite suspense writers.

I loved that this wasn’t your typical setting or characters. Reading about foster children as main characters (their traumas, backgrounds, and character flaws) added to the unpredictability & unreliability.

The change from third person to first person at the end was brilliant. It felt like you were reading a story about people, then getting their commentary on the story.

Overall pacing was great but the beginning of this one was a little slower than Hepworth’s other reads. She remains on of my favorite thriller authors, & this book really highlights her talent.

Sally Hepworth's latest novel, Darling Girls is an exploration of the long shadow of a traumatic childhood. The story centers on three foster sisters, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, who grew up at Wild Meadows, an idyllic estate run by their seemingly benevolent foster mother, Miss Fairchild. However, beneath the surface lurks a darkness. Miss Fairchild's abusive and controlling behavior leaves deep scars on the girls.
Hepworth masterfully weaves the story through the past and present, revealing the manipulative tactics Miss Fairchild employed and the enduring impact they had on the sisters. As adults, each woman struggles with the emotional fallout of their childhoods. A shocking discovery - a body unearthed beneath the floorboards of Wild Meadows - throws their lives into further turmoil and forces them to confront the secrets they've long buried.
Darling Girls is a page-turner. The characters are complex, each carrying the burden of their shared trauma, and relatable. However, the true brilliance of Darling Girls lies in its ability to sow seeds of doubt in the reader's mind. Miss Fairchild's brand of control is insidious, twisting the girls' perceptions and making the reader question the reliability of their memories. Are they recounting events accurately, or have years of trauma clouded their judgment? This uncertainty adds an extra layer of intrigue, making it difficult to discern fact from fiction and keeping you guessing until the very end.
This novel is a perfect choice for fans of domestic thrillers with strong female characters. If you enjoyed Hepworth's previous works like The Good Sister or are looking for a twisty-turny read that delves into the complexities of family and the enduring power of sisterhood, it won't disappoint.

I never tire of Sally Hepworth! She has a way of just sucking me right in and keeping me guessing until the very end. Darling Girls is just the latest in a series of amazing books. Jump in. You will not be disappointed.

I love Sally Hepworth novels; she’s an auto-buy author for me, but Darling Girls was not my favorite. Honestly, for the first 50% it felt like foster care ab*se trauma p*rn with super dysfunctional adults narrating their flashbacks. Once the mystery really set in, this was engaging, but I felt uncomfortable with most of this story, both past and present timelines. Like any Hepworth, there’s an excellent twist, and this novel covers some very important topics like child ab*se and addiction, but I felt kind of haphazard and voyeuristic for me. I guess if you’re in the childcare space, be it social work or foster care, or if the mistreatment of children doesn’t bother you. I’d still recommend this one, but other Hepworth novels are better. I’d recommend the audio over the physical as trying to actual read this was kind of a slog versus listening to a good audio narration.

DARLING GIRLS is a domestic suspense mystery by New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth. Having really enjoyed her previous novels, I was anxious to start this novel.

In this novel the focus is on the system of foster care and its effects on the lives of three women: Jessica, Norah, and Alicia: linked as sisters by their childhood where they lived on a farm with a foster mother named Miss Fairchild who raised them at Wild Meadows.

The three sisters are all different yet bonded together. Jessica has a little OCD and Norah has some anger issues and Alicia has low self-esteem. It's a bond that takes them back to when they were girls, and they lived on a farm with a tough foster mother named Miss Fairchild who had rules not to be broken.

The book begins in the present, twenty-five years later, where each sister receives a call from a detective to inform them that Wild Meadows had been demolished and human bones had been discovered beneath the farmhouse from their childhood. They are asked to return to tell what they know. Against their will they return to Wild Meadows and Miss Fairchild.

The chapters alternate between past and present timelines of three women and how their past trauma shaped their present day lives.

The strength of this novel lies in the exceptional skill of this author’s character development. Each woman is different and easily pictured with their own set of baggage.

Can the past ever truly be buried?

Many thanks to the author, St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my digital copy.

Let me start by saying you will feel some sort of way while you read this book and once you finish! It's going to push your boundaries, but I feel that's what also makes this a five-star read for me. There were moments when I was riddled with anxiety. I struggle with severe anxiety and panic attacks in my personal life, but to have a book have a hold on me so tight was unexpected!

I can always count on Sally Hepworth to have me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Darling Girls is no different. There's no sugar coating it. This book is tough to read. It deals with several tough topics such as the injustice of the foster care system, child abuse and neglect, addiction, narcissism, trauma, child abduction, etc. It's a lot, yet I do recommend reading it. If nothing else, it will help people to realize how broken our system is and make everyone realize that while this is a fictional story, situations described in this book happen to children every single day. If you have a tough time getting through it, and I did, just think of all the children in foster care right now who aren't in good homes.

The story and characters are well written. Once it wrapped up, I wasn't left feeling like I needed more or that something was missing.

Well done, Sally Hepworth! I can't imagine how you must have felt writing Jessica, Norah, & Alicia's story. Thank you for shedding light on a really difficult topic.

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for this e-ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

I’m a huge fan of Sally Hepworth’s writing because she is so funny. She tells a mystery/thriller in a way that made me laugh out loud at some of the dialogue. The witty comments along with the multiple POV kept me engaged from start to finish. This is a must read book!

4.5/5 rounded up

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the advanced reading copy!

Content warning: child abuse

SYNOPSIS -- Jessica, Norah and Alicia grew up with foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on a beautiful country estate. Each was rescued from sad situations and brought together... how lucky are they?! From the outside, very. From the inside, though, things are very, very different. Miss Fairchild seems kind, but, in truth, she's very unpredictable. With ever-changing rules and expectations, as well as a heavy hand at punishment, Miss Fairchild is anything but the sweet foster mother they wanted. Years later, a body is discovered underneath the house they grew up in. When Jessica, Norah and Alicia are pulled away from their complicated adult lives, they're not sure if they're there as witnesses, or suspects.

I LOVED this book!! From the very start, I was absolutely hooked. I've heard great things about Sally Hepworth for years, but was disappointed by the first book I read of hers -- THE SOULMATE. This one, however, blew me away. With multiple points of views and timelines, plus quick chapters, I could not put this book down. There was tons of new information on every page and so much mystery, making this into a wild whodunnit guessing game. Each character was unique in her own way and they all developed with such depth by the end that I was super invested. Miss Fairchild was such a complex character and, even though I hated her, I also somehow wanted more of her. The twist was TWISTY and I found myself shocked at the way things turned out. The therapeutic perspective is always really interesting to me and I loved the way these sessions were shrouded in mystery, too. Overall, this was a really great thriller and I can't wait to go back to Sally Hepworth's back list!

📚: Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth (@sallyhepworth)
⭐️: 4.5/5 (rounding down on #goodreads)

Somehow, this is my first full length Sally Hepworth read. (How have I held out for this long?) And it definitely won’t be my last.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia. Sisters bonded by childhood trauma, with their former foster moher, Miss Fairchild, at the center of it all. With rapidly changing moods, zero patience, and a particularly cruel way to punish, when these sisters left, they hoped to never return.

Fast forward 25 years, and each one gets a call they dreaded. A body’s been found underneath the home they grew up in. Whose body is it? And how did it get there?

This read is dark and a page-turner that’s filled with familial bonds and processing trauma. (Naturally, I couldn’t get enough.)

An added half star to my rating for the final 4 pages. I nearly screamed out loud at the end twist.

Big thanks to @stmartinspress via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Darling Girls is out later this month on 4/23. Thriller readers - don’t miss this one!