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| Little Darlings by Melanie Golding (April 30, 2019 / Crooked Lane Books) ** I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ** |
Goodreads Summary:“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.
My Review:Holy cuckoo crazy cakes! I needed to take a minute to reattach my head before I wrote this review. What I thought was going to be just another take on the oh so overused unreliable female narrator trope turned out to be a wonderfully creepy novel that jumped right onto my list for favorite books of the year.
In this spooky tale a sleep deprived new mother of twins believes a woman is trying to steal her babies and replace them with creatures. While her less than supportive husband wants her to stop making such a fuss and get down to the business of mothering, a curious detective starts digging into the mother's claims.
Disney fairy tales are one thing but Grimm's fairy tales are...well...grim. While there has been an explosion of fairy tale retellings in recent years no one has done quite what debut novelist Melanie Golding has by inventing a totally new psychological horror story. Just like the Brothers Grimm, Golding has managed to play on our fears, twist our thoughts, and cause the hairs to stand up on the back of our necks. Disturbing in the best possible way, I am recommending this to everyone...except new mothers!
After a little research I learned that Golding was inspired by the ghostly folktale ‘The Brewery of Eggshells’ (read it HERE, the accompanying illustration alone is enough to give you a nightmare) which she includes in the novel. She has also received a movie deal for this story so I'll be keeping my eye out for that.
1 comment
I must read this! Thanks.
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