On the night that Lauren Tranter gives birth to twin boys, she swears another mother in the next room attempts to take swap the twins. Unable to locate the other mother, Lauren is lead down an emotional and terrifying journey.

This book will leave you sleepless, just like Lauren. I was terrified- I may have even checked my closet before bed. Haunting and beautifully written. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to be frightened.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book!! The story was haunting from beginning to end. No one and nothing is what it seems. Having a baby is scary enough without the dangers told in Little Darlings. Read it with the light on.

"The child is not mine as the first was, I cannot sing it to rest, I cannot lift it up fatherly and bliss it upon my breast; Yet it lies in my little one's cradle, And sits in my little one's chair, And the light of the heaven she's gone to transfigures its golden hair."
~ From The Changeling by James Russell Lowell

Lauren Tranter has just been blessed by giving birth to healthy twin boys—Riley and Morgan. As with all new mothers, the lack of sleep and anxiety of being a new mom plays upon Lauren’s health, both physically and mentally. In fact, when she swears that a woman cloaked in black entered her hospital room to steal her babies and exchange them for something insidious, no one believes her, and she’s left wondering if perhaps she did have a mental breakdown. But continued scratchings on the window, glimpses of the woman in black and the deep down fear of knowing her children are in danger puts Lauren over the edge. How far will Lauren go and what sacrifice will she make to protect Riley and Morgan…a mother knows her children, right?

Little Darlings is an addictive nail biter with a sinister fairy tale undertone. So frightening in passages, I found myself pushing the book away. Highly recommend!

I received an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book had me on the edge of my seat the whole time! It was definitely a book that kept you thinking! I would definitely recommend this book to fellow readers. Thank you!

Thanks #netgalley for a copy of this book for my review. I must acknowledge this book but so close to home for me. My daughter has just given birth to twin boys, so exciting. But Lauren, the main character has just done the same. She believes someone has changed out her babies and the ones she is raising now are not hers. Everyone plays it or to exhaustion and being a new mother. Her husband doesn’t believe her. You must read this book, it is so well written, proves you don’t need blood and guts to scare the Hell out of people. This book is so creepy and I admit, I’ve been watching my grand babies like a hawk since then.

Little Darlings is a terrifying story that will haunt your thoughts long after you finish it. The original Grimm’s fairy tales are not sweet and innocent; they are bloody, violent, and scary. Folktales that have been told for hundreds of years can be the same. What if they were true? What if the horrible things that happened in them could actually happen to you?

Is getting lost in dark creepy stories one of your favorite things? Then Little Darlings could turn out to be one of your favorite books. As a caution though, if you’re pregnant, this might be one you want to pass on for now.

Lauren gives birth to twins, but while she is in the hospital, someone tries to switch her babies with theirs. But she is the only one in the hospital with twins. The doctors and everyone else, except for one cop, tells her that she is imagining things, that her babies are just fine. And she is convinced they are fine, but she is afraid to fall asleep, afraid that if she does, her two precious boys will be stolen. And one day, she falls asleep. When she wakes up, they are gone.

This book is about a mother’s worst nightmare. I was completely wrapped up in what Lauren was feeling and so thankful that neither of my babies was ever abducted, especially by someone that no one else could see or hear.

There are so many red herrings—or are they?—in this terrifying tale: the river woman, a female friend of her husband, Lauren herself. Yes, there were times that I was convinced the mother was crazy and had done it herself.

Once you start this book, be prepared to stay up all night reading until you reach the end. On every page, there is an undercurrent of something evil and malicious going on.

I was sent a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Looking for something different? Do you enjoy fairy tales and folklore? Then this may be the book for you!

This was an interesting book.. a bit different.... Was Lauren insane or were her beliefs real ? The author makes us question whether she is crazy and having a psychotic break of some kind or if something more sinister is at play ... Twin changelings....a woman from the river... A bit horror, thriller, supernatural and folk lore...a bit creepy but not as creepy as I would have liked.

I'm not sure that I loved this as much as others. A little suspension of belief is needed. After Lauren encounters a very strange woman in the hospital that threatens her and her twins, Lauren sees her outside her window when she returns home from the hospital. Fearful the strange woman will take her babies, she stays locked up in the house until the day she finally decides to go out for a bit and her twins are taken...

This is a debut novel and I feel the author has talent, very well written and I would be interested in reading her next book IF it doesn't involve fairy tales...

A big thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book! 3.5 stars -

Oh boy, this book was really creepy for me, considering is not the genre I usually go for, but OMG I loved it so much. I could not put it down. I was so intrigued from the moment I read the blurb and I am so glad I read it coz it wasn't like anything I've read before.
The storry was told so well and I really fell in love with the author. And I would love to read more of her. Boy I can't wait to see the movie now and I really hope they don't change anything coz the book itself was amazing. Thank you netgalley for this chance and I highly recommend this book.
This storry for sure will stay with me for a long long time. 5 star must read

This is a pretty creepy book that I ended up really liking. The plot is intriguing and I had to keep reading to find out what would happen next. Perfect reading for a chilly fall day.

Thank you to NetGalley, Melanie Golding and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC of this novel.

Wow. This was an exciting, suck you in and don't let go thriller. I read this book in two days, since I needed to know what happened next. Well written, exciting story. I loved it.

This was a very good mystery had me in the book reading couldn't put it down would highly recommend it. It made a very good mystery

Full disclosure: I probably picked the wrong time in my life to read "Little Darlings," the debut novel by Melanie Golding, because my wife is six months pregnant with twins. I would not let her near my copy of this novel, the story of Lauren, her newborn twin boys, and the story of changelings, people who disappear and come back looking like your loved one, but not acting like him/her. I did not really know much about the plot before I started this novel, and I was pleasantly surprised by how fast this story moved along. There were times when I sat down to read and huge chucks of the book passed without me even thinking. If I could afford the time to sit down and read a book straight through, I feel like this is one that would be easy to read in one sitting.

The plot moves at the pace of a mystery, but the characters are well developed and defined, to the point where the reader starts to root for certain characters and hate others. I will say (and maybe this is because I am going to be the father of twins soon) that I wanted to punch Patrick, her husband, hard in the face. There is nothing likable about him, especially in the way that he deals with the new additions to the family. Golding really does such a good job making him a heel and using him as such that none of the actions that he takes throughout the entire book are out of character for him. This consistency in all of her characters makes for a strong novel with a believable story. Because of this the attachment that I had for these characters was much stronger than most novels. For this, I really enjoyed "Little Darlings" and I cannot recommend it enough. I just hope that we don't have similar experiences with twin babies and Lauren and Patrick have.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Little Darlings concerns the tales of changelings, creatures left in cribs in place of human children stolen by faires. Lauren Tranter just gave birth to twin boys and is having trouble coping. She insists that a crazed woman entered her hospital room and tried to trade eels for Lauren's twins. The threats continue once Lauren and the boys return home. Lauren's husband helps less and less as his paternity leave runs out and he continuously leaves Lauren and the babies on their own. Fortunately the mom's from her pre-natal group are persistant and they finally coax Lauren into bringing the babies out on a beautiful day. After a pleasant afternoon with her friends and their babies, Lauren closes her eyes for a second, dozes off and awakens, horrified, to discover that the babies are gone. Detective Harper is the only one who believes Lauren is seeing something and runs down all the possible leads. What follows is a tale equal parts terrifying and creepy. I read it in one sitting - couldn't put it down. I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone pregnant or with infants - especially with twins, but its definitely a good, scary read guaranteed to give you the heebee-jeebees for a long while.

Overall an enjoyable book. The feeling of unease permeating the writing definitely followed through to the end. Was Lauren crazy? Was the spirit real? It's very ambiguous as a plot through the book and even up to the end you're still not quite sure who to believe. While normally I don't like book endings open to interpretation I feel it was fitting with this. I sincerely disliked the husband as a character, both because of being a cheater and for being the most unsupportive clod; I would have liked something nasty to happen to him. There were some portions which lagged (hence the 4/5) but it kept a steady pace for the most part and the writing was good quality.

I give this book 3 stars because it was a fun read and I liked Golding's writing style and how she mixed folklore and police procedural troupes.
However I didn't really like any of the characters except Joanna the police officer. Patrick the husband needs a good punch in the face- he was absolutely awful and fortunately I thought Lauren was just so- so and you're supposed to really feel for her.
I wouldn't really classify this book as horror, as the most horrifying part to me, was the very beginning describing giving birth (not a mom)!

Creepy book with twists and turns.
Lauren, a new mom of twins, is struggling. She’s tired, depressed, and doesn’t want to leave the house. All of this comes after an incident in the hospital when a strange woman tries to abduct her twins. No one believes the incident actually happened and this leads to a series of counselor visits. Lauren’s husband is no help pushing her to take care of the boys on her own while he sleeps in the spare room to get sleep. He finally talks her into going to lunch with her friends one day and that’s when the real trouble begins. There’s an actual abduction, creepy spirits, and look alike babies.
This book had me guessing about the abductor until the end.

a dark and completely absorbing study of motherhood, it will not be for everyone but if you like scary stories this is for you

Wow! An excellent chilling tale that had me gripped from beginning to end.

After Lauren gives birth to her twins, a woman attempts to abduct them but nobody believes her. A few weeks pass and exhausted from caring for the twins, Lauren falls asleep while resting during a stroll with her babies and awakes to find the stroller and the twins are gone! Fortunately, they are found quickly but Lauren is convinced that they are not her babies. They have been swapped with someone else's!

The story follows Lauren's incarceration in a psychiatric unit since she is considered a threat to her children when nobody believes her claims that her children are not hers and Lauren's fight to get out and do what needs to be done to get her babies back.

Keeps you guessing to the end as to whether Lauren is delusional or events happened as she believes.

This is a creepy book.
The subject matter, missing children , is upsetting and evil connotations make it even creepier.
It is, however, a very good read.
As I read this novel I found myself thinking the mother did it, or the girlfriend or the father...or maybe evil something..
This author has a bright future. Her book was very readable and kept drawing me back to find out what was next.
Te ending was not really what I was hoping for given the rest of the book, but I still very much enjoyed the writing.

An interesting book with unusual folk tale undertones. Not a horror, not a detective nor thriller, but a psychological mash-up of all. (which is a good thing IMO).

The premise was well thought out and the post-natal aspects especially interesting, not usually explored in novels.

However, I found a lot of the characterisation basic and cliched, especially the male characters and staff at Hospital. Also factually incorrect in the described use of Mental Health Act (cannot be detained for 3 days to Hospital by Police; Section is expired as soon as assessed by Doctor who then decides whether to detain for up to 28 days).

Still well worth a read and will make a fabulous movie; now who is going to play Lauren and Harper?