Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

23 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Title: The Younger Wife
Author: Sally Hepworth
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 3.00
Pub Date: April 5, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Psychological • Dynamic • Lacking

📖 S Y N O P S I S

THE HUSBAND
A heart surgeon at the top of his field, Stephen Aston is getting married again. But first he must divorce his current wife, even though she can no longer speak for herself.

THE DAUGHTERS
Tully and Rachel Aston look upon their father’s fiancée, Heather, as nothing but an interloper. Heather is younger than both of them. Clearly, she’s after their father’s money.

THE FORMER WIFE
With their mother in a precarious position, 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.

THE YOUNGER WIFE
Heather has secrets of her own. Will getting to the truth unleash the most dangerous impulses in all of them?

💭 T H O U G H T S

I've been slowly making my way through Sally Hepworth's backlist over the past few years, and next up was The Younger Wife. I'll preface my review by saying I was way less interested in this one than some of her other books, and my gut ended up being on point.

What I like:
• the prologue. It created so much tension, intrigue and suspicion. I needed to find out how it would all play out.
• multiple perspectives. I thought this structure suited the storyline perfectly, giving glimpses into each woman's life.
• the heavier topics. This one takes on A LOT and Hepworth does so in a sensitive manner, which I appreciated.

What I didn't like:
• the characters. The fact that the women all come across as unreliable and each of the male characters comes across in a good light didn't work for me at all.
• the ending. Underwhelming and predictable. Also some loose ends.

Despite hooking my interest in the beginning and containing some serious topics, my attention quickly waned as the story progressed. By the end, it just felt like a meh and forgettable read. With that said, I look forward to continuing in exploration of Sally's books.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of family drama
• readers who like books that read like a soap opera

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Perhaps the very worst people still had some good in them. And perhaps the very best had some bad." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Dementia, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Addiction, Infertility, Pregnancy, Rape, Miscarriage, Violence, and Abortion

Minor: Murder

melissa_b_67's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Alcohol, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Mental illness, Body shaming, and Death of parent

emardesen's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Moderate: Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Murder, and Terminal illness

pookiee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

this is a nicely unique domestic thriller in that it doesn’t hinge entirely on its reveals. each of the 3 women’s personal lives and are interesting to read about as well, as they heal from their traumas. a better, and more serious, Big Little Lies.

brownie points for being set in Australia (I like reading about faraway countries) and mentioning COVID (never stops feeling crazy)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Dementia

Moderate: Rape, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

Minor: Body shaming, Pedophilia, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Vomit

the eating disorder is binge eating disorder

samw0327's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting

samiredden's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Rape, Dementia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Miscarriage

mommapark's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Rape

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Murder

kimveach's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Vomit, Murder, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Blood, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Rape

abooklikeyou's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Dementia

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Miscarriage

juliaaa02's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, and Violence