This was not really the type of book that I am interested in. It sounded intriguing, but ended up being a little bit too far fetched for my taste. This is just my personal thoughts/feelings – nothing against the writing style or the author.

Thank you for the chance to read the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.
This is a story about a new mother of identical twins that thinks she is being stalked by someone out to take her children. The story is creepy and unsettling at times. Is she being stalked? Are her twins in danger? Is this all in her mind? The story keeps you interested until the end.

A magnificent novel. Questions things we believe to be our reality in such a way as to turn our heads in awe at the story in weaves. Wonderful writing, terrific realistic characters, and a story that will leave you breathless. Don't pass this one up!

Lauren has given birth to twins but instead of rejoicing shes confuse. People are telling her that shes exhausted but things are happening that shes being told arent happening. One day in the park her babies are taken. Though they are returned Lauren knows these aren't her babies.
This was a wild thriller! It will keep you hooked!

Ack, SO creepy. I really enjoyed this - although I tend to enjoy thrillers written by English authors, so perhaps I am a bit biased. The writing flowed so well, and the characters were very well done, very real. This touches on the anxieties all new mothers have, and it hit so close to home for me. Will I love this baby enough? Will I fail as a mother? How do I keep this vulnerable creature safe? Are you sure the universe should be entrusting a life to me? Only in this tale, it's doubled, as Lauren has twins. Then you add on to that the Changeling tales, which I'm sure we're all at least a wee bit familiar with, and the slight touch of the supernatural (or is it a sanity issue?), and it came out a winner for me.

I stayed up way too late reading this, and I do hope Melanie Golding will take Jo Harper into more books - I liked her. I would follow her along on her next investigation. Though I did appreciate the way the author told this - much of it from Lauren's perspective.

Forensics or Folklore? When both can solve the mystery, which do you believe? A mother gives butt to twins but then the unthinkable happens. Believing her twins are changelings, and the investigation of a detective, facts begin to blur. A creepy, methodical mystery with a cast of characters I hope to see again.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

I had heard lots of things about this book on Twitter and was delighted to get an early copy through Netgalley. My thanks to the publishers.

Little Darlings starts off, in my opinion, at a slow pace. Building up the tension and drawing the reader in gradually. I’m not a fan of fantasy, fairytales or folklore normally, but this book has possibly changed my mind.

Lauren is a new mother to twin boys, emotional, exhausted and hormonal she is “visited” in the hospital by a woman who wants to take her twins and replace them with her own. Reporting this to the police, no one believes her and Lauren’s mental health and sanity is now being questioned.

Without giving away the storyline, up to this point in the book it was a standard psychological thriller but then something happens and it freaked me the f*ck out. From that point onwards the book becomes creepy, downright disturbing and very, very dark. There’s something unsettling about babies behaving in a way which is unnatural and frightening and when there are twins involved it becomes doubly disturbing.

Overall, I thought this was a creepy and dark story which was unsettling but very addictive.

<I><b> I can make sure they look just the same.</b></I>

“The” twins, <I>the</I> twins, THE twins.... (when you read you’ll know what I mean) those little babies creeped me out real good. So good I almost put it down at nighttime but I kept going and gripped my covers a little tighter.

I really loved this book. A nice breath of fresh air in the mystery/thriller department. Very psychological. The author did well leaving you scratching your head, speechless. I immediately came here to read other reviews looking for clues about what others thought about what I, too, had just read.

This would be the perfect fall/October read. Dark shadows, creepy folktales that are brought to the modern day and age, a frantic mother spending 90% of her time in a psychiatric hospital. So much fun! I love dark creepy tales and this one executed that perfectly! I’d love to hear what others have to say!

PS. I really hate Patrick.

Upon starting this book I wasn’t really sure I was going to like it due to urs dark nature. Early on though I found it really had a hold on me. I felt such a bond with main character. She was lost in trying to protect her babies. The end had a twist I didn’t see coming. Overall I enjoyed the premise of the story

I found this book to be completely enthralling. On one side you have a woman that is living in fear that something will happen to her children and on the other you have history and folklore. The woman is thought to be crazy and her spouse looks like the obvious person that is enabling this with his affair. The book has excellent culmination as the story proceeds and I love the way that the fairy tales are thrown in to enliven the story and to broaden the possibilities of why the children are abducted. The sheer creativity of the premise of the book is amazing and different from anything I have read before. I will be recommending this book with full abandon and hope that other readers enjoy this book as much as I have. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley. This book is nothing short of spectacular.

After a difficult delivery, Lauren Tranter gives birth to twin boys Morgan and Riley and finds herself thrust into the demands of motherhood. Late one night, a strange woman visits Lauren in the hospital and attempts to kidnap her babies, swapping them with her own creature like children. When the police arrive, there is no evidence that the event happened and Lauren is diagnosed with having a mental break due to her exhaustion. After Lauren is released back home, strange gifts and sightings of the woman convince her that she must remain vigilant of her children at all times. One sunny afternoon Lauren takes the boys to the park and accidentally falls asleep on a bench, when she wakes up the boys are gone. Although boys are found and returned to Lauren shortly after, she immediately knows something is not right...they look like Morgan and Riley...but they are not. Lauren knows what she must do to bring her babies back...but if she is wrong it could be a fatal mistake.

Little Darlings is a captivating and eerie debut novel from Melanie Golding. I am not quite sure where it falls in as far as genre but I would say fiction/suspense with a fantasy element. This novel has the fantasy appeal of the classic Changeling stories and other folktales involving swapped children but with a surprising twist. I found myself throughout the novel questioning Lauren's sanity and then agreeing with her that the children were in fact not human. Although I am not quite sure if this novel would classify as frightening, it definitely had an unnerving quality, and there were moments that I actually got goosebumps reading it. Throughout the book there are excerpts from other folktales, which I felt really complimented and enhanced the narrative. I really enjoyed this unique novel and look forward to more books by this author.

Wow, this book is very creepy. A mother who gives birth to twins is asked to exchange her twins. Is it in her mind? Supernatural? I couldn’t put the book down. Excellent story.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Side note: excellent descriptive writing on the few weeks after giving birth.

I was supposed to do a great many things today, but once I started Little Darling’s, I had to read until the book was finished. Lauren, after giving birth to twin boys is visited by a malicious spirit who wants to take her boys and exchange them for hers. She calls the police but no one believes her, as there is no evidence of this woman. Even home, Lauren exhausted, her husband Patrick no help with the babies, she is on guard afraid this woman will make good her threat. On her first day out the unthinkable occurs, and her babies are abducted. When returned, Lauren is positive these are not her babies, they were switched. Part horror story, part psychological suspense, I couldn’t stop turning pages until I knew the ending. My only complaint is her terrible husband. He was very easy to dislike and I wish the story continued a little longer to see what happened to him.

When I read the description for this book I expected a lot of suspense and possibly some good horror. However, I found neither. Parts of the book were rather boring and any horror was lacking. The author seemed to place more suspense on whether the one character was lesbian or heterosexual rather than building up suspense for the main storyline.

This was a really interesting take on some dark fairy tales with a creepy twist! When Lauren gives birth to twin boys she doesn't feel the immediate love she believes she should. After all, it's difficult to nurse two babies and find time to sleep as well. But when a mysterious woman appears in the maternity ward that night, threatening to exchange her twins for changelings, Lauren locks herself in the bathroom and calls the police. Upon arriving home, she sees the woman in her window and Harper, the police detective, gets involved again as her story seems credible to the woman who gave up her own daughter when pregnant. This is a chilling and sometimes sinister story that may having you cuddling your young ones even after you finish the book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for an advanced read in exchange for this review.

Lauren has just given birth to twins. She's exhausted. Everyone is telling her to get some rest. At night, she swears that she saw a woman in her hospital room trying to steal her babies. Everyone reassures her that she just needs to get some rest and that she's imagining things. Then, her babies disappear briefly from the park. When she gets them back, she swears that these are not her babies. What is going on? What is happening to Lauren? What happened to her babies?

Geez. This was a creepy read. I finished it pretty quickly and thought it was a well told story. There's a lot of dark history and dark folklore, which makes the story even creepier. Enjoyable read, but you may want to read it in the daylight with your kids nearby.

# Little Darlings/ Net Galley#
I was given a free advance copy of this book for an honest review. It starts out a little slow and I almost quit reading. But, I wanted to give it a chance to pull me in. It starts out with twin boys and who doesn’t like babies. The reader has to decide if the mother is suffering from postpartum or just a little off. There is a darkness to the story that could be like a Grimms fairy tales or even witchcraft. I wasn’t sure where the story was headed and was anxious to reach the end to see how it turns out, but was disappointed in the ending. I am not certain if I will recommend this book to my friends and family. .

If Grimms' Fairy Tales and The Changeling had a twin babies, Little Darlings would be those babies.

An unsettling tale of a new mother, Lauren, of twin boys, who finds herself terrorized by a macabre woman attempting to abduct Lauren's babies and replace them with her own. Her account is dismissed by hospital staff, the police, and even her husband as a hallucination attributed to exhaustion, even Lauren herself begins to question her own sanity. The only person that is unconvinced that Lauren has simply snapped is the investigator that responded to her call for help, Detective Harper.

Upon returning home from the hospital, Lauren quickly descends into a waking nightmare that she cannot escape from, leaving her more and more desperate and going to extreme lengths to protect her infants.

If I had one con to point out in this story it would be with the narrative for Detective Harper. Her personal relationship with the reporter is distracting and adds nothing towards advancement the plot.

This story is framed with dark history and and even darker folklore that adds an eerie depth to the book. This is a foreboding and unnerving spine-chiller that leaves the reader questioning if it's possible for fable to turn into reality.


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

I throughly enjoyed this adult fairy tale, of it can be called a fairy tale. Wonderful debut novel, reminiscent of Ira Levine. I was completely engrossed in the story and get such compassion for Lauren throughout. Highly recommend.

A dark, creepy tale reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm at their Grimmest. I consider that a good thing. Do you believe in folklore and faeries? Or in the scientific technology of video and audio analysis? While reading this compelling book you may believe in both. Very well written but found a couple phrases just a bit precious. Also I felt that emphasis on Detective Harper’s professional and personal life somewhat detracted from the case although she was a positive caring force.

Lauren has undergone a difficult birth of twins and has reason to believe that there is a threat to steal them from her. Is she suffering from postpartum depression/ psychosis or is what she sees and hears actually very real? Is her husband contributing to her paranoia? Do you believe in Changelings? There is a fear that Lauren’s plan to restore order may have disastrous results, but also a hope for a happy outcome.

The author did a terrific job in portraying Lauren’s troubled and confused mind to the reader and her emotions seemed very real. This is a memorable tale, but anyone with twin babies or who is expecting twins might find it quite unsettling.

Many thinks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advanced copy of Little Darlings in return for an honest review.