Review - 'The Younger Wife' by Sally Hepworth

Ah, this is another dysfunctional family drama marketed as a mystery/thriller. I feel like I'm getting better at sussing them out now.

Stephen is about to marry his much younger fiancée, Heather. But his adult daughters Tully and Rachel aren't too thrilled with the prospect of a stepmother their own age. Not to mention Stephen's ex-wife is still in the picture, Tully and Rachel are tangled up in their own issues at the moment, and Heather isn't sure she can trust herself. And on top of all that, everyone's keeping secrets from each other.

For some reason, I just can't get enough of dysfunctional family dramas, and this was a fun and intriguing one. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and thought Hepworth crafted some fascinating ones. Their personalities and secrets are unique and compelling, drawing me in from pretty much the first page. Along with the short chapters and the teasers about what really happened at the wedding, and I was turning the pages as fast as I could.

Maybe I just love reading about dysfunctional families because it feels like something we can all relate to. No matter how messed up our own families are, reading about a fictional one has a way of making me feel better about my own. And this family is guaranteed to deliver the craziness.

As for the reveals, they're interesting enough, but to call them twists à la mystery/thriller is probably exaggerating a bit. They work to move the story along and keep me engaged, which is exactly what I'm looking for.

I do have to mention the ending because everyone's talking about it. As I understand it—and I'm mostly piecing this together, so please don't quote me—the original ARC had a slightly different ending that left a lot of discombobulation in its wake. I didn't read that version; I read the finished one. And I didn't find any such issues in my copy. In fact, I enjoyed the ending and thought it was a fitting one for the story.

If there indeed was a change made between the ARC release and the final version, it might be one of the only times I know of where early reader feedback actually made an impact. So thanks to all the early readers out there who helped make this a more enjoyable story in the end.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

My heartfelt thanks for the copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.