This book is JUICY. The whole time I kept asking myself "what the hell is going on??" And the tension is so high. I feel like this will be a popular book club Read- it the perfect story to pick apart and examine with your friends. So much to think about, so many suspects and theories, and so much drama!

That being said, I did find this book to get a bit jumbled, mostly because of the multiple POVs and switching timelines. I occasionally had trouble keeping the details for each of the three sisters separate. I also felt that a few of the twists were a bit predictable- which isn't necessarily a deal breaker for me when it comes to thrillers but it is a bit disappointing.

Still, this books is a wild ride, start to finish. And if you enjoy a good audiobook, the narration in this one is great. Jessica Clarke has so much emotion in her voice when she reads, it really got me invested in the story!

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing me with a free ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Darling Girls AUDIO 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.

Jessica Clarke was the narrator and she, if anything, made this a better book. Audio is definitely the way to go because of her. She took the characters and imbued them with their own personalities and inner lives. She was excellent.

I was invited to listen to the audio version of Darling Girls by MacMillan Audio. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #MacMillanAudio #SallyHepworth #DarlingGirls

⟡Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth⟡
★★★★★ 5/5 stars
Pub date: 4/23 - mark your calendars!

⟡ quick synopsis
3 women are forced to relive their childhood trauma when human remains are discovered at their old foster home, a farming estate called Wild Meadows.

⟡ Read if you like:
•slow burn suspense
•shocking endings
•found family & sisterhood
•second chances
•dogs with funny names
•past + present timelines
•well developed characters
•heavy themes

⟡ my thoughts
An unputdownable read.
Sally Hepworth quickly became a favorite of mine when I read the Younger Wife last year & Darling Girls delivered! Stellar suspense, well written characters, perfect execution of the multiple POVS & dual timeline, plus that signature mind-blowing last minute twist!

I was fully invested in all 3 sisters & their emotional backstories. I was rooting for them, both in their childhood & adult years. They were heavily influenced by their childhood trauma & despite their issues, I found them to humanly flawed, realistic & easy to emphasize with.

The audiobook was fantastic! I loved the narrator's accent & voice work. If you are an audiobook fan I would definitely recommend listening to this one!

This book is dark & the content is heavy, but this is balanced out by the love of found family. Sensitive topics were handled with care. I think this should DEFINITELY be on your list as a must-read thriller this spring.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, St. Martins Press & Sally Hepworth for the opportunity to review this ARC ◡̈

Slow to burn but Torched the ending.

This was a great story and all through the book I was trying to figure out what was going on. It kept me intrigued and guessing right to the very last chapter.

The narrators on the audio did a great job as well.

Thanks for the ARC Audio on this.

I enjoyed the dual timelines and multiple POV’s. The premise had promise but the execution was just okay; there’s drama but no real thrills. Like most of Sally Hepworth’s books, I never really LOVE them. They’re quick to read through but never really grip me.

The audiobook was well done but maybe because I started to zone out, the “twist” at the end didn’t hit me like it should’ve I guess. I was a bit confused at first but then it clicked. This is a well-loved one so read for yourself but I wasn’t overly impressed.

OKAY SALLY WHAT WAS THIS WHO ARE YOU. This one was giving Sally with a dash of Karin Slaughter. Or someone equally as dark (maybe a splash of Winstead). I really liked this one! It was definitely leaning suspense moreso than mystery/thrillers as Sally's usually do, but despite that it was still an absolute page turner and I was hanging off every word and wanted to know what happened.

The book followed foster sisters years after they left the foster home, after the police found human remains beneath their foster home. Each of the characters were well developed and I feel like I really understood all of the decisions they made even when they were the "wrong" ones I felt like I had empathy for them and wanted to support them in any way I could.

Overall, was very intrigued by this book! Knocked the last star off just because I would've liked a bit more mystery thriller!

I read listened to this audiobook via an ARC from NetGalley. I was excited to receive a copy because this book has some social media buzz and was an anticipated release for me. I would describe this as a drama with a hint of mystery but I would definitely not describe it as a suspenseful thriller. The book bounces around timeline and points of view but largely focuses on three adult women who shared a dark childhood foster home experience under the care of Miss Fairchild. Pill-stealing home organizer Jessica, loose cannon Norah who uses sex to get what she wants, and caring bisexual social worker Alicia share a sisterly bond in this character-driven novel in which bones are found beneath their childhood home. Overall this was an interesting read with an intriguing twist and the very end.

I’m a huge thriller fan, and I just kept waiting for the twist(s). By the 80% part of the book, I was still waiting for the twist and was pretty sure I’d figured it out. It wasn’t until the last chapter that I finally got a taste of excitement, and it was too little, too late, unfortunately. I might even classify this as a mystery over a thriller because it’s never very tense. It’s very dark, and there is a lot of child abuse involved, so brace yourself if you decide to dive in.

Sally Hepworth has another incredible mystery thriller!!

Darling Girls follows three foster sisters who, as adults, return to their former foster home of abuse when a body is discovered under the house. The split timeline bounces masterfully between the three young girls and the three adult women. Each woman has a unique and important story, and the foster mother is a brilliantly-written villain. The ending was somehow both sweet and tender and had my jaw on the floor in shock.

I’m excited for this release and to make all my friends read it!

Thank you Netgally and Macmillan audio for the audiobook ARC!

Poignant at times, deeply disturbing at others, this novel will pull at your heart strings. As a former social worker (although not in Australia), I found the description of the foster care system extremely painful. I liked the dual timeline, but there were a couple times listening to the audio version that I got lost and a bit confused. Overall, the three "sisters" were very relatable and engaging, and the pace was good. The major plot twist was not particularly surprising to me but may be for some. The narrator of the audio version was excellent!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for sending me an audiobook ARC!

This book follows three women who grew up in a foster home together with an abusive and manipulative foster mother named Miss Fairchild. All of the social workers told them they were so lucky to have a loving foster mother and grow up on a beautiful farm/estate, but it turns out their experience is anything but lucky. This story flips between the present time and the past when the girls are growing up. In the current time, there is a homicide investigation that begins when a body is discovered under the house in which the girls grew up. The past timeline shows both the abuse they suffered at the hands of Miss Fairchild and the bond that the girls form with each other. This story is also told from multiple perspectives of the sisters (and eventually Miss Fairchild), which makes this story layered and complex. This book really tackles a lot of the complex issues and abuses that face children in the foster care system. Be sure to check the trigger warnings for this book because it does describe abuse in detail. It also shows how the women are still actively working through and coping with the trauma they suffered as children, and it details how it effects their lives as adults. This book has so many twists in it, and every character has something to hide! iIt will leave you theorizing and guessing the whole time, down to the last page!

Wow! Sally Hepworth did it again with a book that left me feeling mind-blown. This story is about three foster girls named Norah, Alicia and Jessica. The trauma that these girls went through thanks to foster mom Miss Fairchild is unmistakably cruel. I wanted more and I wanted revenge for these girls. When some bones are found under the foster house I wanted to know what happened and whose bones could it be.

I was hoping for a different ending but the twist was perfect and more than I could have imagined. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ARC audiobook. The narrator did a nice job telling the story but I did wish there would have been multiple narrators, one for each character.

I started off reading it but remember I had the audiobook on NetGalley, so I switched to the Audiobook and loved it. The narrator was amazing. The way she told the story and was versatile with her voices with each character was great and made the story even more enjoyable. Throughout the story, I found myself thinking hard about the twists. At one point I just couldn’t figure it out. Although, I figured out one of the twists, I did not see the ending come. It literally left my jaw on the floor and my mind blown 🤯.

𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕂𝕟𝕠𝕨
➭ Found Family
➭ Multiple POVs
➭ Nonlinear Timeline
➭ Unreliable Narrator
➭ Twisted Ending

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillanaudio for the gifted copy.

Wow Sally Hepworth! Author extraordinaire, you have outdone yourself with Darling Girls! I am a longtime reader of her thrilling novels, and her latest book was a page turner with a shock ending that kept me guessing until the very last page!! This was one of the best books I have had the pleasure of reading this year- thank you NetGalley so much!! I finished reading Darling Girls in 2 days because it was so intriguing! I felt all of the emotions for the girls and their individual traumas, and the antagonist reaping what she sowed! I have a deeper appreciation for family values and empathy for broken systems. If you are looking for a thriller set in Australia, this one has it all: well developed characters, a fast paced plot, and if you enjoy audiobooks, a lovely narrator. I cannot wait for Ms. Hepworth’s next novel!! Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book! 📖

What I love about all of Hepworth's book as well as this one:
** I love how she combines so much family drama into the mystery/thriller.....and not just surface level drama, but deep trauma inducing drama.
** I love how she develops each character. She often is able to write that gray zone of good vs evil so well, and how you often end up rooting for someone who may be the "bad" guy
** I also love how she chooses her settings and makes them a character of their own

I absolutely loved the relationship between Jessica, Norah, and Alicia in this one. I loved how they developed throughout the book, and I loved how their relationships with each other and others developed as well. I think this is one of Hepworth's best yet!

🎧🔲DARLING GIRLS by Sally Hepworth was everything I hoped it would be!

I was able to pair the digital copy along with the audio which was perfectly narrated by Jessica Clarke, allowing me to fly through this dramatic story full of questions. I did think the narration was done very well with easily distinguished characters, capturing the personality quirks, or sinister qualities, of each.

I did find this story to be a bit darker and with the circumstances surrounding foster care and child abuse, it could be a tougher one for some. I thought it was a fantastic way to highlight pitfalls of this system while telling a very suspenseful tale. I also appreciated the way motives were examined and yet, that ending...!

Just knowing that is enough to go into it.

I am a fan of Hepworth and will continue to be as she dives into complicated relational situations with her suspense novels. This one was a win for me!

Thank you to @netgalley @macmillan.audio & @stmartinspress for the ARC and ALC of this title coming out April 23rd!

This book was fast paced and I read it in about 2 sittings! The ending wasn’t my favorite, but the journey was exciting and made it a five star read for me. Really enjoyed the multiple timelines, I usually think that really adds to a story like this one

This was my first book from this author so I have nothing to compare to. I neither liked nor disliked this story.
Unfortunately my midway rating is mostly because I didn’t l/couldn’t connect with any of the characters, good or bad. There just did not seem to be anything about any of them I could latch on to.
This story had many threads going off on different tangents and I had a hard time keeping them straight. Even the twist for the ending had me a bit perplexed.
I am going to read another of this author’s books since so many like her thrillers!

Thanks for the opportunity to listen to this book. I also have a digital copy but chose to listen instead.

In "Darling Girls" by Sally Hepworth, readers and listeners are drawn into a suspenseful and unique narrative that delves into the lives of three foster sisters—Jessica, Norah, and Alicia. As they navigate the complexities of their shared past and the unexpected discovery of a body under their childhood home, the story unfolds with gripping intensity. Jessica Clarke's narration in the audiobook version adds an extra layer of depth to this compelling tale.

The novel introduces readers to Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, who were raised by their foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate. Despite the facade of a happy family life, the sisters' upbringing was shrouded in secrets and unpredictability. The specific roles each sister plays within the group add a fascinating dynamic to the narrative, creating a rich tapestry of relationships and individual struggles. Hepworth weaves a masterful plot that keeps readers and listeners on the edge of their seats, culminating in a surprising and impactful ending.

In the audiobook version, Jessica Clarke skillfully brings the story to life, immersing listeners in the emotional depth of the characters and the suspenseful atmosphere of the plot. Her narration enhances the overall experience, adding an extra dimension to the already captivating storytelling.

"Darling Girls" is a thrilling page-turner that seamlessly blends themes of sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder. Sally Hepworth's masterful storytelling, combined with Jessica Clarke's engaging narration, delivers a riveting experience for both readers and audiobook enthusiasts. Prepare to be captivated by this suspenseful journey into the shadows of the foster sisters' past and the unexpected twists that await them.

Whether experienced through the physical book or the audiobook, "Darling Girls" is a must-read/listen for fans of suspenseful fiction and intricate character-driven narratives.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
This book is definitely this author’s best. It’s darker than all of her others and her writing really shines in this one.
It’s about 3 foster sisters that are as close as any blood sisters. One day, they receive a call that bones were found buried at the foster home they grew up in. They return there, afraid of what they will discover.