I was so honored to be asked to be part of the book tour for this wonderful book! I began reading this book during the wonderful polar vortex in Michigan, it was a nice surprise to see that this book took place partly in Michigan as well! Yes I’m a Michigander! Claire a mother of two beautiful little girls happily married to her husband Glen she’s a physician in training. Claire wakes up with a fever and a small rash but she doesn’t want to miss her rounds, she rushes around packs the girls in the car to take them to daycare. While driving she starts to feel like she’s going to throw up her fever is causing her to almost black out. She pulls into a gas station the girls are sleeping so she rushes into the bathroom throws up and passes out . When she come to she rushes out side and her car and daughters are gone! The book is told in a couple of different perspectives first Claire’s she’s never forgiven herself for that fateful day. The grief has taken over her life and is about to completely end her marriage. Moira and Eamon who are Irish travelers who are completely responsible for Claire’s and Glens worst day of their lives. Jay who ends up being an innocent witness whose role becomes bigger as the book goes along. He ends up being my favorite! I loved how raw every character was I found my heart breaking for Claire and I even caught myself with tears in my eyes. The way the author described the background and nature made me feel like I was walking right along with Jay and seeing things through his eyes. What scared me as a parent is how one minute can change a whole lifetime. This book takes off and sucks you in and through out the book it slowly builds more of the story line. I give this book four stars!

This book starts with a mother (Claire) who is having an allergic reaction, yet needs to get to work, and is trying to make it there but can not take the symptoms anymore. She must pullover with her two children in tow and leave them in the car when she goes to the restroom. Next thing she knows she is waking up on the floor of the gas station bathroom and her children and car have vanished. The people searching for her children are not finding anything and as time passes she begins to go beside herself with guilt and worry. The case over time and the still missing girls weighs heavy on Glenn and Claire's marriage. This book was hard to put down and riveting from start to finish. The only challenging part for me was the ending, it left me with various questions. Overall though the story was well written and a thriller that I will not soon forget.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book for a fair and honest review.

As parents, we worry every day that something bad will happen to our kids. What if the something bad is your fault? Claire Rawlings just left her kids in the car for minute - she felt overwhelming ill and just wanted to reach to gas station bathroom before she threw up - and now her two sweet girls, Andrea and Lily, are gone, taken by a stranger. LITTLE LOVELY THINGS is about what Claire, Glen and Andrea do in the aftermath of the kidnapping. Needless to say, it is not a happy story but it is fascinating. Good writing, good plot , good characters.

This started out pretty good. I was drawn into it very early on and enjoyed Claire's narrative.

Unfortunately, the more I read the more I started disliking it.

I didn't like how often it switched narratives.

I really really disliked Moira. I know that was the point, but she literally had no redeeming qualities.

My biggest problem with the book is the ending. It was so abrupt and didn't explain anything and I just really really hated that. I have more questions finishing the book then I had reading it and that irks me so much. With novels like this I want a satisfying ending. This did not have one.

It wasn't the worst book, wasn't the best. Can't really say much more than that.

Fantastic psychological thriller. From beginning to end, I was completely in this story, alongside each character and hanging on to every word. I'm not a parent but I am very close to my niece so the thought of this happening is simply terrifying.. Wonderfully well written and each character is so well portrayed.

Claire Rawlings, mother of two and medical resident, will not let the troubling signs of an allergic reaction prevent her from making it in for rounds. But when Claire's symptoms overpower her while she's driving into work, her two children in tow, she must pull over. Moments later she wakes up on the floor of a gas station bathroom-her car, and her precious girls have vanished.

The police have no leads and the weight of guilt presses down on Claire as each hour passes with no trace of her girls. All she has to hold on to are her strained marriage, a potentially unreliable witness who emerges days later, and the desperate but unquenchable belief that her daughters are out there somewhere.

Little Lovely Things is the story of a family shattered by an unthinkable tragedy. Played out in multiple narrative voices, the novel explores how the lives of those affected fatefully intersect, and highlights the potential catastrophe of the small decisions we make every day. (less)

This. Book.

First off -- Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC of this book!

This book follows a mother who's two children get abducted under her watch. Claire is suffering from an allergic reaction on her way to drop her children off she has to stop at a public restroom and falls extremely ill. She leaves her two children in the car while she is in the bathroom. While that happens, two drug dealers steal the car and take off with the children.

The story covers 5 years after the abduction.... her marriage becomes strained.
Her job as a doctor under pressure.
She has a strong sense that one of her daughters is still alive....
Is that enough to keep hope?
Will they ever find her alive?

This book sucks you in, and you have to keep reading until the end. I highly recommend this read.

The storyline in Little Lovely Things is one of terrible tragedy and a parent's worst nightmare, but Maureen Joyce Connolly handles the story with care and makes it an enjoyable read - if that's even the right word for a story like this. While the events of the novel are difficult to handle, the story is immediately engaging and holds the reader's attention. I liked Connolly's treatment of the characters and found them to be genuine and realistic. I found it easy to both like (and dislike) Claire and Glenn for exactly this reason. They are just like any two people you might know in real life complete with their own set of complicated emotions, life situations, and problems. The story does not end with a completely neat resolution, but what in life does? I actually prefer an open-ended finish to a story. The one thing I didn't love about the novel was Jay's involvement. I loved his character but often felt that he didn't quite fit into the narrative, that he was more of a forced plot device. Overall, this was a fast and easy read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC ebook.

Difficult story to read evoking strong emotions. The characters were well developed and the reader can easily follow them. The material is sometimes very difficult making the characters all that more human. Very good!

Wow. That's the best word to describe this book. Just wow. I was pulled in by the description and so thankful I was approved to read this ARC. What a great story. Maureen Joyce Connolly wrote a great book. Kept me interested until the end.

Little Lovely Things is a very fast read. From the first few pages it grabs you and doesn’t let go. This story of stolen children is mixed with happy and sad moments. The hell that parents must go through is shown in what I can only imagine to be very close to the reality of such a terrible situation.
The author does wonderful descriptive writing. I never read books cover to cover in one sitting due to limited time to read every day but this one I did! Do not start this book unless you have time to finish it! I had “great book” insomnia last night into the wee hours. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Release date April 2, 2019
Unputdownable...is that an actual word? It needs to be, if not.
This was a crazy, wild ride-the story and the characters grab you and don’t let go until the last page. Claire is the superwoman we moms try to be, terrified that one mistake could cause all to collapse. You will go through so many emotions while reading Little Lovely Things-horror, overwhelming sadness, joy-get ready for a roller coaster!

I really enjoyed this book. This book had me guessing to the very last pages.
Maureen Joyce Connolly gives a psychological spin on the characters involved and it's the understanding of them that makes the read a thriller. You should really go read this book.

Claire has it all - good marriage, two beautiful daughters, and she's finishing up her residency on her way to becoming a doctor. When she gets sick on the drive in to work one morning, she stops to collect herself and her car is stolen with her two children in it.

The first half of the novel packs a gut punch if you're a mother. I have two daughters myself, and the kidnapping scene was heartbreaking from both the kids and parent's POV. The second half was slower, less of a thriller and more of a portrait of a family torn apart.

The characters were well written, especially Jay, who was my favorite. The ending left me wanting a little more resolution. 3.5 stars.

One of the best books I’ve read in a long time!! At times heartbreaking, other times hopeful, this one is hard to put down. Claire and Glen are loving parents of two little girls, and one day Claire makes the split second decision to leave them alone in a running car to go in a gas station bathroom to be sick. What happens next is a nightmare for any parent.
Some of the subject matter is difficult to read, but there is hope as well as love and friendship in this beautiful story.

Absolutely fantastic book. Not your typical "kidnapping" story. From start to finish i was gripped with the storyline and couldn't put it down. Such a feel good story that will stick with me.

This book is heart-breaking.

It tells the story of a woman who, after suffering a reaction and fainting in a gas station bathroom, wakes up to find that her car, with her two daughters in it, has been stolen. It is told from multiple perspectives, including the woman who, with her husband, took the girls. This makes this story more drama and less mystery/whodunit sort, since you are aware of the kidnappers from the beginning.

I did find it compelling, although the woman kidnapper is Irish and uses Irish terminology, which is something I liked in part, but it also felt somewhat unnatural at times. But that was not too bad, nor did it truly detract from the story itself. I also really liked Colly's character. [Other names not mentioned so as to not spoil.]

3.5, rounded up because there were certainly moments that were a 4-star worthy story. :)

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read this book!

Lovely Little Things by Maureen Joyce Connolly begins with the unthinkable happening. Claire, a mother and physician-in-training has caught a bug going around her hospital and is having an allergic reaction. In her rush to get her daughters squared away at daycare and to make her rounds, she collapses at a gas station. When Claire comes to, the unthinkable has happened: her daughters have been taken right from her car.


This story is told from the perspective of Claire, racked with grief and devoted only to her career, as she comes to terms with both of her daughters' deaths, as well as Moira, an Irish traveler who is responsible for the worst day of Claire and her husband's lives. The two other narrators bring the story full circle, as we understand the deep grief that Claire and her husband Glen are experiencing.


Restless spirits and travelers are an underlying theme in this story; everyone is very unsettled and there is the constant desire to move around and an attempt to outrun the past. I enjoyed the elements of Lakota culture, as well as the backdrop of the Midwest in its most unforgiving state.
This book is Connolly's debut novel, and kept me racing to the finish. I was excited to get to read this book early as part of a Suzy Approved Book Tour in partnership with the publisher, Sourcebooks.

No redeeming qualities, The plot itself wasn't bad. It everything else was sub -par. Writing style,, development of characters, dialogue, mediocre to poor. Cannot recommend

I was incredibly impressed with Little Lovely Things and read it in a day because I was so engaged with this fantastic debut. While technically about a child abduction, the novel is definitely not a thriller (you learn what happened in the first few pages); instead of being about "who done it," it is about "what happens after it is done." Told from multiple characters' perspectives, the prose is gorgeous and the story is compelling. I went through all the emotions reading it, from anger to frustration to sorrow, and truly could not put it down.