BLOG TOUR & REVIEW: Little Darlings by Melanie Golding @crookedlanebks @mk_golding
Little Darlings
by Melanie Golding
Publisher: Crooked Lane
Publish Date: April 30, 2019
Hardcover
304 Pages
Standalone
Genres: Thriller, Mystery
“Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Grimms’ Fairy Tales.
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 our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking―and rechecking―your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.
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 our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking―and rechecking―your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.
*Photo Credit: Michelle Calverley
Melanie Golding is a graduate of the MA in creative writing program at Bath Spa University, with distinction. She has been employed in many occupations including farm hand, factory worker, childminder and music teacher. Throughout all this, because and in spite of it, there was always the writing. In recent years she has won and been shortlisted in several local and national short story competitions. Little Darlings is her first novel, and has been optioned for screen by Free Range Films, the team behind the adaptation of My Cousin Rachel.
My Review:
First of all, this is a debut novel?! DANNNNGGGG. Marketed as a thriller/mystery type book, this also has elements of dark fairy tale and paranormal tendencies. I've always been fascinated with fairy tales, their dark undertones and the changelings! So win, win, win!
I can only imagine going through a pregnancy with twins, having a little bit of a rough birth, lacking sleep, having a husband who isn't the most helpful (good god, Patrick - what is WRONG WITH YOU!) and then everyone telling you that you're hallucinating because of your lack of sleep. Doesn't a mother just KNOW?!
Lauren is being visited/harassed/terrorized by a smelly woman with two twins of her own. Let's trade one.. that way we'll have one of each - that way at least one of each gets the good life. Why should YOU have all the good stuff? I'll make them look the same... I promise.... WOAH. Then the one day Lauren FINALLY gets out of the house.... well, she never should've fallen asleep. Now she can't seem to convince anyone that they're not her babies and the thing she's going to have to do to get them back... well, if she IS wrong, then this will be a catastrophe.
The only person who seems willing to help her is Harper and she is being told to STAND DOWN. Case is closed and determined a mental health issue but as a woman and almost mother herself, she knows in her gut that she needs to stay with this case. Can she save the babies in time? Can she save Lauren?
We get a bit of story with Harper which gives it an almost series feel - but this standalone works well. I felt for Lauren, I loathed Patrick... and though I was a little underwhelmed with Harper, I did enjoy her as a character. Maybe her story could've been detailed a little more. However, the meat of this story is at the heart of these twins and Lauren's journey to get them back.
A fascinating tale and a thoroughly enjoyable read Highly recommend for those who love that little bit of darkness in their fairy tales and a compulsion for the changeling story.
★★★★
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