Lauren Tranter has just given birth to twin boys, Morgan & Riley, she had a traumatic birth and is completely exhausted but, when a woman approaches her during the night on her ward and tries to take her baby boys in exchange for her own, she knows she didn't imagine it, so why won't anyone believe her? A month later and Lauren is still struggling when, after meeting friends at the park her twins disappear, they are later found but there is something different about them and Lauren knows it's linked to her encounter at the hospital, she knows that she has to get her boys back and will stop at nothing until they are safely back in her arms.

This book is very twisted and dark, each chapter begins with a quote from a fairy tale or folklore and adds a disturbed edge to the story. One minute I was convinced that what Lauren was experiencing was true, the next I was sure it was all in her head! I really felt for Lauren and prayed that it would all turn out to be true and her strength and love for those boys would get her through this, I also loved the character of Jo Harper, especially the way she was fighting Lauren's corner, due mainly to her own past experiences and would love the author to bring her back in a future book. I was very surprised to see that this is a debut novel and happy to hear that it will soon become a movie, this one had me completely hooked and I read it in less than a day, if this is anything to go by I'm looking forward to reading more of her work. It's a truly creepy and compelling read that I highly recommend.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and on Amazon on publication day.

Wow! Loved Little Darlings. A spooky tale that had me gripped right from the start. A mother, her twins, her sanity, all in question in this dark tale. If you love fables, thrillers, creepy tales you will enjoy this book. Looking forward to the next book from this Author.

I give Little Darlings 5 stars for its creep factor.
I would recommend this book to Thriller Fans.

When they say that Lauren Tranter is exhausted, she really is. I think anyone with twins has every right to be exhausted. But is she seeing things? Is she imaging things? She is convinced that she saw a woman attempting to take her boys claiming that "its only fair" and wants to them with her own twins. However, no one seems to believe her.
However, things took a turn and the twins disappear. Twin boys are found shortly after, however, Lauren doesn't believe they are her boys. (this really reminded me a little bit of Changling with Angelina Jolie). While I've read my share of thrillers and sometimes get a little tired of the plot, that was not the case with this book. I actually missed my stop on the train because I was so caught up in the book.

This is based off of some creepy dark fairly tales (and to me sort of reads like it) and I really enjoyed it. The characters were well written and I felt for Lauren through out the book.

I've heard that this has already been optioned as a movie and I can't wait to see how it comes from the pages to the screen.

Mixing dark fairy tales with domestic suspense? Count me in! This is a wonderfully chilling ride that will have you staying up well past your bedtime to race to its resolution. So many of us women are used to being discounted and unbelieved, so we can truly empathize with the protagonists's struggles.

First, don't read Little Darlings if you're pregnant or have recently been pregnant.

This book wasn't amazing, but it was a very enjoyable read. Sad, but psychologically frightening enough to keep creeped out and turning pages.

Side note: it's not a mystery/thriller. It's dark fiction with elements of magical realism...

Golding expertly wove in dark fairy tales to create the spooky horror story about post partum depression. Could Lauren be so lost in her exhaustive depression that she would harm her own children? Perhaps the tales have darkened her mind and given her a strange rationality to her actions, but how does one explain the past similar experiences and the detectives understanding? This story grabbed me and kept me turning the pages. I especially enjoy the change of views from chapter to chapter.

Dark, twisted folklore or postpartum depression? Little Darlings left me with mixed feelings. I'm sure part of that can be blamed on the fact that I went into the book expecting a thriller and got what felt more like a domestic drama. The idea of changelings definitely adds a sinister tone to the story, but in the end, I was still unconvinced as to which way this one wanted to go. Maybe that's the point, and each reader will decide for themselves. All I know for sure is that I expected something more than what I found in this one. According to the hype, Little Darlings is coming to the big screen, so I'll be interested to see how I feel about that format. I don't say this often, but this is one that may be better on the silver screen, at least as far as the thriller aspect goes. Looking at it from the postpartum depression angle, which is the direction I found myself leaning toward, it does make for an interesting drama. So, drama, yes. thriller, not so much, hence my mixed feelings. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.

A book that is not for the faint of heart that is a mix of thriller/mystery with a little side of paranormal (tad bit of sci-fi (ish)), creepiness.

The beginning started off a bit slow but it definitely kicks up and becomes a fast page turner that I didn’t wan’t to put down. The story starts off with Lauren delivering two twin boys, Riley and Morgan and experiencing the first feelings of parenthood with husband Patrick. After things start to settle down and Lauren is staying in the hospital to heal she is awoken to another woman ramble on about her children and wants to exchange her children with Lauren’s twins. Lauren has a bad feeling and tries to get away as well as contacting the Police to report the weird disturbance, however they put Lauren down as being unstable.
The finally are able to go home, but Lauren’s feelings of this woman grow and she becomes overwhelmingly paranoid. While they go to the park, Lauren believes her twins were swapped by this woman she met and nobody believes her as Riley and Morgan look identical with the other babies. This forces her to take matters into her own hands.

I always love tons of twists and turns in my thrillers, however I feel that the synopsis has given up most of that as there was nothing beyond what it stated there was, potentially spoiling what’s to come for those interested in reading it. It is definitely a book to go in blind as the synopsis gives too much away.

Overall, I loved the way the storyline played out and the characters were very likable. For a debut book of Melanie Golding, this was an outstanding and memorable book that I do look forward to her future work. I do recommend adding this to your TBR.

I couldn't put this book down! This book is so different from anything I read and the addition of the twin folklore added an even creepier factor to the story. I don't want to give anything away, but I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

Mother’s worst nightmare. Her babies are gone!! What a debut, page turner from the first to the last page. Psychological thriller that I couldn’t stop reading. I can’t believe it that I was actually cheering for a mad woman but was she crazy or not? I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a goose bumps and frightening stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not usually a fan of unreliable narrators, on the page or in the flesh. I also don’t tend to seek out stories that include potential changelings, so I’m not entirely sure what drew me to this book. Whatever the reason, I’m so glad I found it. I love any book that challenges me to want to read outside of my comfort zone and this one succeeded.

Lauren and Patrick are first time parents to twins, Morgan and Riley. Despite some initial hesitation as she waited for the instantaneous motherly love for her babies to arrive, Lauren is smitten. Exhausted, but smitten. After terrifying encounters with a strange woman who threatened to steal her perfect bundles of joy and replace them with her own creatures, Lauren refuses to let her twins out of her sight. The staff at the hospital are certain that Lauren’s experiences are mental health related and DS Joanna Harper is the only police officer who isn’t entirely convinced they’re correct.

Weeks later, Lauren’s babies are missing and when she sees them again she knows they’re not her babies. They’ve been switched but, because they look identical to her own, there’s little she can do to prove it. She knows what she needs to do, but if she’s wrong there’ll be no turning back.

I know what I believe happened but I can’t give you definitive evidence to prove my point. I could just as easily argue the opposing view and that, to me, is proof of how well Melanie Golding writes. It’s not only what really happened that is up for grabs in my eyes; I could argue motives of different characters as well, chiefly Lauren’s husband.

I didn’t trust him from the very beginning and I still don’t. I felt he was a condescending, manipulative slimeball but I still don’t know if it was my instincts kicking in or if I’m judging his actions through Lauren or Joanna’s eyes. Regardless, I love a book that messes with me like this.

I had anticipated this story ending during a specific series of events and was surprised when it continued for another couple of chapters, but would have been satisfied either way. I do have a couple of niggling outstanding questions, mostly relating to the book with the old-fashioned gold lettering and Natasha.

I’m really interested to see how this book translates to film, especially the portrayal of Lauren’s thoughts and whether it encourages the viewer to make up their own mind or if it weighs the evidence in a way that provides a definitive answer. Despite my own (thankfully unfounded) prejudices going into this book, I finished it feeling its early hype is warranted.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read this debut. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.

Lauren Tranter is exhausted after she delivers twins, Morgan & Riley. She wakes in the night in the maternity ward to the sound of someone singing in the curtained area next to hers. She goes to tell them to keep the noise down and sees a woman who is disheveled, with a dirty face and oily & stringy hair. The woman threatens to steal Lauren's babies and replace them with her own. Lauren calls the police and an investigation ensues. When Lauren is able to take the boys home, she becomes terrified of leaving the house. She sees the gypsy-like woman looking in the window and hiding outside in the bushes. Lauren has to prove the woman is real, not a figment of her over-tired mind.
This book is a combination dark fairy tale and thriller. The combination sounds strange, but trust me it works, I could not put this book down. I highly recommend this book!

I liked this book a lot, but it was kinda creepy but I like creepy in a good way it's not the kind of book that would give bad dreams at least not for me

I wasn’t sure I would like this book since it is in the horror category. I don’t particularly like stories or movies filled with blood, gore and really scary scenes. In the end, I was drawn in by the idea that it had elements like Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Who hasn’t heard, read or seen movies of them?

I’m glad I decided to read it anyway because I really enjoyed it. It was almost like reading a book from the present time, mixed with one of those fairy tales from years gone by. While the book did keep me flipping the pages, intent on finding out about the mysterious creature who stole the babies and replaced them with monsters, there weren’t any extreme horror elements, so if that is holding you back, don’t be scared away.

The characters are very well developed, so much so that they could have stepped off the page and gone on to live amongst the rest of us. Like fairy tales that I learned in childhood, there was a feeling of, “What if?” What would it be like to experience something so off the wall in the world today where such things have seemingly been debunked ages ago.

The author did a wonderful job writing this book, and I believe it will be enjoyed for years to come.

I was actually a little disappointed with this book. I was hoping for more focus on the lore and the evil that lurked under the rivers but instead it was a lot of, IMO, unneeded filler between smaller bits of lore.

I was particularly unimpressed with Patrick. He was a scumbag and not at all worth Lauren’s love and devotion. He can go.

I also wasn’t very fond of Harper. I could see the markings of a great character but it was all very poorly executed. Why did we need to have a maybe-sorta love interest with Amy. Again, I felt like there was more focus on this than the lore that was supposed to be the core of this book.

I did really enjoy Lauren. She was honest to a fault and extremely relatable. Flawed in ways that anyone could understand. I would have loved more of her perspective outside of hospitals. I wanted her to have more agency over how she found out about these twin tales and saved her boys.

3/5 stars because there was a solid foundation but the middle was muddled and not nearly as solid.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.

I did not care for this book. I dnf'ed at 40% I didn't like the writing style, the characters were irritating in my opinion. Overall it just wasn't for me. I really liked the blurb but the story or at least the parts of it that I read just honestly let me down.

This is a portion of the review posted on my blog https://trailsoftales620253622.wordpr...
I requested ‘Little Darlings’ from Netgalley quite a while back and by the time I got around to reading it, I had completely forgotten what the book was about.

And clearly, I had also forgotten that this book ended up on my NetGalley dashboard as a result of my temporary episode of daredevilry.

I am the kind of person who goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night and then runs back to her bed as if demons of the Underworld might snatch her at any moment if she cannot outrun them.

Thus me willingly, absolutely under no coercion, requesting a book in the Horror genre is an unnatural phenomenon.

So why did I do it?

Because ‘ Little Darlings’ by Melanie Golding is an unbelievably interesting book.

But since I had forgotten all about the premise, I thought that maybe it was about post-partum psychiatric disorders which is much more common that you might think.

My clinical psychology training kicked in and I started identified Lauren’s symptoms.

It is absolutely imperative here to mention that Melanie Golding has impeccably described the effects of a traumatic birth on a new mother’s psyche.

But then….then I realized where this was going.

That is when yours truly’s incessant internal screams started.

By the end of ‘Little Darlings’ you are still wondering what part was actually true, the bone chilling terror or the psychological intrigue.

Author Melanie Golding lets you be the judge of that by cleverly designing unexpected plot twists. Her ability to create just enough environmental details to match the momentum of the story is fascinating.

‘Little Darlings‘ is the kind of book that utterly scares you yet leaves you asking for more.

If this is what Melanie Golding offers as a debut, imagine what treasures of story telling awaits us in all of her work after.

4.25 stars

At first I would like to thank Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Young Mother Lauren Tranter has just given birth to two perfect twin boys Morgan and Riley. She wants to be thrilled, overjoyed by having given birth to these beautiful boys but she is really just overwhelmed, exhausted and over all miserable. One night in the hospital Lauren Lauren catches a woman trying to exchange her own children with Lauren's. "It's only fair" she says. Lauren immediately calls 999 and though the hospital reports Lauren is having metal issue. However, Detective Harper believes that there is something wrong going on and that Lauren is not crazy.

One month later Lauren's babies disappear and when they are recovered Lauren denies that they are her sons. They may look like them but they are not her baby boys.

Lauren embarks on a journey to find her real sons and she faces some of the most frightening things you can imagine.

I wanted this to be a 5 star book but in the end it was a respectable 4.25 for me. This was a spooky,fun and creepy novel. I am not sure if this is really a full on mystery. It really reads as a horror, fairy tale with a mystery attached.

Well written with strong female characters, this is a novel that will certainly lure you in and keep you interested but it just felt like it was missing something for me.

I’m definitely loosing sleep over this one. What an extremely creepy and riveting tale. Little Darlings by Melanie Golding made my skin crawl with its captivating and creative storyline that reminded me of Grimms Fairy Tales.

This is inspired by the Welsh fairy tale A Brewery of Eggshells, about a woman with newborn twins who are swapped with changelings. Lauren Tranter has given birth to two twin boys who promptly become her entire world. A disarrayed woman shows up to the maternity ward and threatens to swap her two twins with Lauren’s twins, she then turns into a protective mother — willing to do anything to save her babies.

Although the doctors, police and even her husband keep telling her she is seeing things, she knows the truth — the woman was real. When her twins go missing one day, a frantic search begins but they’re both found, ostensibly unharmed. Lauren, however, knows the true — these are not her twin babies.

Those around her dismiss her, saying she is mentally ill. All except one — Detective Sergeant Joanna Harper. For her own reasons, the detective believes Lauren. Harper opens her own investigation against her superior’s wishes and looks into what really happened to Lauren and her two babies.

What a bloody haunting tale! I truly enjoyed Melanie Golding’s style of writing and how certain parts left me shocked. While the story mirrored fairy tales and folklore — it had a darker and more sinister back story. For those following along on my blog, you’ll know I’m EXTREMELY single, so I don’s have children. I couldn’t relate to the postpartum depression or the after affects of having a child/children. But I can say, reading other reviews, many women who read this book seriously relate to this story and the struggles faced after having a baby/babies.

What really kept me on the edge of my seat was this tug of war I had over whether Lauren was suffering from postpartum depression or thinking that her babies were really taken and switched. You really have to question if Lauren is losing her mind and will anyone believer her? Brava to Melanie Golding’s writing! She certainly has a new avid follower of her work over here!

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding is a dark, creepy psychological thriller that left me terrified at the prospect of motherhood and marriage. A complete whiplash from my romance novels that I’ve been reading lately! Let’s just say this book certainly should be on your top 2019 reads for mystery and thrillers! This book will be published April 30.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I did not enjoy this book. I lost interest and patience with it. I still plowed through and it was a reasonably quick read. There were one or two twists in the storyline. I think because I'm not a mother is the reason why I wasn't engaged in this. Still, a great book should have been able to keep me interested and this novel failed to do that. Who knows - it might be a better movie. Thanks, Netgalley, for this arc.