#BlogTour: Little Darlings by Melanie Golding @MK_Golding @HQStories @AgentMilburn #LittleDarlings

Today is the day! It’s my turn to host for the Little Darling blog tour and aren’t I excited. Not only did I love Little Darlings by Melanie Golding BUT it was also my first book review as a blogger all the way back in November. I’d like to thank HQ Stories for inviting me to be part of the tour and sharing again why you, YES YOU, should read this novel, as well as approving my request on Netgalley many moons ago. Little Darlings is a debut that was published in hardback, e-book and audiobook format on the 30th of April. You can grab yourself a copy here!

Melanie Golding 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.
Her first novel, Little Darlings, was published by HQ in the UK in May 2019, and by HarperCollins Canada and Crooked Lane Books US. Little Darlings has been optioned for screen by Free Range Films, the team behind the adaptation of My Cousin Rachel.

Lauren Tranter has given birth to twins; Morgan and
Riley. She is exhausted and needs to rest. One restless
evening in the hospital, Lauren meets a woman who also has twin boys. The strange woman threatens Lauren, that if she leaves her twins are left alone they will be swapped for her own cursed twins. After seeking helps from the hospital staff, police and her husband, no – one believes that the woman was real and suspects that Lauren is hallucinating due to her lack of sleep. That is until (policewoman’s name) looks at the CCTV footage and is unsettled about what she sees.
During a stroll at the local park weeks after the hospital incident, Morgan and Riley disappear, only to reappear somewhat changed. As everyone celebrates the safe return of the twins, Lauren begins to scream “these are not my babies”. Determined to bring her true infants home where they belong, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she is wrong, she will be making the biggest mistake of her life.

Let me just pick myself up off the floor and shake of the shock! What a debut and a half, I bloody loved it. In this taut unsettling thriller “Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning. Melanie Golding has done a fantastic job in creating a twistingly dark novel that is extremely well written, that garbs and keeps fixed the readers attention. I spent the majority of the book cuddled up in a blanket due to the goosebumps this read provoked.

The majority of the narrative is from Lauren, the mother of the twins, point of view. As a mother myself, I identified with some of the post- pregnancy thoughts and feelings of exhaustion that Lauren experienced. You just can’t help but sympathise for her.
Little Darlings was inspired by dark fairy tales and twin folk tales, frequently referring to tales of changelings; children that have been secretly substituted by fairies and elves during infancy. The storyline made me question whether Lauren was in fact having a psychotic break due to postnatal depression or if there was in fact a figure after her twin boys. I even thought I had guessed it, with Lauren having a split personality! This is one of the many reasons why I thoroughly enjoyed the book; it was unpredictable and will have you needing a recovery period from book-shock / book hangover. I’m a greedy reader, so I do wish there had been a ‘one year later’ type of epilogue, but a lack of one doesn’t affect the overall reading experience at all.

If you’re looking for a nightmarish fairy-tale read that will chill your spine, Little Darlings is the read for you. If you love myths and folktales with a disturbingly airy atmosphere this is 100% a read for you! I definitely recommend it!

Extra reading?
A Brewery of Eggshells:http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cft/cft28.htm

You can follow Melanie on Twitter @MK_Golding for all bookish updates!