Follow the stories of 3 foster kids as they discover the dreamy farmhouse called, Wild Meadows, isn’t as dreamy as they might of thought.
Starting out, Hepworth is one of my top authors. I’ll read anything she writes. So when I was offered an ARC of her upcoming book I dropped everything and dove in. Even without the hype… I would have been just as obsessed.
Hepworth showed off her talent as she seamlessly flowed between past tense, future tense and a psychologist appointment. The character perspectives were unique and whether you like them or not, I believe every reader will feel attached to these characters. Characters were strong and the intelligence was high but appropriate for their ages. I was left hanging, little revelations partially revealed, only to have Sally throw me into a new perspective. Every transition left a trail of crumbs and happened smoothly so the reader didn’t get motion sick. Extremely impressed.
Another pet peeve of mine that Hepworth did not do, so I can’t help but call it out … there was no repeating. When characters needed to exchange information, we were told the information was exchanged rather than having the reader go through all points of the scenario all over again.
All my questions were answered eventually. Any holes I felt were there, were revealed later in the story (again, good job Hepworth). Loose ends tied up. A well rounded story. And a lovely little bomb dropped at the end.
My only criticism is at one point Alicia asks Meera a question in the social work topic that I felt Alicia should have already known. Even I knew the answer to Alicia’s question and I don’t do social work for a living. To comment on other reviewer’s criticism; I do not think the book is slow. There are enough crumbs and side stories going on to keep the reader entertained. I don’t think the examples of what happens in foster homes that were included in the book were over done. I can see why the author wanted to include as much as she could as she did research with actual people who were in the foster system. It didn’t feel over done
I’ll admit, I have a lot of praise for this book. I got through it very quickly. Halfway through I thought to myself, this is a solid 4 star book. (Nothing wrong with that…) The ending though.. pushed it to 5.
I would recommend this book to my reading friends.
***Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and author Sally Hepworth for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Publishing on April 23, 2024.
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