Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
Patty Watts was arrested and charged with poisoning her daughter, Rose Gold.
An alleged case of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, Patty was purported to have been abusing Rose Gold her entire life.
As a late teenager, Rose Gold confesses some things to a neighborhood friend and the adults around her end up putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Ultimately, Rose Gold testified against her Mother in court and she was sentenced to five years. As you can imagine, this has led to an estranged relationship.
Darling Rose Gold follow two perspectives, both Patty and Rose Gold.
We follow Patty after she is released from serving her time and Rose Gold after her Mother is prosecuted up through the present day.
As Patty is released, she is picked up outside the prison gates by Rose Gold. It seems during the interim of her time away they have begun the process of healing their relationship.
Rose Gold is now a mother herself, of little Adam, and has purchased her own home. Since Patty has nowhere to go, it is decided that she will move in with them until she can get back on her feet.
This book is full of messed up twists and keeps its intensity throughout as the timelines come closer and closer to merging.
I love this type of format. I always end up racing through so fast to get to that climatic scene at the end.
About mid-way through I knew hoped I knew where this was going. It went there and I was hella happy about it.
A revenge story is one of my favorite tropes of all time. This one satisfied me in that regard and was full of masterful manipulation.
I have often mentioned that I love a good long-game; this story had that in spades. Well played, Wrobel.
There were definitely parts that made me uncomfortable, particularly the focus on Rose Gold’s ruined teeth, but I understand where the author was coming from in framing it that way.
Rose Gold and Patty definitely shared one of the most f*ed up relationships I have ever read. It’s also one I remember for a long time.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Berkley Publishing Group, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to more from Stephanie Wrobel.