If you like a mystery with a bit of paranormal thrown in, this is the book for you. It all starts with the birth of twins and a woman trying to switch them for hers. No one believes that it actually happened with the exception of a police investigator. And when it actually does happen...you have to read it to find out what happens next. It’s not my normal read, but I did enjoy it.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this book, it reminded me of Don't Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon, which I loved. In this book, the story alternates between that of Lauren, a mom who just gave birth to twins and is struggling to adjust, and that of Joanna, a police sergeant who eventually investigates a crime that Lauren reports to the police. Lauren's storyline is definitely more exciting as it is difficult to tell if what is happening to her is real or the result of some postpartum psychosis. Additionally, old-timey fairy tales are used to start each chapter, which serves as a reminder that these stories have been around for centuries, and which leads you to wonder: if people have been telling these stories for so long, does that mean there is some degree of truth to them?

I also enjoyed the sections told from the perspective of the police sergeant. I found her character to be a new take on the trope of a police investigator and I enjoyed her perspective. There is also a journalist character who is used to move the story along that I didn't enjoy nearly as much.

I don't want to give anything away about what happens so I will just stop there. But I recommend this book to anyone who likes creepy books that have a psychological angle, and especially those who like fairy tales. I found the book very easy to read, easy to get into, and an overall fun reading experience. I look forward to reading more from this author!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!*

This is the unsettling story of a woman named Lauren who has just given birth to twin boys. While still in the hospital, she is stalked by a gruesome woman, who seems to be trying to take Lauren’s babies and switch them with her own. Is this real and can Lauren really trust her own mind?

I really enjoyed this creepy and atmospheric story. The fact that no one else has seen this frightening woman causes Lauren to question her own sanity. The only person who takes the young mother’s allegations seriously is Detective Sergeant Jo Harper. Throughout the book we switch perspectives between DS Harper and Lauren as we get more and more information about the danger or perceived danger to Lauren’s newborn twins.

The story would have been better for me if details about DS Harper’s personal and romantic life were minimized or left out altogether. I found it distracting and it didn’t gel with the rest of the narrative.

The writing was especially strong in the its description of becoming a new mother. It was so real and will bring back memories to anyone who has experienced this amazing, terrifying, and exhausting time. I also loved the inclusion of the excerpts of traditional folklore about changelings.

This was a very strong debut and I can’t wait to see what Melanie Golding comes up with next!

I'll admit, I was not thrilled at first when I saw in a review that I skimmed that there was a supernatural element to this book - I am so glad I didn't let that deter me from jumping in anyway!

Poor Lauren, a new mother of identical twins, had her babies nearly stolen from her and then her sanity questioned throughout the book - but is she really crazy, or is there a darker force in place here? When others won't see what she sees, are they in denial or brushing off the "impossible" and sticking to facts?

Little Darlings is creepy, dark ,and throws in these little twists and hints that make you wonder if you're on the right track with where it's going... and man did the end tie things together in the weirdest but coolest way!

Normally I wouldn't do a review this ear

Having been through an experience where I just gave birth and my nurse commented "I won't steal your baby, you can go to the bathroom", which sent me into an all out melt down, where I pulled my baby into the bathroom bed and all, and threatened the nurse. This was so realistic to me. Obviously a lot of women are not in the best place mentally, or hormonally, after going through the exhaustion of giving birth.

I don't want to spoil any of the story. I do want to say I read this in two days and was totally drawn into Lauren's world. I loved Harper and hope she will return for another Golding novel.

The atmosphere this book created was absolutely chilling. I can only hope that Golding will continue to write. This was perfect for Halloween. I loved that the ending wrapped up all the storylines. Bravo Melanie Golding! You have a new fan!!!

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding was a perfect novel to read in the lead-up to Halloween. This book is creepy, scary, and unsettling, in the vein of traditional fairy and folk tales. Each section begins with an excerpt from such a tale to set the disturbing mood.

During the worst drought since 1976, Lauren Tanter gave birth to twins. The hospital where she delivered didn’t allow her (rather useless) husband Patrick to stay overnight (is this normal in the UK?), so she was alone, drugged after hemorrhaging. In the middle of the night, she heard a woman singing a creepy lullaby to her own newborn twins. On the way to the bathroom, Lauren asked her to quit singing as it could disturb the other patients. Strangely, the woman’s bay had no hospital bed. She was dirty with stringy hair and her babies were in a basket. The woman asked her to switch one baby. The Tranters’ babies had every advantage; it wasn’t fair. Lauren gathered her twins, barricaded herself in the bathroom, and called 999. The responding officers determined no one was in the ward and referred the case to Mental Health Services. DS Joanna Harper, though, thought it worth investigating, even though the psychiatrist chalked the incident up to postpartum hallucinations.

Frightened, Lauren stayed in her house after she was discharged until she finally met her friends Rosa and Cindy at Bishop Valley Park. Lauren took a walk after her friends departed. Waking up, the twins’ stroller was missing. DS Harper rushed to the park and found the twins with a woman who was struggling with the stroller at the edge of the water. When DS Harper came upon them, the woman ran. Quickly captured, she claimed she wasn’t kidnapping the twins at all; she had found the babies and was returning them.

At first, Lauren was overjoyed. Then, she took the stroller and started running towards the river, convinced that the babies weren’t hers; they’d been replaced with the dirty woman’s creatures. Despite everyone’s attempts to convince Lauren otherwise, she believes that her babies aren’t her own. And, as DS Harper investigates the abduction, she begins to see evidence herself that the boys might not be the real babies.

Little Darlings has lots of provocative elements: changeling babies, a drowned city, a mysterious and similar crime from 1976. Even better, it’s ending is satisfying but ambiguous enough that it leaves the reader unsettled and disturbed, perfect for a horror tale.

Review: LITTLE DARLINGS by Melanie Golding. Great book and an excellent horror/thriller mix. Modern day meets old time fairy tale when a woman becomes convinced that her Newborn twin boys have been replaced by river monsters. ⭐⭐⭐⭐Four Stars.

Lauren has Twin boys ,the night they are born she thinks some stranger is trying to steal them and calls cops. Nobody see's a thing but her. Everybody thinks she is crazy. She gets locked away breaks free trys to toss the boys in river like a book told her to. She now knows HER boys are safe but still her husband keeps her locked away. Good story but never says if she gets out.

Oh, this was excellent! I'm writing this review way past my bedtime because there was no way I could go to bed without finishing this book!

<i>Little Darlings</i> is the story of Lauren, a new mother of twins, who is under some serious stress. After an especially hard birth, she is confronted by a strange and menacing woman in her hospital room, who threatens to take Lauren's babies and replace them with her own. Lauren calls the police, but is told she imagined the entire incident. When she returns home, sleep-deprived and dealing with an unhelpful husband, her fears that this woman will take her babies persist. And when she finally ventures out of the house, and her babies are taken and then returned, she is convinced they are changelings and that she needs to get her real babies back. Is there something supernatural going on? Or is Lauren's precarious mental state causing her to imagine the whole thing?

This story was deliciously creepy, and the author did an excellent job of slowly ratcheting up the tension and putting the reader off-balance. The stress Lauren experienced as a new mother was palpable, and it was easy to empathize with what she was going through, even as someone who has never had children. I constantly vacillated between believing Lauren's story and being convinced she was delusional.

We also get a dose of a more reliable narrator through a second POV character, Jo Harper, a police officer who has taken an interest in Lauren's case. Jo is drawn to the case and continues to dig into it even after being told not to by her boss. Like the reader, Jo isn't sure whether to believe Lauren or not, but she's willing to believe there may be more going on than meets the eye. I liked Jo a lot, and if Melanie Golding's plan is to write more books that feature her as a detective, I am so here for it!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves psychological thrillers or a good mystery. <i>Little Darlings</i> is creepy, atmospheric, and completely addicting.

This book grabs you from the first sentence. I could not put this book down. Lauren, a new mother, faced with twins and a husband that was less than helpful, insists that her babies were switched with evil changelings. Is she crazy or does she know something everyone else doesn't? The story meshes a thrilling mystery with a folklore story and a crime procedural. This brilliant mix keeps you guessing as to what is going to happen next. This is a great read and I hope to see more of the dectective Harper in future books.

I finished this book, mostly just to find out if Lauren was crazy or if there was actually changelings running around disguised as her infant children. In this book, Lauren gives birth to identical twins and even from the first night in the hospital, something is off. She hears a woman singing to twins beside her, but the nurses say no one is in that bed. She calls for the police because a woman is trying to steal her twins, but they say no ones there. She calls again because someone is in the bushes outside her house, but again they say no one is there. She sees her twins changing, but the nurses say that babies can change as they grow - hair can darken or lighten and eyes can change color. I kept reading to see if they really were her twins of if they had really been switched, but I felt like I was forcing my way through it. I didn't enjoy reading it - it was just a chore to get through to get to see the end.

Loved this book! It was so different than anything I"ve read in a long time. It's so refreshing to read something unique. Once I started reading I couldn't stop! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a creepy, eerie, folksy-like, mystery. And don't even get me started on the last chapter!! The ending...I don't have anyone to discuss with!!!

Let me begin this review with saying that I have absolutely no business reviewing an ARC that doesn't even publish until April 2019 when I have so many ARC's pending soon or better yet the ones I'm behind on BUT the synopsis for this is beyond intriguing and it's October when it's time for all things creepy and spooky and this one seemed a perfect choice for the season.

And I was right! <--- it does happen once in awhile! ;)

Whoa! Little Darlings was an absolute delight to read.

"The child is not mine as the first was, I cannot sing it to rest, I cannot lift it up fatherly and bliss it upon my breast; Yet it lies in my little one's cradle, And sits in my little one's chair, And the light of the heaven she's gone to transfigures its golden hair." ~ From The Changeling by James Russell Lowell

Imagine given birth to a set of lovely twin boys. Imagine in the middle of the night on the very day of their birth a vile woman invades your hospital room and insists on swapping your babies for hers. Imagine that no one, not even your own husband, believes you.

Now you've returned home with your babies and the mother in you wants to protect them fiercely from the outside evil you know exists. After spending a month locked behind closed doors your husband decides it's time you venture out for a walk. Get some fresh air. So you take his advice to avoid an argument and think to yourself maybe he's right. Maybe it is all in my head.

You stroll through the park, the sun on your shoulders and crisp leaves crunching underfoot, when a coming bench is all too tempting to take a little rest with your boys.

Now imagine this: you awake, startled on the bench, not knowing how long you've been asleep only to see that the stroller and your precious babies are no longer there.

Not all is lost though and after a brief search the beautiful babies are found and returned to you. You look upon the lovely boys only to realize they aren't your babies at all.

"I told you, that wasn't them," said Lauren, "whatever was in that stroller. They've been swapped. They're evil those things, they're not my babies."

I could not put this one down! If you want a creepy read then this is a MUST READ! On a side note, this has been optioned to film and I hope with all my heart that this happens. This would be perfect on the big screen. An easy 5 Stars!

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

This book started out well for me, but there ultimately had to be such a huge amount of suspension of disbelief, that I couldn't buy into the story. Changelings? Really. Meh. What began as a solid domestic drama/thriller meandered into another realm, and one that is not for me. Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy.

A creepy and thrilling read that kept me wanting more. It took a little while for me to get into it, but once it had me hooked there was no letting go.

Oh my goodness, this book is sooo good!!!! I finished it in 24 hours and literally couldn't put it down. It's a perfect Halloween time read - just the right blend of spooky, creepy, and realistic. It keeps you guessing on whether or not Lauren is going crazy, whether a real life person is stalking her, or a ghost is haunting her. My only complaint is that there were a few loose threads at the end that I would've preferred to be tied up more tightly (hard to say what they are without getting too spoiler-y). I wanted a bit more information at the end. But definitely get and read this book!!! I will be eagerly watching for future releases from this author.

I love folklore. I read a lot of fantasy because I so enjoy myths, legends and lore. In this book about "changeling" children, I felt like we got sufficient background and snippets of the folklore from many different cultures without having to divert too much into the subject itself, or feel as if I needed to go do research before reading. The lore that is sprinkled within the writing explains enough to be engaging and creepy! I love reads where I'm constantly thinking "Is this real, or not?" It allows me to form my own opinions about what I believe and don't believe is happening. This is a great story, written from many points of views.

My favorite character is DS Jo Harper. She's a shining star in this book. She keeps the story grounded in reality, yet is open enough to the fact that something strange is going. She stays on the case, open to anything, and she's relentless. I enjoyed her so much, I found myself wanting to know more about her, and would love to see some spinoff stories of her adventures. :)

Little Darlings leaves you questioning what really happened in this book. The book has a supernatural turn as the mother delivers twins and receives threats of them being traded out by a dark, creepy unnatural woman. Tossed into all encompassing paranoia, Lauren refuses to go out of the house for weeks, locking her babies to her side. When she finally does leave the house her babies are taken and she swears replaced. With a crappy example of a husband, Lauren is locked away as her sanity is in question. The only person who seems to believe her is a local detective named Jane. The more Jane uncovers the reader is flopped back and forth between Lauren being crazy or sane. The spooky fairytale element of the story is prominent and keeps the reader on edge. Even after the ending, I question exactly what happened in the story and still do not know who was crazy or sane. The pages turn quickly and the unanswered questions leave a spooky feel to the story for a thrilling read. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

Once I began it, I just couldn't put this book down. I kept doing the "just one more chapter" routine, until I realized I was already over halfway through the book.

It begins with the birth of twins and quickly unravels to attempted child abduction, paranoia, paranormal sightings, and nightmarish lore seemingly come to life. Lauren (the mother) is our main character and an extremely unreliable narrator. There are parallel chapters from a detective's (Fiona) point of view throughout. I enjoyed both characters and their individuals chapters equally and thought they complimented each other well. The unreliable narrator contrasting the reliable narrator was quite effective. Fiona often corroborates Lauren's point of view with her findings. Without her chapters at all, we may just assume Lauren is truly insane.
The only character of the story I really disliked was the husband. From the very beginning he enraged me and he still enraged me even on the last page.

So that all said, I am thankful to Netgalley for the advance read of this book. I am so glad to have read this during my October scary reads binge. It is atmospheric and eerie. Part suspense, part One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, part detective crime fiction. All blended to make a combination that works perfectly, in a book that is hard to put down.

“Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Grimms’ Fairy Tales.

Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own…creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things.

A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley―to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, These are not my babies.

Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw…she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.

Compulsive, creepy, and inspired by some our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking―and rechecking―your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.

My thoughts
rating 5
WOW was sure if i was going to like it or not but wow , its everything i like in a story: dark ,twisted , unnerving and disturbing all round into one, can't stop reading when i started because i had to know was she losing her mind or was something really going on, love how the dark history and and even darker folklor plays a part of the story , to find out more you have to read the book . With that said i want to think Netgalley for letting read and review it , it was and is the perfect story ( at lest i thought so to read on a cold gloomy day) exchange for an honest review,