When a friend brings her baby to hospital with a head injury, Liz is sure it was just an accident. When her superior takes over, he is immediately suspicious and demands Liz call the authorities. Liz is torn between doing the right thing professionally for the baby, without breaking the bond of her friendship with Jess.

When exhausted Jess shows up at the hospital with her baby, she’s grateful that her friend Liz is attending and hopes it will be a quick check, in and out. However, when she learns the baby has a fractured skull, and the authorities are on their way, Jess is filled with fear and dread.

When the police become involved, the investigation unravels truths and reveals more than what the group of friends bargained for.

Addressing issues and getting behind the societal norms around Post-Partum Depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, parenting, Little Disasters broaches—with grace and finesse, their grim realities.

Sarah Vaughan delivers an excellent storyline, relatable characters, and carries off a page-turning, one-sit read.

Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada, Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the read of Sarah Vaughan’s, Little Disasters.

Opinions expressed in my reviews are my own.

Overall., I liked this book. It was an interesting story with a few twists right up until the last page.. I found it did lag a bit in the middle to last third of the book, and occaisionally i found one of the main characters , the doctor Liz a bit annoying, and her brother rather undeveloped. . However, i liked it enough that i would definitely read another book by this author. Definitely worth considering, though i dont think its. a book that I would recommend for someone expecting their first child, as it can give a bit of a dire view of new motherhood.

Woah! There is a lot going on in this book. We touch on so many different topics and it’s beautifully twisty and turny. It is told from multiple characters and different timelines. But it is clear who is speaking and what timeline we are in.

This was a good read and the final twist was great but a little unexpected. I felt like the final part cheapened the story a bit. We could have went somewhere with the other ending but I loved it anyway. Great book, good read.

Little Disasters covers several complex issues including the responsibility of reporting possible child abuse, mental health, parenting, secrets and friendship. Sarah Vaughan has created a terrific story dealing with these topics. In spite of the heaviness of the issues, the book never became too dark and kept me turning the pages.

Liz is a paediatrician who works in a hospital. When Liz is called into look at a young girl with an injury to her head, she is surprised to see her friend Jess. When Jess’ explanation of her daughter’s injury does not make sense, Liz has a duty to report possible child abuse, even though she can’t believe that her friend would be capable of harming her child.

As we find out more about what happened, we are introduced to the family members and friends of Liz and Jess. The chapters mainly move between Liz and Jess and Jess’ husband Ed, but some are from the viewpoint of other characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for a copy of this book. #LittleDisasters #NetGalley

✨Book Review✨
Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan is a dramatic glimpse into the reality of Postpartum Depression for so many women. Liz, a senior resident in Pediatrics, is faced with an impossible decision when her good friend, Jess, shows up to the ER with her baby girl, Betsey. Betsey has suffered a head injury, and Jess' defensive, evasive behaviour puts Liz in the difficult predicament of suspecting that someone may have hurt the child. The narrative alternates between perspectives and past/present in order to allow the reader to discover what really happened to Betsey.
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I greatly enjoyed reading this novel, mostly because of the raw insights into PPD. So many women suffer in silence with these horrible thoughts, living with the fear that if they ever admitted it out loud, they might be deemed unfit to care for their children. I truly can't imagine what that must feel like. I greatly appreciate Vaughan for openly showing us a glimpse of how strongly PPD can affect not only mothers, but everyone around them too.
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I found the jumps in narrative to be clear and easy to follow. I sometimes got a little lost with past/present, but I blame that on my inability to remember dates 🙈. The chapters set in the past are crucial to character development, and therefore, I found them to be very insightful.
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I found myself feeling a lot of empathy for all the moms in this novel, even the ones portrayed in a harsher light. I am not a mom, but one of my biggest fears about being a parent is making a mistake. That level of responsibility for another life is terrifying to me. Each mom in this novel has her own battles and hardships that she must face, no matter how perfect her life may seem. I appreciate the honesty surrounding being a mom, and the reminder that nobody is perfect.
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I would definitely recommend this book to others, especially moms. The plot is not a fast-paced, action packed adventure, but the story is authentic. I think we all sometimes need a reminder that we are not alone with our demons. Having friends and family to count on can make all the difference.

This is a very emotional book, as you tag along with 4 moms as they go through the trials and triumphs of having children. Each woman has different issues, they have different careers, different lifestyles. But as in life they are bound by the ties that bonds friends together. What happens as we get to know each woman more, pulls us into a story that is a horrible thing for anyone to have to deal with. There is love, romance and suspense with some action. This story pulled me right in and I wasn't able to put it down until I was finished. As a mother of 4, I truly can stand in each of these women's lives at different times in my own life, which makes me a lot more compassionate to the struggles of the most important job a woman has, that of being a mother. 
I received a free download of this book from Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Publishing. This review is totally my own honest

Could not put this book down. Read it in a few sittings and been thinking about it since.
Sarah Vaughn writes
Jess is a mom struggling with post party depression, anxiety and OCD. Being a mom that struggled with PPD I felt for her, related to her thoughts and didn’t think she was “crazy” as some people in the book thought or would in every day life because I know how it can consume you. The rest of the characters were easy to like because though they had their faults they were relatable. I found myself wanting to be in this group of friends. Be there to offer advice and have their shoulder to cry on.
The tension in the book continues to the very end with an unexpected twist that also created a very satisfying ending.
This is a great book that focuses on struggles that many women are dealing with today and are still not talked about enough. It shows how we all face our own demons and a support network is necessary. I think this is a great
Read for all especially for those moms who think they are alone in the battle.
Thank you netgalley for the advance copy.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange of my honest review!

Overall, enjoyed this book! lots of twists and turns that keeps you hooked. Hard to read as a parent. However, it does raise the awareness of postpartum depression. also explores the Complicated life of friendships throughout the years, and how your past follows you until you decide to face it. This story Demonstrates that everyone is vulnerable. That everyone can make a mistake. That everyone is human. Yet love prevails. Especially the love of a mother toward her children.

This was an excellent read. When I first started I thought it was mainly going to be a thought provoking book focusing on a moral dilemma. Nope. There was so much in this story. Mental health, mystery, family drama, a bit of a thriller and more. I felt so strongly for the mom being accused in the story....her story will touch so many women.
Thanks Netgalley for the review, will recommend and purchase for my Library.

This book nearly ripped my heart out. It is an intensely emotional story of a group of mothers who become friends during prenatal classes. Each of them are different in lifestyle, personality and relationships yet they bond over the children. Jess and Liz are the two main characters and the author did an amazing job building them into realistic mothers and women. I think any mother could find similarities with them and could feel for them as much as I did. This book is so full of raw emotion it takes hold of you and won’t let you go. To say I was heartbroken while reading this does not even touch how I felt. The author has an uncanny knack of making these women’s characters fit every and any mother that might exist while keeping them real. These characters physical appearance may have been mentioned but it wasn’t made made into an important trait like many novels do. They were real, they were deeply flawed and they craved the one thing all of us women crave....another woman that can truly understand as and love us as we are. Adding the suspense and twists to the story only made it better. This is one of the best books o have read this year and I can find no fault with it. Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Canada and the author Sarah Vaughn for the pleasure of reading this ARC. This will be a best seller.

I waited for this book with great anticipation, having recently read the author’s previous well-written and engrossing book, Anatomy of a Scandal. Little Disasters did not disappoint. It tugs at one’s heartstrings as it follows the story of a mother of three who may have physically injured her baby and the doctor who treats the baby, whose professional integrity is put at stake given her existing friendship with the mother. It is at times hard to read as light is shed on the incident and its consequences and it may leave you a bit heartbroken when it reaches it conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.

Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan is an emotionally driven domestic drama that tackles some weighty issues, while establishing a sense of unease in the reader very early in the narrative. This is my first read from Ms Vaughan, and I am certainly left wanting more.

Liz is a doctor working a late shift at the hospital when her friend Jess brings her infant daughter in following a fall at home. Liz knows Jess to be a good mother, but little Betsey's injuries are not consistent with the minor tumble that her mother describes. Liz consults with her colleagues about potential abuse, but cannot reconcile this with the mother that she has always known Jess to be. So begins a mystery that will put a mother's care under the microscope, and an examination that will unveil some shocking truths.

This is a heartwrenching and haunting read that masterfully peels away the many layers of the mother and child relationship, and exposes them in a way they are not often seen. Recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for this ARC.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC of Sarah Vaughan’s Little Disasters. I absolutely loved her novel Anatomy of a Scandal and was expecting the same cleverly laid out plot line. Vaughan does an excellent job of laying down the bread crumbs, moving between past and present, from character to character; feeding us enough to get a taste of what may be happening and a glimpse into to characters’ flaws, motives and secrets. Most of the narration is through the voice of Liz, a doctor and mother, friend to the mother of the baby discovered to be mysteriously injured at the start of this story. Vaughan weaves around and around the sets of parents, stopping in with the baby’s family in spurts, just enough to keep the reader’s suspicions rising. Vaughan does an excellent job of weaving multiple perspectives and this is part of what keeps the reader engaged. There are parts of the path that are predictable, but smugly trying to guess what’s next is part of the fun for those of us who are hooked on this genre. This is more of a dark saga of post-partum depression and something termed “maternal OCD” (so more like a domestic mystery) but there is a crime and a perpetrator, one you won’t suspect!

How can a book about babies, children and parents fill you with foreboding and suspense? I'm nit sure how but Sarah Vaughn successfully accomplishes this in "Little Disasters". This is a book that ties your past into your present and future, showing how the past affects life in a positive or negative manner. A definite must read!

An ARC of this novel was sent to me by NetGalley for reviewing purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a fast-paced thriller that I read in an afternoon. It's enjoyable and I did not see the twist coming!

Found this book to be really good. Couldn’t put it down. This will be a best seller.. well written and dealt with issues that women deal with on a regular basis

Was a fairly good read. Didn't totally draw me in and love it. But had a good twist to it that made it worth the read.
3.5 stars rounded up.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early release of this book.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy of Little Disasters in return for an honest review.

The book was well written and the characters well developed. I regret to say that this book was just not for me through no fault of the author’s literary abilities. I mistakingly thought from its description it would be a medical mystery, but instead found a grim, gut-wrenching tale of family dysfunction, mainly emphasizing postpartum anxiety and depression. On a personal note, being childless, and at the time finding doctors and counsellors dismissive of my feelings, it was difficult for me to connect with the four mothers and they did not resonate with me. Individual characters were experiencing anxiety, holding feelings of inferiority and guilt, and keeping secrets.

I feel that the book will appeal to many readers and would raise interesting book club discussions. I will never look at postpartum depression and SIDS the same way again.

The focus is on a mother of three who takes her eleven-month-old girl to the hospital, concerned that she threw up. The attending female doctor is her good friend so another doctor takes charge. It is discovered the little girl has a fractured skull. The mother denies she knew about any injury, but admits that the girl fell while trying to pull herself up from a crawling position when her back was turned. She appears suspicious and evasive when questioned and says she was never aware of the injury from the fall six hours earlier. The baby girl is kept in hospital, begins having seizures, and put into an induced coma.

Child Welfare and the police question the mother. They are suspicious of the timeline, and the fact that the injury in no way coincides with the mother’s description of the fall. Her friends noticed changes in her personality around the time of her child’s birth. Her irrational behaviour leads her to snatch the sick child from the hospital room before stopped by security.

There is much suspicion and speculation regarding what really happened on the day the toddler was injured. I failed to anticipate the shocking reveal near the end of the story.

This was a fantastic, fast paced thriller that I quickly tore through!

In "Little Disasters", Sarah Vaughan tells the story of the suspicious injury of a child - and everything that happens afterwards. The injury becomes a very important backdrop that Vaughan uses to explore what it means to be a good mother; wife; friend; and daughter. Several different topics and perspectives are woven throughout the story - and I personally came away with some new realizations that were certainly worth having.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this great book!