Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - The Younger Wife

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth 352 pages, 9 hours and 19 minutes narrated by Barrie Kreinik, Caroline Lee, Jessica Douglas-Henry, and Zoe Carides

Genre: Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Family

Featuring: Melbourne, Australia; May-December Romance, Adult Children, Wedding, Who-Done-It, Sex off camera, Assault - off camera, Dual Timelines, Multiple POVs

Rating as a movie: PG-13 for adult content

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My thoughts: 14% - It's slower than usual, even for a domestic suspense.
90% - This book really takes off during chapters 5-7. I would have read it straight through but I need to spend some time with my family. I can't wait to go to bed.

This wasn't much of a Mystery Thriller in my book. It was a good Domestic Suspense. I pretty much had it figured out early on and I was almost right. I didn't care in the end because the unexpected side stories were really good. I knew this book was 4 stars around 40% and I held that view till the end. I loved the story the author gave at the end about what inspired her to write this story, it's often the best part of her books but it did not affect my rating. She even admitted some of her stories have been disappointing, I'm happy to report this was not one of them and I'm sure she was speaking of her earlier work anyway.

Recommend to others?: Maybe. If you enjoy domestic suspense read this book, if you need a psychological or crime thriller you may want to skip this one.

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bekkasbookclub's review

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mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

I was so excited to read The Younger Wife after reading The Good Sister last year! This story is told from the perspective of sisters, Tully and Rachel, and Heather, their dad, Stephen's, soon to be new wife. With the news of the upcoming marriage, Tully and Rachel must get to know their new “mom” but each of the women have their own set of problems. Tully steals, Rachel binge-eats, Heather drinks a little too much. As for Stephen, well, you need read and figure out if he has a problem or not. I loved the unreliable narrators and how we have to try to determine what is and isn’t true. Another part of the story that was interesting is Tully and Rachel’s mom, Pam. She is currently suffering from progressive dementia and makes shocking claims about Stephen at times. The many layers and storylines of the book all tied in well with one another. The fast-paced writing kept me on the edge of my seat trying to guess what was going to happen and how the story got to the opening wedding scene. I enjoyed the story so much, but the ending was a bit of a shock. I think it was wild to leave the readers with the ending that was written. Some readers may not like the ending but I enjoyed quite enjoyed the guessing aspect of it.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my digital copy to review.

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adventuresinpages's review

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Normally Sally Hepworth does a great job at handling difficult topics but this book feels like a second draft before she figured out how to handle each of her characters' difficult lives. I think part of the problem is that she gave each character a life-altering problem instead of one or two like she normally does and she clearly wasn't prepared to juggle it or her editor didn't push back enough. Between Rachel's childhood sexual assault, Heather's drinking, and Stephen's abusive tendencies I can't responsibly recommend this book to anyone. Not because the subjects exist in the book, talking about them is important, but because of how they're handled or the lack thereof.

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stephsbooktalk's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Sally Hepworth and St Martin's Press for an advance copy of this book.

This was my first Sally Hepworth book so I wasn't sure what to expect. I am not sure if Sally does this in all her books but I really love the 3 different point of views/storylines - Heather, Tully & Rachel .

Sisters Rachel & Tully each have their own complicated lives while dealing with their mother, Pamela who has Alzheimer's and their dad (Stephen) who is a doctor who is suddenly engaged to a younger woman. Rachel has always been the beautiful & growing up the boys always were after her until suddenly she had no interest. Tully is married to Sonny with two boys who on paper seems to have a perfect life but her life is far from perfect. A bad investment deal turns into them losing their savings & Tully is a kleptomaniac. Heather is an interior designer whom is younger than both Rachel & Tully who essentially is an orphan. She falls for Stephen who is still a married to Pamela.

Things began not to add up when Heather was experiencing unexplained injuries that seem to occur when she would drink. Even when she would hardly drink, somehow Stephen would twist things around to make her think that she was crazy. Things really took a twist when Rachel was giving a hot water bottle that contained not just a couple dollars in but almost $100k with two names written down - Tully & a woman by the name of FIona Arthur. Stephen denied not knowing who Fiona was which of course turned out to be a lie.

I thought the book flowed great & really kept me on my toes and left me wanting more. And like most thrillers everyone was a suspect.

Where it fell flat for me is that we really didn't get a conclusion on whether or not Stephen really was abusive to any of his wives or was he just a master manipulator? Maybe that is part of the reading where we are left up to our own interpretation but I just don't do well with open ended endings. Especially for a thriller, I need it wrapped up in a pretty bow. I also did not get the point of bringing in Fiona Arthur with the exception of her being his first wife & that he "hurt" her and yet he was still her love of her life? I just thought she would play a bigger role than what she really was.

I was though really happy that Rachel has begun to work through her relationships with men & seems to have found a perfect match in Darcy (I was waiting for him to somehow be involved in the mystery). Tully was such a complex mess and I loved her. I don't think I have ever read a character quite like her before. I was so proud of her development by the end of the book and love that her husband stuck with her through it.

CW: alcoholism, gaslighting, domestic/physical abuse, miscarriage, rape

I am rating this a 3.5 as I just was wanting more from the ending.

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sadiereadthat's review

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dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

This is the story of a family that is changing drastically and suddenly. The two adult daughters are being torn between their mother who has been diagnosed with dementia and their father who has divorced her during her diagnosis so that he can marry a woman who is younger than his daughters. However, it is not clear who can be trusted and who can't and what exactly happened during the wedding?

I didn't really enjoy this book. It has a great premise, but I felt like it fell flat a little. I was bored by the characters and while I liked the mystery and the confusion that was present, I thought it was a little clear what was really going on. I was happy when the daughters caught on. It did feel a little scary that he found it so easy to behave the way he did, but it also isn't surprising.

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imzadi481's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense

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

5.0

My first instinct after finishing this book was to give 4 stars instead of the 5 I thought I was going to give it. Why? Because the ending let me down a little bit. It wasn't major, but I was hoping for a neat little bow and I didn't get that. After sleeping on it, however, I felt I needed to give this the 5 stars it deserves.

No, it's not the greatest literary work of all time. However, the writing flowed like butter and I didn't want to put down the book. For me, that's all I need to rate this a 5.

There are tough moments, tender moments, funny moments. The characters are flawed and extremely likeable.

In the end, I think the ending was quite fitting.

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