Author: Sally Hepworth

Sally Hepworth has lived around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the United Kingdom and Canada. She is the author of The Secrets of Midwives, The Things We Keep, The Mother’s Promise, The Family Next Door and The Mother-in-Law. Sally now lives in Melbourne with her husband, three children, and one adorable dog.

Photo by Mrs. Smart Photography.

#BookReview Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth @SallyHepworth @StMartinsPress #DarlingGirlsNovel #SallyHepworth #StMarinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth @SallyHepworth @StMartinsPress #DarlingGirlsNovel #SallyHepworth #StMarinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Darling Girls

Author: Sally Hepworth

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 23, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

SISTERS, SECRETS, LOVE, AND MURDER… Sally Hepworth’s new novel has it all.

For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?

A thrilling page-turner of sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder by New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth.


Review:

Ominous, gripping and intense!

Darling Girls is a well-executed, intricate thriller that takes us into the lives of foster care sisters Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, as after bones are discovered buried under the home where they were raised, struggle to come to grips with the actions, scars, treatment, repercussions, and tragedies from their childhoods.

The writing is brisk and tight. The characters are troubled, scarred, and vulnerable. And the plot, using a past/present, back-and-forth style, unfolds and unravels quickly into a compelling tale full of twists, turns, lies, secrets, manipulation, obsession, love, loyalty, jealousy, abuse, and murder.

I’ve been a huge fan of Sally Hepworth since I read The Mother’s Promise in 2017, and whether it’s one of her women’s fiction novels or edge-of-your-seat thrillers, such as this latest release, Darling Girls, I am always riveted, entertained, satisfied and highly impressed.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sally Hepworth

Sally Hepworth has lived around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the United Kingdom and Canada. She is the author of The Secrets of Midwives, The Things We Keep, The Mother's Promise, The Family Next Door and The Mother-in-Law. Sally now lives in Melbourne with her husband, three children, and one adorable dog.

Photo by Mrs. Smart Photography.

#BookReview The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth @SallyHepworth @StMartinsPress #TheSoulmateBook #SallyHepworth #StMarinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth @SallyHepworth @StMartinsPress #TheSoulmateBook #SallyHepworth #StMarinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Soulmate

Author: Sally Hepworth

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 4, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Get ready for a thrilling, addictive novel about marriage, betrayal, and the secrets that push us to the edge in Sally Hepworth’s The Soulmate.

There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t.

When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral…Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?

And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate…lie? As the perfect facade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel.


Review:

Twisty, sophisticated, and suspenseful!

The Soulmate is a gripping domestic thriller that delves into the intricate, entangled bonds that exist between friends and family members and reminds us that everything is not always as it seems and behind all those smiles and happy faces often hides an abundance of lies, secrets, and swirling emotions.

The writing is ominous and tight. The characters are complex, troubled, and secretive. And the plot, told from alternating perspectives, is sinister and tense as it twists, turns, and unravels all the actions, motivations, personalities, and relationships within it.

The Soulmate, at its core, is a novel about life, love, loyalty, family, marital discord, mental illness, parenthood, friendship, and deception. It’s intense, menacing, enthralling, and, without a doubt, another fantastic page-turner by Hepworth you don’t want to miss.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or one of the following links.

            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sally Hepworth

Sally Hepworth has lived around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the United Kingdom and Canada. She is the author of The Secrets of Midwives, The Things We Keep, The Mother's Promise, The Family Next Door and The Mother-in-Law. Sally now lives in Melbourne with her husband, three children, and one adorable dog.

Photo by Mrs. Smart Photography.

#BookReview The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth @SallyHepworth @StMartinsPress #TheYoungerWife #YoungerWifeBook #SallyHepworth #StMarinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth @SallyHepworth @StMartinsPress #TheYoungerWife #YoungerWifeBook #SallyHepworth #StMarinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Younger Wife

Author: Sally Hepworth

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 5, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

THE HUSBAND
A heart surgeon at the top of his field, Stephen Aston is getting married again. But first he must divorce his current wife, even though she can no longer speak for herself.

THE DAUGHTERS
Tully and Rachel Aston look upon their father’s fiancée, Heather, as nothing but an interloper. Heather is younger than both of them. Clearly, she’s after their father’s money.

THE FORMER WIFE
With their mother in a precarious position, Tully and Rachel are determined to get to the truth about their family’s secrets, the new wife closing in, and who their father really is.

THE YOUNGER WIFE
Heather has secrets of her own. Will getting to the truth unleash the most dangerous impulses in all of them?


Review:

Brisk, intricate, and compulsive!

The Younger Wife is a compelling, character-driven thriller that takes you into the lives of the Aston family, Pamela, the matriarch and first wife who unfortunately suffers from early-onset dementia, Tully, the anxious daughter and mother of two who likes to pocket things that don’t belong to her, Rachel, the baker who indulges in food to escape the pain that lives inside her, and Stephen, the cardiac surgeon and seemingly perfect father and husband who is set to marry the soon to be second wife, Heather, who may have a drinking problem and is almost half his age.

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are tentative, damaged, and secretive. And the plot told from multiple perspectives unfolds briskly into a gripping tale full of twists, turns, surprises, familial drama, lies, mental illness, tragedy, and manipulation.

Once again, The Younger Wife has proven that when it comes to writing exceptionally complex, fast-paced, twisty, domestic thrillers with exceptional character development and nefarious storylines that highlight just how fine the line between real and imagined truly is, Hepworth is one of the best.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or one of the following links.

            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sally Hepworth

Sally Hepworth has lived around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the United Kingdom and Canada. She is the author of The Secrets of Midwives, The Things We Keep, The Mother's Promise, The Family Next Door and The Mother-in-Law. Sally now lives in Melbourne with her husband, three children, and one adorable dog.

Photo by Mrs. Smart Photography.

#BookReview The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth @SallyHepworth @StMartinsPress #TheGoodSister #SallyHepworth #StMartinsPress

#BookReview The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth @SallyHepworth @StMartinsPress #TheGoodSister #SallyHepworth #StMartinsPress Title: The Good Sister

Author: Sally Hepworth

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 13, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

From the outside, everyone might think Fern and Rose are as close as twin sisters can be: Rose is the responsible one and Fern is the quirky one. But the sisters are devoted to one another and Rose has always been Fern’s protector from the time they were small.

Fern needed protecting because their mother was a true sociopath who hid her true nature from the world, and only Rose could see it. Fern always saw the good in everyone. Years ago, Fern did something very, very bad. And Rose has never told a soul. When Fern decides to help her sister achieve her heart’s desire of having a baby, Rose realizes with growing horror that Fern might make choices that can only have a terrible outcome. What Rose doesn’t realize is that Fern is growing more and more aware of the secrets Rose, herself, is keeping. And that their mother might have the last word after all.


Review:

Simmering, pacey, and brilliantly clever!

The Good Sister is an intricate, character-driven, domestic thriller that takes you into the lives of two sisters, Rose, a hardworking wife who longs for a child, and Fern a quirky, librarian who struggles daily to navigate a world bursting with sensory overload.

The prose is crisp and intense. The characters are devious, cunning, and scarred. And the plot told from differing perspectives unfolds rapidly into an exhilarating tale full of twists, turns, surprises, familial drama, tragedy, greed, lies, and deception.

Overall, The Good Sister is another gripping, twisty, suspenseful tale by Hepworth that does a wonderful job of delving into all the complex, dysfunctional dynamics that can exist between family members and reminds us just how parasitic and toxic some of those relationships can truly be.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

                 

 

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sally Hepworth

Sally Hepworth has lived around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the United Kingdom and Canada. She is the author of The Secrets of Midwives, The Things We Keep, The Mother's Promise, The Family Next Door and The Mother-in-Law. Sally now lives in Melbourne with her husband, three children, and one adorable dog.

Photo by Mrs. Smart Photography.