Claire Rawlings becomes violently ill while driving with her two young daughters and pulls into a gas station. She leaves the sleeping children in the car and keeps the bathroom door open. But she passes out and when she awakens, her car and her daughters are gone. The police are unable to find the children and a witness who appears several days later may be lying. What happened to Lily and Andrea Rawlings?

Well-drawn characters populate this gripping narrative. Told from several points of view, the story of the girls’ abduction unfolds amid mounting tension as the gut-wrenching story spins out its secrets and surprises. As the tale unfolds, guilt consumes Claire and readers discover how the tragedy affects the family.

The pace is relentless, with unexpected plot twists and unforeseen reveals. Packed with emotion, the compelling story offers readers a gut-wrenching look at unintended consequences as it lays bare the struggles, the heartache, and the grief forced upon the parents of stolen children.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley
#LittleLovelyThings #NetGalley

This book was good, but it left some burning questions,so it gets 3.5/5 (rounded down).
*
I can't really go into detail with this for fear of giving away spoilers...just know that while my experience with the book overall was positive, some of the events and the lack of an epilogue left something to be desired. You can definitely tell it was a debut novel, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. All in all I look forward to Maureen Joyce Connelly's next book.

This was an interesting book. The idea that one bad parenting decision (even if not preventable) can change your whole life is something any parent can relate to. In this story, Claire was having a serious medical emergency and was forced to pull over at a gas station where she then blacked out in the bathroom. She left her two beautiful girls in the car and when she returned, they were gone.

Little Lovely Things alternates narrators between Claire, one of the girls, the kidnappers and another friend/connection. I have zero knowledge about "travelers" or moving groups, so that along with the Native American references made it hard for me to relate to. The ending wrapped up really quickly too and I felt there could've been more elaboration. For those reasons, this was just an okay read for me. It was a quick read, but not a thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks-Landmark for this enthralling debut entry into the domestic/psychological thriller field. I found the story gripping, suspenseful and also heartbreaking.

The Rawlings family seemed to have a lot going for it. The father is a school teacher/sports coach. The mother, Claire, is a busy medical resident. They have two lovely young daughters, Lily, aged 1.5 years and Andrea, age 4. One fateful day Claire leaves for work with her two daughters in the car, ignoring the fact that she is feeling ill. As she drives the illness overwhelms her. Increasingly faint, dizzy and sick to her stomach, she pulls into a gas station and falls unconscious on the bathroom floor. On awakening, she discovers to her horror that her vehicle containing her two little girls has been stolen.

The thieves and kidnappers are revealed at once. They are a young Gypsy couple of a group known as Irish Travellers. They are considered so disreputable that they have even been shunned by their clan.

As time passes without leads, the events become heartbreaking. The parents’ marriage is strained to the breaking point through anguish, guilt and unspoken blame. A Native American man who is a drifter, just released from jail has some insight and spiritual visions as he reconnects with his tribal beliefs. He tries to help the police search but is not considered a reliable witness. He is a force to be reckoned with, and there comes a point where his life connects with a couple of the major characters.

The story made me want to know more about the further outcome after its conclusion. I wanted to know more about developing relationships, psychological and emotional factors and the follow up by the police department.
Recommended. 3.5 stars. A good, solid, family drama and psychological thriller which kept me engaged in the tragedy.

Claire Rawlings gets sick while driving with her young children in the car. While her girls sleep in the back seat, Claire pulls over at a gas station. When Claire comes out of the bathroom, her car, and her girls, are gone. The guilt of leaving her children alone and the search for them weighs heavily on Claire. Her health, marriage, and work all suffer as the search for her daughters seems to go nowhere.

Told with alternating points of view, which allows the reader to not only be aware of Claire’s experiences, but also what happened to her girls. A tragic story of two missing children and the impact of their loss on their parents. This book doesn’t look too closely at the investigation into the girls’ disappearance, but instead looks at the people and relationships involved.

An emotional story of every parent’s worse nightmare. The idea of your children disappearing, and having no idea what happened or where they are, is heart-wrenching. A heartbreaking story of guilt, loss, and hope.

I received a free eARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Little Lovely Things is a beautifully written, poetic book. When I first got to the chapter with Moira and Eamon, I was a little put off by the dialect and hoping that the book wouldn't continue along those lines (it didn't), But, as I read on, the cultural touches of the Irish Traveler's (Moira and Eamon) and Jay (Sioux) interspersed throughout were charming and provided a great flavor of the culture and traditions. The descriptions of of Andrea, the little girl kidnapped and hidden away by Moira, are vivid, and portray the feisty and creative spirit that allows her to survive her captivity. Again, a very beautifully written novel!

A busy mother of two daughters (Lily and Andrea), Claire Rawlings, is ignoring the signs of being ill. While driving into work as a medical resident, her daughters with her, she is overcome by her symptoms and feels like she is about to pass out, which she quickly decides to pull over. Moments later she awakens on the floor of a gas station bathroom. She soon finds that her car, along with her precious daughters have gone missing. With no leads from the police, the guilt crashes down on Claire as each hour passes with no word on her daughters. She desperately clings to the belief that her daughters are alive and out there somewhere. It's a hauntingly beautiful story about a family shattered by an unthinkable tragedy. I like that the story is told in multiple voices. It allows you to get the full impact of the chain of events. It really pulls at your emotions, which I love in the story. Maureen Joyce Connolly has an amazing debut on her hands!

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

In 1991 Claire Rawlings is a busy but happy wife and mother of two beautiful little girls, four year old Andrea and toddler Lily. Studying to complete year last year of Medicine, her marriage is financially and emotionally strained but soon she'll be a fully qualified doctor and her family life should become more relaxed. But that all changes in an instant when she experiences every mother's worst nightmare. Driving the girls to day care one morning while suffering an allergic reaction to a vaccination, she feels horribly unwell, she pulls off the road outside a service station restroom. Leaving the girls asleep in the car with the aircon running, she throws up in the restroom and briefly passes out. When she comes to and staggers outside, her car and children have gone.

This is a heart wrenching story as Claire and her husband Glen struggle to cope with the enormity of what has happened to them. Their marriage struggles even more as Claire bears the brunt of her guilt and Glen's blame for leaving the girls alone in her car. As no one saw the abduction, there are few clues for the police to work with, except for a report of a shadowy homeless man who has now vanished. While this might sound like another 'missing children' story, the fate of the girls is far from usual.

This is a well written debut novel with the grief and distress of the parents coping with this nightmare making for an emotional read. The other main characters, including a young Sioux man, an elderly psychiatrist and a young girl are also well drawn and it is easy to connect with them and their different worlds.

Little Lovely Things by Maureen Joyce Connolly

Her debut novel, Maureen Joyce Connolly grabs you on the first page and doesn’t let go until the end. Wrought with fear, consumed with guilt, and propelled back into her everyday life just to survive Claire would give everything to change the events of that fateful day with her daughters, Andrea and Lilly. Little Lovely Things is one of those books you can’t imagine into reality as a parent but fear every single day. Feverishly fast-paced, Little Lovely Things is a story you won’t stop thinking about after you read it, reminding us that each decision we make no matter how small can be life-altering but if we pay attention we might still see the light that guides each of us.
The characters were resilient, the storyline was suspenseful and griping, my one and only dislike was that I wanted more of the story at the end!

This book was heartbreaking. These sweet little girls had some terrible things happen to them. The parts with Jay White I found interesting and the whole idea of possible "signs" from a loved one who passed on. The Indian traditions were interesting too. This is definitely not your typical missing child psychological thriller. Definitely worth reading!!

DNF at 44%. There's definitely an audience for Lovely Little Things but it didn't work for me, though I admire Ms. Connolly for trying something out of the ordinary. I think there's definitely something there, but I just never connected to the characters enough to get invested in what was going on.

I had mixed feelings for this book.
I love the quotation from the anonymous Irish Traveller which more or less sets the pace for the book.
The beautiful descriptions and narration was a pleasure to read. There was good tension to keep the interest going, and prompting you to continue reading.
However, there were parts of the story where it slows down. I find the ending rather abrupt. There were unfinished parts. We don’t know what happened to Moira. The part of the little girl breaking the toilet door with her legs was a little surreal for me.

But on the whole, it was a pleasure and an easy read. I would recommend this book for a holiday read!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for letting me read this in advance.

Thank you to Netgalley, sourcebooks and the author Maureen Joyce Connolly for the digital ARC in return for my unbiased review.

This story starts with every parents night mare, and does not give up the pace from the get go, fantastic characters well written with twist and thrills galore

4 stars!

I found this an intriguing read - it felt quite scary (books like that push me out of my comfort zone) but I really wanted to carry on and read into the story. Its one of those books that you can leave and dip in and out, you need to dedicate some time to getting to the end - or your mind just wanders round and its already got some twists.

Good read - would suit a holiday when you've plenty of reading time.

I was hooked from page 1 of this novel. I connnected with the main character and felt her pain throughout the pages. I cried, hoped and got a huge book hangover from this book.

Glen, Claire, Andrea, and Lily had the perfect life until the day Claire had to pull off the road because of dizziness, leave the car running with her daughters in it because of the heat, and then return to find the car and her daughters gone.

Could anything worse have happened? Of course the answer is no. A missing child is a parent's worst nightmare.

We follow the Rawlings family as they move through the heartbreaking days as the police investigate with no luck. As you read you will feel their pain as they remember their daughters and special occasions.

An interesting twist is another story line that will have you guessing how both stories connect.

For a debut novel, Ms. Connolly definitely knows how to put words together to make a fast-paced, tense, unable-to-put-down read with memorable characters.

Even though the subject isn't pleasant, Ms. Connolly did a superb, creative job with the topic and with pulling you into the story line and connecting with the characters.

LITTLE LOVELY THINGS is heartbreaking, heartwarming, and has 98% likeable characters. 5/5

This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

So emotional This book was gut wrenching and heartbreaking.
Claire is on her way to work one morning with her 2 little girls in the car Lily (15 months) and Andrea (4).
She is overcome by nausea and dizziness and pulls her car over at a gas station to use the bathroom leaving her girls still inside the car as both are asleep and she leaves the engine on so the air conditioner will continue to run.

She is vomiting severely and passes out.

Moira and Eamon a homeless couple come across the car and see the girls in it and can hear Claire being sick in the bathroom. They assume she's not a good mother, that she's probably drunk or on drugs.

Eamon drives the car to a nearby garage where he transfers them to his car trunk after injecting them with drugs. The girls are renamed Bridget and Colleen. He tells Moira to drive to an old cabin and he will follow later after he takes care of the girl's car
.
Lily die while in the car trunk which Moira realizes when she goes to get them out of the trunk and into the cabin. She buries Lily near a bridge on the old road under burlap rope and leaves.

The police find the abandoned garage and a toy bunny that was in the car with the girls..


A young man, Jay White seeking a new & sober life drives onto the old logging road and finds the toy carrot from the bunny. He also stumbles across Lily's body and he calls the police.

Eamon gets to the cabin and learns that Lily has died he goes to where she is buried intending to hide her body better but doesn't return to the cabin His car is later found down an embankment and he is found dead in the car.

The police determine that Lily died of drugs, a heat stroke and suffocation..

Claire hopes Jay will be able to help find Andrea-as it was his premonition that enabled him to find Lily.
He gets a feeling that Andrea is alive and that a woman kidnapped the girls.

The police find the cabin where Andrea was held and outside the cabin they find signs of burned clothing (what appears to have been her dress and a tooth and some bone fragments and ae the assumption that Andrea is dead.

Four year later Andrea (now known as colleen ) Colly as she likes to call herself is told that Moira rescued her from druggie parents and that they died in a crash..

While Colly is putting dirty laundry in the trunk of the car to take to the laundromat she finds a small piece of blue fabric which appears to be a piece of hem from an old dress. The car trunk makes her fearful.

When the laundry is done and Colly is sorting it she finds the blue fabric and it seems to have something in it, she discovers its a pendant with a medallion on it She hides this from Moira..

Jay meanwhile has bought a trailer in a trailer park and has his own business in Michigan. He and Claire keep in touch and he sends him money and clothing from time to time. He makes a dram catcher for Lily whhc he gives to Claire and makes one for Andrea.

Moira and Colly rent the trailer across from Jay and he soon befriends Colly. She leaves him unsettled for some reason.
Colly gets jealous of the deam catcher Jay has made for Andrea, he doesn't tell her it was made for Andrea just for a little girl who's been gone a long time..

Colly frequently dreams of a car trunk and a dark haired woman (her aunt). She paints a picture of Lily not knowing who the little girl is and why she drew it. She hides this from Moira,,

When Jay sees Moira he realizes that he has seen her before (on the night his car broke down and she told him to move it).

One day Colly is being punished by Moira who makes the bathroom in their trailer a dark cave. While Colly is in the bathroom Moira turns on the gas stove burners to light a cigarette when it won't light she realizes the pilot light has gone out and he leaves the trailer and drives away with the intention of driving to a nearby A&W and getting matches and a hamburger and maybe bringing one for Colly.. She wonders if she left the stove on and decides she didn't. Instead of going to the A&W she keeps on driving
Jay gets worried when he doesn't see Colly around and when he goes and bangs on her trailer he can hear her muffled voce and she tells him she's struck and can't get out he tries to help her and he smells the gas. He realizes that Colly is Andrea and he tells her that's her name and that she had a little sister named Lily and she has two parents. Colly starts to remember. Right after he gets Colly freed the .trailer explodes.

While they are at the hospital he tells the doctors to cll the police and he tells them that Colly is Andrea, the little f=girl who was kidnapped 4 years ago. Her parents are contacted and when they go to the hospital her other tells Andrea that her grandmother would make dresses for her and sew religious items in the hem. That a Madonna pendant was in the hem of the dress she was wearing the day she was kidnapped. Andrea opens her hand to show her other the Madonna.

This was a really great rad but so emotional

While they are at the hospital .

What happened to Claire Rawlings could happen to any parent. And I think that terrified me the most. The 'what if', the there but for the grace of God'. The how do we go on from here.

This story is so beautifully written, that, as a writer, I wish I had written these words. But I won't lie to you, parts of if are difficult to read. But you must. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your children.

Ms. Connolly is a brave author to put our worst nightmare in front of us. To show us her worst nightmare.

If I had to choose one & only one word to describe this book, it would be "intense." This story revolves around every (or at least most) parent's nightmare. Once the tension hits, it never lets up through the entire read. My heart twisted, along with my stomach, and I chanted a lot of, "No, no, no." It's a testament to this author that I felt what each of the character's did. It was like I was in the story watching the events unfold.
I wanted so badly for Claire and Glen to reach out and hold each other up, & I cheered for Dr. Howard Fisher & Jay.
But above all, I loved Colleen's character because she had so much spunk and attitude.
There were one or two things at the end that I wish had been addressed (can't say what they are as that would be a spoiler) or at least delved into a little more, partly because I wasn't quite ready yet to let go of the characters on the page.
Finally, this is the kind of book that never ends because, even after you read the last word on that last page, you cannot stop thinking about it. .
An absolute must-read!

This story was crushing, devastating, relentless and just beautiful. This is my favorite book I have read this year. I felt the tragedy of this story so heavily. The characters were rich and vivid, especially Andrea. The pace was perfect, details to form concrete pictures without tearing away from the main track of this tale. Very well done!