Little Darlings

Product Information

After the birth of my first child, I found myself crying uncontrollably. I was exhausted, confused and afraid of absolutely everything. On top of the hormonal crash that comes after giving birth, for most people there's also the pure terror of being wholly responsible for someone else's wellbeing for the first time in your life. Unless you were previously a carer, the emotional shift that comes with knowing the responsibility falls entirely on you changes you beyond belief. The novel tells the tale of new mother of identical twins, Lauren. She is married to a handsome man who is supportive of Lauren's new role as a mother until she begins to think someone is out to kidnap her babies and replace them with something sinister and not quite human. Lauren seems to have some postpartum depression and even Detective Harper, assigned to her case after she attempts to drown her children, thinks Lauren is just imaging the creepy woman with 'things' in a basket that aren't quite babies. I don't suggest you read Little Darlings if you are pregnant, especially close to the end. And.please wait until six weeks after your baby is born until you read this book. But read it you must. Especially if you don't believe in fantasy, like I did. Now I do. The characters are so well developed you could think they are real, they all have their things and manias and quirks and are very much alive, and you can feel what they go through easily.

If Grimms' Fairy Tales and The Changeling had a twin babies, Little Darlings would be those babies. Making matters worse, one night an intruder breaks into her room, a very scary, ragged-looking woman, tries to take her babies, to exchange them with her own evil little monsters.

I think this book captures all that. Maybe the woman is real and this is a dark fairy tale, and maybe she is not and this is just a book about a woman struggling with mental illness. But it actually doesn't matter that much. The fear - of getting it wrong, messing up, of losing your baby, of not being a good mother - all of that is very real either way. I found it highly effective. Golding had first begun working on a short story about changelings set in the modern day because the folklore frightened her, which became much longer than she originally planned. While researching for the story, she found that similar folktales were common across cultures. [5] She wrote the novel as part of her master's degree in creative writing at Bath Spa University. [6] This was posted as part of my book review of Little Darlings on October 11th, on Cole Campfire Blog at the link below. Thank you! Ending: An ending that left us with a little bit of mystery to ponder that I was totally satisfied with interpreting on my own. Dark, richly evocative, tense, and thought-provoking. Taps into every woman's fear that she will not be believed."

Destiny's mother was so irresponsible and didn't seem to think about her daughter when she made decisions, especially when she got into a random car late at night.

Double Act won the prestigious Smarties Medal and the Children’s Book Award as well as being highly commended for the Carnegie Medal. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People’s Choice Award. Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Lauren has newborn twin boys. One night, in the hospital, she sees an ugly woman who also has twin boys. The creepy woman wants to switch her babies with Lauren's. Lauren called the police, but no one believes her story because nobody saw anything. Everyone says Lauren is exhausted, that she needs rest. But Lauren knows what she saw, and the things are getting worse. Deep. Dark. Utterly addictive. I read this extraordinary book in one breathless gulp… Be warned—you can't unread this story. It will haunt you.” As a mom of four I remember the sleep deprived feelings, forgetting what day it even is, never having time for a shower or to read even a magazine or newspaper and the constant needs of a newborn. I can’t even imagine the exhaustion of this new mother of twins.

I liked Joanna, but occasionally her personal thoughts and relationship woes didn’t really interest me, or add anything much to the story. All her fretting about her feelings slowed down the momentum, occasionally breaking the carefully woven spell. Jo had some far more interesting event in her past that could have been explored more deeply. I didn't think her character was given enough depth, where there was some big potential there. I admire the atmosphere. The story includes dark fairytale and folklore elements. Those are incredibly creepy in it. I didn't feel fear, but I had goosebumps. It sends shivers down my spine. I told you, that wasn't them," said Lauren, "whatever was in that stroller. They've been swapped. They're evil those things, they're not my babies." Thank you so much to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with an early copy to read and review. What I loved was how Golding keeps the reader guessing throughout the book. Is there truly evil, dark magic at play or is Lauren herself mentally unstable and dangerous? I thought the ending was well done, clever and satisfying! I enjoyed the excerpts throughout - they added valuable insight to the fairy tale angle and definitely upped the creepy factor.Overall, Little Darlings is an intense and atmospheric thriller and does a great job in combining folklore with reality, which was unique. Fans of psychological thrillers will love this one. When Lauren reports having a visit in the night from a sinister character carrying a basket of twins that she plans to replace Lauren's twins with, the story is dismissed as ludicrous. Hospital staff, as well as her husband, think Lauren is just hormonal and exhausted after giving birth to twins.

Dragon Awards Winners". Locus Online. 2019-09-03. Archived from the original on 2021-07-11 . Retrieved 2023-07-04. 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.The main idea of the book is based on the European myth of the Changeling, an evil fairy who abducts babies and leaves in their place its own creatures. ( more about that here) I recommend this book for readers who love dark fairy-tales, mothers who aren't weirded out by horror books about babies and anyone who likes a good shiver. I understand this book may be made into a movie. I will be interested to watch it! Thank you to Melanie Golding, Crooked Lane books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. This is so damn chilling and creepy. The atmosphere, the perfect pace and personable characters, make it hard not to get caught up in this story. Its that good.