Stephanie Wrobel | DARLING ROSE GOLD

Plot (via Goodreads):

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.

Review:

I am a true crime junkie and I am unapologetic about how much I just love all things true crime. Do you want to know what else I love? Psychological thrillers. Well, with Darling Rose Gold it was like Stephanie Wrobel combined the two and sent me into another world. Reader beware, this novel is beguiling, sensationally written, and my house could've caught fire and I would have had a hard time putting it aside. Easily one of my top psychological reads ever, this is captivating from the beginning, features dual perspectives that makes it even harder to put down, and features a sensational prose. At the time of writing this review, this title isn't even out yet and I'm already dreaming about what Wrobel will do next.

This is obviously Wrobel's take on the Gypsy Rose story and yet it definitely had its own personality. Rose Gold and Patty were two vivid characters that will grab a hold of you quickly and tighten their grip with every page. I don't want to give anything away, but this novel just really had it all. The characters (even the secondary ones) were all so well-written that it was nerve-wracking to even think that his is a debut novel. Every single person played their part brilliantly and all played such a great part with this story. When I was reading this one, I noticed such dimension with the characters that with both of them, I saw so many good and bad traits that at times I wondered who the villain truly was. I loved how Wrobel used the characters to tell the backstory to this one, but not focus on it so heavily that it drowned out what was happen in the present time and the timeline of this novel was not confusing or overdone in any way possible. I unfortunately started this one on a Monday evening, which I hate doing because if I get really wrapped up in a story, then I hate myself for all of the times I have to put it down - but, no fear because I finished it the same evening. I read it while I was eating dinner (which gave me a major complex), I took a hot bath with it in my hands the entire time, and I brought it to bed with me to send me off into a deep slumber that only a fantastic story or a full meal can give you. So thank you, Stephanie Wrobel; you brought me on one hell of a ride, made sure my Monday didn't suck, and also gave me one of the best stories I have ever read.

If you're looking for a unique, complex, and riveting story that doesn't involve murder or is unlike anything else you've read before, Darling Rose Gold is the book you will bring with you everywhere, tell all of your friends about, and read more than once. I cannot commend Stephanie Wrobel more on how brilliant of a storyteller she is and I am letting you all know, wherever she goes from here, only fantastic things are to come from this sensational new voice with a seductive prose and a devilish imagination.

Special thanks to Berkley Publishing for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5