I finished the book keeps you wondering where it's headed or what's going on till the end will recommend to friend

Lauren has just given birth to twin boys. She's sleep-deprived and exhausted as any new mom can relate to. Because of that, she's also an unreliable narrator. Are the things she claims real or imagined? While in the hospital, Lauren believes her boys were about to be abducted but she locks herself and her boys in the bathroom and makes a call to the police screaming for help. However, everyone thinks she's hallucinating and no one believes her. The only person who believes her is Detective Sargent Jo Harper. Even though her boss tells her this case is closed, Harper can't help but continue to look for clues on her own time. Overall, the book was creepy but I loved it!

My first thought is that though this is billed as a thriller/mystery, maybe it’s also a bit horror/paranormal. Whatever it is, it’s super creepy, and it will not make you envy the life of a new mother of twins.

It starts with a well-written but harrowing account of natural child birth. Utterly exhausted and now alone in the middle of the night at the hospital, Lauren is certain she sees a bedraggled homeless woman telling her that she must choose only one of her twin boys. Her claims are quickly dismissed as exhaustion. I’ve never had kids, but I do understand depression and how it’s exacerbated by extreme fatigue, so I readily believe new mothers when they talk about post-partum depression.

After going home, Lauren never wants to leave the house again. She finally ventures outside when the twins are four-weeks old. When she falls asleep in the park, she awakes to find that her twins have been taken from her. After they are discovered by a diligent police officer, they look like Riley and Morgan to everyone else, but Lauren knows that they are creatures imitating her boys.

You spend the novel wondering if this is an X-File-type unexplained phenomenon or whether Lauren is just in an exhausted post-partum psychosis. Officer Joanna Harper seems to be the only one to give any credence to Lauren’s claims and works tirelessly to get to the truth.

This is well-written but not exactly what I’d describe as a fun read unless you really enjoy being creeped out for 300 pages.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book, which RELEASES APRIL 30, 2019.

A mother who thinks her twin boys have been replaced my changelings. Sign me up! I love the description of the book. The book becomes a question of whether or not you believe Lauren. She claims to have been threatened by a mysterious woman. After her twins are lost and then recovered, she claims that they are not hers. Who do we believe? Is Lauren going crazy, or is she really under attack by a supernatural being?

I felt the first half of the book moved a little slow. Once the twins are swapped, it began to move faster. I'm not totally in love with how the book ended. And Lauren's husband, Patrick is a real jerk. He is very self centered throughout the book and frankly not much help to his wife.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Damn I just loved this book and what a fabulous debut novel from Melanie Golding !!! It starts off quite slow but with an underlying creepiness that just pulls you in and doesn’t let go. It’s an atmospheric tale that is beautifully written, addictive, compelling, sinister and I really can’t praise it enough and I’m sad to have finished it even though I raced through it just wanting know what the hell was going to happen. So I can only say read it it’s thrilling, compulsive and deliciously disturbing you won’t be disappointed at all it’s stunning.
My thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for a chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book left me with so much feelings. I really enjoyed Little Darlings. I think it will be a book many pick up and read.

Little Darlings is Melanie Golding's debut novel and I have to say it was really, really good. Everything...from the front cover, the synopsis, to the plot that leaves you on the edge of your seat. It was beautifully crafted with an eeriness that will give you chills and have you second guessing even your own reality. I couldn't put this book down.

From the start I was pulled in to Lauren's life. Being a mother myself we see how birth can be exciting but terrifying. It's an experience one has to live through in order to grasp the full severity of it. This made it easy for me to connect and relate to Lauren as she tries to navigate this new life for herself and her husband. Add in the folklore side of this story and it's just down right terrifying. One night while still in the hospital a vile hag tries to switch Lauren's new born twins with hers, except her babies are something different...creatures of kind The book gives hints to changelings from folklore and it's weaved so perfectly in with the overall story. The police are called, but everyone just automatically assumes Lauren is exhausted and that she's seeing things. Well, as you can imagine, it happens. The babies get swapped and this sends Lauren on a terrifying journey to find her babies.

"I told you, that wasn't them," said Lauren, "whatever was in that stroller. They've been swapped. They're evil those things, they're not my babies."

The entire time I kept thinking, is Lauren right and her babies were swapped with monstrous creatures or is she experiences so form of psychosis because yeah...pregnancy can do that to you. Is it postpartum depression? I had no idea. I was literally on the edge of my seat wondering if she was making the right calls on how to move forward. This entire story sucked me in like no other and it was such a great read for me.

If you love folklore and thrillers with a whole lot of suspense then pick up Little Darlings. You won't regret it.

Inspired by dark fairy tails, Little Darlings is a creepy psych thriller that engages the reader from the first page. Lauren Tranter finds herself in the hospital as she has just given birth to twins Morgan and Riley. During her hospital stay Lauren becomes terrified and locks her and her boys in th bathroom as she truly believes someone is trying to kidnap her babies. “It’s only fair” that they be switched. A 911 call is made and soon Detective Harper is following up on the call that was placed and believes something did take place.

Once Lauren is able to go home with her twins she is paranoid checking locks on doors and windows. After a weird present is dropped off at their front porch she sees someone lurking and believes it’s the woman coming to take her twins. Lauren tells her husband she’s back but he believes she’s exhausted from lack of sleep.

Lauren soon tries to get back on track taking the boys out on a luncheon with her girlfriends. On her way back to her vehicle she finds herself exhausted, sits down on a bench, closes her eyes only to open them to her babies being gone....the stroller has disappeared.

With twists and turns what will the outcome be of the woman trying to take Lauren’s newborn twins?

DNF. I keep going back to this book, but I cannot stay focused on the story. The premise of the possibly “switched” babies is an interesting one and is what originally caught my attention. Overall I just can’t get into the story. Thank you for the ARC.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Lauren Tranter has just given birth to twin boys, Morgan and Riley. Naturally she is exhausted and in need of sleep. But she knows what she saw in her room in the maternity ward - a woman attempting to take her twins and replace them with her own, "it’s only fair". However, when hospital security and the police arrive, they find no evidence of the possible kidnapper. Furthermore, no one believes Lauren, but Detective Harper, a police officer feels that there might be something to Lauren's story.

A different story with a strange, creepy twist. I felt for the main character and questioned what was real and what might be part of her sleep deprived hazy reality.
Not usually a big sci fi fan, I enjoyed this book, but didn’t love it.

Horror is my favorite genre, and I can honestly say this book creeped me out more than most I’ve read. I wouldn’t even read it before bed fearing the dreams I may have, and I can’t imagine being pregnant reading it. The story is based on the folklore of changelings. Lauren, the lead in the story, tells everyone a woman tried to exchange her newborn twins in the hospital for her own evil twins. As there is no proof, everyone chalks it up to mental illness/being overly tired/hallucinations, even after repeated sightings later and eventually an abduction attempt. The only person on her side is a police detective sergeant, who has her own past haunting her, making the case a little more personal. The story keeps you on your toes as new details come to light, and even if you think you have an idea of the truth or who was responsible, the ending is still a little bit of a shock and keeps your mind running circles about what has happened. If you’re looking for a good horror/thriller, this will satisfy you, and you also get a good dose of a mystery with police procedurals. All-in-all a great book, and I’ll be curious to see what else the author comes up with in the future, as it says this is her first novel.

I did receive an ARC copy to read in exchange for my honest review.

This is a perfect read for this time of the year, pre-Halloween! The story is reminiscent of Sarah Pinborough and Brothers Grimm. This just knocked me sideways! Lauren gives birth to twin boys. While in the maternity ward a dirty, smelly woman tries to take her children. But, there is no sign of the woman. Lauren feels very unsettled since and avoids going out and when she finally does go out with the twins in their stroller, Lauren sits on a bench and falls asleep from fatigue. When she wakes up, the twins are gone. They are later found but Lauren insists they are not her boys, they are different. The story is creepy, full of faeries and folklore and is just magnificent!

Wow, what a thriller! I finished it in one day. Little Darlings is a fantastic psychological thriller that has great twists and turns. It will keep you wondering and on the edge of your seat from start to finish. It is a bleak, twisted and unsettling read, but that’s why I enjoyed it. Terrific writing, wonderful realistic characters, and a story that will leave you scratching your head. Don't pass this one up! My thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

What is real and what is the product of post-partum depression is the underlying tension behind Little Darlings, the upcoming novel from Melanie Golding’s upcoming novel.

After a traumatic birth, new mother Lauren spends her first night alone in the maternity hospital. She feels distanced from her son’s, and her sleep is interrupted by a strange singing. The next night, someone appears, trying to swap one twin for another- disgusting, dirty things that seem at once listless and too energetic. Panicked, Lauren locks herself in the bathroom and calls the police.

Detective sergeant Harper is assigned to the case. Even when it’s ostensibly cleared, she believes something has happened- the only one who thinks there might be something other than stress to Lauren’s claims.

The question of whether or not the events are real or all within Lauren’s head are never explained- and that’s a good thing. There’s a constant tension that forces you to ask yourself if you truly think Lauren is suffering from post-partum psychosis, or if there’s a natural inclination to disbelieve women, especially new mothers, who say that something is wrong.

The pacing of the plot was meticulous, especially for a mystery. There’s no point in which it drags on, just as there are no points where it seems like things are going a bit too quickly. The timeline spreads over a few weeks, but it seems to work for its intended purpose, a heightened sense of worry that something is going to happen, something unpreventable. Is it supernatural? Have the faeries truly come to take a changeling child?

Though Lauren was hard to sympathize with, Harper invites herself to the reader, a detective with a troubling past that feels different and fresh from so many we’ve seen before, perhaps because hers is so uniquely female. That she was a lesbian was another fresh treat- it made the novel feel like it was actually adding things to the genre, rather than following rote.

A chilly novel for these cold nights, I enjoyed Little Darlings immensely.

Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy!

This is a very interesting read - if you can suspend belief in old wives tales and a bit of the supernatural. British woman gives birth to twins and thinks some witch is trying to swap them for two long- dead children. The only way to get her children back is to put the interlopers in the river. Escaping from a mental hospital, she does just that. Interspersed with interesting snippets of folk tales regarding twins. Husband has his own agenda and a resourceful detective and a reporter join forces to unravel the mystery

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of Little Darlings (from NetGalley). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a weird one. I almost bailed early on because it was really out there. I think I only kept reading because it would have driven me crazy not to know whether this woman was seeing things or if these events truly happened to her. However, my reading experience improved as the book progressed. Melanie Golding is a good writer. I enjoyed the descriptions, the depth of characters, the events and actions--most of which were believable. I would read another book from this author. Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

I feel a bit let down by Little Darlings. I think I was expecting something a little creepier. Don't get me wrong, it was an interesting read, but it wasn't spectacular. It felt a bit too long, but was written well enough for me to not be as bothered.

Unfortunately, Little Darlings didn't work for me, but I can understand why many will thoroughly enjoy it.

New mother Lauren and her newborn twins are the focal point of this haunting psychological thriller. While still safely ensconced in the maternity ward, Lauren is suffering from a lack of sleep that is so compellingly described that the reader can feel the effects of fatigue pulling at her own eyelids. During one of these periods of semi wakefulness, Lauren becomes aware of an intruder who is intent upon replacing the twins with her own, eel like babies.
As the story progresses, the reader begins to question what is real and what is not. Old passages from stories about changelings are interspersed with the more pragmatic observations and theories of other characters. Lauren herself, the sole character committed to the belief that her twins are not themselves, is cast under suspicion, her sanity put under doubt. The writing during Lauren's segments is especially strong, the descriptions feeling almost visceral in their accuracy of being a new mother and feeling that primal fear all mothers face: what if I couldn't keep my baby safe?
The only minor complaint with this story is the real life asides dealing with Harper, the detective. They often slowed the plotline and did not always feel as if they moved the story forward. Either way, I hope that we see Harper in future stories from this author as she becomes involved in other cases.

A great first effort from author Melanie Golding. Little Darlings is a smart and engaging, modern-day changeling tale.

This novel centers around Lauren, a mother who has recently given birth to twin boys. Beginning while she is still in the hospital after delivery, she is terrorized by a woman who everyone else is convinced is a figment of Lauren's imagination. The woman asks Lauren to give her one of her children; if not, she is going to take both of them. Subsequently, Lauren lives in fear of leaving her babies alone even for a moment. On her first day venturing out with the babies, she inadvertently falls asleep in a park, and when she wakes up, the babies are gone. When they are returned to her, she is sure that they have been replaced by changelings and is thus desperate to get her own boys back. She tries to push them into the river and is consequently institutionalized.

The story followed a predictable path, although I did find that Lauren's attitude change towards the twins felt abrupt. She started off wondering why she didn't feel the rush of love towards her babies, and then all of the sudden she was obsessed with them. Her husband was very unlikable and not a very nuanced character. The detective Jo Harper was the most interesting character as well as the reporter Amy. But it seemed like all the men in the book were jerks and not multi-dimensional.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for the ARC. This review was published on Goodreads on 10/31/18.