You would never, ever guess this is a first novel. Ripe to be made into a movie, this book had me hooked from the beginning. Fantastically written, I loved how a folklore was woven through the modern story, and how the writer had really identified those feelings most new mums feel. Fantastic.

Sadly not for me, seemed a little slow to get going and didn't hold my attention.
I had high hopes for this one and it seemed to have all the ingredients I enjoy so no idea why I couldn't get into it. Nothing wrong with the writing and other people really seem to have enjoyed it.

What a disturbing creepy story.....loved it! This book had my attention from the first page, and I couldn't put it down. What a really disturbing story that grips your imagination, in a very scary way. Looking forward to more from this author.

Lauren is convinced someone is planning to abduct her newborn twins, so when they go missing it seems her fears were justified. But when the twins are found, Lauren is convinced they’re not hers. Have they been swapped for changelings like she believes, or is Lauren suffering from postpartum psychosis? Is she the only one who can save the babies, or is she the one who’s putting them in danger? A chilling page-turner that will keep you guessing.

Little Darlings is a haunting chilling thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It is dark faiiy tale set in modern times. Prepare for a disturbing read that will have you looking out of the corner of your eye just in case.

Lauren has just given birth to twins. She is alone in the maternity ward in the middle of the night and becomes convinced someone is trying to steal her babies. Locking herself in the bathroom she phones the police in desperation.. They arrive and all seems fine.

The next morning DS Joanna Harper looks at the list of overnight incidents and sees a report of an attempted abduction. Although it is flagged as a false alarm Harper isn't so sure and goes to visit the Lauren. Nothing backs up her story apart from a fleeting shadow on the CCTV but Lauren is convinced the woman was there and her babies are still in danger.

After leaving the hospital Lauren refuses to go out locking herself and her babies in her room sure this woman will steal them.

Everyone has heard of changelings in fairy tales. The fairy mother who steals the human babies and leaves a changeling in return. This book is the modern version of this story. Lauren knows that the woman is ready to take her children but no one will believe her. She knows she must not sleep or the babies might be gone. The story unfolds in a dramatic fashion. The chilling story grips you and will not let you go until you finish it. Even when it ends you are still left in a world where fairy tales might be real, looking out of the corner of your eye and wondering.

A must read book

I am a huge fan of thriller, detective and suspense novels. I also adore fantasy elements, which this book incorporated fantastically.
Right from the very beginning, this novel creates a sense of unease and suspense. Even when Lauren meets her twin sons, I felt myself waiting for something to happen.
Throughout the novel are excerpts of folk tales, fairy-tales, rhymes and so on relating to changelings. So naturally, you expect something to happen within this area. It made it so much more exciting, like you are always <em>waiting </em>for something bad to happen.
What I especially liked about this novel was that it really blurred the lines between reality and fantasy or even the supernatural. I don't want to ruin this for anyone who may read it, but the ending is somewhat open. It leaves space for your own interpretation; though certain things are strongly hinted at. All throughout the novel there is an ongoing debate as to whether the 'case' of Lauren Tranter is an actual criminal case, or simply a mental health case. I found this super intriguing.
Overall, this was a great book. The ending could be seen as somewhat unfulfilling, but I liked how it left some things to the readers' own imagination. 4 out of 5 stars!

Lauren is convinced that someone is trying to take her new born twin boys, leaving her with changelings. But are her fears justified or is she suffering from hallucinations and post natal depression?
A decent read but I guessed the outcome quite early on.
My thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this copy

I was really looking forward to this book but found it a hard slog and although I enjoyed it more as it went along it didn’t live up to my expectations.

This book started out quite slowly , but creepy in places it turned out to be an excellent read. Recommended !

Ohhh I loved this book. It did take me a little while to get into the story but once I did it had me entranced. Folklore about twins?......
Lauren has had a difficult birth with twin boys and while in hospital she swears a creepy, smelly lady was trying to abduct them. At home she refuses to leave the house, making various excuses to her (non helping) husband but one day she finally decides to go out and something happens.

I really didn’t know how this would play out...postpartum psychosis or changelings?
You can make up your own mind in this creepy story with supernatural elements. 4 1/2 stars for being something completely different to what I’ve read in a while.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

I really liked this book, as it's open to interpretation, different readers will have varied opinions on this one, and it would be a good book for a book club to debate.
In places the writing was slow, but the amiguity made up for it in my opinion.

OK, this is not your typical run of the mill psychological thriller, I would say it is not a psychological thriller at all. It has elements of fairy tales, supernatural and the reality of mental illnesses. It is certainly creepy and forces you into asking yourself questions on what is real and what isn't.

The inspiration is a fairy tale about a mother whose twins are exchanged for changelings, a truly terrifying prospect. Lauren has just has twins, she is obviously very tired and distressed with the birth and having the responsibility of looking after two little babies. But she starts seeing things, hearing voices and starts to believe that a woman is after her babies.

In the picture there is also Patrick, Lauren's husband who is not really sympathetic and as you discover later in the book not that trustworthy.
There is also a woman detective who seems to believe Lauren and a few other minor characters. But the spotlight is definitely on Lauren and her babies. And the mystery woman.

Overall a very good book that deals with a difficult topic like PPD although you are never sure if Lauren is suffering from it or there is something more at play. Maybe the mystery woman is real and it is a supernatural thriller or maybe it is not and it just a book of contemporary fiction. It does not happen that often that you can't even classify a book.

Lauren has given birth to twin boys. She’s sleep deprived and emotional. She says she’s seen a woman whose trying to take away her boys. Nobody saw the woman and they put it down to a mental health episode. Jo Harper see’s this on the police report and it gets to her. Jo goes to look into it but on the cctv she sees no woman but some strange flashes on the floor.
Lauren goes home from hospital she tell people that she has seen the woman watching the house but nobody believes her once again. Jo however wonders is there more to this than it seems. Lauren has not left the house since she came out of hospital . But one day decides to take the boys for a walk by the river but she falls asleep and when she wakes the boys are gone. The boys are later found but Lauren believes these are not her boys. Will she get her sons back or are these her sons . Is it her mind or is it more sinister. This is a great read keeps you guessing till the end

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

Little Darlings is the stunning debut novel written by Melanie Golding.

Lauren Tranter was on recovering on the maternity ward after the birth of twins Morgan and Riley. One night a night an old woman in the bed next door tried to swap her baby for one of Lauren`s. Lauren hid in the bathroom and called the police but the woman was not found.

When Lauren came home with the babies she was scared someone would break in and steal them. Her husband Patrick was sympathetic at first but then grew impatient and told her to go out. Lauren took the twins and joined the other mum's from their prenatal meetings. On the way home Laurel stopped and rested on a bench and fell asleep, when Laurel woke up Morgan and Riley had been stolen.

The police quickly found a young woman pushing the twins pram into a river. The woman was interviewed but she initially refused to explain why she had kidnapped the twins. When Lauren was reunited with Morgan and Riley she could see the twins had been swapped and were not hers. When Lauren became distressed Patrick and the police thought she was hallucinating and she found herself sectioned under The Mental Health Act. The only person who believed her was DS Harper, it was up to Laurel to get her real babies back.

I enjoyed this paranormal thriller with a hint of ancient folklore. I especially enjoyed the excerpts of English folklore. The plot was dark and foreboding. Although Laurel was an unreliable narrator, there was evidence that showed not all her experiences were hallucinations.

I liked Lauren and felt so sorry for her when her own husband and the maternity ward thought she was mad. It was hard to know if her experiences were real or hallucinations. I thought Morgan and Riley were really creepy, the scene where they started talking to each other and singing chilled me to the bone.

I have awarded Little Darlings 4 🌟because I was disappointed the final chapter was left open ended. However I suppose it couldn't be proven if the twins had been taken by fairies.

Lauren has just given birth to twin boys, Morgan and Riley. In the middle of the first night, still groggy from the drugs she wakes when the woman in the bed next to her starts to sing a weird and frightening song. Lauren goes to speak with her and finds a woman in dirty rags with a basket that holds her own twins - the lady tries to get Lauren to swap one of the twins and if she refuses the woman would take both of them. Lauren panics and locks herself in the bathroom and calls the police. Later, she sees the same ragged woman in the bushes outside the house but nobody else believes her that the twins are in danger - until the day they go missing. When they are found, Lauren is convinced the twins have been changed by the woman and there is only one way to get her two back.

A great story that mixes the emotions, exhaustion and psychosis of a new mother with folk tales and myths. It can be a little confusing in places but enjoyable.

I found this book quite difficult to get through, at times, which was a shame because I loved the premise and the echoing theme of mythology. I do think that the cover is gorgeous and it is what drew me to the title originally.

Lauren gave birth to identical twins Riley and Morgan . She was feeling pretty stressed and tired after a bad birth experience and not getting much help as the nurses were busy. While laying In bed she heard and saw another lady in the next bed who had also given birth to twins.
When she asked the nurses who was the mother next door with the twins she was told hers were the only twins in the ward at the moment.
Lauren also thought she saw an old ragged woman walking in the ward who smelt of fish, and said she wanted Lauren’s twins.
Lauren ‘was scared she wanted to go to the toilet and having got a fright she took the babies with, she then heard someone after her trying to get into the toilet.

She then reported the incident to the police and from then onwards it turned into a creepy tale causing Lauren to think she was loosing her mind as no one believed her when she said someone was trying to take her babies away.
The one person who started believing her was Harper the woman who was called at the beginning from the police.

This was quite a good story, if you believe in folk tales.

This was an interesting premise, a typically exhausted and neurotic mother, convinced that the twins she has just given birth to are in danger; not in danger from just anyone, but some woman from folklore content on stealing her children and substituting them for changelings. Interesting with a bit of Grimms Fairy Tales thrown in for good measure.

To be honest it’s not really the kind of book I would ordinarily pick up, the thriller part yes, but not the folklore part, and at times I felt at odds with myself for reading it. I just couldn’t brush aside the other-worldly approach, and so it took me a while to get through it. This is of no fault to the author at all, it was written well and controlled brilliantly, but it just wasn’t for me.

Whilst I initially found the story gripping it did become a bit of a chore to get through. I enjoyed the story and the way it was conceived but I was quite glad when it ended.

This was a good read, really interesting tie-in with the ancient folklore and fairy tales. There are plenty of twists in the book right up to the end. A really good read.