Little Darlings

Product Information

This is a great freaking book. I loved it and would definitely recommend it to any reader who likes dark, slightly scary, content! First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing an advanced copy of LITTLE DARLINGS in exchange for an unbiased review. I really appreciate the opportunity to read this book before it is released. All opinions that follow are my own.

Ending: An ending that left us with a little bit of mystery to ponder that I was totally satisfied with interpreting on my own. This novel has supernatural aspects that were handled skillfully and believably. Supernatural elements are usually a turn-off for me, but they were presented in such an intriguing and fascinating way, that I was completely drawn into the plot and invested in the characters. Lauren’s reflection had deep shadowed holes where it should have had eyes. A vision of horror. She turned away.”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. I am not super into scary stories but this one had just the right amount of thriller and mystery, with maybe a sprinkle of Stephen King creepiness! If you want a fun and spine-chilling read look for this book in stores May 10, 2019. What I Liked Most: This is a book that was hard to put down. The writing was excellent and flowed beautifully. Was it kind of creepy? Sure. When I read the tag: Horror, along with Mystery, and Thriller, I wondered how I'd missed that important word, since horror is the last type of book I'd choose to read. (But maybe I'm confusing that genre with horror movies that I see advertised. Anyway, nothing gory, and nobody carrying a chainsaw! To my great relief! Teehee.)

Lauren is understandably exhausted after giving birth to twins, but enough to imagine she saw a woman enter her hospital room and attempt to swap out her babies? Lauren insists someone is out to steal her twins, but the only person who is giving her the benefit of the doubt is Joanna Harper, the officer who responded to Lauren’s initial emergency call.As the story progresses, Lauren’s entire experience with motherhood is nothing but complete torture - enough to drive anyone over the edge. As if reading about someone being driven to the brink of insanity isn’t terrifying enough, add some supernatural, Grimms’ fairy-tale-esque elements to the story in the form of a creepy stalker who reeks of fish, leaves slithering silverfish in her wake and has twin eel-like creatures in a basket that can talk, and I wasn’t only anxiety-ridden, I was completely traumatized! (And also very, very grateful I can read about such dreadful misery and not actually live it.) My biggest issue is the ending. It is wildly open. I thought I would get a specific plot-twist or a satisfying explanation. I usually enjoy it if the author leaves open a book. I'm so sorry, but I don't like it here. I needed some straight answers. I can't quite believe how selfish Sunset's mother was as she put what she wanted before her children's needs. She also complained the father couldn't look after the children when she clearly couldn't either. That this book and French's new one (which I requested but wasn't given) are two of only three books that I've requested from publishers lately is telling (not that there aren't others I've been interested in, but really trying not to take as many ARCs until my physical to-read pile has decreased).