Lauren has given birth to twin boys. She’s sleep deprived and emotional. She says she’s seen a woman whose trying to take away her boys. Nobody saw the woman and they put it down to a mental health episode. Jo Harper see’s this on the police report and it gets to her. Jo goes to look into it but on the cctv she sees no woman but some strange flashes on the floor. 
Lauren goes home from hospital she tell people that she has seen the woman watching the house but nobody believes her once again. Jo however wonders is there more to this than it seems. Lauren has not left the house since she came out of hospital . But one day decides to take the boys for a walk by the river but she falls asleep and when she wakes the boys are gone. The boys are later found but Lauren believes these are not her boys. Will she get her sons back or are these her sons . Is it her mind or is it more sinister. This is a great read keeps you guessing till the end

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

Little Darlings is the stunning debut novel written by Melanie Golding.

Lauren Tranter was on recovering on the maternity ward after the birth of twins Morgan and Riley.  One night a night an old woman in the bed next door tried to swap her baby for one of Lauren`s.  Lauren hid in the bathroom and called the police but the woman was not found.

When Lauren came home with the babies she was scared someone would break in and steal them.   Her husband Patrick was sympathetic at first but then grew impatient and told her to go out.  Lauren took the twins and joined the other mum's from their prenatal meetings.  On the way home Laurel stopped and rested on a bench and fell asleep, when Laurel woke up Morgan and Riley had been stolen.

The police quickly found a young woman pushing the twins pram into a river.  The woman was interviewed but she  initially refused to explain why she had kidnapped the twins.  When Lauren was reunited with Morgan and Riley she could see the twins had been swapped and were not hers.   When Lauren became distressed Patrick and the police thought she was hallucinating and she found  herself sectioned under The Mental  Health Act.  The only person who believed her was DS Harper, it was up to Laurel to get her real babies back.

I enjoyed this paranormal thriller with a hint of ancient folklore.  I especially enjoyed the excerpts of English folklore. The plot was dark and foreboding.  Although Laurel was an unreliable narrator,  there was evidence that showed not all her experiences were hallucinations.  

I liked Lauren and felt so sorry for her when her own husband and the maternity ward thought she was mad.  It was hard to know if her experiences were real or hallucinations.  I thought Morgan and Riley were really creepy, the scene where they started talking to each other and singing chilled me to the bone.

I have awarded Little Darlings 4 🌟because I was disappointed the final chapter was left open ended.  However I suppose it couldn't be proven  if the twins had been taken by fairies.

Lauren has just given birth to twin boys, Morgan and Riley.  In the middle of the first night, still groggy from the drugs she wakes when the woman in the bed next to her starts to sing a weird and frightening song.  Lauren goes to speak with her and finds a woman in dirty rags with a basket that holds her own twins - the lady tries to get Lauren to swap one of the twins and if she refuses the woman would take both of them.  Lauren panics and locks herself in the bathroom and calls the police.  Later, she sees the same ragged woman in the bushes outside the house but nobody else believes her that the twins are in danger - until the day they go missing.  When they are found, Lauren is convinced the twins have been changed by the woman and there is only one way to get her two back.

A great story that mixes the emotions, exhaustion and psychosis of a new mother with folk tales and myths.  It can be a little confusing in places but enjoyable.

I found this book quite difficult to get through, at times, which was a shame because I loved the premise and the echoing theme of mythology. I do think that the cover is gorgeous and it is what drew me to the title originally.

Lauren gave birth to identical twins Riley and Morgan . She was feeling pretty stressed and tired after a bad birth experience and not getting much help as the nurses were busy. While laying In bed she heard and saw another lady in the next bed who had also given birth to twins.
When she asked the nurses who was the mother next door with the twins she was told hers were the only twins in the ward at the moment.
Lauren also thought she saw an old ragged woman walking in the ward who smelt of fish, and said she wanted Lauren’s twins.
Lauren ‘was scared she wanted to go to the toilet and having got a fright she took the babies with, she then heard someone after her trying to get into the toilet.

 She then reported the incident to the police and from then onwards it turned into a creepy tale causing Lauren to think she was loosing her mind as no one believed her when she said someone was trying to take her babies away.
The one person who started believing her was Harper the woman who was called at the beginning from the police.

This was quite a good story, if you believe in folk tales.

This was an interesting premise, a typically exhausted and neurotic mother, convinced that the twins she has just given birth to are in danger; not in danger from just anyone, but some woman from folklore content on stealing her children and substituting them for changelings. Interesting with a bit of Grimms Fairy Tales thrown in for good measure.

To be honest it’s not really the kind of book I would ordinarily pick up, the thriller part yes, but not the folklore part, and at times I felt at odds with myself for reading it. I just couldn’t brush aside the other-worldly approach, and so it took me a while to get through it. This is of no fault to the author at all, it was written well and controlled brilliantly, but it just wasn’t for me.

Whilst I initially found the story gripping it did become a bit of a chore to get through. I enjoyed the story and the way it was conceived but I was quite glad when it ended.

This was a good read, really interesting tie-in with the ancient folklore and fairy tales.  There are plenty of twists in the book right up to the end. A really good read.

A new author for me but I was not disappointed.
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, despite fighting resources to take the case, invests her time in Lauren.
I would recommend this book.....an exciting g read that you don't want to put down.

A creepy read which explores postnatal mental health and the worst fears of parents. I particularly enjoyed the tie-in with fairy tales and ancient folklore.

I have never read a book like this before and that is what made it so fascinating. 

This is the story of Lauren and Patrick, new parents to twin boys Morgan and Riley. Lauren has a difficult birth and struggles to look after the twins while she is in hospital. She is overwhelmed by the situation and the sleep deprivation starts to confuse her. Sometime during the night she meets a woman who also has twin babies and this woman wants to swap one of her babies for one of Lauren's - and if Lauren refuses she will take both her boys. Lauren is now in a dilemma, scared and confused, with no one believing her what is she going to do? Patrick is no help and makes it clear to her that the children are her responsibility and that has to learn to cope without him while he goes back to work - but just what is Patrick hiding? 

Part folk tale, part postnatal psychosis, this is a chilling read that does keep you interested and invested in the outcome. The additional side story of DS Harper who is investigating Lauren's complaints is also interesting, as she has her own issues around childbirth to deal with too - and while she believes that something about all this doesn't quite stack up all the evidence is pointing her in a different direction. 

Definitely worth a read but be prepared to feel vaguely unsettled for quite some time.

Gosh ! Haunting and exciting, you can feel the exhaustion of motherhood. Plenty to keep a reader interested, well drawn characters and a good pace. Hard to believe it’s a debut novel. Can’t wait for the next one 

A must read

I really enjoyed this book. It was very thrilling and I was hooked to the pages to see what's going to happen. 

It's definitely recommended if you like thrillers with supernatural elements in it. It's a true page turner. 

Thanks a lot Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sorry to say I found this one to be a bit of a slog.
This was in itself an interesting premise but we didn't quite click and I also found it a touch slow in places.
This did have a creepy undertone but it wasn't enough of a factor to ultimately rescue this for me.
This was told from new mother Lauren's POV as she struggles with the concept that something is after her twins and then later that they have been switched for changeling's and are not, in fact, her offspring.
I did enjoy the fable or tale at the beginning of each story chapter and found that to be a fun and interesting addition.
Laurens husband I detested with a passion what a piece of work he was, his falsely over the top endearments and pretend concerns were such an obvious sham and he couldn't be trusted as far as you could throw him.
I did believe that he did care for his boys despite his selfish nature that I did think was genuine.
But as for all else what a waste of space.
We also have an unorthodox detective who is prepared to dig for the truth and is surprisingly 
open-minded to the seemingly impossible.
I also wasn't quite sure what to make of that finish as to me it seemed abrupt and unfinished.
This was well written and there's plenty out there that loved this I am just not one of them.
If this hadn't been an Arc I would probably have thrown in the towel and this would have been sent to my DNF Shelf but because it was I plodded on despite me not being fully invested.
As I have said previously there's nothing wrong with the writing here this just wasn't for me.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of Little Darlings.

This is not the kind of book you want to read when a member of your family is due to give birth in the next few days! That's not a criticism though - far from it. Golding takes the reader se o far into the mind of someone with postpartum psychosis that it is impossible not to question what is real and what is not. It is astonishing that Little Darlings is a debut novel. It's so well researched and written that I was completely engaged by the storyline and needed to know what happened to Lauren.

Alongside Lauren's story, we meet Detective Sergeant Jo Harper. She is involved in helping Lauren, but she has an interesting story of her own, so much so that I would love it if she were to have her own series. She is subversive and she has an interesting relationship with the local journalist, which throws up some intriguing ideas.

I loved the references to fairy tales in Little Darlings. These add an extra element of mystery to a wonderfully tense and atmospheric novel.

Little Darlings is based on a Welsh fairy tale, about a woman who has twins which are swapped with changelings. 

After Lauren gives birth to her twin boys, a woman tries to take them. Except no one else saw this woman, so it is written off as Lauren being mentally unstable following the births. Only one person believes her, DS Joanna Harper, who vows to find out what happened. 

This is a brilliantly creepy story, which does a great job describing the issues faced when becoming a new mother, and deals with depression well. Although I am a huge fan of police procedural, I think that element of the book let it down slightly and it would have been better if the focus was solely on Lauren.

A great, very tense read that starts slow but builds brilliantly to leave you dying to read on to the end.

Enjoyed this book a lot, although it is super creepy at times! I'm not a mother but in Lauren, the author captured brilliantly what I imagine to be the fears that so many new mothers go through. The fact that her babies were twins added another dimension to this. I spent a lot of the book guessing ... does Lauren have post partum psychosis or is there any reality to what she's seeing and hearing? I kept changing my mind on this and with Lauren as a hugely unreliable narrator, you're never really sure what to believe. If you don't like fairy tales, this probably isn't the book for you but I was strangely fascinated by the creepiness in these ones. I am never normally a fan of supernatural elements in books and had I known this involved them I probably would have stayed clear. I'm glad I was unaware as I would have missed out on a great book!

Such a good book!
I remember the feelings very well with having a newborn baby. Worrying about death, dropping them, visualising awful things happening. As a mum I presume we all have these thoughts. And I still have worries even with a grown up child. I don’t think that fear will ever go away. But this story goes beyond that. I’ve got goosebumps just writing this review. The story has stayed with me and I’ve thought about it frequently.
I was never quite sure if Lauren had postpartum psychosis or if these things were really happening, especially when other characters saw some of the things she saw.
The fairy stories at the start of a chapter, the babies eyes, the singing at night, stories of changelings OMG I could go on!
It’s nothing like I’ve ever read before and if you’ve got a new baby in the family don’t read it! 
Disturbing, suspenseful, chilling, the stuff of nightmares! It creeped me out.

I have read so many amazing reviews about this book, and believe me when I say, I was so excited to devour this book. The book itself is so well written, so captivating, and incredibly well put together. The writing was stunning, and the characters were vivid. However, I couldn’t relate to the story as much as I wanted to. 

This is a story of Lauren, who just gives birth two her first children, two lovely boys, and she fears someone might be after them. While in the hospital, a weird creepy woman visits her, and tells her she wants to swap the babies. Lauren is scared and calls the police, and no one can find any evidence.

I understand now that probably the reason why I couldn’t love this book as much as other people did is because the main character is a mother, and being a mother is the main aspect of this book. This is a story that captures all the horrors a mother could have when she fears for her children. We get to feel what Lauren feels, and see the world through her eyes. I remember talking to my mother, and how she once told me she could always feel when something is going on with me. I always wondered why, and I know that until I have children of my own, I will probably not know.

Lauren at first doesn’t have that motherly instinct. Or she thinks she doesn’t. She is troubled that she doesn’t care enough for them, and she is not confident she is the right person for this ‘’job’’. During the book, we can see the love that Lauren has for her two babies keep growing. She can now understand how she knows things about her baby boys that no one else knows. It is a beautiful journey she goes through.

Now, back to the book – let’s not forget – this is a horror story. As much as she loves her babies, they are in danger, and no one believes Lauren. After all, her story sounds like some creepy tale.

But what is the creepy tales are true? 

After the beginning, and some time spent in the hospital, Lauren has to get back home and try to get into the new routine. But weird things start happening one after another another, and before she knows it, her babies have indeed disappeared. In their place are another set of babies, and no one can recognize they’re different, apart from Lauren.

I would like to take a moment here and comment of how big of an asshole her husband is. As women, when we give birth, we give life to a whole new person. With your help, of course, but on our own. Our bodies change, our routine changes, our emotions change. And then some men decide to belittle their wives and partners, make them feel unworthy and go aside and enjoy their lives. Well, life is too short to be surrounded by such douche bags, and if I were Lauren, I would have said bye bye to Patrick after the first night at the hospital.

Little Darlings was not a bad book at all. In fact, it was a very pleasant read, very enjoyable and very relatable to many women out there. However, I just didn’t feel that spark I usually feel when reading this genre. I wasn’t shaking and I wasn’t afraid for Lauren or her babies.

This was chilling. A modern day creepy fairytale, and one I believed. You couldn't help but believe what Lauren was going through  and feel her terror. I still don't know what I think happened - was she psychotic? Was this the results of an extreme episode of post partum psychosis? Who is the mysterious woman who "finds" the twins? Was she just having an affair and obsessed with Lauren's husband, or is she an incarnation of the water people? The descriptions of Lauren's feelings passed the fear onto me - skillful narrating, and a great atmosphere. I was disturbed by this read, yet found myself believing in fairy tales. The description of the changeling twins talking and singing were chilling beyond belief. A great read. #littledarlings #netgalley