Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - The Younger Wife

A family drama novel, easy read and simple to follow. The female characters take turns narrating the story, with central themes focused on family, strength of conviction, in essence upper middle class life.

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kimveach'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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My actual rating for this book is 3.5, but I rounded it to 4. I enjoyed the characters and the story, but there were a ridiculous number of issues in this book.

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abooklikeyou's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

“What happens in our childhood shapes us - our ability to relate to people, to manage our emotions, to control our impulses.”

That’s it. I’m officially obsessed with Sally Hepworth! 😍

She really has a way of making me empathize with her characters, and I think that is a huge draw for me with her books!

If you enjoy family drama, domestic suspense, character-driven stories, and phenomenal representation of under-represented individuals in society then you absolutely need to give Sally Hepworth a try. 👏

WHAT I LOVED // WHAT WAS MEMORABLE

🧁 Rachel’s love interest, Darcy, was perfect with his baking puns and his affection and understanding of her. I was like, are you kidding me? 🥹

🕯️I enjoyed seeing the development of why each character was the way that they were. Understanding Tully, seeing the trauma that influenced Rachel’s anxiety and coping mechanisms, and even being able to feel for The Younger Wife to an extent.

🍵 When Rachel goes to visit her mom, who has Alzheimer’s, in the nursing home only to find that she doesn’t even remember how to feed herself. That scene. 😭💔

I don’t know what it is, but Sally’s stories are unputdownable for me.

Content Warnings

sarahmaemae's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

beckyremillard's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

Chapter 1: Someone is injured or killed at a wedding.
Chapter 2, etc: goes back in time and we meet the characters who were in the back of the church where the incident occurred, including Rachel, Tully, their father, Stephen, his new bride, Heather, and his ex wife, Pam.

The perspectives are primarily Rachel, Tully, and Pam, although the wedding scenes are mostly from the perspective of an unknown wedding guest. Most of the story is leading up to the wedding, but every once and a while we get a bit from the wedding.

This book is well written but I wouldn’t call it a thriller. It’s pretty anti-climactic and there weren’t really any twists or surprises. I kept waiting for something unexpected to happen but it definitely didn’t. Not my favorite from this author.

Content Warnings

quietcoastline's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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