Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Darling Girls

Sally Hepworth does it again with #DarlingGirls, a thrilling mystery about sisters, secrets, and murder.

From the outside, Jessica, Norah (“with an -h,” please!), and Alicia are very lucky girls, despite the sadness of their early years. Foster children as a result of various family tragedies, they’ve each landed on the idyllic Wild Meadows estate under the doting care of Miss Holly Fairchild.

But that’s just what it looks like from the outside.

From the inside, things look very different. Miss Fairchild’s “darling girls” are manipulated and mistreated in a myriad of ways, and they learn early on to tread carefully around the whims of their foster mother.

The girls form a bond that is as strong as that of any biological sisters, and they rely on each other well into adulthood — especially after human remains are found on the estate where they spent their childhood! ☠️

Every Sally Hepworth novel I have read deals with emotional, real topics, and that is what I love about her books! This story is no exception, so be warned, it has plenty of triggers: child abuse, mental illness, drug addiction, overdose, childhood trauma, death, and murder.

🌪 But it also has love, loyalty, and that 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑯𝒆𝒑𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈!

This book hooked me from the beginning (glad I was on a long road trip so I could listen to the entire book in one day!).

If you enjoy a good family drama with a twisty side of mystery, put this one on your summer reading list!

Thank you to @sallyhepworth @netgalley @macmillan.audio for the advance copy!

Content Warnings

mandareads222's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

kelly_e's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Title: Darling Girls
Author: Sally Hepworth
Genre: Domestic Suspense
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: April 23, 2024

I received complimentary eARC and ALC copies from St. Martin's Press and Macmillan audio via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted

T H R E E • W O R D S

Bingeable • Unsettling • Heartbreaking

📖 S Y N O P S I S

From the outside, Alicia, Jessica and Norah might seem like ordinary women you'd meet on the street any day of the week. Sure, Jessica has a little OCD and Norah has some anger issues. And Alicia has low self-esteem that manifests itself in surprising ways. But these three have a bond that no one can fully understand. It's a bond that takes them back decades, to when they were girls, and they lived on a farm with a foster mother named Miss Fairchild.

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 they thought they were free. But the reach of someone with such power is long, and even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds.

When bones are discovered buried under the farmhouse of their childhood, they are called in by the police to tell what they know. Against their will, they are brought back to the past, and to Miss Fairchild herself.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Darling Girls was an easy add to my TBR when it was announced. I can always count on Sally Hepworth to bring the drama and keep me turning the pages. Marketed as a thriller, in my opinion, her books landed more on the domestic and/or psychological mystery/suspense side of the coin. No matter how you choose to classify them, they tend to be the type of 'thriller' that works for me.

Told from the POVs of three sisters - Jessica, Norah and Alicia, and with mysterious physiatrist sessions interspersed throughout, the plot in this one was deeply haunting. The push and pull of the past and present day timelines came across more as if information was being withheld rather than the slow reveal of the necessary pieces.

Each of the girls had their own distinctive personality, yet their relationship with one another was solid. They bonded over their awful circumstances and it really showed how, even years later, their relationship is strong with a need to stick together. As for Mrs. Fairchild, she was an absolute monster! Sally has done a phenomenal job with her character arc because she definitely had the ick factor. Her lies and gaslighting were so cruel and manipulative, and narcissistic actions churned my stomach, culminating in one final revelation in the last chapter which was absolutely revolting.

While the setting has played a huge role in some of Sally's previous works, I didn't find that to be the case here. There was some much atmospheric potential to make Wild Meadows its own character and I think it would have added a whole other layer to the story if she'd chosen to go that route.

The audiobook read by Jessica Clarke was fine. It added a layer of tension, yet there was also room for improvement. Given the story is told from multiple POVs, and especially with the mystery character therapy sessions interspersed throughout, having multiple narrators or at the very least a clear distinction between each would have elevated the audiobook experience.

While I know some people are going to love this book because of the final chapter, unfortunately, it has the opposite effect for me. In all honesty, it felt like it was added simply for shock value and to leave the leader with their mouth hanging open. To me, the book would have been stronger without it and it lowered my rating.

Darling Girls is certainly not my favourite Sally Hepworth book, yet I enjoyed it significantly more than her 2023 release The Soulmate. It opens up the conversation surrounding a foster care system that doesn't always protect the children involved. Yet it's important to keep in mind, that for every horror story like this one there are many stories filled with love. Sally continues to be an auto-read author for me and I will be curious to see where she goes next.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• strong sister bonds
• found family
• mysterious bodies

⚠️ CW: child abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, sexual assault, rape, sexual violence, pedophilia, neglect, abandonment, toxic relationship, gaslighting, bullying, confinement, kidnapping, torture, body shaming, violence, injury/injury detail, adoption, death, murder, child death, death of parent, mental illness, drug use, prescription drug abuse, addiction, attempted suicide, overdose, PTSD, panic attacks/disorders, pregnancy, vomit, alcohol, cursing

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Love and security were the most basic of rights. Forcing these kids to believe they were lucky to have that was even more damaging than what some of them experienced in care."

Content Warnings

crazybooklady89's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This is probably the worst written book I have ever read. I have NO IDEA how it made it through an editor! I would have given it 1 star except the overall concept of the book was excellent. The execution of this concept left a lot to be desired, though. Until it goes through another round (or more) of editing, it is not worth the read.

Content Warnings