ARC Review: Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel

Shelly's Book Corner received a review copy from Berkley and voluntarily provided an honest review. This does not affect the opinion of the book or the content of the review.

Mothers never forget. Daughters never forgive.

In her compulsive, sharply-drawn debut, Stephanie Wrobel peels back the layers of the most complicated of mother-daughter relationships.

For the first eighteen years of her life, Rose Gold Watts believed she was seriously ill. She was allergic to everything, used a wheelchair and practically lived at the hospital. Neighbors did all they could, holding fundraisers and offering shoulders to cry on, but no matter how many doctors, tests, or surgeries, no one could figure out what was wrong with Rose Gold.

Turns out her mom, Patty Watts, was just a really good liar.

After serving five years in prison, Patty gets out with nowhere to go and begs her daughter to take her in. The entire community is shocked when Rose Gold says yes.

Patty insists all she wants is to reconcile their differences. She says she's forgiven Rose Gold for turning her in and testifying against her. But Rose Gold knows her mother. Patty Watts always settles a score.

Unfortunately for Patty, Rose Gold is no longer her weak little darling...

And she's waited such a long time for her mother to come home.

Book Review:

Wow.

This book.

What. A. Dark. Twisted. Thrilling. Ride.

So we have Patty Watts who has just been released from prison after serving five years for child abuse against her daughter, Rose Gold. With nowhere else to go Patty ends up staying with her daughter and all I can say is let the games begin!

This book was something else and both characters are out of their minds and I loved EVERY stinking minute of it! I wonder what that says about me…but anyway. Once I started this book I couldn’t put it down because I had to figure out how this was all going to play out. I had to read the ending twice because I was NOT expecting this book to go the route that it did. Talk about jaw dropping.

This reading year has been less than stellar with very few 5 star reads and I can now add this book to the list of reads that blew me away. For a debut novel, Stephanie Wrobel has knocked it out of the park with her superb storytelling and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.