“Unforgettable.”—The New York Times“Lyrical and atmospheric.” —Bustle“A satiating psychological horror tale.” —Cultured VulturesSOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTUREAPRIL 2019 LIBRARY READS PICK“Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, and Aimee Molloy’s The Perfect Mother.Everyone says Lauren Tranter is … Molloy’s The Perfect Mother.
Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own…creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things.
A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley—to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, These are not my babies.
Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw…she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.
Compulsive, creepy, and inspired by some of our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking—and rechecking—your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.
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Little Darlings is brilliant―beautifully written, disturbing and deliciously creepy.
A story that is in turn enthralling, creepy and downright sinister, Melanie Golding turns fairy tales on their heads in Little Darlings, making this one to watch out for in 2019. A brilliant, heart-pounding read.
Sorry to say I found this one to be a bit of a slog.
This was in itself an interesting premise but we didn’t quite click and I also found it a touch slow in places.
This did have a creepy undertone but it wasn’t enough of a factor to ultimately rescue this for me.
This was told from new mother Lauren’s POV as she struggles with the concept that something is after her twins and then later that they have been switched for changeling’s and are not, in fact, her offspring.
I did enjoy the fable or tale at the beginning of each story chapter and found that to be a fun and interesting addition.
Laurens husband I detested with a passion what a piece of work he was, his falsely over the top endearments and pretend concerns were such an obvious sham and he couldn’t be trusted as far as you could throw him.
I did believe that he did care for his boys despite his selfish nature that I did think was genuine.
But as for all else what a waste of space.
We also have an unorthodox detective who is prepared to dig for the truth and is surprisingly
open-minded to the seemingly impossible.
I also wasn’t quite sure what to make of that finish as to me it seemed abrupt and unfinished.
This was well written and there’s plenty out there that loved this I am just not one of them.
If this hadn’t been an Arc I would probably have thrown in the towel and this would have been sent to my DNF Shelf but because it was I plodded on despite me not being fully invested.
As I have said previously there’s nothing wrong with the writing here this just wasn’t for me.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of Little Darlings.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
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I couldn’t wait to read Little Darlings. From the reviews that I have read, the book was going to be fantastic. So, when I finally got around to reading, I was excited. Little Darlings has earned every bit of praise that has been thrown its way. When a book has me wondering which end is up, it is good!!
I wish that I hadn’t put it off. This book is that good. It is also super creepy. The bit of folklore that the author chose to put at the beginning of each chapter only added to the supernaturalness of the book. I loved it!!
What I also liked is that I didn’t know what was true. Was everything that Laura was experiencing real or in her head? That is what I loved the most about this book. The author did a great job of putting up both sides. And then she does a fantastic job of letting you make your own conclusion at the end of the book. Like I mentioned above, I love it when a book can keep me guessing about what actually happened. Even after it was over.
The end of Little Darlings sent a chill up my spine. Not going to get into it but let’s say that enough doubt is cast that I wondered what happened. The epilogue (well, I wouldn’t quite call it that) was what made me think. It also made me sit and think for a while after I finished the book.
Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
What a creepy, unsettling, sad book! I have to say that the story is well written and different but left me wishing it was not so dark. At the end of the book I was left wondering…about a lot of things. In some ways this is a fairy tale or myth but in others more a horror story. Why do I say this? Because the life of new mother of twins Lauren was a nightmare. Lauren’s experience was real to her BUT was it REAL? When I finished the book I had to google to find out about postpartum psychosis and what I read made me realize it is a nasty disease. It takes a long time to deal with and can recur. I have a feeling this book will linger with me awhile. Hope I can sleep tonight!
What I liked:
* the new idea that incorporates changelings
* Harper, the detective that didn’t give up…really liked her
* the writing
* that the story grew on me – hated it at first but came away applauding the author
What I didn’t like:
* Lauren’s husband – what a jerk!
* Harper’s boss
* The ending…wish there had been an epilogue…hat the unsettled feeling I am left with…though kudos to the author for achieving that.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.
4-5 Stars
Little Darlings by Melanie Golding is one on the creepiest books I have ever read. Exhausted, new mother of twin boys, Lauren quickly descends into a waking nightmare that she cannot escape from when a mysterious woman appears in the maternity ward on the night she gives birth to Riley and Morgan. This woman, which only Lauren can see or hear, tries to take her newborn twins, in exchange she will leave Lauren her own babies – ones that are…not quite human? This eerie woman continues on her quest, appearing only to Lauren at odd times, always trying to swap babies. But, that’s just crazy – isn’t it?
A thriller/horror with hints of fairy tales and folklore. Wonderfully dark and spine-chilling, this captivating book will stay with you long after the last page is read. Warning: This tale is quite disturbing and unsettling. Ms. Golding has a way with enthralling the reader with her descriptive and charming prose. I enjoyed this unique novel with all it’s dark, twisty, creepiness and look forward to more books by this author.
I want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing a complimentary copy.
Whoa! Talk about a creepy read! This book kept me on the edge the whole time with its dark undertones and uncertainty of what was going on and what was going to happen. I couldn’t put it down!
After having a difficult time giving birth to her twin sons, Lauren is left helpless and lost even as she lays in the hospital. When the unseen woman in the bed next to her sings to her own twins and the sounds of feeding change into something dark and disturbing, Lauren finally manages to check it out. What she stumbles across is the thing of nightmares and when her own babies are suddenly in danger Lauren’s protective instincts rise to hysterical proportions.
Harper is walking a fine edge as a detective in the local precinct. Nevertheless, she checks out the call from the previous night that was placed by a patient on the maternity ward. Her own past leads her further into an investigation that was marked off as a mental health issue. Neither woman knows that both of their lives will be irrevocably changed and that Lauren’s very state of mind will be called into question as the mystery deepens.
With fairytales and folklore as a backdrop, this story begins and ends with scary uncertainty and dark, unspoken mysteries. The author presents Lauren as a mother who initially doesn’t feel anything for her newborn babies and how, or if, those instinctive reactions will ever arise. Despite her initial need to protect her children, the questions remain throughout the story and my mind ran in circles as to what was really happening.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever read anything that left me feeling so totally creeped out. I love when a book can affect me in such a way. I’ve read Stephen King novels that didn’t leave me feeling the way certain parts of this story did.
For a debut novel, this is so very well written and moved with an incredible speed that kept me engaged throughout its entirety. Although it ends with a finality, it’s not wrapped up neat and tidy. Life is uncertain and there were a few characters that I wanted to have a black and white ending and that wasn’t the case…which was actually perfect for this story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided by NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Dark, compelling and terrifyingly relatable, Little Darlings takes every parent’s worst fear and deftly twists it into something even more horrific. It will have you checking every shadow for what you hope isn’t really there.
Viscerally creepy and compelling―a contemporary dark fairy tale that reeled me in like tales of old.
Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
This was a pretty good, creepy read, not quite as creepy as I thought it may be but all in all it was a good story definitely worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the Publishers for allowing me to read this ARC book and give my own opinion.
Creepy story, similar to Grimms fairy tale
Young Lauren Tranter gives birth to identical twins in a maternity ward in a British hospital. She and her husband Patrick are both nervous first-time parents and hubby believes that, since he works at a full-time job and Lauren will be home with the boys, he doesn’t have to do anything to help with their care.
While still in the hospital Lauren swears she is visited by a smelly crone that wants to trade babies with her. The major problem is that no proof can be found that this actually happened.
Detective Sergeant Jo Harper comes to visit Lauren and is the only one taking her seriously, even though her higher ups have told her to drop the case.
This is one creepy book, playing on a parent’s worst nightmare – losing their children. At the beginning of the chapters there are excerpts from old fairy tales and stories. I can remember being told these type of stories when I was a child and YIKES the gruesome details in most of Grimm’s Fairy Tales and such. Then today parents worry about their children seeing a PG rated movie. Quite ironic.
I received this book from Crooked Lane Books through Edelweiss and Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.
I love this book! Compelling from the first page to the very last, Golding took me by the hand and pulled me softly but persistently through mystery and myth… A masterfully-told story and a beautiful and nuanced work of art.
Dark, richly evocative, tense, and thought-provoking. Taps into every woman’s fear that she will not be believed.
Rich and satisfying, this is part who-done-it, part fairy tale, part psychological thriller… Will continue to rattle you, long after you have put it down.
Little Darlings is the perfect marriage of taut psychological thriller and nail-biting horror. A changeling-inspired page-turner of note with a highly satisfying ending, it’ll stay with you long after you’ve read it. I loved it and can’t wait to see what Melanie Golding does next.
I was immediately hooked by the introduction. I’m not only curious, I am horrified by what she is about to do. Now I need to know why
Lauren Tranter had just delivered twins and as she held Morgan, she wondered why she didn’t feel the overwhelming love she had heard so much about. She was filled with doubts, but don’t all new mothers feel that way?
DS Harper saw the 911 call. Even though it had been cleared, something niggled at the back of her mind. She couldn’t let it go. She went to the hospital to check on Lauren Tranter, even though she was ordered to let it go. Her spidey senses were tingling and she had learned to listen to them. She had no desire to move up in the system, so she would walk that fine line and buck the system when she felt she must.
Was Lauren seeing things, hallucinating? The filthy muddy fish smell still lingered in her hospital room. And the cut on her hand? Where did that come from? Did she do it to herself?
I am trying to figure out where we are heading. What is really going on? Melanie Golding does a great job of keeping the mystery hidden. The story moves at a steady pace and I keep getting more anxious with each chapter read. I love the mounting tension and anticipation.
Little Darlings is a riveting tale of psychological thrills and chills and it may leave you, like me, wondering…Is it all in her mind? Are the folk tales of changlings true? You decide.
This is Melanie Golding’s debut novel and I only see good books coming from her in the future. Keep on writing, Melanie, and I’ll keep on reading.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Little Darlings by Melanie Golding.
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Giving birth was traumatic enough for Lauren but to have a gypsy come to you while you are still in the hospital and tell you she wants to trade your twins for hers would be even more traumatic.
Lauren had a very difficult birth and a husband who has checked out in the helping department with the twins.
Along with sleep deprivation, Lauren is deathly afraid to leave the house because of the woman she saw hours after the birth of her twins and again in her front yard and scratching at the window.
LITTLE DARLINGS moves along quickly sharing Lauren’s fears and her wonderful care of her twins Morgan and Riley.
Then one day when Lauren finally ventured out and had a good time with her friends, she became exhausted, sat on a bench in the park, fell asleep, and when she woke, the stroller was gone.
A nightmare for any parent, but it seemed more pronounced for Lauren because of the threat from the gypsy.
No one believed Lauren about any of this.
They do find the stroller, but Lauren screams that they are not her babies. They had been switched and were changelings. This started an entire other problem for Lauren.
LITTLE DARLINGS will be frightening for anyone but even more so for any reader who is a new parent.
The book has a bit of paranormal and fairy stories as part of its theme, but it is more of a thriller and a mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. 4/5
This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I love dark fairy tales and I love psychological thrillers and Little Darlings combines both of these genres brilliantly. This book is about Lauren Tranter, a new mother who has just given birth to her twin sons. On the first night after the birth another woman tries to abduct Lauren’s babies and swap them with her own sickly twins. Lauren is able to defend her children but the woman promises that if Lauren ever leaves her twins unattended she will lose them. There are no witnesses to the exchange between two women, so nobody believes Lauren.
A month later somebody does take Lauren’s children while she falls asleep in the park. After an all out search the babies are found safe. Everybody is rejoiced, except Lauren, because even though the babies look like her twins, Morgan and Riley, there is something different and disturbing about them. Lauren believes that the found babies are not her children. The question is, did the abduction truly happened or is Lauren losing her mind as everyone around her seems to think?
Little Darlings is creepy and disturbing, it’s a perfect blend of domestic suspense and a supernatural mystery. I couldn’t put this book down and stayed up late reading it, and then was too scared to turn the lights off because of how spooked I was. Little Darlings is a book you have to read if you like the darkest of fairy tales and supernatural thrillers.
Dark, twisted folklore or postpartum depression? Little Darlings left me with mixed feelings. I’m sure part of that can be blamed on the fact that I went into the book expecting a thriller and got what felt more like a domestic drama. The idea of changelings definitely adds a sinister tone to the story, but in the end, I was still unconvinced as to which way this one wanted to go. Maybe that’s the point, and each reader will decide for themselves. All I know for sure is that I expected something more than what I found in this one. According to the hype, Little Darlings is coming to the big screen, so I’ll be interested to see how I feel about that format. I don’t say this often, but this is one that may be better on the silver screen, at least as far as the thriller aspect goes. Looking at it from the postpartum depression angle, which is the direction I found myself leaning toward, it does make for an interesting drama. So, drama, yes. thriller, not so much, hence my mixed feelings. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either.
4.25 stars
At first I would like to thank Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Young Mother Lauren Tranter has just given birth to two perfect twin boys Morgan and Riley. She wants to be thrilled, overjoyed by having given birth to these beautiful boys but she is really just overwhelmed, exhausted and over all miserable. One night in the hospital Lauren Lauren catches a woman trying to exchange her own children with Lauren’s. “It’s only fair” she says. Lauren immediately calls 999 and though the hospital reports Lauren is having metal issue. However, Detective Harper believes that there is something wrong going on and that Lauren is not crazy.
One month later Lauren’s babies disappear and when they are recovered Lauren denies that they are her sons. They may look like them but they are not her baby boys.
Lauren embarks on a journey to find her real sons and she faces some of the most frightening things you can imagine.
I wanted this to be a 5 star book but in the end it was a respectable 4.25 for me. This was a spooky,fun and creepy novel. I am not sure if this is really a full on mystery. It really reads as a horror, fairy tale with a mystery attached.
Well written with strong female characters, this is a novel that will certainly lure you in and keep you interested but it just felt like it was missing something for me.