Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
ISBN: 9781683319979

Little Darlings is dark and unsettling. Since I enjoy books that are disquieting, I liked the suspense. Any mother can identify with Laura's intense need to protect her babies.

I've read other books, fantasies about fairy lore, that include the idea of changelings, but I liked the epigraph citations that gave background to the origin of the legend. The old Irish tale set in modern times as a mystery thriller is a unique idea.

The long description of the birth process was unnecessary to the development of Laura's character. It slowed the start. I understood that she was a devoted mother without the lengthy description of a difficult delivery. The first chapter grabbed my attention but then the next few chapters slowed the plot.

Overall, this is an enjoyable eerie tale. This book would make a new mom shiver.

Reviewer: Nancy

Thank you Net Gallery and Crooked Lane Books for a copy of Little Darlings by Melanie Golding.

This book was interesting something a little different with some horror wrapped in. I just felt like it was slow and didn't like most of the characters. It could of used some suspense. Sort of a pick me up kind of suspense. I'm sorry this just wasn't the book for me.

Thank you

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.

Straight up, the plot isn’t the most original. Golding takes a very old story and simply brings it into modern times. I won’t tell you exactly which story, of course. I’ll just say you’ve read it more than once.

Old story or not, though, Golding is a deft storyteller. She imbues such atmosphere – it’s creepy, dreamlike, and frightening. And the reader isn’t quite sure exactly what to believe.

The read is compelling. The author held me riveted as I worried for our main character and her children and I simply didn’t want to look away until the end.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

*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!

3.5
The most surreal thing I’ve read in a long time! I’m still not sure what to make of it?!? The story was fascinating and kept me riveted. The tidbits of dark fairy tales were haunting and notched up the creepy factor immensely. To weave all the elements of this tale together has me amazed.

I’m not sure how this is being marketed and really how it should be actually. Are there supernatural elements at play here or is it insanity? I’m still not sure I have the answer to that question because of so many events that occurred throughout the story. At the conclusion I’m still shaking my head. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the crazy ride!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Crooked Lane Books for a copy in exchange for a review.

This was not really the type of book that I am interested in. It sounded intriguing, but ended up being a little bit too far fetched for my taste. This is just my personal thoughts/feelings – nothing against the writing style or the author.

Thank you for the chance to read the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.
This is a story about a new mother of identical twins that thinks she is being stalked by someone out to take her children. The story is creepy and unsettling at times. Is she being stalked? Are her twins in danger? Is this all in her mind? The story keeps you interested until the end.

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

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.

<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.

Upon starting this book I wasn’t really sure I was going to like it due to urs dark nature. Early on though I found it really had a hold on me. I felt such a bond with main character. She was lost in trying to protect her babies. The end had a twist I didn’t see coming. Overall I enjoyed the premise of the story

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.

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.

Wow, this book is very creepy. A mother who gives birth to twins is asked to exchange her twins. Is it in her mind? Supernatural? I couldn’t put the book down. Excellent story.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Side note: excellent descriptive writing on the few weeks after giving birth.

I was supposed to do a great many things today, but once I started Little Darling’s, I had to read until the book was finished. Lauren, after giving birth to twin boys is visited by a malicious spirit who wants to take her boys and exchange them for hers. She calls the police but no one believes her, as there is no evidence of this woman. Even home, Lauren exhausted, her husband Patrick no help with the babies, she is on guard afraid this woman will make good her threat. On her first day out the unthinkable occurs, and her babies are abducted. When returned, Lauren is positive these are not her babies, they were switched. Part horror story, part psychological suspense, I couldn’t stop turning pages until I knew the ending. My only complaint is her terrible husband. He was very easy to dislike and I wish the story continued a little longer to see what happened to him.

When I read the description for this book I expected a lot of suspense and possibly some good horror. However, I found neither. Parts of the book were rather boring and any horror was lacking. The author seemed to place more suspense on whether the one character was lesbian or heterosexual rather than building up suspense for the main storyline.