To start, I want to thank Sally Hepworth, Net Galley, and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC of The Younger Wife. I am a massive Sally Hepworth fan after reading The Mother-in-Law, and so I will take anything she writes.

The Story

Stephen Aston is getting married again. The only problem is, he’s still married to his first wife, even though she is in a care facility for dementia. But he’ll take care of that easily, by divorcing her–even if his adult daughters protest.

Tully and Rachel Aston look upon Heather as nothing but an interloper. Heather is the same age as Rachel and even younger than Tully. Clearly she’s a golddigger and after their father’s money. Heather has secrets that she’s keeping close, and reasons of her own for wanting to marry Stephen.

With their mother unable to speak for herself, 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. But will getting to the truth unleash the most dangerous impulses…in all of them?

My Thoughts

The Younger Wife was not my favorite Sally Hepworth novel. In my head, I’ll put books on a barometer of whether I would purchase it or not. I would have enjoyed this as a library book, but would have felt let down had I purchased it new.

One of my favorite things about Hepworth’s novels is the fact that she drops a bomb on you in the last chapter or on the last page. The Younger Wife kind of had this reveal, but it was very lackluster. In fact, it undermined and “softened” part of the storyline.

The book jumped back and forth from Heather, Rachel, and Tully’s perspectives, as well as back and forth from the present day. While some authors may end up with subpar storylines because of this volume, Hepworth never does. The writing is quality, and you truly get to know characters throughout her books.

This was a three-star read overall. I still love Sally Hepworth, but The Younger Wife let me down.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, so I may receive a small commission from sales generated.