I was able to listen to Darling Girls as an ARC audiobook from NetGally. I have heard many great things about this one, and love other books that the author Sally Hepworth has writteb.
The audiobook started off really interesting, and I enjoyed hearing each girl from past to present narration. It did get a bit borning for me about halway through and I was hoping for more excitement. The story was an original, and I do think it was good overall.

I absolutely devoured this book. I finished in 2 days, listening every chance I could. This book has some dark content, so make sure you check trigger warnings before reading. With that being said, I loved the different perspectives and the development of each character. I was invested in the women, wanting to know more of their story. This is a page turner until the very last page!

*4.75 Stars

Title: My Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
Publication Date- 04/23/24
Publisher- Macmillan
Overall Rating- 4 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Audio review: The narration was great, engaging and well performed. If you do audio that’s a great way to intake this book.

Review: Finally a good book. I’ve been on a dry spell recently and My Darling Girls broke that. This is the story of the foster care system, sisterhood and bonding through difficult times. All you need to know going into this is that there are two timelines happening. There’s the present adults who have found out that their foster care home is being dug up and through that process bones are found. In the past you follow three girls who survive together through a terrible experience in the foster care system. Throughout the story you don’t know who has died and how they died, was it murder? If so, who did it and who could be the victim?

This was a very entertaining read with a good twist. I wouldn’t call the twist super shocking and for me it wasn’t the main point of the story. Some readers may feel that this is not thrilling enough for them, it does lean heavily into the characters and their relationships which really worked for me. For me, that was the main driver of the story and I wanted to know more about what happened to them and how they survived. Alongside that I was often wondering and thinking about who could have died and who would have been the murderer if it were a murder. So there is wonder happening and a thrill to pull you forward while you are going through a heavy story with these girls.

Sally Hepworths writing also really works for me. The way she tells stories, builds plot and characters is just easy reading for me. I didn’t give it a full 5 stars because I wasn’t obsessed or felt that I would read this again but I did really enjoy it and at no point didI I want to DNF it. I think most fans of Sally Hepworth will enjoy it.

All in all I would recommend this for people who like thrillers that have more character exploration. Everything is building up to one moment and one answer but it may feel slow for some getting there if you aren’t interested in hearing about the journey in the past.

Oh my gosh, you guys HAVE to read Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth! This book is so intense and twisty - I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It alternates between timelines and characters' perspectives, which really adds to the suspense. The topics are definitely not for the faint of heart, but the writing is so gripping. I couldn't stop thinking about the characters and what was going to happen next. From the very first page, I was hooked. The emotions it evoked in me were just wow - I was shocked over and over again. If you love books that get your blood pumping and leave you guessing until the end, then this is absolutely the one for you. Seriously, do not look up anything about the plot - just dive right in. You will NOT be able to put it down once you start! Thank you @netgalley @stmartinspress @macmillan.audio for being able to review this ARC

4⭐
Genre ~ psychological thriller
Setting ~ Australia
Publication date ~ April 23, 2024
Page Count ~ 368 (60 chapters)
Audio length ~ 9 hours 6 minutes
Narrators ~ Jessica Clarke
POV ~ multiple 3rd
Featuring ~ multiple timelines, child abuse

Foster sisters Jessica, Norah & Alicia lived their teenage years with Miss Fairchild, who was not a nice person at all.

Now years later bones have been found at their old foster home and they're heading back to a place they never wanted to visit again.

The alternating POV's give us a good sense of each of these women in the now and in the past. We, also, get a few chapters of psychiatrist visits that gave me mixed feelings at the end.

Overall, fast paced in now and slower in the past, but gripping nonetheless and will surely be a best seller. I love when the author has done research and she tells us about it in the author's note.

I was lucky enough to have both an ebook and the audio. Both ways worked perfectly fine.
Narration notes:
Jessica did a great job even though there wasn't too much of a variation between the characters voices.

DNF so hard to rate it. The writing and the narrator were both good but I couldn't stomach the content. Listening to an audiobook about the abuse of children was too difficult.

I have always found a great deal of enjoyment in the novels written by Sally Hepworth, and her latest masterpiece, Darling Girls, is certainly no exception to this rule. It was an exceptionally well-crafted piece of literature, weaving a tale that was both complex and intricate in nature.

This was the third novel I've had the pleasure of immersing myself in from her talented hand, and despite having some experience with her style and narrative, I found myself falling into the trap of thinking I could predict the plot's direction. I believed I had a grasp on the various threads of the story. While I was correct in predicting some minor aspects, I was greatly mistaken, and pleasantly surprised, about many others. The plot twists that Hepworth integrated into the story, especially those central to the narrative, were unexpected and compelling.

This level of unpredictability and depth is characteristic of a Sally Hepworth novel, and it's part of what I find most compelling about her work. Even though I frequently read and review a wide array of books, her creative storytelling and unique narrative twists continue to astonish and delight me in equal measure.

The audiobook version of Darling Girls also deserves special mention. As with her previous works, it is exceptional in both production and performance, providing a captivating and immersive auditory experience that complements the enthralling tale.

This audiobook version of Darling Girls kept me
intrigued and guessing. I was able to follow along with all the different characters and points of view . The twists and turns hooked me and I couldn’t have predicted the ending. I gasped when I finally knew what happened: Portions of the book were hard to listen to as they dealt with abuse

What a twisty tale!

This is my first book read by Sally Hepworth, and will definitely not be my last!

How close are your relationships with your siblings? Would they survive murder accusations? That’s just scratching the surface of this story as well.

After hearing stories of how the fostering system works from a friend whose sibling participates in fostering children in need, I’ve learned a little about the hardships from all sides of finding suitable placement, etc. The system is there for a reason: to find and create nurturing families and households for children who may not have the same advantages and reliable family as others. With that said, what happens when people take advantage of the program?

This story really gets into your mind and you start to feel as paranoid as the different characters as the tale unfolds. It’s told in a non-linear way from different perspectives, which really allows you to get into every facet of each of the main characters.

With the descriptions of their clothing and town, I could easily visualize things during different decades. It was very easy to picture the view from the house, the sound of the children to the look of a horse.

This was an intriguing thriller and now I have plenty of other Hepworth to get to!

Thanks so much to the author, Sally Hepworth, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this arc audiobook of Darling Girls!

All I could do once I picked this book up was think about what was going to unfold next. Darling Girls is one of the better psychological thrillers I’ve read in awhile with tons of twists. The audiobook narration was great and I quite literally could not put this one down.

Story follows 3 foster children with dual timelines switching from when they lived in the foster home, Wild Meadows, to 25 years later—today, when bones have been discovered under the house. Who is the person that was found and what truly happened to them?

Definitely check the trigger warnings on this one because there’s quite a few.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this fantastic book in exchange for an honest review!

DARLING GIRLS might be my favorite Sally Hepworth book. It is definitely her darkest though - much more a psychological thriller than the her other books which I could characterize as more of a domestic thrillers.

This story follows a group of three girls who grew up together in an unstable foster home. As adults, the women get a call that a bones were found underneath the house. Whose are they? And what really happened in that house?

I was on the edge of my seat the entire time - both the flashback chapters and the modern day. I listened to this book over the course of two days which is so fast for me!!! The narration was top notch also.

And THAT ENDING... what?!?!?!

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth is a masterful thriller which follows three foster sisters. The story is told in dual timelines, during their time in foster care and after. Each character’s story and development is well fleshed out and unique and you can tell the toll their past took on each woman. Aside from the individual character dynamics we continue to circle around a singular question, what happened at Wild Meadows and whose bones did they find? This story will take you on a ride and through the gambit of emotions as the twists unfold. My only wish is that Hepworth would have delved further into the girls’ backstories as I feel this would have been the story more impactful, Highly recommend this story.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth explores three women's childhood in the foster care system and how they are managing now. I love how everything ties together and how the twists (especially the last one!!!) are revealed. I swore I knew what the ending would be, but I was delightfully wrong.

Jessica Clarke is very entertaining to listen to! She changes her tone and volume without abandon, like she's fully embraced the characters, which is entertaining to listen to! However, she swallows so loud directly into the mic that it's distracting.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ALC.

Wow, Sally Hepworth knocked this one out of the park. Three foster sisters must relive their time at an idyllic farm estate where they were given a second chance after each suffering a family tragedy. However, Miss Fairchild was not the loving caretaker she pretended to be. She was cruel abusive and use the children to enhance her own self-worth. When the sisters were older and no longer loved independent on her, she brought new babies into the home to foster. There were cruel punishments, Gaslighting, and abuse.

Flash forward 25 years later, and his sisters are called back together when a body is found in the basement of the house they were fostered at.

Parts of this book were heart wrenching to watch this twisted cruelty play out. But you couldn’t stop reading because you needed to know what happened next and the twist were so twisted. I couldn’t see them coming. This was definitely a five star audiobook. The narrator did a tremendous job, and the author phenomenally twisted tale.
Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to preview this audiobook.

What to expect in this book:

-Various points of view
-Neighborhood thriller
-Alternating timelines
-Untrustworthy characters
-Short chapters
-Compulsive read

Thoughts

Thank you to #NetGalley and @stmartinspress for the advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review. I have read only one of Sally Hepworth's books so far, The Soulmate, and knew that I needed to read her newest! This is such a compulsive read and will have you flying through the pages (or audio!) without even knowing it. I usually do not listen to audiobooks in 2-3 days, but this one was so fast for me. Jessica, Alicia, and Norah were rescued from family tragedies and brought into the home of Miss Fairchild to live in foster care. However, living with Miss Fairchild was not much better than living without a mother. Years later, when the three sisters are contacted by detectives for something found on the property of the foster home they lived in, they are faced to deal with the horror of what happened, and it just might be a murder.

Let me tell you, I love a slow burn. Especially on audio. And especially when the twist is unpredictable! I truly did not see anything in this book coming and found it so easy to listen to. I think this would be a great read for the newer thriller reader, especially if you are not a fan of graphic violence or details. However, I must make others aware, there are scenes depicting emotional and physical abuse of children.

I am going to need at least 3-5 business days to process the last chapter because I truly do not even know what happened. So if you have read this, please feel free to chat with me! This one publishes April 23.

I enjoyed the narrator. The Australian narrator added to the experience.

The book got right into the story. Introducing us to each of the three main characters and the mystery.

I listened to it in one day and really enjoyed it. I wasn't really sure how the story would end and found the ending surprising and satisfying.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia became sisters as they trauma-bonded in foster care tormented by Miss Fairchild, their foster mother. As adults, now each grappling with their own scars and brokenness, the girls never waver from supporting each other. When bones are found at their childhood home, the girls journey through their past to reveal the truth. What really happened in their foster home? The girls survived Miss Fairchild once, can they do it again or will the secrets of their past catch up to them?
Hepworth creates unique and authentic characters twisting together in an enthralling storyline. Darling Girls is a fast-paced psychological thriller that’s sure to please lovers of the genre. The audiobook was very well done with multiple character voices to keep the listener’s attention.

This was a suspenseful audiobook that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to. Once I reached past the half way point, I could not stop listening as I was anxious to find out how this psychological thriller would end.

This is the story of an abusive foster mother who left the three “sisters” to live highly dysfunctional lives. I may have given it a 4 star review but the ending was not what I expected but it did explain so much! Very well done especially on audio.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this audio. I will definitely be recommending this one.

This one was so dark and twisty and I loved it!!

The "darling girls" are three girls who grow up together in a foster home. Their foster mother is definitely out there and they all deal with issues as adults. Many years later, the house they lived in is torn down and bones - children's bones - are found under the house. Who do they belong to? And what happened? The investigation begins, the girls are questioned, and the story starts to unravel. And it's quite a tale!

And in true Sally Hepworth fashion, the ending will make your jaw drop!

I had both eARC and ALC and I found listening to it really upped the creep factor.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press for an eARC and MacMillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Another great read from Sally. This is a very immersive, interesting read about the pitfalls and trauma that often happens in foster care. She of course adds mystery, intrigue, and of course, murder. The audio was fantastic and I loved this take on sisterhood and navigating childhood trauma.