Ugh.

As with other reviews I've seen, I came into this expecting a thriller but it is more of a domestic drama. That in itself is no bad thing and, actually, I thought the majority of this book was a thought-provoking and compassionate look at mental health which really focused on motherhood and post-natal depression.

Had this book only been the first 90%, I'd have chalked this down to being a pretty decent book that was perhaps mis-sold as a thriller but had merit outside of that to be worthwhile reading.

Unfortunately, the last 10% of the story tacked on one of the most predictable "twists" I have read. It's signposted almost from the beginning and so I guess you could say "Why did this annoy you if you knew it was coming?" but Sarah Vaughan spends so long making the subject matter non-thriller in tone (and rightly so, to be honest) that when she brings in the twist, it cheapens the story as a whole.

I got on board with Little Disasters being a book about the struggles of motherhood and the taboo of mental health with new mothers but I couldn't get off the train quick enough when it descended into yet another thriller with a "shock" ending. Disappointed given how much I enjoyed Anatomy of a Scandal.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for providing me with a copy for review.

I was thrilled to receive this after loving Vaughan's debut, Anatomy of a Scandal. 

This is a great psychological thriller that highlights issues faced by mothers. 

Vaughan's portrayal of the desperation felt by a mother trying to soothe an constantly screaming baby shows how anxiety can morph into the debilitating symptoms of intrusive thoughts and obsessive/compulsive behaviour. As someone who has experienced and tackled OCD since my late twenties I felt these mental health problems were very well handled.

The fear and doubt that is raised when Jess takes baby Betsey to A&E with a head injury was excruciating to read, I felt that all sides of the situation were presented, the duty of care required by doctors, the intrusive nature of well-meaning social services adding to a mother's anger and claustrophobia.

Friendship vs professional integrity, accident or child abuse, loyalty and betrayal all seep out from one accident.

Tense and thought-provoking, I enjoyed the social commentary and the twists.

This was such a great read, enjoyed it thoroughly, i was hooked from the first page, great storyline and loads of twists and turns , highly recommend this book x

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.  This is my own honest voluntary review.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley. 

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. 
Natalie.

I adored Anatomy of A Scandal and couldn't wait to read Little Disasters - I was not disappointed. A tough but honest read on how hard it can be to be the perfect mum you think everyone expects you to be especially when struggling through PND.

From the outside looking in, Jess is the perfect stay at home mum. Her three children want for nothing, her house is immaculate and her husband always comes home to a home cooked meal but Jess is struggling mentally. Overwhelmed, emotional and sleep deprived she is sleep walking through life and especially finding it hard to cope with "needy" baby Betsey. She also struggles with the guilt that she isn't sure she ever wanted a third child and that she feels she can't keep Betsey as safe as she should. As a reader I wanted to scream and shout at Jess' husband and friends for not realising how distraught she was. When all this comes to a head with Betsey being rushed to A&E with a suspected head injury all fingers point to Jess...

I was GRIPPED from beginning to end with this book and it gets all the stars from me!

4 out of 5 stars

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

TW: Child Abuse

Little Disasters is a story of motherhood, friendship and secrets we all hold. 

I can't explain how well this was written. To me, as someone with no childern, I wasn't expecting to understand any of the mother day to day concerns but it's so well done you can clearly see the troubles a mother can go through even after multiple children. I have seen that mothers with multiple children are expected to be 'professionals' but that obviously is not the case. It doesn't always get easier.

All characters in this had a purpose and were layered. Featuring more than one mother in this was also a great decision. Having the comparison between the extremes of motherhood was perfect to help the reader understand how different mothers can cope. 

The only thing that's keeping this from being a 5 star for me is towards the end things felt rushed. I felt myself flying through the book prior to the ending even though there was so much happening. After around chapter 40 things would happen so suddenly and then it would move on quickly to something else which is very differnt to the rest of the book. 

I have seen people mention a 'twist'. To me there wasn't anything shocking in terms of exactly how things happened. They were hinted at just before half way but maybe I just caught them where others didn't.

Wow this was so good. I will be picking up more of Sarah Vaughans work in the future! Highly recommend.

Never before has a book opened my eyes into the world of motherhood - its trials, its hardships and its bone weary exhausting challenges of pure chaos - than LITTLE DISASTERS by Sarah Vaughan. It's not really a mystery or a thriller...but rather a thought-provoking and compelling analysis of predominantly two women's lives, and that of their children. It falls more into contemporary fiction and maybe a little domestic suspense, questioning a woman's natural maternal instinct, her endurance through sleep deprivation whilst providing love and care for her child despite being plagued with feelings of not being good enough.

The story opens with a confronting prologue. A mother trying to soothe her 11 week old baby who refuses to settle. The pleading with the child to stop, the crying that intensifies, the overwhelming feeling of being so incredibly alone day after day and night after night of non-stop crying. Why won't she stop? Why won't she stop? WHY WON't SHE JUST STOP? It is hard hitting and confronting as the reader is left to wonder just what the mother does.

January 2018: Late one evening just as her shift is about to end, hospital paediatrician Liz Trenchard is called to A&E to take a look at a child that has presented with some puzzling symptoms. Walking into the cubicle, Liz is surprised to find her close friend Jess Curtis with her ten month old daughter Betsey sitting there. It seems Betsey has not been too well this evening and after her husband found her in her cot covered in vomit, he urged Jess to bring her in as a matter of caution. Liz examines Betsey and is shocked to discover a soft depressed area of her skull that is tender to the touch, prompting the child to scream. And so after the necessary scans, Liz diagnoses Betsey with a skull fracture. Jess is horrified.

Questions begin to rise immediately as to how Betsey was injured and as Liz questions her, Jess closes herself off and her answers become vague. Liz has no alternative but to report the incident to social services who then alert the police.

But Liz knows Jess, surely. She would never hurt her own child...or any child for that matter. She has always been a cautious mother, even over protective at times, alert to anything and everything that could harm her child. Liz knows Jess is a good mother. But, due to the demanding nature of her profession, Liz hasn't been as present in the past several months since Betsey's birth - who knows how Jess is coping? 

The women met in ante-natal classes ten years ago when they were pregnant with their oldest children and along with two other mothers, Mel and Charlotte, have remained friends throughout. They have regular get togethers talking about their children and their milestones as well as socialising together with their respective husbands. But Jess went on to have a third child, where the other women had just two...except Charlotte, who only had the one, and even that was with great difficulty. The women saw each other at the school gates but didn't seem to find the time to check in with each other as much as they used to.

And now, with Betsey in paediatrics ICU and Jess' story about Bets pulling herself up on the fridge and then falling...just doesn't add up. Liz is sure that Jess is hiding something. So what isn't she telling them? She wants to be there for her friend but she also knows that she can't discuss Betsey's case with her...making it especially difficult.

To make matters worse, Jess' private battle is exacerbated by her husband's previous friendship with Charlotte, whom he knew at university. She doesn't believe Ed would be unfaithful to her but Charlotte does have an air about her that speaks volumes...insinuating that their friendship was something more. Should she be worried? But she doesn't have time to worry. Not with the police investigating her for child neglect and possibly injuring her baby girl. Not with all these thoughts racing through her head and her incessant need to ensure her children's safety with the aligning of her rings. One. Two. Three.

Despite her desire to help her friend, Liz knows she must also maintain a professional distance...which isn't helped by her worries for her mother who appears mentally unbalanced as well as drinking herself into oblivion each day. When her mother is rushed to hospital and diagnosed as terminally ill, Liz is confronted with the horrors of her past and old memories begin to resurface. And then on her deathbed, her mother confesses to something so horrific...

How can Liz correlate what her mother has told her with the current circumstances her closest friend now finds herself in? How can she find compassion for a mother that was habitually cruel and abusive towards her and her brother throughout their lives? And how can what has happened to Jess and baby Betsey ever be mended? 

But the truth is far closer than anyone thinks. And when Liz uncovers what really happened, there is a collective sigh of relief all round. But is that truly the end of it?

A compelling and emotional story, LITTLE DISASTERS is slow burning but in encapsulates you from very early on that you are invested in what happens from the very beginning. The multiple narratives are cleverly woven together between the past and the present - mainly between Liz, Jess and Ed with the addition of a couple of others throughout that provide their own version of events.

A complex tale about one of the most difficult jobs in the world, LITTLE DISASTERS also highlights the realities of post natal depression and anxiety. A woman's body goes through a multitude of changes throughout pregnancy, giving birth and then thrust into motherhood without an instruction manual, despite having done it twice before. Every pregnancy is different, every birth is different and every baby is different. A woman's mental health is tested to the limits throughout all these changes and sometimes it just becomes too much. It doesn't make them weak or inferior or a bad mother. Hormonal imbalances create a wealth of problems for one's mental health and pregnancy and motherhood is probably one of the biggest challenges of them all. So with my own experience with mental health, I am sure this book provides an accurate and realistic depiction of post natal depression an anxiety.

I am not a mother and yet this book makes me, in some ways, grateful that I am not. I'm not even maternal...unless it has four legs, a tail and goes woof. I was told by my specialist many years ago that I would find motherhood incredibly difficult due to my underlying medical conditions, one of which is my mental health. And in reading Jess' plight in this book I could really identify with her despite not being a mother myself. Those frightening thoughts, that incessant feeling of exhaustion, the never ending cries, the uncontrollable tears, the isolation and the overwhelming feeling of not being good enough...all entwined with her feeling of being out of control. I've no doubt that motherhood is hard...and this book really highlights its difficulties whilst trying to balance everything and find some normality again.

The twist, when it comes, is fairly expected. I'd long since figured out the several twists purely because this isn't a mystery or thriller and if you look hard enough you will see them too. While they are foreseeable, they are still shocking and ultimately still a satisfying end.

Overall, LITTLE DISASTERS is a thought-provoking read that is realistic and heartwrenching at times. Anyone who is a mother will surely recognise the emotions in all its overwhelming glory and quickly identify with Jess and her story. 

I do thoroughly recommend this book. It is an eye opening look into the world of post natal depression and anxiety in the form of a thrilling page turning contemporary domestic drama.

I would like to thank #SarahVaughan, #NetGalley and #SimonAndSchusterUK for an ARC of #LittleDisasters in exchange for an honest review.

A fantastic book 
I was engrossed from start to finish
Definitely recommend to others
Therefore I give this a 5 star

The tension was brilliantly built in this book and it was very easy to empathise with Jess and feel her anguish. This neatly dovetailed into Liz’s professional responsibilities to cause a dilemma for her. The characters were well written and there was a good plot twist. Of you haven’t read anything by Sarah Vaughan before I recommend her work, her books are fast reads and you won’t be disappointed.

Four friends meet in a prenatal course: Liz, Jess, Charlotte and Mel. Ten years later are still all friends, though thanks to busy lives, bigger families and other dramas, they don't get to socialise and see each other that often. Liz, a paediatric doctor,  is surprised to find Jess in A&E with her 10 month old Betsey, who has been sick and crying nonstop. Upon further inspection, Liz is even more surprised that Betsey has a brain injury and that Jess, a usually very conscientious and protective mother, didn't notice the bang on the back of the head and took hours to bring her in to be assessed. Something feels off for Liz, she has mixed feelings as she wants to protect her friend Jess who she knows is a good person and there's no way this could have been on purpose.... Her gut feeling, as well as her duty to care towards Betsey, escalates the case and as this happens, it also uncovers some deeply repressed childhood memories for Liz.

I have no doubt this story will resonate with some parents, an unrelenting crying baby who is difficult. Sarah Vaughan does a fantastic job of depicting post natal depression and other mental health problems. We see how easily it can be to see how someone is the perfect depiction of a loving mother who takes everything at ease but deep down is struggling. We switch in and out of points of views along the story, the main points of view are Liz, Jess and Jess's husband Ed but we see some others as well. The story line goes back in time to how Betsey got the head injury but also back to how the 4 women first met and a few events over the decade long friendship until the present day. Liz dealing with her own mother and her own trauma was a nice side plot that mirrored elements of the present day. I alternated between reading the ebook and listening to the audiobook and the product was great, different narrators for the characters as well as some background noises from time to time to add to the atmosphere. 

Sometimes thrillers and mysteries have a tendency either build a lot of tension up for a big pay off or have a lot of different twists and turns. I found this had neither, it had enough tension to keep things moving and interesting and no plot points felt laboured or added for a shock value. It felt realistic and well balanced while keeping me intrigued and not being predictable. Having previously read The Art of Baking Blind and liking it, I'm so glad this one didn't disappoint and look forward to reading Anatomy of a Scandal!

Wow what a book. Brilliantly written with a fast paced storyline that has you on the edge of the street. Things will never be the same again.

I actually listened to the audiobook and have left my review for it on the audiobook's page here https://www.netgalley.co.uk/book/197354/review/364700

Hope that's okay?

Somewhat slow read, but very thought provoking with good insight in the different aspects of motherhood.

I really enjoyed this. Sarah Vaughan is such a great writer; she writes relationships and their many, many layers so incredibly well. Although it was about motherhood and being a parent I didn't feel on the outside of the narrative at all as she writes with such clarity and a deft touch that makes the reader feel involved at every stage. I loved the push and pull of the friendships, the question over whether Something Bad had happened putting pressure on the relationships. It's a great book.

“Little Disasters” is a twisty tale of motherhood, friendship, jealousy and keeping up appearances. But it also delves deeper into the issues of post-natal depression and how women cope (or don’t).  I loved “Anatomy of a Scandal” and so I was very much looking forward to this one as well, and it did not disappoint.

This book gives you many ups and downs throughout. It explores the relationships between characters who have been friends for years and the secrets they have kept from each other. The author tackles the difficult subject matter well and I will definitely be looking out for more from her.

I read and enjoyed Anatomy of a Scandal by this author but Little Disasters is even better! This book follows Jess – all her friends think she’s a perfect stay-at-home mum devoted to her children but when an incident happens and her baby is badly hurt conclusions are jumped to. Liz is Jess’ best friend and also the hospital consultant on duty when Jess brings her baby in. The novel follows the two women as they struggle with what happened and the fall out from it. There is the thriller element to this novel of wanting to know what happened and how but more than that it’s an exploration of the pressures on women, and the tension that runs through some female friendships which makes it hard to be honest when you’re struggling. This is an intense, gripping novel and one that refuses to leave me – I’m still thinking about it and I read it a few weeks ago now. I recommend it!

Although, this book is very well written and has an interesting story at its heart, it just wasn't for me. I thought it started out very well but it lost its momentum half way through and I found myself becoming bored towards the end. I couldn't connect with the characters and maybe this is why I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. I also wasn't a fan of the ending. Many will love this book, unfortunately, it didn't work for me on this occasion.

Quite a hard hitting story about two mothers and one child. A moment in time changed the friendship between Dr. Liz and Jessie when her child was brought into ER, and Liz had to call the social services.

I was gripped by the story, I kept holding my breath at the secrets revealed. Past was interspersed with the present  as the story moved on. 

A thought provoking story which was complex and filled with emotions. I could only be in awe of the writer words as I read from beginning to end. Just a huge sigh at the end I was left with.