This one was a tough read! I don’t have children but this was an incredibly sad story of a mother who feels ill while in the car with her kids. So she stops off and leaves her sleeping kid in the running car and runs into the bathroom. Someone steals her car and the children in it. I don’t want to spoil anything but I was really disappointed with the outcome for one girl. I think because of the nature of the book and the realness of the story line I couldn’t love this book. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. If you have little children, this may not be the book for you.

This was a very interesting book. Studying for medical school, raising 2 young girls only 2 years apart in age, and trying to be supportive of her husbands career is more than enough on your plate. But when Claire also happens to get extremely nauseous while driving kids to day care, she pulls over in a gas station and runs in the bathroom and passes out. Upon waking, Clair’s car and daughters are gone.

Will their marriage survive? Will they find the girls? Will Clair ever finish Medical school?

I enjoyed the characters. The story was well thought out and kept you interested until the end.

3.5*
Claire Rawlings makes a last minute decision... one that just might cost her everything! On her way into work with her two daughters safely in the backseat, a rush of nausea overtakes her and she feels as though she may vomit. An allergic reaction? Whatever the case, she must stop the car NOW!
Taking the next exit, Claire makes a mad dash into a bathroom behind a local gas station. Rushing into the restroom, she passes out. When she comes to her car is gone. Along with her two beautiful daughters!

How do you carry on? How do you possibly move forward? The grief, the unanswered questions, and most of all...the overwhelming guilt.

There’s a taste of Native American folklore interspersed throughout from Jay, the one possible witness to the abduction. In fact, that was my favorite part of the book and hoped for even more from his character.

Maureen Joyce Connolly writes a gripping debut thriller. The characters were all well developed, and the story-line flowed easily. I will definitely be searching out her next release.

A buddy read with Susanne!🌸

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark and Maureen Joyce Connolly for an ARC to read and review.

The premise of this book is that one tiny mistake will forever change a family. A mother decides to leave her children in the car with it running as she is feeling sick and has to get to a bathroom. This one mistake completely changes their life.

A compelling story that I enjoyed. I wished it would have been more suspenseful but besides that I really enjoyed this story.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

What an amazing thriller! I loved the character development and stayed up way past my bedtime to find out what was going to happen next. I highly recommend this author.

I was sucked in right from the beginning and stayed consumed for the entire book! I had a hard time putting this book down; staying up far too late to read it! This had a great story line and I love how I caught myself gritting my teeth toward the end more and more. Such suspense! I was very happy with this book!

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

Outstanding! Fast paced and well written. The happy, normal life of two parents, Glen and Claire, is suddenly flipped upside down, thrown, and shattered in a matter of minutes. “That Day”, the day Claire becomes ill on her way to take her little girls to daycare, she pulls over to get sick, only to wake up in the worst reality imaginable. Her vehicle is no where to be found, and inside are her daughters. How could she have let this happen? Who would steal two little girls? And why? Are they okay? Are they alive? A fully captivating story equipped with a rollercoaster of emotions and intriguing characters. A book that I ended with tears in my eyes and a yearning for more.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebook-Landmark for this advanced reader copy in return for an honest review.

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!

4+ Stars

Very Well Done Debut! And another new author to keep on my radar.

Most of us have probably read stories, both fiction and non-fiction involving child abduction, but LITTLE LOVELY THINGS has one unsettling, gut-wrenching part, in particular, that will stay with me for a long time that occurs after a mother's violent illness and frightening decision.

What you'll find here is a compelling read about a struggling loving family with two adorable children and great prospects for the future, a dog nicknamed G you will come to love, a mysterious, gifted man with a troubled past, an old, clever psychiatrist....and two brainless desperate young adults you are guaranteed to abhor who make the worst decisions.

Don't miss LITTLE LOVELY THINGS; a painfully tragic, but hopeful story.

***Arc provided by SOURCEBOOKS Landmark in exchange for an honest review***

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.