Reviews

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

bookwormmelissa's review against another edition

4.0

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. Sally Hepworth has once again written a tightly woven psychological thriller. The book opens with Stephen introducing his adult daughters, Natalie (Tully) and Rachel, to his new fiance, Heather. The problem is that he is still married to their mom, who is in a care facility for those with dementia. The POC shifts throughout the book between Heather, Tully, Rachel, and a few others, and we find out early on that something has happened at the wedding ceremony. The story moves around in time as we get the details of family drama, secrets, and each character owning their own story. One of my favorite characters is Darcy - but you'll have to read to find out more! I liked the character development, the pacing, the plot, and the reveal. Solid 4 star read for me!

kbrown_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

dpageteach00's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

Really kept me engaged, especially the last 30%!   I love the unreliability of the characters, Did he, did she? The Younger Wife is a great little novel that covers a lot of major issues, but done in a lighter way.  I really enjoyed the gaslighting aspect and how things unfolded.  I wanted to know what happened and an explanation. It is not clear, but it is also "very clear". 

bookthra's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

4.0

heathercottledillon's review against another edition

4.0

If you liked "Big Little Lies," I am confident you'll like this one.

terraturtles's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

through_my_eyes81's review against another edition

5.0

Good plot and some relatable characters. I enjoyed this one and wanted to find out if what I suspected was true.

kellykelly84's review against another edition

3.0

Even thou Heather was the same age as Tully and Rachel when their dad was telling his daughters he was engaged I would have to agree with Heather about just meeting with the daughters for the first time and she didn't even know the girls to well when Stephen should have met with Heather months ago or a year then throwing the bomb at them. And I didn't like how Stephen told Rachel and Tully that he would divorce their mother when he was getting engaged to someone else maybe he should of divorce her before she lost her mind to dementia it was not right to do that. I think Tully was pretty rude and why doesn't Tully want to tell anyone that she and her boyfriend or husband or whatever he was to Tully that they were having money trouble? Maybe Rachel care about her job and people who work for her I'm not really liking Tully in the first part of the book. I think Heather is right about Stephen abusing her cause why would he give her pills when she told him that she was pregnant and the pills were for miscarriage and I was surprised that he didn't kill Pam when she was pregnant with Tully and Rachel and he was trying to make Heather was crazy and losing her when she was accusing Stephen but in the of it all Heather wasn't crazy about all of it and it seems like he was abused Fiona and Pam as well and towards the end of the book I didn't see that ending coming. Where who had killed Stephen and I'm not going to spoil who had done it and I had a feeling about I was right about how he did to Fiona, Pam and now Heather I am glad that he got killed. And I am going to give this a 3 stars is cause I didn't like the narrators for Tully and I am glad Tully had the chance to change her life around from stealing to finding a job.

juliachspencer's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

eri_cat93's review against another edition

3.0

As their mother’s dementia worsens, Rachel & Tully’s father surprises them with a new girlfriend…who is younger than they are.

This was a super quick read, & I’m a fan of the writing style for sure. But I don’t think there was a single suprise or twist in this book that actually landed…and I’m honestly struggling to pin point anything intended to be a twist…not a bad book but relatively bland for a thriller.