Little Darlings by Melanie Golding is a creepy psychological thriller with excerpts of fairy tales and stories about changelings.
Lauren Tranter has just given birth to twins boys. On her second night at the maternity ward she stops a woman dirty woman dressed in rags from kidnaping her two sons. She locks herself in the bathroom and calls the police. When the police arrive they think Lauren, as she is so exhausted by lack of sleep that, she is seeing things.
She returns home, but she has no support from her selfish husband Ben that she has to look after her Twin boys Morgan and Riley on her own. After a couple of weeks Ben tells her to go out and get some fresh air, so she arranges to meet her friends from her antenatal class. After she meets them she decides she doesn’t want to go home just yet. She goes for a walk beside the river. But when she rests on a bench and falls asleep, she wakes up to find the twins gone. The police are called and eventually the twins are found but, Lauren thinks that they are not her twins.
This is a creepy dark tale that in some places creeped me out. Especially when some of the fairy tales are told. It started slow but as the tale progressed I couldn’t put it down. I also liked the idea of this story being part thriller, fantasy.
Thank you NetGalley and HQ for an ARC of this book.

**Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

Hannah Kent meets Leila Slimani’s Lullaby meets Rosemary’s Baby in the most unsettling book of the year.

Little Darlings follows Lauren and Patrick, first time parents to twin boys. This book is not your usual thriller as it has a dark fairy tale twist that adds depth to the sinister story. The story starts off slowly and as the plot unravels the tension starts to build. At first, the reader sympathises with new mum Lauren but later her character becomes much more unreliable and the reader questions what the truth is. Her husband Patrick lacks any empathy for his wife and I disliked him more and more as the story progressed.

It is an impressive debut for Melanie Golding. She has added a new twist on the thriller genre and made it fresh once more. An absorbing read that will chill you to the core.

It's a little slow to begin with and a little confusing. You assume it's going to be just a story about post natal depression and the path it can lead you down. But it actually turns into a modern day fairy tale - but not a happy one. It's a good, chilling thriller of a read - very dark!

An engaging fairy tale for adults! I got lost in the pages of this book so easily, and found it to be a real atmospheric page turner.
Lauren believes her new born twin boys have been taken, and in their place are two changelings who, to everyone else, look exactly the same... Lauren knows different though.... but who will believe her?

A creepy, addictive read that sucks you in from the start.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for allowing me to read in return for a review.

Oh my goodness this book scared the life out of me, there were parts of it that genuinely terrified me!! I started reading it in bed one night and the bathroom window was open on a windy night which made the door and towel rail rattle, I nearly jumped out of my skin and raced to my son's room to check on them. I had to explain to my hubby why I was so jumpy. I'd never heard of faeries being evil before to me they've always been cute little people with wings not something malevolent that will switch your baby with one of their own. This folklore has fascinated me to the point that I'd like to research it if it didn't scare me so much. I didn't know whether to believe Lauren or agree with everyone else that she was having some sort of mental breakdown and I doubted myself throughout the entire book. I really liked the detective and thought she played a very likeable character that I wanted to know more about. It's a book that draws you in immediately and stays with you long after you turn the last page and especially if you have children are pregnant or spend time around newborns. I think there should genuinely be a warning added to the cover because if I'd read this book when my children were newborn I'm not sure what sort of effect it might have had on me. I wouldn't advise new mums to read it because although it's an amazing book it definitely has a scary sinister side to it that worries me about it new mums reading it. Please add a warning

Creepy and unsettling

Little Darlings is a story about Lauren who just gave birth to twins. She should be over the moon as both the babies and Lauren are doing well, however, on her second night in the hospital, she finds a strange homeless woman in her room threatening to abduct the twins and swap them with her own babies. Police are called but no one seems to believe Lauren's story. When she returns home, Lauren is scared to leave her house. After a few weeks she finally agrees to take the babies to the park. Sleep deprived Lauren falls asleep in the park only to wake up and find that her babies are missing. When the police find the twins not long after, Lauren only needs to look at them once to know that they are not her babies.

No doubt this is creepy book. There's something very unsettling and haunting about babies being swapped and I was freaked out for a part of the story. The creepiness of the book is accentuated by folklore tales about changeling babies at the start of most chapters in the book, sending chills down my spine EVERY time I read one.

As a reader I did not know what to believe. Were Lauren's babies really taken and if so, who are the new babies? Or is Lauren crazy as everyone seems to believe? I was going back and forth on this one almost until the end. One character that stood out for me was the second narrator of the story - DI Jo Harper. Harper was the only one truly interested in what Lauren had to say and was willing to dig deeper despite her boss specifically telling her not to. I enjoyed reading about Harper's background story and wished the author would use this character in a crime series featuring Harper as the main detective.

My last comment is a recommendation for a warning that should be displayed on the cover of the book - Do not read if you are pregnant or have newborn babies!

Honest review in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley - thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity. Although I love thrillers, this isn't the sort of plot I'd normally read, something I didn't realise until I began reading. The supernatural was woven in well to the story, making it stand apart from most domestic thrillers, and I thought the exploration of mental health and the perceptions of others were written accurately. I wanted to keep reading and find out the truth, but while the story held my attention, I found the ending to be too ambiguous.

After a traumatic birth, Lauren is exhausted. Lying in her hospital bed, listening to her babies crying, she hears someone singing in the the next cubicle. After an eerie encounter, Lauren is convinced someone is trying to steal her babies and swap them for fairy babies as per mythology. When she returns home and tries to adjust to life as a mother, it becomes clear that something is terribly wrong - but is it all in Lauren's head or is this a fairytale come to life?

This book was a harrowing and accurate portrayal of many elements of new motherhood - to the point that it made me cry. The isolation, the alienation, the loss of identity, the feeling that everyone is doing it better than you. - and that you can't trust anyone with how you feel. I enjoyed the fairytales woven into the narrative and the eerie atmospheric writing very much. Although the novel's conclusion was open-ended, which usually annoys me, this book stayed with me for a long time afterwards, grieving for all those mums for whom new motherhood is truly a baptism of fire.

Enchanting, horrifying , powerful and suspenseful. All of this in one book? I feel spoilt!
From the blurb I wasn't expecting faeries and changelings to feature in this story and it was such a pleasant surprise. Melanie has great talent if this is her debut novel! I eagerly await her next book!

What a plot, I have read so many fantastic reviews about this book that I was so happy to receive an ARC. It certainly didn’t disappoint, creeped me out, I am a bit of a chicken sh** when it comes to certain topics! A twisty psychological thriller following a mother who gave birth to twins and the trials and tribulations that go with it, for some women it can be hard and this book gives us another insight into mental health, is she suffering from post natal depression or could it be true? A great read, you will not want to put this down, you will be dragged in to her world from the getgo!

Many thanks to Netgalley and HQ for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I didn’t know what to expect from this book as I don’t believe in fairies but I really enjoyed this story. I even abandoned my disbelief and was rooting for everyone to see what happened. Well written and engaging.

I do like a book like this.
Throwing in some fairie folklore,the nasty sort that steal your babies,not all that tinkerbell nonsense.
Also throwing the reader into doubt as to if our main character is actually nuts,or there really is someone replacing her babies with changelings.
Logically she's just sleep deprived,possibly suffering from after birth trauma... I was fairly traumatised by some of the hospital stuff myself.
But near the end you have to stop and rethink.
I have to be honest,the whole flirty journalist seemed a pointless side story.... but not enough to detract from my overall enjoyment of the book

Oh boy, this was one scary scenario. With echoes of Grimms Fairy Tales, ‘Little Darlings’ will probably give you sleepless nights along with the protagonist!

It’s the wee small hours of the morning on the maternity ward, and even though she’s exhausted, Lauren Tranter lies awake, already worrying about the responsibility of looking after her newborn twins Riley and Morgan - like any new mum she has concerns about her new role in life, keeping these little ones safe and well. Little does she know that her role as guardian will be challenged that very night, when she encounters a dirty, smelly disheveled woman who attempts to steal her babies. Lauren is convinced that she wasn’t dreaming, and slowly but surely she enters a nightmare world where she tries to impress on those around her that her children are in danger, but no-one believes her, not even her husband Patrick.

After a panicked phone call from Lauren to the police reporting the attempted abduction, hospital security guards are soon on the scene, but find Lauren locked in the bathroom with her babies and no sign of an intruder. She couldn’t have imagined it could she?

Eventually the case comes to the attention of Detective Jo Harper who starts to see some truth in what Lauren is saying, but this won’t be an easy case to crack, venturing off as it does into the realms of the supernatural!

This was a well written, though unsettling read, as it relies heavily on folklore and fairy tales of the darker kind. The author did an excellent job of portraying a post natal woman on the edge - very little sleep, a husband who shows no inclination to share responsibilities, and appears to care little about her well being. Add to that her fear that someone is out to steal her babies, and it’s not difficult to feel deep empathy with her. Though there was something of a slow start, it soon picks up pace and let me just say, it doesn’t get much creepier than this! Not something I’m likely to forget in a hurry!

Wow this book gave me the creeps and made me very glad i don't have children or are expecting. It's every mother worse nightmare to lose their children or nearly lose them. So many times when i was reading this i was convinced it was all in Laura's head only to change my mind a few pages later. This is definitely the kind of story which is going to stay with you for days and days after you finish the last page.

Wow. This book was so good. I can understand the suggestion this could become one of the most talked about books of 2019. It’s certainly up there in my best books read list.

Apparently screen rights have been acquired for the story too. It would make a brilliant TV drama or film, which ever it’s to become. I could possibly be tempted to watch, but for me nothing ever quite matches up to reading the book.

There is an excellent foreword from the author Melanie Golding to introduce the reader to some of the folklore behind her idea for the book and as you come to the beginning of each chapter there is a poem or small piece taken from related old fairy stories and folklore relating to Changelings.

I read the book description and anticipated a good psychological thriller. What I didn’t expect was for it to also be a police detective story. I’m not keen on them and never read them so at first I was a bit disappointed. However the female police detective Harper, who was central throughout the book was acting mostly in an unofficial capacity and was more emotionally involved. I grew to quite like her and a further book perhaps covering her back story would be really good.

I don’t want to say much more about the story as the book description says all a potential reader needs to know. The premise is that Lauren suffered a psychotic form of post natal distress and that would be the rational explanation. However I loved the ambiguity, there was always that doubt even at the end, was there something supernatural at play? It makes you wonder? I’d describe it in part as a psychological thriller as it really does play with your mind.

On the other hand looking at it as a story of a new mother of twins suffering what must be a frightening condition – Puerperal Psychosis, then my heart goes out to mothers who suffer this form of post natal illness and their families too, it must be incredibly distressing for all concerned.

All in all a tense, emotional read that kept me interested right from the first page to the last, with a set of really interesting characters and a fascinating subject.

This is a stunner of a book! I’d heard so much about this and I couldn’t wait to read it! Creepy as hell I loved it! Thank you for the chance to review it.

This creepy story takes inspiration from dark folklore stories, snippets of which are scattered throughout the text helping to set the sinister atmosphere of the book. The story itself reads like a thriller, with the hallmarks of an attempted crime when new mother Lauren sees a visions of a woman who wants to take away her newborn baby twins. As the sightings of the woman continue, and the police investigating draw blanks, it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary abduction attempt, I’m not going to give anymore away, but if you like dark and creepy paranormal fantasy with a strong 'realistic' feel, this is a well-written, easy, yet gripping read.

The premise of this book hooked me in before I even read the first page. A new mother of twins becomes convinced that someone is trying to steal her babies, but no one else believes her. Playing with sinister fairy tales and folklore, sleep deprivation and mental health, this book is creepy and a little too close for comfort. The mother, Lauren, is a character I rooted for. I think the experience of that newborn fog, where sleep is snatched and life becomes disjointed is well portrayed, as well as the isolation and feelings of failure. Her fear and confusion are palpable. I also liked Harper, the detective who is drawn to the case for her own personal reasons and who, like all good fictional detectives, isn't afraid to bend some rules to get to the truth. This is a well-paced story, which kept me turning the pages until the end...and has not helped the sense of unease I always feel around reservoirs!

Although this book was well written, mainly from Lauren, the mother of the twins, point of view, I just didn't seem to be able to get into it. The background of the policewoman, Jo, seemed superfluous to the storyline - although I understand that some of her past had a bearing on her present of course. I am not a mother myself, but I don't think this had any bearing on my enjoyment of the book.

I certainly questioned whether Lauren was experiencing Post Partum Delirium or whether she was, in actual fact a victim of 'changlings' - and I kept on guessing. I would have liked another chapter at the end to wrap the book up as it felt a bit unfinished to me.

All in all, I didn't hate it and I didn't love it, which was a shame as the premise of the story was excellent.

I inhaled this book. Its nothing like I ever read before and I totally loved it.
The story and the style of writing is breathtaking, you can simply not put it down. There is no boring passages in the book, no character that I didn't believe and liked and no twist and turn that is unnecessary and is simply there to fill the pages.
This is my favourite book that I read this year and I can't wait for it to get published so I can buy it fo my collection.
I can only applaud the author on this masterpiece and I'm looking forward to many more books of this caliber.