I’ll give this 3.5/5 … it dragged on a bit in places and was quite predictable. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook, even though the premise was somewhat disturbing. The story takes place near Sydney and the narrator’s Australian accent came across in a casual and pleasant tone.

This story is about a complex crime involving many different perspectives of the foster care experience. It was remarkable that one of the girls who grew up in a toxic foster home later decided to dedicate her life to assisting and advocating for kids in the foster system. Each of the three “sisters” in this book had a unique personality and I liked the bond that they formed in order to survive, since they may not have been confidants in other circumstances.

There were some humorous situations that kept the story light when dealing with such serious subject matter. I especially liked the 3 dogs named for the first item they destroyed, and the jokes one of the sisters would tell the others at bedtime.

The motivations for the girl's evil foster mother’s actions do come out in the end, with a bit of a final twist that made me go back and reflect on which parts of her past were true and which were fabricated. I was a bit confused by Amy the six-toed orphan and what her true origins were and how she and the other “babies” happened to pop back into town during the investigation. I would have thought their involvement would be irrelevant since they were so young and were in the foster home for such a brief period of time.

Overall, the book kept my attention and kept me guessing and I would recommend it to readers who enjoy a modern mystery.

Daaaaaaang 🫨👀😮 what a RIDE! ⚠️ content warnings for child abuse!! Proceed at your own risk.

✨multiple POVs + timelines
✨3 foster siblings - sisters proving blood relation isn’t always everything
✨twisty twisty 🌪️ I didn’t see a lot of it coming!!
✨great on audio!
✨fast-paced + quick chapters

It was dark, emotional, and really got into how childhood trauma can impact lives very differently later in life. Each sister had a distinct voice (especially once you get into it) and I really enjoyed the exploration of family all tied up within the mystery. Definitely reccomend! 👏

To say this one has me at the edge of my seat up until the very end would be an understatement.

I’m a fan of Salleh Hepworth’s writing, she makes the twists so effortlessly.

I thought I knew how this would end, but the last 3 minutes of the audio ripped the rug out from under me. I didn’t see it coming at all.

I enjoyed listening to the three sisters and their sisterhood develop through their horrible experiences with foster care. Miss Fairchild was a horrid person. Her unpredictability and sudden change in moods was absolutely nuts. Those girls didn’t stand a chance in pleasing her.

This book had so many different levels to it. You saw these girls as 10-12 years old, then again as they’re older and experiencing their lives while still staying close. The amount of manipulation was done perfectly, and I feel the author did a great job and showing just how easily kids can slip through the cracks in the system and how their told they’re lucky to be placed somewhere even when it’s horrible.

This book made me feel a lot of things and I highly recommend this one!

Thankful for NetGalley for the audiobook! I enjoyed it and look forward to more reads by this author very soon!

I really enjoyed this book I could not put it down! It is definitely one of my all time favourite Sally Hepworth books!

The story follows the sisters, Alicia, Jessica and Norah (with an h), (bonded by childhood experiences not by blood) who all met in a seemingly idillic foster home at a young age.

I really loved each sister, their individual personalities, quirks, chemistry and bond. You grow to care for them and feel like you are a part of their journey and sisterhood.

The story is told in past and present, showing how they came to be, their shared experiences in the foster home that fated them to become bonded allies, and the situation in their present lives.

In the present they have all grown up, over a decade has past and they are still in each others lives. One by one they each receive a phone call from a detective stating that remains have been found on the property of their foster home.

They are forced to return to their past, and questioned about the events that took place. It is obvious they are suspects in potential homicide.

I loved the pacing of the book, getting to see page after page the unfolding story of what happened whilst trying to guess how we got to where we are in the present.

There is a lot of suspense, along with humour from the brave, snarky siblings.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone it was an extremely enjoyable read! The narrator of the audiobook did a fantastic job 🩵

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillion audio for allowing me an early copy of this audiobook!

I've read two other books by Sally Hepworth, and this was by far my favorite!

Darling Girls is about 3 "sisters" who grew up together in foster care in the home of their emotionally and verbally abusive caregiver, Ms. Fairchild. They remain close as adults, helping each other cope with the trauma of their childhood, but their worlds are rocked when bones are discovered at their former home, leading them to be roped into a police investigation that explores their past. I especially enjoyed the twist at the end, that I wasn't able to guess in advance (unusual for me)!

Read this is you enjoy:
*Thrillers/suspense
*Strong female protagonists
*Surprise endings
*Dual timelines
*Multiple POVs
*LGBTQ representation

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for e-book and audiobook copies to review in exchange for my opinion.

This is my second Sally Hepworth novel and she is officially a favorite for me. Both of her novels have kept me on the edge of ny seat. “Darling Girls” centers around three foster sisters and their shared trauma. I loved reading about the sisters lives, eventually leading up to the insane final twist. I had the pleasure of both reading and listening to this novel and the narration was fantastic! I typically prefer to read but the audio for this one added so much character to the story. I definitely recommend “Darling Girls” to all psychological thriller fans, 4⭐️

Thank you to St Martin’s Press for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of this title via NetGalley.

I had a very mixed reaction to this book. On one hand, the sisters' bond and their time in foster care were incredibly compelling, adding a strong character dynamic and backstory. Additionally, I found parts of the ongoing Wild Meadows mystery quite engaging, eagerly anticipating the resolution. However, I had a somewhat lukewarm response to the twist, which caused the climax to fall slightly short of my expectations. Despite this, I still believe it was a very worthwhile read, especially for those interested in complex family dynamics within the mystery genre.

I will say all of Sally Hepworth books are so good. The endings always surprises me. This book was no exception and I thought I had it figured out but the last chapter was just a great surprised in the story.

Love Sally Hepworth! Thank you NetGalley for giving me the early opportunity to read this new book from one of my favs.

This book is disturbing in the way that her books tend to be—mentions of child abuse and a twist at the end just to dig the knife deeper. It had me on my toes and was a wild ride.

Read this if you like: the Family Plot, Sally Hepworth other books

This was a dark and sad book but very excellent story. There was a lot of depth to the characters and I also enjoyed their development.

My third Sally Hepworth book, and my favorite so far! I loved how the book had so many different perspectives - four narrators and two different time periods. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were all likeable characters that I was rooting for. There were several twists along the way, including a great one at the end. It was difficult to read about the abuse they endured from Miss Fairchild. The narrator was enjoyable, although a full cast would have been amazing.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for my free audioARC of Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth — available Apr 23 in the US!

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia grew up together as the foster daughters of Miss Fairchild, on a idyllic farm with everything they could want for. Except for, you know, happiness. Because Miss Fairchild was not as loving as she seemed to everyone else. Now, as adults, the girls are getting calls from the police investigating a possible murder on their foster farm — what secrets are they hiding?

This one was, unfortunately, not for me. I didn't build a connection to any of the characters, and I felt that much of the book used trauma and abuse as a shortcut to an actual narrative. I don't enjoy reading about the abuse of children, especially when it reinforces the stereotype that all fostered and adopted children have terrible, sadistic adults in their lives.

Aside from my personal aversions, I think others will enjoy this read because it is twisty and engaging, and there is nothing objectively wrong with it. So pick it up if you're interested, but please keep in mind that not all foster stories are based on physical and emotional violence.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Author Sally Hepworth is known to draw readers in to her towns, storyline, and characters. Her most recent, "Darling Girls" is no exception as three adopted sisters are thrown back into their childhood trauma when a body is discovered under the demolished home of their evil foster mother.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are very different women. Each with their own traumas and experiences growing up under the roof of Miss Fairchild. But the one thing they always had was each other. Back "home" to be interviewed in the investigation of an unidentified body, these sisters are thrown back into one of the hardest times of their life. The events, investigation, and discoveries that ensue lend to an entertaining, albeit disturbing conclusion.

This was a fun twisty thriller/mystery that takes place in foster care. You can’t stop. I listened to this in one sitting.

Just what I needed, a fantastic distraction.

Three young women return to the town where they spent time in foster care at the behest of the local constabulary. A dead body has been found under the house they were fostered in.

What horrible secrets, past & present, are ready to be unearthed?

Recommended!

Great narration! Thank you MacMillan Audio & NetGalley for granting me access to this story. Available 4/23/2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC audiobook.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story though I didn't feel like there was a great surprise towards the end. I wanted there to be, but it wasn't a surprising reveal.
Despite that, I felt Hepworth did an excellent job just telling a great story. The three sisters were well crafted and provided intrigue. I thought their bond was real and I was cheering for them.
I think there are a lot of "kids treated poorly" stories in the thriller genre right now, but Hepworth treats this one well and with depth.
As I heard the audiobook, the delivery by the narrator was, for the most part, very good. With her Australian accent, I was glad she didn't do many different "voices" for the characters. I think, for a North American listener, it would have been too much.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are three sisters who once were all foster children at Wild Meadows, taken in one-by-one from challenges and tragedies in their lives to live with their new foster mother Miss Fairchild. Except what seemed like a gorgeous home to become a family turns out to be a dangerous place for the three girls. In the present day, the sisters are still close but all dealing with their own personal struggles. Jessica is a house cleaner keeping secrets from her clients, Norah is still dealing with rage issues and toxic relationships, and Alicia works to help foster children but is too afraid to make new relationships of their own. Then they all get phone calls, that human bones have been found beneath Wild Meadows and the police need to speak to all of them. They are forced to all travel back to the town where they spent the worst years of their childhood in to face what happened at Wild Meadows.

Sally Hepworth has delivered another great multi-character thriller. Moving between the perspectives of each sister and time, Hepworth creates a fast moving work full of mysteries and twists. The book deals with the potential for abuse within the foster care system and the challenges that can arise in reporting abuse that may not arise to a level that can warrant immediate intervention. Hepworth does a great job balancing the personalities of the three sisters and giving each of them their own unique backgrounds and attitudes and difficulties, which carries the majority of the book until the twists start coming quickly in the second half of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of Darling Girls in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this, especially on audio. I liked that the story was about women who were trying to get themselves out of a tough bind and did so by supporting each other. It was difficult to read about how families abandoned their daughters whose marriages ended but was reassured by the new “families” these daughters made when navigating through the difficult times. I learned about divorce and how it was handled historically and the part Reno played in it, this is all new to me.

The low ratings on Goodreads are more a reflection on readers’ lack of insight into the kind of stories they enjoy. This one is a quiet, reflective tale, a character-driven story not a plot- driven one where lots of things happen. If a fast-paced story with lots of action is your jam then pick up a mystery novel already and leave these beautiful ones alone. The issue is with you not with the story or its author.

Thank you, NetGalley and Flatiron books for an early view.

An exceptionally crafted psychological mystery about three sisters growing up in foster care. As adults the sisters are summoned back to their childhood home and forced to wade through their traumatic past. This book kept my guessing until the bitter end! While the story is told from multiple points of view, it was narrated well and easy to identify each character.

This was my first Sally Hepworth book and it won't be my last.

When human remains are found on the old grounds of a former foster home, investigators reach out to three foster children who grew up there. Are they suspects, or victims? The book alternates between the three sisters and the terrible circumstances that brought them into the abusive care of Miss Fairchild.

From the foster "sister's" POV, it is quite obvious that Miss Fairchild must be responsible for the death, but Miss Fairchild tries to spin the police into suspecting the sisters. What follows is a tumultuous ride through their past and present lives, as they wait to find out who the remains belong to.

There were a few unexpected twists to this, and while it was extremely well written and narrated, I found it to not be super thrilling. Considering the dark subjects of child abuse and neglect, it was a surprisingly enjoyable listen, but I was not super invested in any of the characters or the outcome. I think this one deserves 3.5 stars.

I appreciate the ARC from Netgalley and the publishers.