DARLING ROSE GOLD BY STEPHANIE WROBEL

Darling Rose Gold is a ripped from the headlines thriller and I enjoyed every single minute of it. This is the authors debut novel and I am so excited to see her career take off because of it!

Rating: ★★★★
​Release Date: March 17, 2020
Genre: Domestic Thriller. Based on a true story. 
Series: None. Complete standalone. 
Pages: 319 pages
Format: eBook. ARC

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.

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​Release Date: March 17, 2020
Actual Rating: 3.75 stars

Domestic Drama/Thriller | Based on a True Story

Darling Rose Gold is a “ripped from the headlines” debut that chronicles the aftermath of a munchausen by proxy case. I’m sure many readers have heard the case of Gypsy Rose and Deedee Blanchard as there have been movies and true crime shows about them. If you haven’t you can read about it here >> Gypsy Rose Crime Case . This book is NOT a true crime book and it’s NOT a story about that specific case, but as far as I can tell it is based on it. Not all the particulars are the same of course and this book can stand fine on its own without any knowledge of their story. It is interesting to read though, and I found myself to be rather gripped by the plot and the way it delivered.

Darling Rose Gold has all the trimmings of a great domestic thriller. Family woes that drive the characters actions, hidden secrets and obvious truths, enticing family drama that makes you want to grab a bag of popcorn and watch with shocked expressions, and a gratifying ending after an angst filled twist! None of the characters are particularly likable in this book but readers can find loose connections with them out of pity. Some may think that doesn’t make for a great book but in this case it REALLY does. I never felt the need to HAVE to like the characters I only needed to find some UNDERSTANDING about their motives. If an author can deliver this as Stephanie Wrobel does, then you know you have a winner on your hands.

While this may not have been a five-star read for me, it definitely was an engrossing one. I read this book in under 24 hours because I was hooked to the story line. I love a book that’s based off the truth (even if it’s loosely based on the truth) and the author made this one just as intriguing as if it WERE real. The entire plot leaves a sense of dread sitting in your stomach (kind of like you have a hard lump of coal there) and watching the spectacular twist at the end makes said coal disintegrate. I LOVED THE ENDING. Most readers won’t necessarily feel shocked with it as it’s somewhat predictable, but the way the author pieced it all together was PERFECT for the story.

With all that being said, I found this book to be a solid debut and I’m looking forward too many more books by the author in the future. I’d especially love to see some more “ripped from the headlines” type books because I find them to be sensational!

★★★★

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