Everyone knows that postpartum depression is real, but changelings? That’s something out of a dark fairy tale, right? Lauren knows what she saw shortly after giving birth to her twins, Morgan and Riley. A woman tried to take them, leaving something not quite human in their place. Everyone laughs off Lauren’s story, she’s obviously just exhausted. But then a few months later, the babies are stolen. When they are found later, everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Everyone except Lauren that is; she just knows these creatures are not her children and sets out to find her real babies. This is a super creepy book and begs the question, what is real and what is imagined. Couldn’t put it down

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for an advanced read in exchange for this review.

Lauren has just given birth to twins. She's exhausted. Everyone is telling her to get some rest. At night, she swears that she saw a woman in her hospital room trying to steal her babies. Everyone reassures her that she just needs to get some rest and that she's imagining things. Then, her babies disappear briefly from the park. When she gets them back, she swears that these are not her babies. What is going on? What is happening to Lauren? What happened to her babies?

Geez. This was a creepy read. I finished it pretty quickly and thought it was a well told story. There's a lot of dark history and dark folklore, which makes the story even creepier. Enjoyable read, but you may want to read it in the daylight with your kids nearby.

If Grimms' Fairy Tales and The Changeling had a twin babies, Little Darlings would be those babies.

An unsettling tale of a new mother, Lauren, of twin boys, who finds herself terrorized by a macabre woman attempting to abduct Lauren's babies and replace them with her own. Her account is dismissed by hospital staff, the police, and even her husband as a hallucination attributed to exhaustion, even Lauren herself begins to question her own sanity. The only person that is unconvinced that Lauren has simply snapped is the investigator that responded to her call for help, Detective Harper.

Upon returning home from the hospital, Lauren quickly descends into a waking nightmare that she cannot escape from, leaving her more and more desperate and going to extreme lengths to protect her infants.

If I had one con to point out in this story it would be with the narrative for Detective Harper. Her personal relationship with the reporter is distracting and adds nothing towards advancement the plot.

This story is framed with dark history and and even darker folklore that adds an eerie depth to the book. This is a foreboding and unnerving spine-chiller that leaves the reader questioning if it's possible for fable to turn into reality.


I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really interesting take on some dark fairy tales with a creepy twist! When Lauren gives birth to twin boys she doesn't feel the immediate love she believes she should. After all, it's difficult to nurse two babies and find time to sleep as well. But when a mysterious woman appears in the maternity ward that night, threatening to exchange her twins for changelings, Lauren locks herself in the bathroom and calls the police. Upon arriving home, she sees the woman in her window and Harper, the police detective, gets involved again as her story seems credible to the woman who gave up her own daughter when pregnant. This is a chilling and sometimes sinister story that may having you cuddling your young ones even after you finish the book!

After a difficult delivery, Lauren Tranter gives birth to twin boys Morgan and Riley and finds herself thrust into the demands of motherhood. Late one night, a strange woman visits Lauren in the hospital and attempts to kidnap her babies, swapping them with her own creature like children. When the police arrive, there is no evidence that the event happened and Lauren is diagnosed with having a mental break due to her exhaustion. After Lauren is released back home, strange gifts and sightings of the woman convince her that she must remain vigilant of her children at all times. One sunny afternoon Lauren takes the boys to the park and accidentally falls asleep on a bench, when she wakes up the boys are gone. Although boys are found and returned to Lauren shortly after, she immediately knows something is not right...they look like Morgan and Riley...but they are not. Lauren knows what she must do to bring her babies back...but if she is wrong it could be a fatal mistake.

Little Darlings is a captivating and eerie debut novel from Melanie Golding. I am not quite sure where it falls in as far as genre but I would say fiction/suspense with a fantasy element. This novel has the fantasy appeal of the classic Changeling stories and other folktales involving swapped children but with a surprising twist. I found myself throughout the novel questioning Lauren's sanity and then agreeing with her that the children were in fact not human. Although I am not quite sure if this novel would classify as frightening, it definitely had an unnerving quality, and there were moments that I actually got goosebumps reading it. Throughout the book there are excerpts from other folktales, which I felt really complimented and enhanced the narrative. I really enjoyed this unique novel and look forward to more books by this author.

I found this book to be completely enthralling. On one side you have a woman that is living in fear that something will happen to her children and on the other you have history and folklore. The woman is thought to be crazy and her spouse looks like the obvious person that is enabling this with his affair. The book has excellent culmination as the story proceeds and I love the way that the fairy tales are thrown in to enliven the story and to broaden the possibilities of why the children are abducted. The sheer creativity of the premise of the book is amazing and different from anything I have read before. I will be recommending this book with full abandon and hope that other readers enjoy this book as much as I have. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley. This book is nothing short of spectacular.

<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.

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.

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

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.

*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!

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.

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.

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.

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!!!

When Lauren reports having a visit in the night from a sinister character carrying a basket of twins that she plans to replace Lauren's twins with, the story is dismissed as ludicrous. Hospital staff, as well as her husband, think Lauren is just hormonal and exhausted after giving birth to twins.

Since the police can find nothing proving that this new Mama had any visitors, Lauren agrees that she is exhausted and maybe it didn't really happen. However, in her heart, she can't rule out that the visit in the night certainly felt like it occurred.

The only person who somewhat believes Lauren is the investigator, but her ranking officers want the investigation to stop. This part is a driving force in causing the reader to continue flipping pages.

Upon getting home from the hospital she is faced with a husband who needs his sleep so that he can work and support the family. He moves to another bedroom so the feeding of the twins all night won't disturb him. But because of Lauren's fear that the experience in the hospital was real, she locks up the house and only gets to sleep in bits and segments. She doesn't feel she can let the twins out of her sight.

In time, Lauren's friends visit her at her home and bring gifts for the new babies, but one gift is most unusual. One that is somewhat disturbing.

At her friends' urging, Lauren finally chances going out and meeting them in a park. She vows to keep a good eye on her identical twin boys. But will she be able to?

This story is framed in dark history and folklore.

My Thoughts

What Concerned Me: This story is a bit dark and foreboding. I'm not sure how I would have wanted it to end, but it didn't feel totally satisfying to me.

What I Liked Most: This is a book that was hard to put down. The writing was excellent and flowed beautifully. Was it kind of creepy? Sure. When I read the tag: Horror, along with Mystery, and Thriller, I wondered how I'd missed that important word, since horror is the last type of book I'd choose to read. (But maybe I'm confusing that genre with horror movies that I see advertised. Anyway, nothing gory, and nobody carrying a chainsaw! To my great relief! Teehee.)

I'd rate the writing and interest level a 5. The ending felt like a 3 or 4.

Little Darlings
By Melanie Golding
expected due date 4-30-19 (kindle & ebook) Crooked Lane Books and 5-2-19 (Hardcover) Harper Avenue

You don't need blood and gore to make a great horror story. Atmosphere, if masterfully done, will keep you creeped out and chill you to the bone.This eerie story will do that.This is done that masterfully. It will engage your mind on a wild ride and leave you so haunted, you may begin to question your own state of sanity, your own definition of sanity.
Lauren Tranter has just had twin boys-she is exhausted-but she is absolutely sure she saw a woman creep into the hospital and switch her twins with a different set of twins. No one takes her seriously. They think she's losing it. She is quite sure she is not. Soon she is home with her boys. She takes them to the park one afternoon and they disappear, but are soon found. They seem different to her...Lauren does not believe they are HER babies and becomes obsessed with getting HER babies back. She has a plan. Will she be able to carry off her plan?What's with her husband, Patrick?
This is so damn chilling and creepy. The atmosphere, the perfect pace and personable characters, make it hard not to get caught up in this story. Its that good.
I would not be surprised if its made into a movie or series.
Due late April / early May 2019. Put it on your must buy list.
I am keeping my eyes on Melanie Golding!
Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and #NetGalley for this advance copy.
#LittleDarlingsBook

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the E-Arc copy.
Whoo... I must first say that I have been on a dark journey lately with reading adult fiction. I recently read Baby Teeth and was mesmerized by it. It stayed with me for weeks. Once it had cleared, I have been reading a lot of YA, so when I saw Little Darlings I thought why not. Well...Little Darlings seeps under your skin slowly and before you know it the book is finished. Seriously finished. Melanie Golding is a author to watch out for with this one. What I loved about this book is that it is dark and creepy, but not in the way you expect. It pulls at your gut, your instincts of what feels out of place, not necessarily what you see. The author plays on that perfectly. Do not underestimate this book because just when you think you know..maybe you don't. It made me glad to be a reader again. Reading a book should make your feel and think for a while sometimes. Sanity is a very thin line.

Little Darlings is a creepy page-turner. I love the way the author integrated folklore to her modern story of a mother’s nightmare of twins stolen and replaced with changelings. Is she experiencing this or has she lost her grip on reality? Well written and highly effective entertainment for fans of the genre.

Thank you netgalley for this sample copy in exchange for my honest review. GREAT BOOK! It was a page turner and had me feeling different emotions all throughout. I definitely recommend this book. Flow is great, story line is gripping, and it is psychological thriller perfect.

This book was the perfect pick for a spooky October read! I grew up on the dark fairy tales of Grimm and Hans Christen Andersen, and this book had many of the same elements.

After Lauren gives birth to twins, she is convinced that a woman is trying to take them from her and change them into something else, as she warns. After a disappearance scare, she now believes her twins are changelings and she must return them to the river in order for her real children to come home. She's committed to a mental hospital, and things ramp up to scary as Jo Harper, a detective, tries to figure out what actually happened to the twins. The ending ties in some neat elements of realism and historical lore.

With the mix of unreliable narration, a past history of mental illness, and a husband acting suspiciously, I was kept on the edge of my seat! I couldn't tell what was real and what was a side effect of psychosis, and the writing was so real and descriptive that it was almost hard to stomach in a few spots. I double-checked the locks on my doors after reading it!

A wonderful modern retelling of an ancient story. I was hooked from the beginning and went along for the whole ride in one sitting. I went back and forth with Laura and the truth. Is she crazy? Has someone taken her children? Pulse pounding story with incredible ties to the past. Loved all the folklore and ancient text inserts. Highly recommend.

The ending was interesting in that it didn't feel like closure. Is that a sequel I smell? Yes please!

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE!
I am so glad that this book is going to be a movie, it'll be great to see the characters come to life on the big screen.

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.

This is a creepily, clever dark story that will make you want to check on your little darlings constantly just to be sure they are safe and sound.

#LittleDarlingsBook by Melanie Golding
A huge thank you to #NetGalley for this ARC
Pub Date: 10 May 2019

This book was amazing! I began reading and could not stop reading until I had finished it! It was a dark, twisted and unsettling read, but one I enjoyed precisely because of those factors. We follow the story of Lauren, who has just given birth to twin boys, and she keeps seing this horrible woman who wants to change babies with her. Everyone tells her she is psychotic, that the woman doesn't exist, that her babies are safe... but she keeps on seeing and hearing the woman, and weird things keep on happening around her.

I loved how twisted the story was, making you doubt Laure'ns sanity: is she crazy? Does the woman exist? What the heck is going on? And there were times in which the story was so disturbing that you had to keep on reading praying nothing of what was happening was real.

The prose is amazing, the author really know how to alternate being fear, being rational, being grimm fairy tales-que, telling the story from a new exhausted mom's point of view and then switching characters... it had me trapped and I couldn't put it down until I had finished it.
The characters are so well developed you could think they are real, they all have their things and manias and quirks and are very much alive, and you can feel what they go through easily.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes thrillers and dark creepy tales, because the author weaves an amazing story out fo the two. And it's her first book! I really can't wait to see what she does next!

This book looked like the perfect spooky thriller, and it did not disappoint! It is an amazing debut novel for author, Melanie Golding. I zipped right through it, needing to know if the mom, Lauren was crazy or if something wicked was going on with her family?

This story starts as Lauren and her husband Patrick are about to give birth to twin boys. Even in the hospital while Lauren is giving birth Patrick is barely around. Lauren is left to take on motherhood and recovery mostly on her own! I was so annoyed with her husband!!😠

As any new mother would be, Lauren is exhausted and completely deprived of sleep, when something happens. I don’t want to spoil it, so I will leave it at that… But I had to find out if it was real or not!

I am not super into scary stories but this one had just the right amount of thriller and mystery, with maybe a sprinkle of Stephen King creepiness! If you want a fun and spine-chilling read look for this book in stores May 10, 2019.
This was posted as part of my book review of Little Darlings on October 11th, on Cole Campfire Blog at the link below. Thank you!

I received this advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and the author, Melanie Golding for this copy.

Little Darlings is Melanie Golding’s first novel. I hope it will not be her last! Lauren has given birth to twin baby boys. While in the maternity ward an intruder tries to take her babies. She calls emergency services. When they arrive nobody is there and they think she is hallucinating. When she goes home she is convinced someone is watching her and her twins. Somebody wants her babies. Her husband, Patrick, thinks she’s making everything up. I don’t want to spoil the plot by giving too many more details. The story started out slow but then picked up very quickly. The sense of dread slowly grew until I had a very disturbed feeling while reading this. Definitely check this book out! You will not be disappointed! Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“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,

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.

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. :)

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.

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.

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!!!

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.

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.

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.

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!!!

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!*

OMG! What a creepy suspense thriller! This story follows new mother, Lauren who has just given birth to twins. While at the hospital after giving birth she is terrorized by a woman wanting to swap her babies. her pleas for help are ultimately dismissed and just chalked up to a hallucination. Later after coming home her husband has her leave the house after shes been staying in. She takes a leisurely stroll and fall asleep on the beach with her babies to wake up and find them gone! When they are returned to her she claims they are not hers but evil little things. This story was so suspenseful as you wonder whats really going on! I could not put it down...

Wow! This book was so creepy! Lauren has just given birth to twin boys. It was a difficult birth and she is trying to recover while nursing and tending to two infants. Of course anyone who has had an infant or has taken care of one knows you can become sleep deprived very quickly! When Lauren calls the police saying a woman is trying to abduct her boys the nurses and guards find no one around. It is put off as a hallucination, but is it?

This book is a definite page turner!
Real life new mother trepidations meet malicious folklore legend of switching babies with changkings! Did it really happen or is she going mad?

Are you in the mood for a good horror story? One that starts off slow and gradually pulls you in once you've really connected with the main characters? Ahh I have a delicious read if you think you can handle it as it may really spook you.... Little Darlings is a craftily written, truly spooky, creepy tale of twin baby boys switched with mysterious changelings. Their mother is the one person who knows that the switch happened and her desperation increases as the plot starts to build! Introduce a loving husband and a good detective with a mind of her own and the combination is frightfully good!!! Far from a suspense novel, Little Darlings is a nightmare come true for the exhausted new mother Lauren. This story gives me shivers just thinking about it, so I am sure the book and the upcoming movie will do the same to you!!!!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I first started reading this book. The more I read, the more I loved it! It's creepy and full of suspense! I definitely recommend Little Darlings!

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC I was given of this thrilling book in exchange for my fair and honest review.

First, let me say that I’m a huge freaking fan of Lore. I’m not saying that guaranteed I would like this book or anything, but it definitely help because the little blurb was misleading. This book wasn’t inspired by fairy tales, it was inspired by folklore and if you’re anything like me, you want to draw little hearts on either side of that word. It helps, too, that the use of folklore was done in a really aesthetically pleasing way; not only was the book directly inspired by twin lore and lore about changelings, each chapter was marked with an epigraph from a fairy tale or folktale that marked the theme of the upcoming chapter. These were very well selected and just lovely.

The other thing you should probably know up front is that I suffered from some postpartum mental health issues, so this book had me on edge for about 90% of my reading. The way Lauren knew how illogical she sounded, even as she tried to convince those around her that she was perfectly sound, felt so authentic! Essentially, those two themes are what the book boiled down to: is folklore real (or at least, certain stories) or is the mother in the story suffering from postpartum psychosis after giving birth to twin boys? Reading as the answer began to (somewhat) emerge was intense because it constantly felt like there was a lot at stake, not just for our protagonist, but for the majority of the major characters of the book. The fact that so much is left up to the readers interpretation worked for me, too, because it really added to the feel that the book, despite its supernatural elements, was somehow very realistic.

The character development was pretty on point, too. You never quite knew how you felt about any specific character and sometimes you could like someone and hate them within a handful of pages. One thing never changed for me: I really disliked the protagonist. I'm okay with that: I don't need to like her. Lauren, to me, was hard to root for in many places because of her superficial, sniping inner monologue. She was constantly calling minor characters ugly or putting down their hygiene; it didn't detract too much from the overall readability of the book, but it did make me cringe a little each time. If I actually have any readers who read my blog on a semi-regular basis, you know this has been a recurring theme for me lately, but it’s not my fault. They make the protagonist pretty horrible in the vast majority of books and movies. Lauren, wasn’t as bad as some, she was just shallow. I'm going to put shallow in the meh category when comparing it to what else is out there in terms of horrible characters lately.

When looking for an image to attach to this blog post, one had a blurb across the cover: Most unsettling book of the year! You know what? that's pretty accurate. This book was unsettling because there was such a feeling of ambivalence. I can't go into that without revealing more than I want to give away, but the thing that makes this book work is right up until the end, you just aren't sure what the right choice is for our girl Lauren. This is truly a must read.

https://bibwithblog.blogspot.com/2018/10/folklore-and-neuroticism-review-of.html

Lauren Tranter just gave birth to twin boys and someone is trying to take them from her and switch them with lookalikes. Were they really changed or is she losing her mind? Would you be able to tell the difference?

This terrifying premise grips the reader and makes them come back for more. I could not stop reading this! I wanted something creepy since Halloween is approaching and this fit the bill. Little Darlings links folklore in with modern times, making the reader wonder what is real and what is in the main character's head. I LOVED this book and can't wait to read more from the author.

This is a modern day take on a Grimm's fairy tale. Laura has just delivered twin boys. It was a hard delivery and she's having a hard time adjusting. In time things will be good. Breastfeeding the boys at one time is soon becoming easier. Then on night she hears a voice singing a rather scary song. The woman smells bad, and in a basket at her feet are two babies. The old woman talks of trading babies. Laura is frightened and grabs her babies and hides in the bathroom. On the 999 call hissing sounds can be heard. The terror in Laura's voice is unmistakable. Someone is there. Someone trying to take her children. Why then is no body found when security rushers yo her room?
A great story. Cleverly updated to fit in in this time.

A supernatural being is trying to steal Lauren’s twin boys. Lauren tries to get help, but no one will believe her story, blaming it on post partem depression or hallucinations. Well, almost no one. Police Detective Harper cannot get the case out of her mind even though she has been forbidden to pursue it any further. Then things change when the twins go missing, but were they taken by an unworldly being or is Lauren to blame?

This chilling, supernatural suspense story will have you questioning your own instincts and hoping to soon find the clue that gives you the answer. Is Lauren out of her mind or is there really something otherworldly happening? Very well written and suspenseful to the end, this creepy story will give you chills and heart-thumping moments of horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for an advanced copy for my honest review.

There is nothing more terrifying and no fear as crippling to a parent - especially a mother - as having your children taken. With this fairytale element, it is like Amiee Molloy's The Perfect Mother and The Brothers Grimm stories had a baby, resulting in this novel. A twisting tale that will have you sweating until the very end.