If you are looking for a great creepy, scary, psychological thriller then look no further. This one will have awake all night after reading, just be aware of you have twin babies !!

In the middle of the night, just after giving birth to her twin sons, Lauren Tranter, wakes up to the sounds of a woman in the next cubicle singing to her babies but after listening to the words being sung Lauren feels terror. Lauren is next hiding in the bathroom with her twin boys dialling 999 after the lady in the next cubicle tries to snatch her babies. No-one believes her and it is recorded as a mental health episode.

After going home Lauren sees the mystery lady opposite her house, and scared to leave the home she hides away from the world. Detective Jo Harper visits Lauren and despite everyone else not believing Lauren, Jo finds herself relating to Lauren and feels that there is some truth to what she is saying. Will the mystery lady got to Lauren’s twin babies or is it all in her head ? Can Jo crack the case before it ends in tragedy ?

This really is a creepy tale with a hint of the supernatural. A great read that will keep you awake at nights, especially if you have young babies !!

Thank you to HQ and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

Infuriatingly slow to start and massively infuriatingly compulsive!

There is folklore and fairy tales at play throughout the book mixed into a psychological thriller with touches of the supernatural. This book plays on the fears of every new parent, the sleepless nights, the paranoia of something bad happening to your new baby and even the irrational fears every parent feels at one time or another.That is this books strength, how well she has put those fears and thoughts, the emotion they create and written them into this fantastic book. It had me questioning my own sanity and believes in the unknown.

Changelings – a child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents’ real child in infancy. One of the most sinister superstitions and folklore.

The only slight negative I can say about the book is nothing to do with the book its self as such as the book is well written, slow paced until the midway point and then things really start to unravel with a great ending, so it is more to do with the advertisement of the book. Described on Amazon as ‘The most addictive and haunting debut of 2019’ that is a massive statement to live up too and as much as I enjoyed the book it just didn’t hit that mark for me sadly. Didn’t meet expectations you can’t help but have going into this book just from that one sentence.

Other than that it is a great read and one that will make a brilliant book club read as it will give you all plenty to discuss, during the read and after.

I can also see this one hitting the big screens in the near future, I know I’d love to see this book turned into a movie!

Little Darlings will be published in the Uk on 02 May 2019 and can be pre ordered now

A massive thank you to the author Melanie Golding, publishers HQ and NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest and independent review.

https://debbiesbookreviews.wordpress.com/2019/03/18/little-darlings-by-melanie-golding/

I absolutely loved this book it had me hooked from the first page
Only work and chores stopped me devouring it in one sitting
I would seriously recommend to others
The attention to detail and knowledge of the topic amazing

Oh my goodness! What a book! Honestly there are no words!!!!!!

So many times throughout reading this I thought I had worked out what was happening and going on but I was always wrong and I just didn't expect all the drama that happened in this at all.

My heart was pounding - I was scared, scared for Lauren, scared for the twins.

I definitely did not predict the ending to this! WOW!

Sensational, gripping and frightening!

There was no question of me NOT reading this book, was there?! I mean, twin books are my thing but I don’t think I’ve read many “baby twin” books before. And all I can say is…thank goodness I didn’t read this when I was pregnant with my twins or it would have scared the bejesus out of me!! This beautifully conceived book took the old folklore and fairytales about changelings and weaved a modern day tale around them that left me mentally traumatised! Little Darlings will haunt you long after you have finished reading it and you’ll probably wish it didn’t! I still have goosebumps every time I remember certain parts of the stunning but chilling narrative.

I was very lucky when I had my twins. I had an incredibly supportive husband and we had a fabulous little nighttime routine right from the word go. He would go downstairs and get bottles warmed up for them both while I changed twin 1. He would then take her and feed her while I woke twin 2, changed her nappy and then gave her a bottle. They were then winded, cuddled and popped back in their cots! It worked so well that by 6 weeks they were sleeping through the night. But if I had been married to Lauren’s husband Patrick then I would have had a very different nighttime experience indeed and I would probably have been arrested for causing him a major injury!! Poor Lauren is exhausted, especially after a traumatic event in the hospital shortly after her twin baby boys were born, but “poor” Patrick needs his sleep-even though he is on paternity leave for the first week that they are home! I mean if my husband had mentioned the words “spare bedroom” and “earplugs” in the same sentence after I had just given birth to my first born child, let alone twins….!!! Yes, Patrick’s lack of support made my blood boil from the start but then again no one else seemed to sense the huge amount of pressure that Lauren appeared either. But there was more to Lauren’s exhaustion and anxiety than just the normal first time mum blues and although she tried her best, there still seemed to be something very unsettling about her twin boys…

I don’t think I have read a book like Little Darlings before. I thought it was a brilliant mix of psychological thriller, horror and mythology that worked so well, I really couldn’t decide which direction the narrative was going to take. I didn’t expect the path it chose but I think that it was the right one for this storyline and worked perfectly. The author has done a huge amount of research and it has certainly paid off for her as she purposefully delivered a suspenseful, harrowing dilemma with a sense of unease from beginning to end.

Although Lauren was a fascinating character, it was Jo Harper that I really took to and one that I would really like to meet again. In fact, Little Darlings is one of those books where you want to be able to revisit the world that you left when the book finished to find out what happened to the characters after you left them behind. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them since I finished this creepy and compelling thriller! And for me that’s the sign of a brilliant read that I want to shout about to anyone who will listen! Definitely one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

This book completely freaked me out. Is she imagining it all, or is there some supernatural element at play. Swinging back between the two throughout the book had me totally engrossed and somewhat hollow by the end. Do read it.

Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and Melanie Golding for the chance to read and review this novel.

This book is such a triumph that I can’t believe it’s the author’s debut novel. Deliciously sinister, twisted, dark and unsettling, this beautifully written book starts with a letter to the reader that tells us about changeling folklore and how the child-friendly, Disneyfied Fairy Tales we know today are very different from their terrifying origins that were used to scare children rather than entertain them. Through the main character this book emerges you into every mother’s worst nightmare and chills you to the bone.

‘Choose one,’ said the woman, ‘choose one or I’ll take them both...I can make sure they look the same.’

Lauren Tranter is feeling traumatised after the difficult birth of her twin boys, Morgan and Riley and feeling overwhelmed with the task of caring for the two tiny infants alone in the hospital. In the middle of the night Lauren a woman in the supposedly empty bed next to hers singing an eerie song. Lauren decides to ask her to stop and is confronted with a strange, ugly woman with two babies of her own. She tells Lauren both sets of twins are charmed, only hers are cursed with darkness. To balance this out she demands they exchange a twin and that if Lauren refuses she’ll take both and make sure the replacements look the same. Lauren, aghast and overcome with fierce maternal protection, locks herself with in the bathroom with the twins and calls the police. But hospital security say no one was there and there’s nothing on the CCTV so Lauren is referred to a psychiatrist. Despite this, DS Jo Harper can’t shake the feeling that there is more to this case than meets the eye.

Back at home Lauren lives in fear that the woman is going to take her children grows but no one believes her, not even her husband, Patrick. She refuses to leave the twins alone even for a minute, won’t leave the house, is scared to sleep and is just trying to survive each day. Patrick and her friends become increasingly worried about her. Eventually, she takes the boys to the park but the outing ends in disaster when she falls asleep on a bench and wakes to find the boys gone. Lauren’s elation at their recovery soon turns to horror when she realises these babies are not Morgan and Riley. The woman has carried out her threat to take them both. But everyone else is fooled and her desperate attempts to convince them leads to her being sent to a psychiatric unit.

At the psychiatric unit Lauren is filled with panic and fear.She knows she has to convince them she isn’t insane, that she doesn’t think the babies are her children so that they will let her go and she can save the real Morgan and Riley. So she tries to say the right things and act like she isn’t full of revulsion for the things that have replaced her perfect boys. When the police investigation finds no suspects everyone seems sure that Lauren is suffering from mental illness. Everyone except DS Harper. She still feels sure there’s something they’re missing and begins investigating various leads that could prove she’s right. But is she being fooled by a sick and unstable mother who is a danger to her children or the only person who believes a mother who is innocent and desperately trying to save them?

There’s some books you seem to just instantly connect with for one reason or another and this was one of those for me. The letter at the start, the ominous prologue and even the setting, were reasons this novel resonated with me so quickly. The book is set in my hometown of Sheffield and while I’ve read books set in places I’ve been or know a little, I have never before read a book set in my hometown. It added an extra layer of enjoyment when reading for me. I loved that I could picture the hospital Lauren gives birth in as I gave birth there myself and all the places mentioned are so familiar that I could picture them clearly.

One of the things I loved about this book was the uncertainty if Lauren was crazy or the fairy tale was real. I vacillated on this point many times and still can’t decide which I believe or which would be the least unsettling. Sometimes I find such ambiguity ruins a book for me but in this case I thought it enhanced the story. Afterall, this is a story based on a fairy tale and they require you to suspend your disbelief at the impossible, so it isn’t a stretch for me to believe that Lauren was telling the truth. But then the changeling folklore began as an explanation for the impossible, for something that is now a recognised mental illness, and therefore it is also not hard to believe that this is the explanation for what she is seeing. Overall, I did like Lauren. She did whatever she could to protect and save her children in her mind and while she seemed weak and paralysed by fear at the start, she found strength and fought her fears as the book went on. DS Jo Harper was also a great character, probably my favourite. Her back story gave substance to her actions that you could tell were often emotional and I liked that when she believed in something she pursued it, even if it got her in trouble. Patrick is another matter. I couldn’t stand him and for most of the book I wanted to reach through the pages and slap him as hard as possible. His complaints about losing sleep, complaining he can't function without it and she knew that before the babies made me so angry. He was anything but the helpful father Lauren expected and my heart went out to her as she realised the man she married wasn’t who she thought he was. Although he did seem to step up after the babies were abducted his earlier actions and other revelations meant that even this didn’t endear him to me.

Little Darlings is a spine-tingling, absorbing and spectacular novel. Filled with clever twists, shocking revelations, edge of your seat suspense and unnerving changeling folklore this is a book that will stay with you. Melanie Golding is an exciting new voice in fiction and has created a book everyone will be talking about.

CHANGELING
“A child believed to of been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents’ real child in infancy”

I don’t think it’s possible for me to write a review for ‘Little Darlings’ by Melanie Golding that can do it justice or even begin to explain the emotional turmoil it has put me through. It is one seriously messed up, disturbing and sickening read and that is why I absolutely loved it!

‘Little Darlings’ is a psychological thriller with a folklore twist. It leaves you second guessing and always questioning the reality. Could there really be magic people who live near by who wish to take our children? or Is Lauren suffering from a rare mental illness? Whatever the case, Lauren is determined to do whatever it takes to protect her twin boys even if to others it appears she is doing the complete opposite.

This was such a fantastic read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers but is fed up with the same old story lines. This novel is unlike anything you would of read before.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC in return for an honest review.

Wow, this was absolutely superb!
I didn’t really have any preconceptions for this book with not having read any of the author’s work before. It can always be hit and miss when you request a book on NetGalley from a new author. I’d been putting off reading this as I was worried it might be a miss. I shouldn’t have waited as it was more than just a hit!
It gripped me and wouldn’t let go; it was so creepy that I was actually afraid to go to sleep after reading it. I kept seeing the woman’s eyes peering through the window (something similar happened to me when I was younger, and I hate having the curtains open when it’s dark!) I don’t have kids of my own, but I still felt the sheer horror of the tale.
The whole way through you don’t know if this is a supernatural thriller and what is happening is ‘real’ or whether Lauren is stark raving mad. Even at the end you still don’t truly know. It leaves you with a million questions and makes you think for quite some time after finishing it. This isn’t a bad thing, as so often I finish a book and forget all about it. I always think the outstanding books are the ones that stay with you afterwards that you can’t get out of your mind! This is one of those books!
The citations at the beginning of each chapter made me chuckle as this was undoubtedly paying homage to the MA the author had just finished. Once I realised she was a recent graduate these made so much more sense!
I’m gutted to discover that this is the author's debut book as it means I can’t read any more of her books yet!

I do most my reading at night in bed hoping to read myself to sleep. This thoroughly engaging but also thoroughly creepy book was probably not the best choice for late night reading in the dark. I stayed up till the early hours of the morning reading Little Darlings, too freaked out to sleep but also unable to put it down. And I regret nothing.

From the author's introduction to the satisfying yet disturbing end, I was utterly enthralled with Melanie Golding's modern take on folklore. I've read a lot of fantasies, fairytales, and books with myth in them but except for YA I can't think of many that take place in the present, non-magical world like this.

It brings up an interesting thought- fairytale and folklore were accepted truths in the not so distant past but in today's "modern" thinking world, things like fairies and changelings have no place. Yet does that mean they don't still exist?

This book was an incredible blend of fantastical and every-day-life horrors. Our poor new mother of twins was being bombarded on all fronts from dangers outside, in her head, and in her home. It shook me to my core and was a great read.

As a personal side note, the night I started reading this my husband and I broached the subject of having kids, something I've always been wary of. After the first few chapters of Little Darlings that dealt with the traumatic birth followed by post-partum depression and the general uselessness of her awful husband, I'm not only terrified of changelings but also kind of terrified of having a kid. I think I might have to hold off for a few more months before thinking about having kids!

An unsettling and spine chilling read which, as a mother, left me uneasy while reading it but unable to put it down. I really enjoyed this and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others.

This book had be gripped from the start. Spine chilling and haunting. The realistic passages early on about the struggles of new motherhood are well balanced with the later desperation of not being believed. The split narration style kept me on my seat right to the end with the question of was the mother right

An interesting and different read which I would describe as a psychological thriller, but with a supernatural/fairy tale theme running through it. It is the story of Lauren, new mother of twins, who is exhausted and struggling to look after her babies, who starts to believe that her babies have been swapped for two others.

This is a slow starter, which soon builds pace into a dark, creepy and haunting tale which you won’t forget in a hurry. A book probably best avoided by new mothers!

Interesting look into post-natal psychosis.
I enjoyed the story and it was readable but it seemed to get very messy towards the end. I wanted to know if the witch/fairy./ghost was actually real or whether the main character was going mad.
Great concept though.

Wowsers. I read this in less than 24 hours, it’s without a doubt a page turner and keeps you guessing.

Although I found one or two of the chapters, especially around the Detective areas a little long winded.... it did not detract from the overall reading pleasure.

The thriller made me cringe at some moments. I found it little bit too strong as tried to imagine myself trying to protect my little babies. Good read for someone with strong nerves.

I absolutely loved this book. So creepy and gripping. Will definitely shout about it when it's released in May.

I could not ignore the buzz on social media about Melanie Golding's debut, Little Darlings, so, despite my toppling TBR pile, I hot-footed it over to NetGalley for a copy and started to read it the minute it dropped on my kindle. Unable to put it down, 24 hours later I released the breath I had metaphorically been holding as I turned the final page.

What an absolute creepfest! Despite having nothing in common with her, I really felt for the character of Lauren. Not only has she given birth for the first time, but she has double trouble in the form of twin boys. On her first night in the hospital after the birth, she hears a mother in the cubicle next to her eerily singing to another set of twins. When Lauren gets out of bed to ask the mother to keep the noise down, she is unprepared for what she sees and hears...a threat that her own perfect boys will be swapped for the monsters in the other mother's basket. Blaming stress of the birth and postnatal psychosis, nobody believes that this even happened...then the boys change, but only Lauren notices the difference and she will do ANYTHING to get her sweet babies back.

Oh my word! These creepy babies will give me more nightmares than the Chucky doll ever did. The way they didn't cry like normal babies but watched every movement made my skin crawl and, along with DS Joanna Harper (who has her own baby shaped demons), I had no hesitation in believing Lauren's story. Was I as deluded as Lauren? You can make up your own mind when you read Little Darlings.

I love how the story is loosely based on the Welsh fairytale, Brewery of Eggshells. Any book that has me rushing off to google gets a big thumbs up as it just shows how intriguing and effective the story is. It also brings a hint of realism (even though it is based on a fairytale) and just maybe this could actually happen. EEEEEK!!!!

Little Darlings is so creepy that as much as you want to hide behind the sofa, you can't tear your eyes from the page until you have devoured every single word and turned the final page. It's an outstanding debut that has me eager to see what Melanie Golding comes up with next. Do not miss this intriguing, addictive, dark, creepy and scarily believable story that may very well give you nightmares!

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

I found this unsettling, but I think that was the point. Enough twists and turns to keep a reader satisfied.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

This is a curiously dreamlike wander through a modern fairy tale. However, this is no Disney tale, but something far more akin to a traditional fairy story with a very dark core. And just like these traditional stories, this book too has some dark elements that are handled very well; post natal depression, unsupportive spouses, the impact that a difficult birth can have and the experience as a new mother.
It has quite a slow pace, but this suits the story, and is just so immersive that it was difficult to put down. I really enjoyed being lost between the pages of this book and look forward to the authors next book.
My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.