DNF- Tried twice to get into this book but couldn't get into the plot or connected to the characters. I do not publicly publish DNFs.

A eerie tale reminiscent of those such a Grimm Fairy Tales. This tale is about Lauren, New mother of twin boys. Overwhelmed and overtired she is convinced she was a victim of a horrible act. But was she? This story will keep you captivated a m.p.h. d guessing until the very end. Leave your lights on!

I love fairy tales. I’ve read the entire collection of the Brothers Grimm and have been intrigued by folklore from around the world. So, the theme of this book was right up my alley.

A changeling is from folklore. It is believed that fairies “stole” babies from our world and replaced them with babies from theirs. There are different ways to get the real babies back. Changelings have been used in other novels, Outlander and The Stolen Child, to name a couple, but in this book it takes center stage on a different level.

The book starts off at the end, and then flashes forward to the beginning, about a month before. Lauren has just given birth to twins. Soon after, at night in the hospital, she hears someone in the bed next to her. It is an old woman who offers to exchange her twin babies, who are animals and not human, for Lauren’s twins. Is it real, is it a nightmare, is Lauren just exhausted? Lauren becomes too scared to leave her house and sees the woman lurking there, but no one else believes her, until they finally do. Because, really, folklore is usually based on a factual story…

At first, I didn’t like Lauren. I found her weak and annoying. I found her husband Patrick even more unlikeable, and wanted to slap him a few times. But, as the novel went on, I liked her and her strength. Patrick was still a jerk.

The novel really doesn’t take off until about halfway through. I did want more to the changeling story, but what is presented gives you enough of a shiver. I can see why this has already been picked up for a movie.

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

I loved Little Darlings by Melanie Golding - It is just the type of dark creepy twist on fairy tails (is that a thing? )
I loved it from cover to cover. I am off to see if Melanie Golding has other books out there for met to read - If so I can't wait! This book will be a hit for her. #LittleDarlingsBook #NetGalley

If you enjoy a little fairy tale wi his your novel this is it. Lauren knows that something supernatural is happening to her twins. No one else believes her. Everyone thinks she I s having a psychological break down. Until Joanna Harper, police sergeant, comes to talk to her. Jo doesn’t know why but she believes Lauren. Jo’s boss won’t let her pursue this case. He thinks it’s a waste of money. And another question comes up. Is Patrick, Lauren’s husband, involved in this farce that Lauren is in?

What happens if the "old wives' tales" aren't just folktales?

I absolutely loved this book!! Ms Golding created a very believable story of a young mother caught in the turbulent early days of motherhood who believes her newborn twins are at risk of being stolen by the fairies and replaced with changelings. When she fears the unthinkable has actually happened, she must go to great lengths to make things right and rescue her babies.

While I really did care about Lauren, my favorite character was actually Officer Harper. I loved her determination and stubborn willingness to follow her instincts; I loved her general "realness" and vulnerabilities and back story. The author did a great job of keeping Harper guessing, so that I felt like she was going through the same back and forth feelings as I was -is Lauren simply crazy or is there some truth in her paranoia? I really hope the author isn't done with Harper yet, I would love to read more of her.

The conclusion to Lauren's story is not crystal clear. It's all wrapped up, but in the end, I still don't know what just happened! I found myself completely believing the changeling story, but at the same time I can't help wonder if that's not really what happened to Lauren. I love books that make me still think about them afterwards!

I am so glad I had the chance to read this before the movie comes out next year.

*received a free copy from netgally in exchange for an honest review

Melanie Golding does a great job playing up this creepy, atmospheric tale.

But first, let me get something off my chest. I had some real issues with the hospital scenes at the beginning of the novel. I'm a registered nurse, and there is absolutely no way we'd leave a patient alone all night long. Particularly one who had just delivered twins and was still numb from the chest down.

First, we're required to do fundal massages every hour following delivery. It helps the uterus contract and return to pre-pregnancy size. If it's not done, the uterus can get boggy and hemorrhage, which is exactly happened to Lauren after a full night of zero nursing assistance.

Second, there would be a lactation/breastfeeding consultant in that room frequently, helping Lauren learn how to appropriately attach her babies to prevent soreness, teaching her all the different breastfeeding holds, and also how to manage feeding the twins at the same time.

Third, it would be absolutely negligent and dangerous to give the mother a freaking tranquilizer, and still allow her to hold her babies. If she were drunk or high on drugs, would we want her around the babies then? The book made nurses seem like inept assholes.

Fourth, it's considered very unprofessional to call patients by "pet" names like love, darling, or flower.

Finally, if they suspected the mother was suffering from postpartum psychosis, there is no way they would have sent her home with the babies, particularly since she had little to no help from her worthless husband.

These types of things always bother me while reading books because they're so easy to correct...it would take all of 15 minutes to talk to a medical professional and get accurate information. It makes the author appear lazy about research.

Okay, I'll now step off my pedestal and tell you what I liked about this novel.

1. Being inside of Lauren's head during the delivery was a total mind-f*ck. It was so deeply disturbing, and made childbirth seem so torturous, I actually feel sorry for the childless readers of this story. It's that effective.

2. Although I figured out the twist fairly early on, it took nothing away from the story for me. That dark, demented tide carries the story right to it's immensely satisfying conclusion.

3. Just when I think I've read all there is to read in the suspense genre, another author comes along and surprises me. Little Darlings is unlike anything I've read before...and that's always a good thing.

3.5 stars!
**It would have been 4 stars had the medical information been correct.

As always, a huge thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC), in exchange for my honest review. It's always appreciated.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.

Ooh. Normally I am not a fan of thrillers where you don't know whether something mystical is happening or not. However, with Little Darlings it really works. This is the story of new mum Lauren who, after giving birth to twins, starts to really struggle with motherhood and finds changeling stories filling her mind. Her husband Paul is not as helpful as she'd hoped he would be and it culminates in Lauren being convinced her babies have been swapped with fairy alternatives. To get them back though, she must make a dark decision...

This is a fairly straightforward story for a thriller but honestly that is one of the book's greatest strengths. The whole time you are guessing whether there is a mundane explanation for Lauren's beliefs or whether perhaps something magical has occurred. The book never loses focus of this key element and as a result, it is a tightly-wound and atmospheric read. You're kept at a slight distance from most of the characters but again, it really works. Can you trust Lauren's perception as our narrator? Is her husband just selfish or is he up to something more sinister? The detective character adds a much-needed outsider viewpoint and her thoughts mirror that of the reader's. It all adds up to a great reading experience and Golding clearly has writing talent.

I will not give anything away about how the story ends or whether the book crosses into full-fledged fantasy or not, but rest assured that the ending is both satisfying and excellently built to. This is a fantastic debut novel from Golding and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for her future work. If you enjoy thrillers that slowly suck you into their world and deal with some harsh aspects of reality at the same time, I highly recommend checking this out.

Overall Rating: 4/5

This book is the best kind of creepy read. And I mean that in the most positive way. I was second guessing every word on every page. It's amazing to see the story unfold and connect Ms. Golding's story to past fairy tales I read as a child. Great book! Looking forward to comparing the book to the movie.

Melanie Golding first novel, Little Darlings, is a brilliant and creepy tale sure to make an parent want to check in on their children. This is a great story for anyone who is a fan of Neil Gaiman or Stephen King. This novel brought memories of when my children were born. I remember being at the hospital with my wife and not wanting to take my eyes off of our newborn. My fear that my child would be mixed up somehow and switched was very real and Little Darlings does an excellent job bringing that fear to life. I absolutely loved this novel and I look forward to reading future novels from Melanie Golding.

Little Darlings is a truly creepy fairy tale set in a modern world. I very much like these kinds of stories.

The lead character is Lauren. She gives birth to twin boys, They are still in the hospital when one night Lauren experiances something strange. She sees a woman who has twin boys just like her and she wants to replace hers with Lauren’s babies. She manages to escape and calls for help. But when it becomes obvious she is the only one who saw her she starts to get paranoid. How would we react if something like this happened to us? If no one belives what we saw was real? As the story goes on we delve deeper into Lauren’s mounting paranoia. We get to know in painstaking detail what happens to Lauren, what she is going through.

I received this ARC from Crooked Lane Books through NetGalley. Thank you very much, I really enjoyed this story. I highly recommend Little Darlings to dark fairy tale lovers, you will love this book.

This book had gothic/supernatural themes to it, though at times I was left wondering, is it supernatural or is the lady just crazy like everyone thinks she is? There is a blurb before a number of chapters of quotes from various books, including the Brothers Grimm. Lauren has given birth to twins and is ‘visited’ by a female who is dressed in tattered clothes and carrying a basket with unidentifiable items in it and offers Lauren to exchange one of her twins for one in the basket. Lauren of course says no. No one else though saw this person which leads to people thinking Lauren is crazy. After an incident, it’s suggested she spend some time in the psychiatric hospital for observation. The book held my attention, the quotes from various books, while interesting, and were, for me, too obscure to relate to. That said, I would read another book from this author.

Absolutely brilliant.

This book had me questioning my own sanity at stages. The character development was incredibly detailed to the point I felt the emotions the characters were going through with them.

The novel scared me at stages and I had to stop reading, but the story was so good I instantly picked it back up.

I loved the sinister undertones and the references to old folklore throughout.

Little Darlings will leave you wondering what is happening right up until the very end. Is Lauren losing her mind, possibly afflicted with post-partum depression? If not, have her babies really been swapped with someone, or something, else?

This story is a successful blend of psychological suspense, ghost story, and fairy tale. Dark things exist in the world that Lauren Tranter inhabits, and it’s up to the reader to decide what is real and what is imagined.

I devoured this book in two sittings. It was almost impossible for me to put down – I just had to know what was going to happen. I can’t recommend this thriller enough.

I've recently gotten into reading stories based on folklore so I was very happy when I won Melanie Golding's first novel through Bookish Firsts and Crooked Land Books. The novel offered up a creepy retelling of Irish folklore involving changelings set in modern day and addressing mental health and postpartum psychosis. The protagonist was a strong-willed female detective who was admirable in her diligence to follow her intuition. There is a crime and a mystery which may or may not be fully resolved at the end, however the end is satisfying. Ms. Golding's depiction of new motherhood in the first 6 weeks postpartum is spot on. I wanted to wring the husband's neck several times. The addition of changeling folklore at the beginning of each chapter created a chilling atmosphere that propelled the reader through a well-written novel about the sleep-deprived mind and the power of superstition.

Well ladies and gentlemen, I have finished this at last! It is 1:30 in the morning and all I have to say is HOLY SMOKES that was a fun ride. This book was sort of peculiar to me in the sense that I did not truly care about the story in the beginning. Upon reading the first half of the book, I found myself slightly bored and thought of the mother's (Lauren) personality as eye-rolling and slightly agitating. Then, I remembered back to when my children were born and how rough those sleepless nights were and how I never could have done that by myself, much less whilst fearing for the lives of my children, so I get it. I forced myself to carry on through the dry dialog and I am so glad that I did! The last half of this book was thrilling and made the first have completely worth it. I feel the book isn't quite deserving of a full 5 stars just because the story was left a little open ended and solved one too many mysteries, but all in all I feel this was a great read and would CERTAINLY recommend!

The book starts off with a pretty standard thriller set up which left me pretty bored. However, when it starts to twist and turn it doesn't end up where I expected. Well written but characters like the bumbling husband and random cop who doesn't seem to fit take away from the plot.

Little Darlings is the type of book that will keep you up at night!

Lauren is a new mom with beautiful, healthy twin boys. Things take a dark turn when she is certain there is someone is her hospital room. Someone who is threatening to take her babies!

The even bigger problem is no one is believing her. Was there ever really a woman there or is it all in Lauren’s head?

Finally, Lauren is released from the hospital, but one afternoon at her local park, her babies are taken! Luckily, the stroller is quickly found - with twins in it - who certainly LOOK alike Lauren’s babies....

But she is certain these are not hers.

I was gripped from the first chapter. This is a must-read for fans of thrillers and dark twists. Loved all the references to Grimm’s fairy tales. I’m still sleeping with the lights on!

This book was a non stop read of the creepy psychological variety. The book opens with Lauren and her husband Patrick in the hospital as Lauren gives birth to twin boys, Riley and Morgan. While initially Lauren is afraid she won’t love them, that fear is quickly dispelled, but it’s replaced by a more disturbing fear: someone is trying to take the babies.

There’s an epigraph at the beginning of each chapter that grounds the book in the idea of the changeling, an ancient folkloric concept that the real baby is taken and replaced by an elf baby or an ice baby or in Lauren’s case, a river baby. And if this was the straight up thrust of the novel, it would have been almost a cliché.

But Golding – and this is a first novel, which is remarkable – instead creates doubt in the mind of the reader as she paints a picture of a woman so exhausted and overwhelmed by twins that she could be delusional. Still in the hospital, she makes an emergency call to the police while locked in the bathroom, reporting that someone is trying to steal the babies. The call is dismissed and Lauren is referred to mental health services instead.

Lauren does agree to go home shortly afterwards though she feels far from ready – and who, newborn in tow, hasn’t had that feeling on leaving the hospital? – but her husband is sure it will help her to be at home. However it’s just as overwhelming at home, especially as her husband takes his earplugs and heads for the spare room to get a good night’s sleep. As she’s breastfeeding, he points out, he can’t be much help.

Lauren feels completely alone and overwhelmed. Understandable. But she’s sure someone is trying to get in the house and she gets her husband to put three locks on her bedroom door, to protect the babies. Her husband is skeptical, but she can’t get past a vision of an old woman with a basket in her hospital room who wanted to trade babies with her.

Her husband finally gets her to agree to leave the house, but when she heads out, she’s sure she sees the old woman lurking in the bushes. She perseveres however and does go out, only to have the babies snatched away. Though they are found, she is sure they have been changed out and are no longer her own dear twins.

Golding provides ample evidence for each point of view. Lauren is definitely having some sort of psychotic break or experiencing postpartum depression, but on the other hand the twins, as described after their return, do seem different. The resolution is simultaneously gripping and ambiguous and for the entire read, you’re inside Lauren’s head. It’s hard to judge the reality of what she’s feeling because it’s as though you’re feeling it yourself. This is a masterful first novel, and when you finish it, you’ll be thinking about the ending and trying to decide for yourself what might really have happened.

This book was creepy to the max. It hit me right in the heart, as a mother of three little ones. I was right there with Lauren feeling all of her emotions. I’m not sure how many times I yelled at my kindle app “why will no one believe her?”. It was beyond frustrating to see Lauren continually dismissed. Enter Harper, she was a wonderful character with her own motives pushing her onto this case and she certainly maintained the balance from all of those who thought Lauren was “ill”.

The combination of fairytale, thriller and folklore was definitely pretty cool. And I can honestly say the only part of this book that I disliked was Patrick. 4 stars, must read!