For a psychological thriller book, it felt more like reading a mixed fantasy/mystery book.

Throughout the read, the suspense can be felt as the mother experiences the loss of her twins in a surreal manner. Her twins have been switched but with who? What must be done to save her twins?

I enjoyed the overall read but was not interested in the main plot due to the strangeness of the situation.

This book really incites paranoia because it rides on the aged old fear of new mothers losing their newborns. In this book, a newly made Mum goes hysterical when she believes her two newborn twins have been swapped by faeries, and no one believes her even till the very end.
It is terrifying, it is gripping, and worst of all it is relatable.
It makes me actually fear having kids and if the book manages to do that, then I think it has succeeded.

This book is not without weaknesses though. I felt that the scene where Lauren escaped to swap her babies should have been covered in more detail. So what actually happened underwater? Also, what were the motivations of that faerie Mother who swapped her kids only to be thankful to have them back few days later? Then, what’s the point of swapping?
The book has potential to be even more enthralling, if it explores deeper into how the faerie babies carried themselves, and the motives of the faerie Mother. More time should also have been spent on why the perpetrator looks like Lauren, and sounds like Lauren (according to the cyclist witness and the CCTV tape). It was never explained why.
So that’s one star gone for all that.

A creepy and atmospheric story that contains elements of the Grimm Fairy Tales.

In the maternity ward, a mysterious woman appears in Lauren’s room at night and tries to take Lauren’s twin boys and replace them with her own creatures. The doctors and husband put it off as Lauren just seeing things due to exhaustion, but Lauren knows the truth. What will a mother do to save her twin boys?

I had a hard time putting this book down. I even found myself reading it at work. It pulled me in and held my attention all the way to the end. My only gripe was that I wish the ending had been a little more fleshed out. Other than that this was a really good read.

A weirdly scary story. It’s gripping and intense. It will give you nightmares and make you question the sanity of people. The author tells a horrifying tale of a mother losing her mind after the birth of her children. She gets no support from her spouse and creates and incident that is a tangled mess. It is creepy and sad at the same time. You will not be able to put it down until the end.

My oh my, Mother Does Know Best; or does she? This thrilling dark tale took off quickly where we met a new mother Lauren Tranter whom just had twin boys; Morgan and Riley.
After someone attempts to steal her babies, and call to 999 Dective Jo Harper is on the case. No one believes the mum, not even her husband Patrick the tale is dark and twisted and a great read.

What a creepy read! Different in the fact that it wasn’t just a psychological thriller but also incorporated folklore/fairy tale theme. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you #Netgalley, the author and publisher for my free arc in exchange for my honest review.
Posting to goodreads as well.

3.5 Stars

Take my rating with a grain of salt because my friends LOVED this one. I’ll blame my sorta fail on the fact that I am not a big fan of fairy tales (even dark ones) combined with the fact that everyone else in a book can act like a complete dimwit and do things that are stupid and/or dangerous and I’ll still love it - EXCEPT if that person is a police officer. Occasionally it flies, but usually that gets on my nerves.

The story about Lauren Tranter’s twins will definitely leave readers asking "is this the real life - is it just fantasy" as she tries to convince her husband, doctors and the authorities that an encounter with a stranger . . . .

“Choose one. Choose one or I’ll take them both. I’ll take yours and you can have mine. You’ll never know the difference. I can make sure they look just the same. One’s fair. Two is justice done.”

Resulted in changelings being left in her care.

It’s up to the reader to decide if maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline a complete mental breakdown courtesy of some severe post-partum psychosis.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. If I actually reviewed these in a timely fashion (or ever) maybe I’d be at 80%!

Going in I had misconceptions about the book. Thought it would be a straight mystery. But it was so much more than that. Definitely a mystery but with some fokelore included as a bonus. Not recommended for those about to give birth.

Great read. Look forward to more from this author.

Beautifully composed novel that intertwines the real with various folklore and tale of twins, kidnapping, and infanticide from various cultures. I loved every minute of this creepy ride.

I really enjoyed this terrific novel! Although I was left with more questions than answers, this novel was fantastic. I recommend it to any reader who favors novels of psychological suspense. I found the background information regarding the worldwide myths of changeling babies very interesting. I did a little internet research on these myths & found some of the same information as Ms. Golding noted in this novel.
Were the babies Morgan & Riley replaced by Selver & Bishop? Was the river mother Betty Fairweather, a mill worker during the late 19th century who could operate four looms at once? When the divers discovered the partial skeleton of a female along with 2 small bodies in the reservoir, were these the bodies of Betty Fairweather & her sons?
What actually happened to Lauren Tranter? Was she a woman suffering from post partum depression who merely imagined her twin babies were changelings? Or did something bizarre occur?
Why did Patrick Tranter overstate his wife’s mental illness?
For a debut novel Melanie Golding has proven herself to be a very gifted author. I plan on reading her future novels.
Thank you, Net Galley and the publisher Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read & review this terrific novel.

Lauren Tranter gave birth to twin boys, Riley and Morgan. She had a rough delivery and although, her husband, Patrick, is with her during visiting hours, but must leave when visiting hours are over. While in the hospital, Lauren hears a mom next to her cooing and talking to what sounds like another pair of twins. After a nurse pushed back the curtain, there was no bed, and the only other mom in the room had just one baby. Another night, Lauren again heard loud singing and two babies, and peered through an opening in the curtain to find a filthy woman sitting in a chair with a large basket by her feet. Confronting the woman, asking her to stop singing. Soon the woman took a keen interest in Lauren and her twins, and tried to make a bargain one baby for one. Fearing Lauren ran back, fetched her boys and locked herself in the bathroom.

Jo Harper, a police officer took note of an emergency call that came from the hospital. She went to pay a visit to Lauren. The call was dismissed, as no one saw an intruder, and considered that Lauren was seeing things. Despite Jo's boss telling her to let the investigation go, she makes a copy of security tape.

Patrick Tranter, is the husband of Lauren, the two were very close and Patrick is a doting father to the newborns. As time goes on, Patrick decides, that he has helped enough and needs his rest so he can go to work. He leaves Lauren to deal with tending to the twins by herself.

Patrick insists that his wife gets out of the house, which she goes to meet up with friends. When the visit is over, and the friends depart, Lauren decides to do a little more walking and soon finds herself fatigued. She sits on a bench and ends up falling asleep, only to wake to find the stroller with her boys missing.

Jo Harper is called once more and although finding the boys and a suspect, doesn't get the reaction she expects to get. When she enlists the help of a journalist, Jo learns of another attempted abduction of twins with similarities to Lauren's hospital case.

I enjoyed this book very much. There are a lot of twists and a creepy factor that keeps you guessing to the end.

I received an ARC from NetGalley via Crooked Lane Books in exchange for my honest review.

This book is about a first time mother Lauren Tranter of twin boys and the struggle she goes through to take care of them with no help from the husband. It also has a little bit of dark fairy tale parts. It also talks a little of Detective Joanne Harper and why she has a lot of interest in child abduction cases, even though it does not go into detail it is understandable why she feels the way she does. Not a big fan of the ending but I get it. I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.

4.5 stars for the amount of goosebumps and chills this gave me as I was reading it. An unsettling tale about the realness of postpartum depression paired with paranoia and being dismissed as crazy, Little Darlings was the creepiest thing I’ve read in recent memory.

No one really tells you how it is when you have a baby - this was so detailed with the labor, the pains, the tearing and blood, that it gave me a mental panic attack just thinking about having to go through that process someday (probably very soon). And the aftermath of not wanting to leave home and being afraid that someone will harm you and your newborn babies, I know it’s a very real fear some women have to endure so to have it paired with the darkness of the prospect of having changelings in place of your babies is so disturbing.

In regards to the main characters, I really only liked one of them. Lauren was filled with paranoia and a real sense of urgency from the moment she encountered the river lady and she just felt like a broken damsel in distress the entire way through. Jo/Harper was the fearless woman I needed and was searching for to balance out the unsteadiness of character from Lauren. Patrick, the mansplaining husband who I disliked more and more with every chapter, was utterly useless. The entire book was so creepy and eerie - a perfect literary example of a nightmare. I’m no stranger to fairy tales or Brothers Grimm stories, but when it’s retold in a contemporary setting with a realness that makes you think “what if….” - it’s haunting.

I typically don’t read fantasy type books but this one pulled me in from the beginning and it was nice to read something a little different. I personally didn’t like how the story wrapped up
In the end.

When I read the synopsis of this novel, I instantly knew it was the one for me. Little Darlings is the story of Lauren Tranter, and her struggle after giving birth to twin boys. A woman appears in the hospital, threatening to switch Lauren's babies for her own, but is this woman a figment of Lauren's imagination, or is she real? Are Lauren's babies actually changelings?

This is a great exploration of new motherhood, mental illness, and the pervasiveness of legend and folklore. Set in the Peak District, a place you can well imagine fairies and elves could live, Little Darlings is a lyrical yet contemporary story. Golding writes with an impressive flair - her ability to capture so many excellent characters, from Lauren to DS Harper, a police officer who seems to avoid the most commonly used tropes, to Amy the journalist. Little Darlings is truly such a brilliant book, I can't quite believe it's a debut.

I'm easily lured in by books that promise to unsettle me, but often I am disappointed. I was delighted to find that this was not the case with Little Darlings. Melanie Golding manages to weave together contemporary life and a distinct feeling of folktale that combine for one deeply, deeply creepy novel. It would be a shame to give away any of the plot, but it's definitely worth picking up - in fact, I was pretty devastated that it wasn't out in time to give as a Christmas gift!

This book could have been so much better -- they premise is great, but by the end I was bored. I didn't believe the mother's mania at all and I think the husband got of light for his discretions. The cop/reporter romance wasn't believable at all.

This review will have spoilers so please only read on if you don't mind them.

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The book opens with a pretty graphic birthing scene, which in all honesty almost made me stop reading the book completely. Now I read a lot of gory horror books, but there is something about the graphic detail of childbirth which really scares me. Maybe it is because I don't have children and I've never been through it I just assume it will be the worst moment of my life.

However I continued to read and I'm so glad I did as I really enjoyed this little book. I loved the tone it sets from the moment she has had the children and meets the strange woman trying to steal her babies. I felt on edge during my entire read through and even though I knew there must be a logical explanation as to what is going on, I couldn't help but wonder if her babies were the creatures after all...

You find yourself sympathising and believing everything Lauren had said, you resented her husband on her behalf for not being proactive and helping her with the two newborn babies. You found her friends annoying on her behalf because they were thriving and she wasn't, and you felt her exhaustion and hallucinating state through each turn of the page. It made me want to swoop in and look after the babies for a few hours whilst she had a nap, there is something about her character where you just feel so sad and sorry for her.

Now I believe this book was a look into post natal depression despite them never actually saying that is what she was suffering from, it simply states that she has mental health issues. For someone who doesn't have children yet this terrifies me and now knowing that you could believe the things that haven't happened and then going on to potentially harm your children, wow. It deals with this subject very well, although not throwing the subject in your face it very much brings the seriousness of post natal depression to the surface. It really made me feel sad for her and it moved me deeply that she felt so alone and that she didn't recognise her own babies because of the dark thoughts she was having.

However the one thing which set the book back slightly were the chats with another mother who went through a similar situation, thinking her babies had been snatched and replaced too. Their situations were identical, so was it post natal depression after all or real? You don't get the closure you expect, but I do not necessarily dislike that. I quite like that the ending it left to keep you thinking about it, and it did keep me pondering about the story for a few days.

Regardless of whatever was going on you know that Lauren just loved her babies and wanted what she thought was best and safe for them. You do not end the book disliking her at all, you feel so much for her and her babies.

I highly recommend picking this up if you want a short read that tackles this highly upsetting subject in such a thrilling way and eerie way.

First of all, I’d like to thank Netgalley, the publishers, and author of this book for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book started off with great potential and just fell flat for me. It wasn’t as creepy as I had hoped. Now, I’m a bit of a harsh critic at times so maybe this book is just not for me.

I was never interested in the characters and just eventually grew bored with the story. Sorry to say. I really loved the fairytale addition to the story, but just wasn’t on board with the direction it took.

I would still say those of you questioning whether you would like this book or not, give it a shot. It had potential and perhaps you may like the direction the story took, unlike me. It wasn’t terrible, but it’s just that I have read books that dug into this subject that impressed me more.