Darling is a small town located in Louisiana that is full of gossip, small minds, and evil. Cherry LaRouche was the golden girl of Darling until she got pregnant in high school and left her small town behind with her new husband, Ephraim Lewis. Cherry thought she was on to the life of her dreams, but her dead beat abusive husband abandoned her when she gave birth to a son with disabilities. Cherry tried to make a life for her and her children, but her life is a perpetual struggle. When her mother dies, Cherry regretfully moves back to Darling into a somewhat dilapidated three story home with lots of land. When she returns, jealous women scorn her, men line up to date her, and troubled life becomes even worse. Apparently there is evil lurking in Louisiana as little children are being found murdered and of course Cherry’s young daughter goes missing.
I like Southern Gothic horror. I like small town horror, but this story was just sort of meh. It was a fast read, but I hated all of the attention that Cherry received from pretty much every single person in town, especially the fact that she has two men fighting for her attention almost immediately and who have been pining away for her for years. This “romantic love triangle” really brought everything down for me. This could have been so much better had the focus been more on town of Darling and less about the love interests of Cherry.

The creepy vibes of this one really appealed and I was keen to learn all about the demons that Cherry’s hometown is hiding. Yardley sets out the dire situation of Cherry’s circumstance early on in the story, and her distaste for Darling including how much she loves her two children.

Upon her return to Darling, it took a while for Cherry’s story to start getting anywhere. I found it hard to connect with her and it felt really abnormal that practically all the men she meets are utterly obsessed with her - but I suppose that’s the depth of the evil that runs through the town and its inhabitants.

Whilst there were some moments that started on the creepy feeling, overall it just felt a little lacking for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, the team at Back Spot Books and the author for the opportunity to read this review copy.

3.5 Darling Stars

Cherry left Darling Louisiana when she was just sixteen years old with her boyfriend and their unborn child, hoping for a better life than the one they had growing up. After giving birth to a son with Special Needs Cherry soon found out that her dreams were not going to come true any time soon since her husband left her to raise their son alone as soon as he was born.

Cherry didn't have it easy that's for sure, now the mother of two (her daughter was conceived when Cherry was selling herself to make extra money to support herself and her son) was doing whatever she needed to keep a roof over their heads and food in her kids bellies when she receives a phone call letting her know that her mother passed away and left her the house she grew up in with all of the expenses paid on it for five years but she had to live in during that time before she could sell it. So back to the place she hated most she went.

I loved the writing of this story and it definitely has me wanting to read more of Mercedes M. Yardley work. As per usual I had some things figured out pretty quickly but I couldn't quite put my finger on who the Handsome Butcher was...yes you read that right. The killer was referred to as the Handsome Butcher, I disliked that name for soooo many reasons the main one being why would we refer to a person whom took children, killed, and dismembered them as handsome? Butcher I get, but Handsome???

I loved Cherry's relationship with both of her children especially with her son who has Autism. She loved him and did everything she possibly could to show him. It was a special bond that she shared with both of her children, and when the author gave us a few chapters from his POV it was precious.

I want to point out that this isn't a romance while there are some romantic aspects to it including a love triangle. This is a HORROR, I realize the majority of my reviews are for Romance Reads this one DOES NOT FALL INTO THAT CATEGORY. So if you enjoy Horror Reads then I would recommend this one to you but if you are looking for a Romantic Horror Read this isn't it.

Happy Reading!!!

As a pregnant teenager, Cherry/Cerise left her hometown of Darling with her lover Ephraim, vowing never to return. However, she finds herself returning several years later when her mother dies and wills her the family house.

Unfortunately and even though I was really excited about this book and the beginning was quite engaging, it ended up being a bit of a disappointment.

More than horror, you can expect a family drama with some thriller aspects to it. Nothing that you could really consider a real horror novel. I guess this is a big part of why I was disappointed.

The other thing was that the book started quite strong and then it ended up being a bit too repetitive for my taste and nothing much happened. I also did not really enjoy how our main character was treated by the people in town (specially by men) and even if this was the point of the story, it did not come across and it was just annoying. Our main character is a troubled girl that had to run away from home and had to be strong and independent due to her poverty and lack of help. However the woman we see as soon as she returns home is a wek, easy to manipulate submissive woman and I was not here for it.

Mystery, darkness, secrets, and a bit of the supernatural? Coming home to nightmares of the past. Hoping for redemption and escaping the shadows, only to find that the shadows are real, Dark and enthralling.

This book started out so good. I loved the character of Cherry and how she was developed. She dealt with all kinds of issues with her mother dying, her abusive husband, moving back to her home town and everyone there, being a single mom to two children, one having special needs. The suspense leading up to the ending was great, giving us little bits trying to figure out what happened. Then the ending fell flat for me. It just seemed to be tied up with a neat bow in just a couple pages. I really enjoyed the author's writing style and seeing parts from different characters' points of view. Thank you to Netgalley and the author for an eARC of this book.

Darling by Mercedes M Yardley.
Cherry's mum has died and she takes her 2 children with her to her mums house which she has left to her. Her daughter Daisy goes missing. Cherry hopes to find her.
Slow to start with. This was different. Had characters I liked and some I didn't. Twisted. 4*.

I was contacted by Black Spots Books asking if I would be interested in reading Darling by Mercedes M Yardley.

I saw and was excited to read that Mercedes had previously been awarded the Bram Stoker Award for previous work and as a fan of Bram Stoker, I thought this would be right up my street.

I thought it would be a supernatural read, but I do like thrillers and although it was well written, I wasn't a big fan of this book as I had to re-read some pages a couple of times as it does get confusing.

Overall, I would still keep an eye out for more from this author, but sadly, this wasn't the book for me.

Cherry LaRouche left Darling, Louisiana at sixteen, but now is returning after her mother's death. She and her children now live in her childhood home, with whispering walls and something on the roof at night. Evil lives in the town, and several children are murdered. Once Cherry's daughter goes missing, she must confront the truth about Darling.

It's hard for a pregnant teenager to make her way out of a small town, and within the first few paragraphs, we see how determined Cherry is to make it. With a seven-year-old son that has a genetic disorder resulting in autistic features and toddler daughter, she works herself hard to make ends meet, which others take advantage of. The offer of five years rent and utility free in her childhood home is a mixed blessing, then. No need to scrounge and offer herself up, but she's back where she never wanted to be. And all this in the first chapter!

From there, we see how the other small-town people treat her, mostly badly, and how she mistrusts the few people reaching out to help her. Then the unthinkable happens and Daisy disappears, leaving her fragile hope for better ruined. It's heart-rending, and even though I already had connected with Cherry, this cemented it. The people of the town turn on each other easily, and there's an undercurrent in the book that it's a supernatural entity feeding on anger, pain, and misery. That's never something fully explained, so don't expect a neat answer. I know that's sort of a spoiler, but if you absolutely must have a neat explanation for everything, this isn't the book for you. It explains everything Cherry needs to know, and there are supernatural elements on top of the everyday small-town horrors that can be inflicted upon outsiders or those they deem unworthy. It's a story that rapidly reaches its conclusion, and can make you look twice at people you think you know well.

I will say that the ending of the book was shocking and full of quick events that did keep my eyes glued to the page. Even so, I had no care for any of the characters other than the two children.

A good 80% of the book I was reading just to read.

There was a hint of a supernatural element to the book that I think if that was used more heavily would have made the book more intriguing.

The story felt like a mess of events. The beginning felt rushed and didn't make sense while the ending was quick paced but it still left some things unturned.

I am indifferent about the book. Halfway through I thought it would be a 2 star read but I managed to justify bumping it up to a 3 star.

But I am grateful for the publishers for providing me with an eArc in exchange for my review.

This follows a woman, Cherry, who moves back to her hometown with her two children. Cherry hates her home and she chooses to return only as a last resort. While they're trying to acclimate to their new home dead children are being found in the neighboring communities. Then Cherry's daughter goes missing.

I honestly went into this book thinking it was a horror and its more of a thriller, thats my bad. The plot is a little weird and its very hard to determine if there are supernatural aspects or not, the narrator is a little unreliable.

Overall this was fine, I didn't have any real issues with it. It just wasn't to my taste.

Cherry has to return home. Her mothers death warrants her too, even though she left the town of Darling, Louisiana with hopes to never return. So her and her children move into her family home to settle things, but with comes a sinister evil that spreads like an infection. When Cherry’s own daughter goes missing, Cherry must confront the demons of her past that still haunt the town.

Well this book was a quick, needed to know what happened read. Who’s killing the towns children. What evil still lurks. These were all questions I had while reading and it was definitely an engaging story. The romance thrown into the story was a bit unnecessary for me. The character development was interesting to read and the suspense wasn’t lacking.

All in all, it was an enjoyable read that dives into serious topics.

“Nights and days and sleeps and wakes mean nothing when you’re in your own special kind of hell”.

Darling by Mercedes M. Yardley is the chilling story on Cherry LaRouche. She escaped the town of Darling to save her son from the terrors that town had brought up on Cherry her entire life. She suddenly finds herself back at there family home when the news of her mother’s passing reaches her, she left the home to Cherry and with two children life has been difficult for her so she has no choice but to move back. Everything comes flooding back to her, the creepy sounds within the walls of this home and her past. Tragically there are young children who have been found murdered, when Cherry’s daughter becomes missing she will stop at nothing to find her and reveal the evil that is the town of Darling.

This was a quick and harrowing read. Straight away we are introduced to Cherry and the awful events which lead her out of Darling. The reasons why she left her home and her relationships with the people from there were heartbreaking to read. When she does go back and with the evil events that take place, you can’t help but feel sorry for Cherry and her situation. The story then becomes a race against time.

Each character is serves their purpose well in telling Cherry’s story, the reality of what she is going through with her children and the conflict of her past makes the reader empathise with her.

The descriptions of the unease felt within the family home and the interactions with others is where the horror comes to life and continues through the foreboding sense of doom from page to page.

This was quite a dark read which a lot of readers would enjoy.

Many thanks to BlackSpot Books and Vesuvian for a copy of the book.

Darling
Mercedes M. Yardley
2 Stars
Horror
Adult

CW: kidnapping, murder, mental health

Darling has its demons. Cherry LaRouche escaped Darling, Louisiana at sixteen and is forced to return after her mother’s death with her two children. As they move back into her childhood home, the walls whisper and something sinister skitters across the roof at night. While Cherry tries to settle back into the town where evil spreads like an infection, the bodies of several murdered children turn up and when Cherry’s daughter goes missing, she has to confront the true monsters of the town.
I liked the writing. I thought the story has suspense and tension. The story deals with a lot of topics including poverty. The main character was a little difficult to like and I thought she made some dumb decisions. I think there’s too much crammed into this story and the ending is anticlimactic, there also is a possible supernatural element that isn’t really explained. Overall I think it’s worth a read.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Black spot Books for the e-ARC in exchange for n honest review. Pub date: August 23, 2022.

A desperately dark and thrilling story about a young woman who returns home to Darling after the death of her mother - only to find she isn't the only one. First it starts with the children in town, before reaching her own front door and taking her only daughter - something evil is spreading, and it's everywhere.

Full of chilling settings that gave me physical goosebumps , Yardley creates an otherworldly atmosphere full of sinister demons lurking round every corner, under every bed and on every roof. However, as amazing as it was, there was a bit too much description and not enough action for a large chunk of the story which did leave me struggling to get fully into the tale.

This was the first time reading anything by Mercedes M. Yardley and after finishing "Darling" I'm not sure I can see myself reading another book of hers.
The book started off pretty good and I was enjoying the story and the writing. At the beginning of the book there were many descriptions I loved and Cherry was a really great character. About 15% or so into the book I started coming across awkward sentences and the writing started getting too "flowery."
Soon, the excessive use of character eye descriptions became torturous. "Her eyes flashed," "His eyes narrowed," "His glowing green eyes also caught the light of the Lousiana sky," "His eyes flashed," "His eyes were glass suns, intense enough to annihilate her. Sheer immolation." This is all just from one page. I found myself wishing the man's eyes had the power to annihilate Cherry just so the story would end.
This kind of thing happened for the entire book, which was distracting. "Pigtails like banners," "her white hands," "his bony body." Like, we get it. Please come up with something new instead of using the same phrases over and over.
I can't imagine myself recommending this book to anyone.
Thank you to NetGalley and Black Spot Books for the DRC

Pitched as "The Lovely Bones meets The Lottery," Darling's summary had me instantly interested. However, the novel fell a bit flat for me. I rated this a solid 3 stars because there is a great story here but this story should have had a serious round of edits to make it into a shorter novella. I loved that this story featured a "flawed" female main character. Cherry has made some mistakes but she loves her kids. I also loved that the author chose to include a character based on her own son. Cherry's son has a heart condition and possibly autism. This aspect was extremely well written, from his actions to how other characters respond to him. The story itself is a great rural noir read, similar to Chevy Stevens and Laura McHugh. The main problem was wading through some of the details and repetitiveness that made the first 75% of the story drag somewhat. Then the ending felt like too much happening all at once, but not in a "wrapping everything up" kind of way. There is also the whole aspect of the supernatural. There are references to different supernatural occurrences but then they aren't really dissected. Are these instances supposed to be metaphors for the human condition? Finally, everyone keeps calling everyone "darling" and the town's name is Darling, but there is never a big "aha" connection here--totally a missed opportunity!

Cherry left Darling Louisiana young and hopeful of a better life, with a husband-to-be, a baby bump, and zero regrets.
That better life didn't last too long or maybe never fully materialized. Now she is older but not a lot wiser, with no choice but to return to her childhood home with her two kids in tow.
This seems like a pretty bad move since someone is killing the town's children and it's not long before Cherry's own baby daughter goes missing, possibly taken by the killer.
I was fully engaged in the story even though it was difficult for me to like Cherry. On the one hand, she was a good mother but on the other hand, she made some pretty dumb decisions that grated on my nerves.
There is also some romance thrown in, by which I do not mean unrealistic gratuitous sex scenes that border on the grotesque as usually passes for romance these days. I mean literally, some things that were romantic until they weren't. And when the romance was over it stopped in a big way. It seemed odd to me that Cherry would want to involve herself in any romantic entanglements in this town. Considering what she had previously been through I expected her to be less naïve.
I won't say that the outcome of what happened with her daughter was entirely predictable, but I did have my suspicions early on, and they were mostly correct.
I'm not sure why I enjoyed this book so much, and yet I did. The town's people were alternately welcoming, and nasty, with such frequency to give me whiplash. I'm not clear on whether something supernatural was involved since it was never fully explained. Maybe I enjoyed shaking my head and rolling my eyes at Cherry while wishing she would make better choices. Still, I am going to give this a 4 out of 5 stars even if I am at a loss to explain what I just read.

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

The voice of this novel, written like a small town resident is telling you the story over a drink, was super gripping, but I just couldn't suspend my disbelief. In the first chapter alone, a woman who hates/is terrified of her old town, Darling, lovingly calls her children "darlings." She inherits her mom's house, bills like utilities paid through the next five years which I'm pretty sure is impossible but okay, and is told she can't sell or rent it out. She then puts LITERALLY NO EFFORT into trying to find out if she can get around those restrictions but intead decides her only option, after ruling out exactly zero other possibilities, is to move home. Really?

4 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.

Holy moly. This is a horror novel extraordinaire.

Cerise LaRouche ran as far away from Darling, Louisiana, as she could. Away from her mother. Away from a town that couldn’t keep its nose out of her business. She ran with Ephraim, her neighbor and baby daddy. Ephraim, or E as everyone calls him, was supposed to be Cherry’s rock. What a joke that turned out to be.

When their baby was born with a genetic disorder, E ran, leaving Cherry alone with a sick baby. She did what she could to get by, and ended up having a second child, Daisy. Daisy is simply a perfect beautiful child, but it is a struggle to be a single mom with few prospects and two young children. One day Cherry gets a call from her hometown, a lawyer who informs her that her mother has passed away. Her mother left her the family home, all paid for and utilities paid up for five years. Cherry has no other options but to take the house and move back to Darling.

Darling turns out to not have changed one whit while Cherry was away. E never returned, but his brother Mordachi still lives in the house next door. Mordachi was the closest thing Cherry ever had to a brother, and he’s back wanting to help her out with the kids. Jonah takes to him right away, which is strange considering Jonah doesn’t like anyone.

Then children start showing up dead. One after another children go missing, and then show up later with parts missing, or hanging in trees. Something evil is growing in Darling. Cherry begins hearing scrabbling on her roof and the walls talking. She knows there is evil lurking in her home, but she doesn’t realize how evil until Daisy goes missing.

Like I said, horror abounds in this one. Mastering the suspenseful nature and the evil lurking in Darling, Yardley delivers a novel that will give you chills. The people of Darling are both mean and not quite right. This is not a town you want to visit or spend any time in. Throughout the book I felt myself telling Cherry to just run. Take the kids and go. Something is not right.

If you like creepy, this is a good one. If you’re prone to nightmares, you might want to skip it.