Thank you to NetGalley, Atria and Sarah Vaughan for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This one was hard for me to read being pregnant right now, but there will always be people in the world who abuse children. Thankfully, that isn't the case at the end of the novel. I found this one builds slowly, but it was interesting and I was rooting for both mom's to be innocent of different things. It's a sad thing that any injury to a child means the police need to get involved, but so necessary. The way the author handled it was very accurate and it was nice to see.

3.5 stars
In this story we meet a nurse Liz who is about to take a difficult decision. Betsey, her friend’s daughter is brought to the hospital by her mother Jess, who is a good friend of Liz.
In Liz’s opinion Jess reacts to her daughter’s condition in a strange way. This makes Liz wonder, if Jess is able to properly care for her daughter.
Liz has to decide if she wants to risk her friendship with Jess in order to protect Betsey. Or is she just imagining all this?
In my opinion both women are very strong characters which make this story very intense.

thanks #NetGalley and #Atria BooksEmily Bestler Books for a copy of this book

Little Disasters is the fourth novel by best-selling British author, Sarah Vaughan. Late one Friday night, senior paediatric registrar at London’s St Joseph’s Hospital, Liz Trenchard is called into the A&E to attend a ten-month-old baby girl. It turns out to be Betsey Curtis, the daughter of her friend of some ten years, Jess.

After talking to Jess, she examines the child and finds an injury that, along with certain aspects of her friend’s behaviour, oblige Liz to involve Social Services, and therefore, the Police. While the idea of this mother of three, or her husband, harming their child seems inconceivable, when her consultant warns her not to allow her personal feelings to cloud her professional judgement, Liz realises she has no other choice: her duty of care is to the child.

While suspicion falls on Jess, Liz finds herself, for her actions, in the firing line from the child’s father and the other couples with whom she and her husband formed close friendships as first-time parents. On top of this, Liz is under pressure from her mother, a woman for who she is the default next-of-kin, despite their difficult relationship.

“During their childhood, “She could be physically abusive; neglected us; was sometimes cruel. We weren’t regularly battered, but we feared her, and we knew never to push things”, so Liz’s brother keeps his distance. But for Liz, the contact stirs some disturbing memories.

Vaughan thoroughly examines the circumstances that might lead to the injury of a young child, and the likely aftermath. The story is told from three main perspectives; the timeline switches back and forth unambiguously in clearly marked chapters; it is very cleverly plotted.

There is such a lot going on here. Vaughan touches on a myriad of topics, including loyalty to friends, the devastating effect of post-natal depression, maternal OCD and the fear of harming your child, the many forms of child abuse, and the pressure of societal expectations.

Her portrayal of the mother in the grip of some of these is inspired: “People think you don’t have the time or headspace to feel alone with three energetic children, but there is little lonelier than being at home with a distraught baby and an unraveling mind”.

Shame, guilt and fear are all sensitively rendered “She has always been so careful to hide the anxieties that nibble at the edges of her brain. But she can’t do that anymore. She has broken a self-imposed rule: left the calm, contained Jess behind and let the anarchic version leap out” This is a thought-provoking and insightful read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Atria Books.

I wasn't ready for this one. Such dark and deep subject matter. The author does a great job handling this, but I am not the right reader for this book.

So good, but so heartbreaking! I can't even imagine dealing with a traumatic injury to a small child, let alone being suspected, protecting another... It's just mind boggling. Poor Frankie!!!

OᐯᗴᖇᐯIᗴᗯ: Liz is on duty as a night nurse at her hospital when her friend, Jess, brings her child in with an injury. One that looks suspicious. Jess appears to be the perfect mom who has it all together, but maybe there's more going on than Liz knows.

ᗰY TᕼOᑌᘜᕼTᔕ: This book makes you question what you know about your friends. What you see on the outside or on social media only tells part of the story. As we are delving into Jess's life and the behind the scenes goings-on, we see how easy it is to judge and to make assumptions. The author does a great job in keeping the suspense going until the end, as well as teaching us, as readers, to look deeper than the surface.

ᖇᗩTIᑎᘜ: ★★★★

A group of women, united during their prenatal classes with their first children, have remained friends, carpooling their kids to sports events, going for girls’ night out, and offering moral support to each other when life throws curveballs. So when Jess’ infant daughter is hospitalized for a suspicious head injury, the group is shocked, and question whether Jess may be guilty of child abuse.

This domestic thriller offers a critical look at modern motherhood, and the pressure that women feel to meet up to society’s expectations for perfection. The ideals of balancing life, work, children and marriage, while maintaining a sense of mental and physical well-being is central to the novel. The taboo topics, the guilt, the desire to run away from the responsibility of child rearing, are all present in this story. I appreciated the examination of motherhood and mental health, but did not feel a connection to the characters which would have elevated the thriller part of this story. The twist at the end felt a bit contrived, taking away from the intended effect for me.

This story may be difficult for some young mothers to read, but will appeal to readers who like to look at the motivations people have for some of their darker secrets.

At the start of this novel, Liz, a pediatrician, is working at the hospital when her friend Jess comes to the emergency room with her baby daughter having a very serious head injury - and a story that doesn’t really add up as to how it happens. The book alternates perspectives between Liz, Jess, and Jess’s husband Ed, jumping around in time between before (sometimes way before) and after the incident, with reflections on the challenges of parenting, postpartum depression, and Liz and Jess’s own difficult childhoods. It’s part literary novel, and part mystery/psychological suspense as to what really happened. It’s definitely not a light read - the kind of book that not only has upsetting parts but makes you feel downright anxious while reading it - but was well-written and quite the emotionally affecting page turner.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

I got like 20% into this book and just didn't care. I was bored and it wasn't a thriller, mostly about a child abuse case.

Little Disasters is a slow burn of a domestic thriller. Exploring multiple timelines and story lines, it looks deeper into the boundaries of friendships and the secrets people keep. The story moved quite slowly, but picked up in the second half.

The book started off quite slow but it came through at the end with a good twist. It did take a while to get going going though.

After reading this book, I found the story line to be kind of slow and I was finding myself not really looking forward to picking this one up. The synopsis of this book really had me excited to read this but again, the book did not keep my interest long enough to finish it in a timely manner. I think this book took me 2 weeks to read and I found the story to be forgettable.

A group of women become friends after meeting in a birthing class. After almost ten years of friendship, some of the ladies start to lose touch. That’s when Jess ends up in an ER with her infant daughter and her friend Liz is called in to consult as a pediatrician. Liz becomes suspicious that there is foul play after triaging the infant and finding a suspected skull fracture. The book jumps between the early years of friendship, the time of the incident, and then present day at the end when all the loose ends are tied up, The author also creates another story line about Liz and her alcoholic mother. Liz finds out the truth about her baby sister who died of SIDS and her brothers traumatic injury as her mother is also triaged in her hospital. I think the book was a little drawn out and it could have done without the added layer of her history with her mother as well as the mother’s current issues. It could have trimmed off some of the book and allowed for it to be a less cumbersome read. I started the book very interested and as it continued/ dragged on, I began to lose interest. There was also a typo in the book when they are at the school fair at the end where the autho wrote “cottong candy” (pg 376 I the hardcover).

While having thought this was a mystery/thriller and being mistaken, I did enjoy this book. Sarah Vaughan managed to write a story about the social issues of postnatal depression and anxiety and make it extremely relatable. I understand how some other reviews can say this isn’t their cup of tea because they are childless, but as a mother I could relate so well to the struggles exhibited in this story. It was a quick and easy read. I swapped between audio and written and enjoyed both. The only con of the story is it does feel a little repetitive at times but the shocking twist in the end left me feeling satisfied with this read!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of Little Disasters to review!

An Emotional Domestic Drama!

Women who meet and become friends at a childbirth class forge a lasting friendship.

Years later, Liz has focused on her career as a doctor, while Jess is having her third child. When Jess arrives at the ER one night with her daughter Betsey, when Liz is on duty, Liz notices that all is not right, with Betsey or her friend and that Betsey’s life is at stake.

When Liz is forced to make a call to the authorities, everything shifts and questions are asked of Jess that Liz never would have imagined, putting their friendship and Jess’s role as a mother in jeopardy.

Dealing with Abuse, Friendship, Motherhood, Postpartum Depression, this novel is a difficult read as it is quite emotional. Though this is a slow burn and is a bit drawn out at times, it was a solid read that I would recommend if you enjoy domestic dramas.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the arc.

Overall, I enjoyed the pacing of this book as it explores postpartum depression and the impact on the mother & her bonds with her family. It had a few too many characters for me to keep track of, which was tedious at times. It centers on a group of friends who met in pre-natal class and have stayed connected through the close ages of their children. When Jess reluctantly brings her young daughter, Betsey to the ER, and learns she has a fractured skull, suspicion mounts as to how she was injured. Though responsibility is claimed, we are kept wondering how reliable certain characters are. Will Betsey recover, and how does this incident impact this group of friends? Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved Anatomy of a Scandal so when I saw this was coming out I was so excited. This book was just as well-written and Sarah Vaughan has such a fantastic way with words. She manages to convey emotion so well that her characters always feel particularly realistic and they completely bring her stories to life.

The plot of this was really gripping at the beginning, and such a harrowing premise. I did find it quite a slow burn in places which made this much more of a character study than I was perhaps anticipating. However, once I got used to that I found myself getting swept away in this story of motherhood and everything it can entail. Overall this was a beautifully written and very surprising story that was equally emotional, compassionate and gripping.

Little Disasters was a chilling examination of motherhood and the struggles that come with being a mother. I am not a mother myself, but I felt so uncomfortable reading this because Vaughan took those feelings of despair and transferred them into such a dark book. This was by no means a thriller, so that was a bit misleading, but it did explore the complexities of human emotion and behavior.

I did feel some connection with Liz, Jess and the other women. They were real and flawed individuals. However, I felt that I needed some more backstories regarding the women. Other than that, I enjoyed reading about them and their struggles.

Overall, this was a solid read and I recommend it if you're looking for a good domestic drama, with flawed complex characters.

Little Disasters was more of a domestic drama to me rather than a thriller. It delves into issues of child abuse and postpartum depression. I did like the story and wanted to see how it ended. I did feel like it was maybe just a bit long and drawn out in places but I think perhaps that's because it dealt with such a difficult subject matter. This is my first book to read by this author and I do have another by her at home that I haven't yet gotten to yet.

Lots of triggers in this family drama/domestic thriller - engaging enough but ultimately didn't care for the writing style or the story very much - gut wrenching. Overall just an ok read for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Atria/Emily Bestler Books, for providing this title in exchange for an honest review.