When pediatrician, Liz Trenchard is called into ER by a junior doctor she is surprised to see that the baby daughter of her friend Jess is the patient. Jess says the baby has been crying all night and then started vomiting but when Liz examines her she finds a head injury that Jess can't adequately explain. However, Liz knows that Jess, stay at home mother of three, is the perfect mother all other mothers are jealous of, so what happened for baby Betsey to have a head injury?

This tale of mothers and parenting will resonate with many mothers who have experienced the long and often lonely hours of dealing with an unsettled baby who won't stop crying and hardly sleeps. It's no wonder that some exhausted, sleep deprived mothers will suffer from postnatal depression and even anxiety about accidently harming their babies. In trying to work out what has happened to Betsey, Liz is also forced to look at her own relationship with her mother and events that happened in her childhood. Although not a thriller, this is an engaging character-driven mystery, delving into what happened to baby Betsey, the events that led up to it and the importance of society and friends in supporting new mothers and recognising when they need help.

3.5 stars

This book explores the consequences of postpartum depression in a character driven story that alerts the readers to the various ways in which new mothers often find themselves after having a new child in their midst.

Charlotte, Mel, Liz, and Jess are friends having met in a prenatal class. In this book, Jess is the main protagonist and the mother of three. She has a good husband, but he works constantly so she can be a stay at home mom. Jess is a perfectionist and is troubled by dark dreams and visions of tragedy and hurt for her new daughter who is fussy, crying all the time, and making demands on Jess that she feels incapable of delivering. She thinks herself a bad mother and when the awful happens she is brought into the sphere of Liz, a pediatrician and a friend, at a local hospital who herself is feeling harried, overworked and unable to devote time to her offspring.

This book looks to these women who try to balance everything, one being a single parent, another being unhappy in her marriage and unable to conceive and desiring another"s husband and Jess, not understanding why she is unable to function as she had done previously. Life and all its trials of being a parent catches up with all of them, and the book reveals what many a woman has felt, gone through, and continues to be dealing with on a daily basis.

This was a good character study viewing a side of the other side of parenthood we often tend to push to the side.
Thank you to Net Galley for a copy of this story due out on August 18,2020.

After giving birth, several woman have to face post-partum depression and it can be very tough to overcome! This is a story of one woman overcoming several mental illnesses that mothers face several days or weeks after giving birth! This are very hard times and an important time to stay close to those people rather your family or just a friend! One kind word can change someone's day and can stop them from doing the unthinkable.

Little Disasters seemed to have an interesting story line and I was eager to dive in; however, the story seemed to fall flat, and it was a bit long for something that could have been summarized into 200 pages or so. The story seems to be presented as if it is a thriller, where as it actually ended up being about the depression a mother can experience after giving birth. There was a small little twist at the end of the story that changed the outcome; however, the reveal was lackluster and not very exciting. The characters were not very developed and as I was reading, I did not care about any of them or what happened to them. Overall, I feel like this book could have had so much more, but ultimately was a let down for me personally.

Little Disasters was a page turner about an infant with a head injury of unknown origins. Jess tells a story of what happened the night her daughter was hurt but the extent of the injuries don't match her story. We are left wondering what really happened and questioning whether or not Jess is being truthful. The book was good, but I just didn't feel connected to any of the characters. I felt like I was reading a book, not like I was actually in the story with them. I honestly had trouble writing this review because I wasn't quite sure what to say. Goodreads says I finished the book just 10 days ago and while I do remember the basic jist of the story, most of it was rather forgettable. Thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I received a copy of this book from net galley. I did not care for the authors writing style. The book was tedious to me and I didn’t care for the characters

Thank you @netgalley @svaughanauthor and @simonandschuster for the ARC of your newest novel Little Disasters. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for this thriller! Liz is an emergency pediatric doctor who is called to check on an injury for Betsey her friend Jess’s daughter. But upon further examination Betsey has a fractured skull and Jess has a sketchy story of how the event happened after waiting over 6 hours to bring her daughter in. Is Jess the picture perfect mother Liz thought she was? What will happen to their friendship now that the police are involved? Read and find out! I thought this was a really great thriller but definitely a tough read, full of triggers for many. I enjoyed the characters and the ending was definitely unexpected.

This was an extremely difficult read for me. I'm a Mum myself and have been trying for a second child for six years. But despite wanting children, I know PND is a very real and very scary illness that can happen to anyone and it terrifies me. The thoughts that enter your sleep deprived mind can be awful, and the fear of acting on these thoughts are worse. As parents, we are to love and protect our children and so we feel ashamed if we feel anything else.
And that's what this story is about. Jess has just had her third child, Betsey. Due to a traumatic birth, Jess struggled to bond with her new daughter. She doesn't know how to comfort her or care for her, she's ashamed of the thoughts she has and everything poses a threat to her tiny baby.
But then Betsey gets hurt and ends up in hospital.
Jess is under suspicion from the start. But things aren't quite as they seem.

Excellent read. Learned a lot about postpartum and how important it is to pay attention to those around us who may need help whether it be the adults or the children before something goes very wrong. Even as a nurse myself there are things I learned to help me in life. Touching story as well as heartbreaking. Also proves the true love and bonds of family and friendships.

Little Disasters is the latest book by Sarah Vaughan. I want to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for an early copy to review. Ms Vaughan tells the story with different points of view and back and forth in time. Little Disasters certainly shows the reader a lot of things that shouldn't be done. There will come a time when this book is impossible to put down.

How well do you really know your friends? This book raised this very question when baby Betsey is brought into the hospital with a skull injury. The baby's mother is Jess, a good friend of Liz, who is the treating paediatrician at the hospital. Liz can't help but doubt Jess' explanation as to how the injury occurs and soon, the police and social services are called onto the scene. 

This is a heartbreaking book with so many issues arising. There are a few twists along the way too which kept me engrossed.

Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan is part-thriller and part-women's fiction. For me, the book missed the mark a bit in that it was lacking balance. It also grapples with some intense topics like postpartum depression, which may be triggering for some readers. Readers without these triggers may find this story to be engaging.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

There was a lot of underlying important topics that aren't spoken up about enough, and for that I appreciate this book. But, I did feel this book dragged on for me. Maybe I wasn't in the right headspace to read this one, but it took me way longer to read than usual and I just wanted it to end. At about 65% I was hoping I was much further along, and from then just itching for it to end. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc and provide my honest opinion.

Fast paced drama/mystery. I read this very quickly. The author has created relatable characters, and each one has a complicated past. Just when I thought I had the story figured out, there was a new twist!

How far would you go to help a friend? This is the dilemma Liz is facing with her friend Jess. In Liz's eyes, Jess is the perfect mother while Liz feels like she's trying to hold it all together what with being a mom and an emergency room doctor. There's always the guilt when Liz is away and she feels subpar sometimes with Jess. However, one night, Jess brings her baby, Betsey into the ER when Liz is working. Betsey has been sick during the evening but Liz notices an injury to the back of Betsey's head. Jess claims that Betsey fell when Jess wasn't looking but Liz has a bad feeling. Could her friend have done something to her baby? Could Jess' husband?

This is a book about really not knowing what someone is going through and the lengths people will go to get what they want and to protect what they love. it's also a book about paying attention and reaching out to those in need when they are in trouble.

I really enjoyed this book. It caught me off guard in a few places and that's hard to do in this day and age. I was invested in what happened and in the characters. This was my first Sarah Vaughan book but it won't be my last. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher. More reviews posted online at publication date.

This book kept me reading late into the night but now that I’ve finished it, I’m only giving it 3 stars. I found myself thinking how it was dragging along for chapters on in and I would start skimming pages. So with that said, just ok for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review.

This wasn’t as mystery/thriller as I thought it would be but it did keep me guessing. I definitely did not predict that twist! I thought it gave a good picture of postpartum depression but may be too much for some people.

I really enjoyed this book and will be looking for more from Sarah Vaughan. The subject of post partum depression may not be for everyone, and given the implications of potentially harming a child, it is certainly a difficult topic to wrap your head around, but I thought the author did an excellent job in laying it out. The story itself moved along, and time shifts were handled well. The twist at the end was certainly a surprise and I loved that. I also think that the book is very appropriate for these uncertain times when we do need to be looking after our neighbors and friends and truly listening for someone struggling who isn't quite sure how to reach out.

A dark depiction of the complexities of motherhood that ratchets up the suspense towards the end.

I almost didn't finish this book - parts of it were very dark. Despite Jess' attempts to keep everything together, it's clear she's dealing with extreme postpartum depression. I appreciated Vaughan's unflinching depiction of Jess' situation, despite this material being very hard to read. Even though I don't have kids, it was easy to empathize with Jess, Liz, and the other mothers.

This is a slow burn, character-driven book that turns into a thriller towards the end - I definitely gasped at the big reveal. There is certainly more to this book than meets the eye.

Thank you to Atria Books for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was less of a mystery/thriller than I thought it would be, but it was well written and a good exploration of postpartum depression, I found it a little slow, but overall I enjoyed it.