Little Darlings is the first novel by Melanie Golding and I can't wait to see what her next story will be about. Fair warning, there were times I couldn't put the book down and others where the goose bumps wouldn't stop! When I wasn't in the process of actually reading I found myself thinking about this story. I was given an early copy to review.

Golding delivers what is sure to be one of the books of 2019 with this stunning debut.
A dark fable of changelings in the vein of the Grimm Brothers, it's an unsettling horror story about motherhood and post-natal depression. Golding perfectly captures the world of a new mother, along with the fears of expectation and isolation that often come with it.
The fable of the changeling is one that is known through many cultures, and Golding weaves the notion into the story with a cleverly-constructed plot that keeps you guessing until the final pages. For every supernatural theory there is a equally plausible human one and you are never quite sure if you are experiencing something otherworldly or a mother's mental decline.
Brilliant stuff.

Lauren is a new mother of twin boys, Morgan and Riley. She knows she's exhausted, but is she going mad? She is convinced she caught someone attempted to take her boys and rep;ace them with.....what? Then, a month later, she is at the park when the twins disappear. They are found, but she *knows* these boys are not her own. They look like them, but there's something very different and wrong, and Lauren knows it.
She also knows postpartum is real. Everyone looks as her as if she is crazy, even her husband. She must risk it all to find her boys - no matter what.
This book was fantastically creepy! It is a dark thriller that kept my attention the whole way through. Definitely different from the "normal" thriller!
Thank you to Melanie Golding, Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this great book!

This book really kept me engaged, and I really enjoyed the supernatural element of it. It's fun to suspend belief sometimes! I found myself feeling sympathetic yet suspicious of Lauren, the main character. I was also challenged in my feelings about her husband and father of her children...loving him one minute and hating him the next. It was a roller coaster ride of a book, which I loved.

Wow is how I am going to describe this book. It is a chilling, twisting story of a new mom, Lauren Tranter, who is convinced her newborn twin sons have been switched by a swamp woman that only she can see. This isn't my usual genre but I really enjoyed this book. It is kind of a mix of fantasy, fairy tale with a little sci-fi mixed it. This is very well written and I really enjoyed it. I immediately disliked Lauren's husband, Patrick, as he was a real piece of work. I really liked DS Joanna Harper and her role in this book. Great story line and a really great read! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this fantastic book in exchange for an honest review.

This turned out creepy & I loved it! it started out slow for me, then eventually when it got to a certain part I was hooked! Highly recommend!!

We have likely all heard "old wives" and "ghostly spirits" tales.....but what if one actually came true? And what if nobody believed you? This is exactly what happens to Lauren following the birth of her twin boys, Riley and Morgan. Alone and exhausted following their deliver, she hears strange noises coming from behind the curtain next to her....an eerie song about babes needing to be returned to the water in order to return to their true selves when the 'elf - woman in the water' comes for them to replace her own two babes,  
Selver and Bishop, named for the two rivers that fed into the New Riversby reservoir, swallowing the town of Selverton forever. Lauren is believed to be insane and is institutionalized, while Detective Sergeant Joanna Harper tries to makes sense of her story, what little evidence that they have, and years gone by. Interesting and heartbreaking as we watch a young mother do what little she can in her power to find her "real" babies home again.

After much internal debate, I had to go with 3 Stars. The book itself is actually very good - it’s well written and well thought out, extremely creepy and chilling, and very mysterious. But at the end of the day, I can’t give it 5 stars based on that. I have to weigh in my own emotional response and feelings, and they weren’t all positive.

This book ends up being, for me, extremely depressing. I guess that’s the point, but I just don’t really enjoy that sort of thing. It ends with you questioning everything you read, and wondering what was really going on. There really isn’t a happy ending for anyone.

And I just did not like the husband in this book. From the very beginning you get the feeling that something is off about their relationship, and though some things come to light throughout the story, I was just never entirely sure what to make of him or his relationship with the main character (his wife).

I actually almost abandoned this book in the first couple of pages (which I NEVER do) because of the writing style. Some paragraphs were so wordy that I just got bored and skimmed. And some things were so unnecessarily graphic that my stomach was churning. But that was really only the first chapter or so, then it got better. Glad I stuck it out because it was definitely an interesting read.

I can’t stop thinking about this book. And not 100% in a good way; more like a creepy and depressed way. It certainly was impactful. I just wish it had ended a little differently.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with a free advance review copy (ARC) of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. This review appears on GoodReads, my Facebook page, and will be posted to retail sites once published.*

Melanie Golding's debut novel, Little Darlings, is a frightening mix of fantasy, folklore, delusion and desperation. Little Darlings excels at making you believe in the unbelievable-that the bump in the night is real, that monsters dwell in the deep sea and are coming for your children, that there's danger hiding in every bush, that mothers know everything and will always keep you safe. Logic flies out the window in this harrowing story of newborn twin boys abducted in broad daylight, and the search for the ghoulish sea creature their mother says is the kidnapper. Miss Golding must have one heck of an imagination to come up with a story so freakish it can't possibly be fake. Little Darlings will scare the living daylights out of you and keep you up at night. It's prose is lyrical, it's plot is fantastical, it's ending ambiguous-but all in a satisfying way. So you won't turn off the lights for weeks after you finish Little Darlings? A small price to pay for such a tantalizing treat of a book.

Wow, this book was completely unsettling and had me wanting to believe the main character but I just wasn't sure! Kept me interested until the last page !

Almost any one who has ever read Grimm's or other fairy tales or folklore of that ilk (so basically, everyone) can relate to the subconscious thought of the possibility of fairies, trolls under the bridge, and horrid witches who steal your children. Little Darlings will have you wondering if Lauren, a mother of twins with some initial trouble bonding due to a traumatic delivery, has postpartum psychosis or if there really is a woman, real or mythic, trying to steal her babies. Her husband, Patrick, is no help at all from the get-go when he refuses to help out with late night feedings, to being unable to support her emotionally when she is going through her crisis due to his own secretive life. The officer investigating the babies' kidnapping is much more involved and on Lauren's side, to the point of unprofessionally involving a reporter (who may or may not be a love interest) in helping her research the case. Soon to be made into a movie, it should make for interesting watching, indeed!

3 stars--I liked the book.

Pregnancy is my ultimate body horror, and though this is more in the genre of dark fantasy, the book certainly horrified me more than most horror novels! It's the story of Lauren, a new mother of twins, who is utterly exhausted--she had a terrible birth experience, has no support at home, and hasn't had a full night's sleep since the birth.

Then she becomes convinced her children aren't her own, but changelings.

I enjoyed the folklore intermixed in this novel, and liked the characterization. However, two things kept me from loving the book: occasionally I found the changing narrator voice grating (it pulled me out of the story to shift to the cop's point of view), and I don't think all the plot elements meshed well (the ending felt too rushed and unexplained).

Still, if you like dark fairy tales with sinister tones, give this book a try.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

I absolutely loved “Little Darlings”. It was dark and mysterious, frightening and beautifully written. I found it impossible to put down.

Lauren, a new mother of twins, becomes convinced that someone is trying to steal her babies. She might be paranoid and suffering from postpartum psychosis, or she just might be right. She is an unreliable character with an unstable past, which makes the whole scenario that much more frightening and gripping. Sometimes I believed her, and sometimes I wondered if she really was crazy.

Golding explores themes of motherhood, marriage, infidelity, mental health and support for those in crisis. The story is also like a dark fairy tale, with a backdrop of mysterious rivers and a drowned village. Each chapter opens with an excerpt from a fairy tale or oral retelling of a changeling story, which was a fantastic addition and gave a feeling of history to the story.

This is a compulsively readable, very original story. Highly recommended.

This book is a departure from the typical thrillers. It’s dark and creepy. Totally movie material. There are many references to folklore and fairy tales which add to the darkness of the book. This was way out of my comfort zone of reading and I’m glad I took the challenge of reading it!

When the unthinkable happens - you’re outside on a bench resting with your twins in a stroller and you fall asleep!!! You wake up and your new babies are GONE!!! Omg how can this happen!!? That would be awful..this book I did not want to put down!! This is the author’s first novel and I will definitely be looking for more books by Melanie Golding. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the book for my honest review.

This book will keep you hooked from Osage one! Chilling at times, gasping for air and gripping my seat we're just a few of the things I did! Thank you netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review!

Loved the book. This book had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I spent half the time trying to decide if Lauren was really experiencing depression or if this other lady from the sea was real. As crazy as it sounds little things in the book like the storybook she received make you wonder. Another theory I had and still am wondering about is was her husband trying to drive her crazy? He seems content at the end on keeping her in the hospital so maybe knowing she was in a fragile state hr tried to push her over the edge to continue his affair. I love that she had the police on her side especially after the camera footage. Even after the book ends it keeps you guessing. I will read this again just to satisfy my curiosity

This book was creepy good!! Sucked me right in and didn't let go until the end.

Lauren Tranter has just given birth to twin boys. While recovering overnight in the hospital she is given the scare of her life when a homeless women attempts to kidnap her babies. Muttering something about rivers and swapping babies, Lauren is terrified and anxious to return home. Once home she is too frightened to take her boys outside and stays shut up in her house. Her husband starts to become frustrated and encourages her to meet some friends out. She reluctantly meets her friends and has a great time. The meet up tires her out and she dozes on the park bench. When she wakes up her boys are gone and she is hysterical. Once reunited she is certain the woman from the hospital has returned and swapped her boys out with different beings. No one believes her and she starts to doubt herself.

I really enjoyed this book and could definitely see it being made into a movie. The characters were all believable and likeable (except for Lauren's husband Patrick, yuck). I appreciated all the Grimm and fairy tale quotes at the beginning of each chapter. This story had a little bit of everything: marriage drama, supernatural/paranormal, mystery, etc. It was very well written and I would recommend it!

“Little Darlings” is a twisty tale that blends folklore with real motherhood in a way that leaves you unsure of what is happening. Lauren, a new mom, has just gone through a really traumatic birth. She’s left with two infant twins, a disinterested husband, and...possibly a would-be kidnapper stalking her. Not to mention, a set of hospital and police staff that think she’s gone mad. Did Lauren actually interact with someone who tried to steal her kids? Is someone after her? Or is her sleep deprived, postpartum, depressed, lonely mind slipping away from her?

Unfortunately I was not a big fan of this book; I found it hard to get past the descriptors of Lauren’s birth-related trauma. As someone without kids who is not interested in having kids, I felt I was not really the person to be most impacted by this story. That said, I think it would also be extremely difficult to read if I was pregnant, just gave birth, or still had a baby at home!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Little Darlings started out gripping this reader. I was drawn into Lauren's world as a new mother. Is she suffering from post-pardum depression or is someone really trying to take her babies. It was a fun ride trying to figure out if her visions were delusions or the real thing.

The ending did feel a little flat for me. The idea of goblins/trolls that switch out babies was prominent throughout the story. The introduction of the dead woman and her babies just muddied the waters. I don't mind ending that make you think, but this one was just confusing.

Thank you for the advanced copy!