I'm not one to read many thrillers/chillers but I was intrigued by the blurb of this book, and I am glad I took the decision to give Little Darlings a try.

What a spinetingling book - I am still not sure what to think!

Lauren is mum to newborn twins, and from the first night, gets embroiled in a twist and turn filled journey as she believes her babies may be changelings.

With a husband who's motives are questionable at best, who I thoroughly disliked, and a cop who has a heart, wanting to believe this woman who all others have relegated to the Mental Health Department, alongside a journalist who wants a scoop, this book kept me riveted!

Old spooky stories about a village underwater, a missing person, possible copycat crimes 40 years apart - seriously, there was a lot to take in.

If you are a thriller fan - read it. If you are a new mum, read with caution!

Many thanks to NetGalley and HQ Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am not really sure what genre Little Darling belongs in; I am not into fantasy but there was an eerie, chilling amount of this, probably just enough to keep you guessing even at the end.; it was a police drama, a thriller and all in all a captivating and unusual storyline.

Lauren is a fully dimensional figure whose back I felt I always had whereas her husband was a bit less clear and towards the end I felt that maybe I'd been kinder to him than I should have been.

Jo Harper is not your usual police officer but again she is believable.

The plot line of new motherhood was so realistic it took me right back to my time, and my eldest is coming up 40!!!

Excellent book, totally recommend although my review will leave you as muddle headed as I was on completing the book.

Atmospheric modern gothic with a postpartum mother of twins who thinks they are changelings. Also incorporates a drowned village and some fascinating stories about the mythology of changelings.

I absolutely loved this book and read it in one sitting.

The story of Lauren and her twins gripped me all the way through. I was never entirely sure what was happening and the excerpts from folklore and traditional tales kept me guessing.

It was an unsettling and disturbing story with exceptionally well written characters. I was heavily invested in Lauren and felt the other characters were well rounded. We knew how the author wanted us to see them and the writing supported this.

I’m not entirely sure how I would categorise this book, but if you want a fast paced, eerie, unsettling and well written page turner, this is the book for you! Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for my copy.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in return for a review.

Here is the blurb

"Lauren is alone on the maternity ward with her new-born twins when a terrifying encounter in the middle of the night leaves her convinced someone is trying to steal her children. Lauren, desperate with fear, locks herself and her sons in the bathroom until the police arrive to investigate.

When DS Joanna Harper picks up the list of overnight incidents that have been reported, she expects the usual calls from drunks and wrong numbers. But then a report of an attempted abduction catches her eye. The only thing is that it was flagged as a false alarm just fifteen minutes later.

Harper's superior officer tells her there's no case here, but Harper can’t let it go so she visits the hospital anyway. There's nothing on the CCTV. No one believes this woman was ever there. And yet, Lauren claims that she keeps seeing the woman and that her babies are in danger, and soon Harper is sucked into Lauren's spiral of fear. But how far will they go to save children who may not even be in danger?"

I really enjoyed this book. All the way through the book I am torn between the book being about the mum being delusional or are the events really happening, right up to the end. Great book would recommend.

I think I decided to pick up this book because a favourite author of psychological thrillers of mine headlined the reviews. I presumed it was a psychological thriller. I'm not sure what genre out fits into, but it's not that. And had I read a little deeper into the previews, being mostly allergic to babies, I probably wouldn't have bothered.

Oh but I'm glad I didn't. It took a while to get into the book properly, but once you've waded through the first quarter, then the story gets going. Faeries and folklore and abduction, but not, but is it? Intrigue and deception and an horrid, pig-headed, useless husband who quite frankly didn't deserve Lauren or the twins. Golding leads us a merry dance through psychology, adultery, law enforcement excellence and dedication and absolute uselessness, and then there's the hack, with her green stilettos and silver tongue.

I raced to get to the end; I needed to know the truth. Sadly there weren't enough hours in my day to finish it more quickly, but oh the partial relief when I did.

It's not quite horror, it's not really a thriller, but it is unnerving and compelling, and well worth a read.

This book is creepy creative and sad. What amazing talent the author has.
This book is a moving emotional and psychological thrilling and shows new motherhood.

What a fantastically creepy read. Very different from other books out there just now with a unique storyline. This book was thoroughly enjoyable.

This book was nothing like I imagined it would be. It freaked me out slightly with the strange folklore about twins and changelings but at the same time I felt compelled to read on as I was desperate to find out what would happen next. I really bonded with Lauren in the book but disliked her husband intensely. This book really is a case of Mother knows best. I will certainly look out for this author in the future.

https://themostsublimThis book uses all of these things in a story that combines thriller, paranormal and mental illness – it’s up to you as the reader to interpret the unreliable narration of Laurie, the main character, to decide on yourself how large a role these things play.

Laurie is an excellent main character, she’s an ordinary first time mother trying to keep her babies safe. She’s intelligent, resourceful and trying to survive the most stressful time of her life with little to no support from her total ass hat of a husband. He makes it abundantly clear from the moment the twins are born that it’s all very inconvenient for him – this only adds to the sense of claustrophobia and panic, which you feel throughout this book.

The chapters are split between the perspectives of Laurie and Harper, the investigating officer, which gives you two sides to the story to help you form your opinion on what’s real and what isn’t. I was hooked from the beginning of this book though I did find myself a bit frustrated with the ending as it was left somewhat open to interpretation.

I’d recommend steering clear of this book if you’re a parent of very young children, it plays very heavily on a parent’s fears for their children and will probably result in you giving up on sleep altogether until your offspring is 18…
This story gave me chills, which is probably the highest praise I could give any kind of thriller!e.com/2019/04/11/little-darlings-by-melanie-golding/

an originally written, creepy book that is very atmospheric. This book keeps your hackles raised from start to finish.

I loved it.

A thoroughly, dark, compelling story. The main character Lauren a new mother of twins, a not so helpful husband, you feel for her and get totally drawn in to her world. Would thoroughly recommend.

Folk lore or post partum psychosis. A beautifully descriptive book that has you wondering if she is suffering from psychosis or indeed the underworld is at play. No-one really believes and she is scared and worried for her twins and no-one to back her up. A good story throughout and this novel will really stand out. Well done Ms Golding. Definitely worth a read

If this happened to you would anyone believe you?
Laura has just had twin boys and is still on the maternity ward and a woman is coming to get the babies. She locks herself in a bathroom and calls the police. However, no-one believes her and there is no proof.Is he imagining it? DS Joanna Harper picks up the case the next day and something doesn't seem right to her.
Lauren comes home but won't take the babies out as she feels the woman is still there. Then she takes them out and nothing will be the same again. But how can she make them believe her! Can DS Harper help her?
You wont want to put this book down!!

Thriller, mystery or just plain fantastic fiction? A young mum is convinced her newborn twins are changelings and is haunted by an apparition only she can see. Is she mentally ill or are there darker forces at work? A brilliant read.

Lauren Tranter is utterly exhausted from giving birth to twins, Morgan and Riley. The night they're born and her husband has already left the hospital she is aware of another woman who has clearly just had twins. She hears her crooning and talking to them, so she thinks she will speak to her. She pulls back the cubicle curtain...and this is where the nightmare begins. A mix of fairy tale, folk tale and horror story, this incredibly scary tale had me hooked from the start. And there are questions we ask while reading; is Lauren suffering from some kind of psychosis, or is what she experiences real? I'm not sure the question is answered irrevocably, but perhaps there is no answer. In any case LITTLE DARLINGS is a book I would heartily recommend. I loved it.

"These are not my babies..."
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.

Golding constructs a background inspired by many of our darkest fairy tales which will leave you shivering, wondering and even checking. The strongest elements of this compelling novel are the explorations of the boundaries and valleys between postpartum depression and a dark and sinister fairy-tale. The reality of depression and the common feeling of not being entirely sure what is real and what is influenced by your mental state overlaps throughout and I think that's what kept me hooked on this book.

I wanted to find out the answers. I'm not entirely sure that we ever do - and isn't that the case in real life? The reality is we all fear getting things wrong, messing things up and even losing a child - this book explores the very fine line between all of these nightmares and the reality that can occur.

The genre of this book baffled me.. at times I felt like i was enjoying a psychological thriller and in other moments it felt almost mystical and supernatural. In this case the issue of not being able to define what I was reading wasn't frustrating - in fact it helped the book even more.

Investment in the main character - Lauren - is the key in this book. You will be invested, you will want her to come out on top...you will want her to be the successor in this story. That's the beauty of Golding's writing. She paints a character that could quite easily be you.

I expected this to be a thriller and whilst it is to a degree it’s actually difficult for me to slot it into one genre. It’s a good concept and well written although I’m not sure how much I like the charcters. It was very easy to read this, it took me a couple of chapters to get into it but once I was I was zooming through it. I found it quite creepy and twisted and it was definitely hard to know what reality was real. Overall the author has given birth to an intriguing book.

This story is about Lauren who gives birth to her twins Riley and Morgan. Whilst in the hospital a woman comes and wants to exchange her twins for hers. Nobody believes Lauren apart from a female police officer who decides to look further into the case.

I really enjoyed this story. There is a lot of Folklore and Fairytales involved in this story which is really not my thing. The story is fast paced and kept me reading late into the night. I was a little disappointed in the ending and I am still processing it. I would recommend this book because it is something a little different from the usual psychological thrillers.

I couldn't honestly say that I enjoyed this book but it did intrigue me and I did finish it. It started really well with a mother believing that someone was trying to abduct her twins. I found the whole fairy and changeling thing quite confusing and having finished the book I'm still confused!