Little Darlings is a mysterious and quite frightening story inspired by a fairytale in which newborn twins are exchanged for changeling babies. 

Lauren gives birth to two perfect little boys- identical twins - and immediately feels an array of powerful and frightening feelings. Does she love the babies enough? How can she keep them safe? Can she rely on her husband for support? Then, one night in the hospital ward, she encounters a disturbing woman who wants to take away her babies and replace them with her own. Terrified, Lauren hides in the toilet cubicle with her babies and calls the police. However, no intruder can be found and Lauren is referred for mental health support. 

And so the story unravels - is there a horrifying entity trying to steal Lauren’s twins or is she suffering from postpartum psychosis? The story never fully concludes but does present both an insight into postnatal depression and some extremely creepy elements of folklore.

The story revolves around an alleged kidnapping of twin babies in Sheffield.  The mother, Lauren, is convinced her baby boys are facing a threat from an evil power, but is not believed but instead appears to have mental health issues. A female detective with her own back story investigates the case.  The book has an atmospheric and sinister air, but it was a little too ‘far-fetched’ for me to really get engrossed or really enjoy the book.

Little Darlings starts off with a terrifying birth experience for mother of twins Lauren Tranter. Following the birth she struggles to cope with her newborn sons and continues to be haunted by a vision which came to her shortly after their birth involving a strange women who was threatening to steal the twins, leading to one particularly terrifying episode following which she is sectioned under the Mental Health Act for her own safety and that of her children.

I’m not a huge fan of fantasy or fairy tales and a couple of chapters in I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this book, but I’m glad I persevered as it soon turns into a very dark and compelling mystery thriller featuring a credible and likeable (and thankfully pretty normal) detective, DS Jo Harper.

Each chapter begins with a snippet of folklore regarding children, and specifically changelings, which adds to the slightly creepy and menacing tone which runs through the book. The book also examines themes such as post-partum psychosis and the perception of women’s mental health.

Missing children is a bit of a theme in the psychological thriller genre at the moment and can sometimes make for tough reading. I felt the issues in Little Darlings were handled sensitively and without unnecessary sensationalism. At the end there’s quite a bit of unfinished business in terms of DS Harper’s personal and professional lives so I’m guessing Melanie Golding is planning a series of books featuring this detective. I look forward to reading them.

The night after she has given birth to twin boys, Lauren, weary and emotional, has a bad experience in hospital. The feeling that she and her boys are threatened only increases when she goes home.
As the days go by, the whole new motherhood thing is clouded by fear. Lauren is afraid to let Morgan and Riley out of her sight, even out of her arms for a second and refuses to go outside.
Nobody else has seen the dishevelled old crone who displays an unhealthy interest in the twins and when the police get involved the detective is curious and sympathetic but can do little without evidence. Lauren’s husband is perhaps too useless to ring true.
I loved Melanie Golding’s debut novel. Ms Golding shows an in-depth understanding of new mothers and their difficulties and her excellent descriptive writing allows the reader to be intrigued by whether Lauren is right to be worried and horrified by the possible consequences.
 I allow myself to be wary of fairies and changelings – there must be something in it, enough to give me goose-bumps anyway. 
With thanks to HQ Adult Fiction and Netgalley

Tired and exhausted after giving birth to twins, sleep deprived Lauren hears another mother in the ward next to her singing a very strange and disturbing song, she heads to the toilet and attempts to say to the woman to stop when she is met with something different. Lauren knows what she saw when she called the police to report an attempted abduction of her children, only the Psych Dr puts it down to hallucinations and sleep deprivation.

There is nothing worse than the feeling of not being believed and thank goodness for Detective Harper! After viewing the incident calls from the night shift she comes across Lauren's call - something inside Harper tells her to follow it up despite it being put down as a false alarm. There is no evidence of what Lauren saw, and no else saw of heard anything other Lauren shouting, something niggles at Harper to stay on this case despite there being not apparent case at all.

Soon Lauren is home and settling into a routine that is mainly one sided. I hated Patrick with a passion in this story he was selfish and self centred - he needs his sleep or he doesn't function and basically gives Lauren no help with twins. I know what it is like to do the night shift every night with one child so my heart went out to Lauren doing it with two! It didn't help that Lauren felt she couldn't sleep for fear of the woman returning to take her twins, when she ventures out one day with the twins shes take a set and closes her eyes for just a moment and later wakes to realises she has fallen asleep and her children are gone! They are found pretty quickly and the so called abductor arrested, but something is wrong, Lauren can see it but no one else can - why don't they believe her when she says they are not her twins? They are not Morgan and Riley?

From that moment I actually thought Lauren had gone mad and snapped, she tried to put them in the river! 

Honestly this book will take you to the edge as you question Lauren's sanity, is she really seeing the twins as Changlings like in the fairy-folk tales or is she having a psychitic breakdown. Golding has done a fantastic job of this novel and it was a chilling horror that you never really know what was real and what was just Lauren's imagination.

5 stars

I absolutely loved this book! I've always been a fan of folklore, myths and legends so to find a book full of this while bringing a modern touch to the table was fantastic. Little Darlings is quite an unsettling read and probably one to avoid if you are pregnant/recently given birth. Luckily my daughters are now teenagers so if they are Changelings it's too late to swap them!

There's also an important mental health message in this book, Lauren's fears and paranoia are simply put down to her being a new mum/over tired/emotional and she is dismissed by most people that are there to look out for her. This decision on her mental health is quick and brutal, something that will hang over her head no matter what happens.

One of my favourite reads of the year for sure!

A very creepy story with mystical overtones. A mother thinks someone is trying to steal her twins and replace them with their own. There is no evidence to support this but one policewoman believes her and tries  to find the truth but this turns out to be very challenging.

I actually loved this book, I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to write a review. I was texting friends throughout reading about how I’ve never been so on edge before while reading, and I’ve recommended it to many people. The atmosphere is so surreal and tense and you don’t know quite what to believe, it’s great. The only let down for me was that narrative around the mother was so incredibly strong that I felt the police officers narrative couldn’t quite stack up next to it.

This book is not quite what I expected. Judging from the blurb/cover/hype I was expecting an interesting but pretty standard thriller. I got something quite a bit different which was a pleasant surprise. This book is actually more of a horror with a bit of a thriller thrown in inspired by folklore about changelings who steal a child and replace it with an evil twin. I enjoyed the way each chapter opens with snippets of superstition about how to stop fairies from stealing children. I liked the two female leads. Lauren, the mother convinced someone wants to take her children but dismissed as someone hallucinating and Joanna, the cop whose convinced there’s grain of truth to Lauren’s story. This book offers something  a bit different and engrossing.

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding is part detective story, part psychological thriller. The main character, Lauren, is convinced her new born twins are in danger and her actions appear to others to be irrational. The tension builds well and there are some edge of the seat moments. However, for me, the plot could have been stronger and I wasn’t convinced by the ending.

Little Darlings is a very well written book, the story line goes in a completely different direction to what I expected based on the cover notes. The ending leaves a lot of unanswered questions - maybe ready for a second book!!
An individual read but more fairy tale than psychological thriller for me.

Beautifully written, this chilling story grips the reader and will not let you go. When the book is finished you’re still lingering inside the world!
The writing style made this an extremely accessible and quick read for me, which helped me immerse myself in it more.  
I would recommend this to anyone but be warned it may creep you out for a while afterwards lol

A great thriller. Super entertaining with great twists. Less character development than I was expecting but a great read nonetheless.

As a mother, a midwife and a parent, this book is deeply disturbing on many levels. This is a story about a woman suffering postpartum psychosis....or is it a story about a women suffering from a supernatural possession...of her twins? My heart went out to this poor woman and her babies. This novel is extremely well written and with a delicate touch to one of the most overwhelming, demanding and sometimes confusing phases of a woman's life. The ending is perfectly balanced, though not the ending I wished for.

This was a well written Horror/Thriller story based on historical folklore from Ireland and other places in the British Isles about changelings. I love the way bits of actual folklore like superstitions for how to protect a baby from being taken by the fairies is placed at the beginnings of some chapters.

The story itself follows two women; one, a new mother of twins who believes someone is trying to take her babies and the other a female cop who has good instincts and doesn't swallow the psychiatrist's explanation that the woman is just hallucinating. There's a definite supernatural aspect involved causing the mother to doubt her perceptions and the cop to doubt the dismissal of the mother's concerns by hospital staff.

The story kept me interested, especially the last quarter. I even stayed up late reading because I had to know what happened next! The characters were well defined and I really hated two of them, though I liked both of the two primary women.

There were some plot points that I felt could have been further developed, but my only real complaint is the ending. Too many questions were left open and side plots unresolved. The evidence for whether the happenings were hallucinations or psychosis could have supported either way. Perhaps it's meant to leave the reader to decide.

I LOVED this novel! The writing is so skillful, the description is detailed, visceral and so well done, and the story is flawless. The author writes an unreliable narrator in a way that I've never experienced before; you don't know what to believe, from beginning to end, and it's perfect.

Lauren is a new mother to twin boys. Whilst still in hospital she believes an attempt is being made to abduct her new babies. This story follows her initial days and weeks, exhausted by new motherhood but petrified about the safety of her babies. Patrick , her husband, is a character that is difficult to like, showing little support for his wife. 
The story is full of twists right up to the end where the reader is unsure whether Lauren is suffering from mental illness or there are abduction attempts on her babies. Her only ally is DI Harper who invests her time in Lauren.
This was an enjoyable read with lots of suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Melanie Golding  for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really drawn into the premise of this book and it lived up it to it for me. I felt compelled to keep reading. Great read!

This is a delightfully dark book which explores post partum psychosis and the devastating impact it can have - or does it?

That's the beautiful thing about "Little Darlings." It could be a story about a mother in the throes of a rare but devastating medical condition or it could be a supernatural tale of wicked fey spirits, waiting to whisk away new born babies. It's so skillfully written, you can't be sure until the final page.

I absolutely loved every page of this. It's a refreshing twist on the thriller genre which brings something new to the table.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

Having heard so mych about this book i couldn’t resist grabbing a review copy, and i was far from disappointed. Shocking and surprising by turns, I had no idea what was coming! Hooked from start to end, this book was utterly addicted and eerily brilliant!