Creepy and atmospheric tale about a young mother of newborn twins who is comvinced that someone (or something) is trying to steal them away and replace them with fae creatures. Based on Irish tales of changelings, this novel hits all the right spots. It'll have you wondering how fine the line between imaginings and reality really is. Devoured this book!!!

Wow, what a thriller! I struggled a bit to get into this in the beginning, but eventually the plot took off, and I was sucked in.

The protagonist, Lauren, gives birth to twins. A smelly, dirty woman attacks her in the hospital and tries to steal her babies. Nobody believes her, but an officer is dispatched to make a report. A series of strange events happen, and her lack of sleep from caring for the infants starts to get to her. Is she imaging everything?

Throughout the whole book I questioned what was real, and the ending was quite satisfying.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I thought that this was a very well written original, chilling, addictive and disturbing thriller.
I highly recommend this book to everyone.

A mother always knows her own babies.....doesn't she? Of course she does.....right? Fairie tales show their sinister side in the current century for new mother of twins, Lauren. As a new mother, she knows whats best for her babies! Why does she feel so alone and why does no one believe what she knows to be true? As you read through Little Darlings you're on this wicked trip, like the water ride from hell, as you believe and doubt and believe and doubt and on and on....never knowing when this ride will really end, never knowing who to really trust in the end.
The main characters were richly developed and interesting. Without giving spoilers I will only say that we can easily visualize what Lauren see's in her "Little Darlings" and empathize with all of her thoughts and feelings.
I enjoyed this book and found myself grabbing it in the middle of the night for "a chapter" only to find myself still reading an hour later. Mystery, fantasy, horror and crime with a nice dose of the creeps. Well done.

Very creepy tale of a new mother who fervently believes that someone is trying to steal her twins and replace them with changelings. No one believes her, with the possible exception of Detective Sergeant Harper - but even Harper isn't sure what to believe. Interesting story with relatable characters. The ending was not very satisfying, however.

Changeling: A changeling is a child who is suspected to not be a couple’s real child.

As the myth goes, a changeling was substituted by fairies. (vocabulary.com)



Often shown in art and literature, the notion of changelings is centuries old. The Brother's Grimm wrote numerous stories about changelings. When the basis of these stories were typically children with developmental diseases or disorders, the rationale of a perfectly normal child having been replaced with a faery child is one that made sense to those living as peasants in pre-industrial Europe. Little Darlings takes this myth and gives it a horrifying modern-day makeover.



Lauren Tranter has just given birth to twins. As a new mother, she's exhausted. The birth was traumatic with forceps being necessary and hemorrhaging the day after. She doesn't have the bonded feeling with the babies that everyone said would happen. During the nights in the hospital, she hears another woman in the adjourning bay with her own set of twins. However, when morning comes, there is no one there. She struggles through the second day and again, when night falls, the woman appears again, singing a horrible, creepy song. This time, the woman offers her a deal. One of her babes for one of Lauren's. Of course, Lauren takes her babies and locks herself in the bathroom to hide when the woman becomes forceful.



Thus starts the nightmare that Lauren's life will become. When there's no evidence of the woman existing and that this event occurred, no one believes Lauren. Everyone simply thinks Lauren is overwhelmed and tired. Her husband is no help and Lauren feels all alone. When the babies briefly disappear after Lauren falls asleep on a bench near the river, Lauren believes that the woman made true on her promise to take her babies and replace them with her own.



Little Darlings is a gritty look into motherhood. In the end, you are left to wonder exactly what really happened. Did Lauren imagine all of it? Is she simply suffering from lack of sleep and a traumatic birth, or even postpartum depression? Or is it a possibility that maybe, just maybe, it all really happened?

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
ISBN: 9781683319979

Little Darlings is dark and unsettling. Since I enjoy books that are disquieting, I liked the suspense. Any mother can identify with Laura's intense need to protect her babies.

I've read other books, fantasies about fairy lore, that include the idea of changelings, but I liked the epigraph citations that gave background to the origin of the legend. The old Irish tale set in modern times as a mystery thriller is a unique idea.

The long description of the birth process was unnecessary to the development of Laura's character. It slowed the start. I understood that she was a devoted mother without the lengthy description of a difficult delivery. The first chapter grabbed my attention but then the next few chapters slowed the plot.

Overall, this is an enjoyable eerie tale. This book would make a new mom shiver.

Reviewer: Nancy

Thank you Net Gallery and Crooked Lane Books for a copy of Little Darlings by Melanie Golding.

This book was interesting something a little different with some horror wrapped in. I just felt like it was slow and didn't like most of the characters. It could of used some suspense. Sort of a pick me up kind of suspense. I'm sorry this just wasn't the book for me.

Thank you

Oh how I loved this book. It took me away to that place of folk tales and fairies and changelings and everything eerie. I read it in one gulp and had a hard time looking at babies for a few days. Imaginative and believable, and the protaganist was everything a mother should be.

Straight up, the plot isn’t the most original. Golding takes a very old story and simply brings it into modern times. I won’t tell you exactly which story, of course. I’ll just say you’ve read it more than once.

Old story or not, though, Golding is a deft storyteller. She imbues such atmosphere – it’s creepy, dreamlike, and frightening. And the reader isn’t quite sure exactly what to believe.

The read is compelling. The author held me riveted as I worried for our main character and her children and I simply didn’t want to look away until the end.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

*Loved, loved, LOVED this book! I read it in a little over a day, and it only took me that long because I have to go to work, blast it all. A great mix of folklore and mystery, I believe this to be one of the best books of the year. Lauren has just given birth to twins when she finds a creepy, disheveled woman in the next cubicle singing to her own newborn twins., but apparently no one else notices the woman on the ward that night. When Lauren's children are taken several weeks later, she is sure that it was by the same crazy woman having traded her own children for Lauren's. Is Lauren experiencing postpartum hysteria, as everyone thinks? Or is there something to the tattered book that mysteriously turns up on her doorstep? A highly recommended read!

3.5
The most surreal thing I’ve read in a long time! I’m still not sure what to make of it?!? The story was fascinating and kept me riveted. The tidbits of dark fairy tales were haunting and notched up the creepy factor immensely. To weave all the elements of this tale together has me amazed.

I’m not sure how this is being marketed and really how it should be actually. Are there supernatural elements at play here or is it insanity? I’m still not sure I have the answer to that question because of so many events that occurred throughout the story. At the conclusion I’m still shaking my head. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the crazy ride!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Crooked Lane Books for a copy in exchange for a review.

This was not really the type of book that I am interested in. It sounded intriguing, but ended up being a little bit too far fetched for my taste. This is just my personal thoughts/feelings – nothing against the writing style or the author.

Thank you for the chance to read the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.
This is a story about a new mother of identical twins that thinks she is being stalked by someone out to take her children. The story is creepy and unsettling at times. Is she being stalked? Are her twins in danger? Is this all in her mind? The story keeps you interested until the end.

A magnificent novel. Questions things we believe to be our reality in such a way as to turn our heads in awe at the story in weaves. Wonderful writing, terrific realistic characters, and a story that will leave you breathless. Don't pass this one up!

Lauren has given birth to twins but instead of rejoicing shes confuse. People are telling her that shes exhausted but things are happening that shes being told arent happening. One day in the park her babies are taken. Though they are returned Lauren knows these aren't her babies.
This was a wild thriller! It will keep you hooked!

Ack, SO creepy. I really enjoyed this - although I tend to enjoy thrillers written by English authors, so perhaps I am a bit biased. The writing flowed so well, and the characters were very well done, very real. This touches on the anxieties all new mothers have, and it hit so close to home for me. Will I love this baby enough? Will I fail as a mother? How do I keep this vulnerable creature safe? Are you sure the universe should be entrusting a life to me? Only in this tale, it's doubled, as Lauren has twins. Then you add on to that the Changeling tales, which I'm sure we're all at least a wee bit familiar with, and the slight touch of the supernatural (or is it a sanity issue?), and it came out a winner for me.

I stayed up way too late reading this, and I do hope Melanie Golding will take Jo Harper into more books - I liked her. I would follow her along on her next investigation. Though I did appreciate the way the author told this - much of it from Lauren's perspective.

Forensics or Folklore? When both can solve the mystery, which do you believe? A mother gives butt to twins but then the unthinkable happens. Believing her twins are changelings, and the investigation of a detective, facts begin to blur. A creepy, methodical mystery with a cast of characters I hope to see again.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

I had heard lots of things about this book on Twitter and was delighted to get an early copy through Netgalley. My thanks to the publishers.

Little Darlings starts off, in my opinion, at a slow pace. Building up the tension and drawing the reader in gradually. I’m not a fan of fantasy, fairytales or folklore normally, but this book has possibly changed my mind.

Lauren is a new mother to twin boys, emotional, exhausted and hormonal she is “visited” in the hospital by a woman who wants to take her twins and replace them with her own. Reporting this to the police, no one believes her and Lauren’s mental health and sanity is now being questioned.

Without giving away the storyline, up to this point in the book it was a standard psychological thriller but then something happens and it freaked me the f*ck out. From that point onwards the book becomes creepy, downright disturbing and very, very dark. There’s something unsettling about babies behaving in a way which is unnatural and frightening and when there are twins involved it becomes doubly disturbing.

Overall, I thought this was a creepy and dark story which was unsettling but very addictive.

<I><b> I can make sure they look just the same.</b></I>

“The” twins, <I>the</I> twins, THE twins.... (when you read you’ll know what I mean) those little babies creeped me out real good. So good I almost put it down at nighttime but I kept going and gripped my covers a little tighter.

I really loved this book. A nice breath of fresh air in the mystery/thriller department. Very psychological. The author did well leaving you scratching your head, speechless. I immediately came here to read other reviews looking for clues about what others thought about what I, too, had just read.

This would be the perfect fall/October read. Dark shadows, creepy folktales that are brought to the modern day and age, a frantic mother spending 90% of her time in a psychiatric hospital. So much fun! I love dark creepy tales and this one executed that perfectly! I’d love to hear what others have to say!

PS. I really hate Patrick.