Ooh, this is a difficult one to review.
A cracking plot with dark, twisty turns which is disturbing throughout.
I would recommend it but only to those people I knew could cope!
Many thanks.

A great book-plenty to think about as you continue to read. The deeper you get into the book the more of the unexpected occurs.
Fab read.
Thank you to both the publishers and NetGalley for gifting me the book.

I personally thoroughly enjoyed this book. So many twists and turns and ups and downs. Really want to read more by this author

Rose Gold Watts believed she was sick for eighteen years. Turns out her mother was just a really good liar. If you loved Lullaby, Good Me Bad Me and Sharp Objects, this chilling debut novel about a toxic mother-daughter relationship is for you. It’s a creepy, unsettling and twisted tale of reconciliation and revenge and is guaranteed to keep you turning the pages long into the night.

This is one of the creepiest and mind blowing books that I have read. It was absolutely compelling and I couldn’t put it down.
It’s hard to believe that this is a debut novel.

This isn't the sort of book I would usually go for, but it certainly drew me in and was a real page turner.

The book begins with the release of Rose Gold's Mother from prison where she's served a sentence for the aggravated abuse of Rose Gold, but she says she was innocent, despite Rose Gold testifying against her.

Rose Gold has a new life now and a baby, takes her Mother in to live with her when she's released from prison, despite misgivings from the neighbours and really all of the town. Then it seems like history might be repeating itself - can it happen twice?

So much more to the plot, but I don't do spoilers and really I want you to discover it all the way I did. I found myself turning the pages faster and faster until I got that sudden realisation of what was happening.

Absolutely brilliant plot to this book which I just wasn't sure which way it was going to go. I never tried to second guess it, I just went with it and enjoyed the story with my breath half held for what was going to happen.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

This is a book to devour in one sitting! I was desperate to know what was going to happen! My only niggle would be that I had read reviews/blurbs comparing it to Gone Girl so I was then trying to work out the angle - without success may I add!

The relationship between Patty and Rose Gold is fascinating and like a car crash waiting to happen. I felt sympathy for Rose Gold who is desperate for people to like her but not equipped with the life skills she requires to negotiate the tricky waters of friendship and familial ties. This made her a difficult character to like but I was still absorbed in the story and desperate for her to dish out some revenge.

Highly recommend!

I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. Dark and shocking I raced through it over 24 hours. Rose Gold is an only child bought up by her mother Patty. Patty's care for her daughter early on trips over into an obsession. Rose Godl's childhood is defined by hospital visits, emergency doctor appointments and life in a wheelchair with her scalp regularly shaved. Is there anything wrong with Rose Gold? When she is an adult and takes her mom in has Rose Gold forgiven her mom for her 'care' as a young girl? Pacy, satisfyingly shocking and superbly written. Read, enjoy (open mouthed!) and recommend like I did!

https://www.waterstones.com/reviews/the-recovery-of-rose-gold/stephanie-wrobel/9780241416068/161418#review-161418Hard to believe this is a debut novel - it has everything, great writing, original and compelling plot and some of the most twisted dysfunctional characters I have ever come across - it’s dark, sickening, claustrophobic and heartbreaking which despite (or probably because of) all of the above I thoroughly enjoyed it’s utterly brilliant - an absolute ‘can’t put it down’ book.

I was really looking forward to this story. The beginning and middle kept me reading but the end I felt was a letdown. The revenge plot line I felt was too far and seemed like it ended that way just to be shocking.

After not reading very much for a while, I decided to read this book!

I really didn't like Patti very much and started off feeling sorry for Rose Gold. But as the story went on I began to dislike Rose Gold too.

This book was about obsession and revenge.

I was really horrified by the whole story, and while compelling, I just couldn't get my head round 'why'

3.5*

The Recovery of Rose Gold makes for addictive reading, presenting an irrestistable blend of depravity, unreliable narrators, and a truly fascinating subject matter: Munchausen syndrome by Proxy.

In this book, from the very start, we are privy to perspectives from both Rose Gold and her mum Patty, who has been imprisoned for poisoning her daughter for many years. We soon realise she has Munchausen syndrome by Proxy, and is definitely a messed up character. The timeline jumps between present day, when Patty has just been realised from prison and aims to reconnect with Rose Gold, to the past when we see the events which led up to Patty’s arrest.

I loved the wickedness in these pages – there are some seriously odd and twisted people, not least Patty herself. As we continue reading we feel a constantly conflict between believing what Rose Gold says and starting to think that perhaps Patty is telling the truth about some elements… is Rose Gold as innocent as she seems? I swung from feeling sorry for certain characters to feeling a sense of dread at what they were planning to do next… This creates a satisfyingly bewildering story, where you never quite know who to trust, which I loved!

There are some surprises and twists in the plot, which I really enjoyed, and some parts that left me feeling very tense and on edge!

Stephanie Wrobel has created some truly wicked but engaging characters who I couldn’t get enough of. What an absorbing, addictive read – I couldn’t put this book down!

Thanks to Penguin UK and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book for review.

This story alternates between the viewpoints of Patty, and her daughter Rose Gold. It also jumps around to different periods of time. I found this slightly confusing.

Patty has served five years in prison for poisoning her daughter throughout her life. However, they seem to have rebuilt their relationship, and Patty goes to stay with Rose Gold when she’s released.

Nothing exciting happens for most of the book and it plods along. The last 20% or so has some drama but it was a bit far fetched for me and the ending felt lazy and unfinished. The plot was quite predictable so it lacked the suspense needed to grip you.

I didn’t like any of the characters, apart from the father. The reader is meant to dislike Patty but I found Rose Gold was so devious and nasty. Given her upbringing I wasn’t surprised, though.

Overall, the book was an easy read but not gripping enough for me and I wasn’t very interested in the characters.

Wow, not sure what to say other than this is one very twisty crazy book, with two crazy lead roles.

Rose Gold has spent her whole childhood thinking she was ill only to discover that her own Mother. Patty, has been making her ill for nearly 20 years !!

Patty has spent years in prison, for her abuse of Rose Gold, but is now due for release and Rose Gold has volunteered to take her in. People in the small town are disgusted that Patty is back and have made a promise to keep an eye on her to ensure she doesn’t start hurting her daughter again. How will the pair get on now they are back living under the same roof ? Can Rose Gold trust her mother, would you ?

We discover the ups and downs of their relationship and Rose Gold’s life via both Patty and Rose Gold’s point of view and we also discover more about the past via Rose Gold. This is a great twisty, crazy book that will have you thinking who is the most crazy - Patty or Rose Gold ?

Thank you to Penguin UK Michael Joseph and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

Absolutely thrilling, although slightly predictable at points. The momentum really carried me through; it had echoes of Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn so would definitely recommend for fans of thrillers.

This book is heavily inspired by the true life story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a woman who was raised to believe she had multiple medical issues and conditions, who eventually discovered that her mother had Munchausen's by Proxy and was essentially abusing her by making her sick for attention. Gypsy Rose was confined to a wheelchair, although she could walk, and due to malnutrition and the abuse, struggled to grow her own hair and had issues with her teeth. She didn't even know her real age. Gypsy Rose ended up killing her mother and the whole tragic story was revealed.

The Recovery of Rose Gold imagines what would have happened if Gypsy Rose had instead got her mother arrested and sent to prison for her abuse. At the beginning of the story, Patty Watts is just about to leave prison. She's sent the last 5 years behind bars for her systemic abuse of daughter Rose Gold, which she refuses to admit to. Having nowhere else to go, Rose Gold offers to take her mother in and give her a roof over her head until she can get back on her feet. But is Rose Gold interested in mending her relationship with her mother?

From the very first page of this book, I was hooked. The story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard has always intrigued and sickened me, from reading the initial Buzzfeed article that sent the story across the world to watching the documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest. So when I discovered this book on Netgalley, I knew I had to read it. It was such an interesting take on the story.

I completely hated the character of Patty Watts. I understand that the characters in this book are exaggerated from their real-life counterparts and we'll never know if Dee Dee Blanchard ever felt remorse for her actions, but Patty Watts was despicable. I really hated her.

I couldn't put this book down and can't wait to read more from this author!

Rose Gold Watts is abused by her mother throughout her childhood. Her mother makes everyone, including Rose Gold, believe that she is very ill, and she controls every aspect of Rose Gold's life. When Rose Gold realises she is perfectly healthy, she reports her mother to the police and Patty ends up in jail for 5 years.

The book is not directly about the abuse that Rose Gold suffers; instead it's about what happens to both Rose Gold and Patty when Patty is in prison, and after she is released. The story is very cleverly told from two viewpoints: Patty's story is told starting from when she is released from prison; Rose Gold's story is told from 5 years before that, when her mother first goes to prison and she is left on her own for the first time in her life. By the end of the book the stories have come to the same point, an utterly thrilling and shocking climax to the story.

The characters in this book are absolutely amazing. The whole book is built on the thoughts and twisted beliefs of the two main characters, and I was completely sucked in by it. I loathed Patty and was appalled by her and what she thought and did. I felt completely sorry for Rose Gold, I pitied her and found myself justifying her actions based on her shocking past. Even the supporting characters play perfect parts; they too feel sorry for Rose Gold and loathe Patty, but in the end they want to distance themselves from the whole situation, which is completely understandable and very realistic in my mind.

This book very much reminds me of the true story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, which was dramatised in the HBO show "The Act", which I loved and would highly recommend. Gypsy Rose was abused by her mother throughout her childhood. DeeDee Blanchard made everyone, including Gypsy, believe that she was extremely ill. Amongst other things she made Gypsy eat mainly through a feeding tube, take numerous medications, restricted her to a wheelchair and told her she was allergic to sugar so was not allowed anything which contained sugar. She also kept her head constantly shaved. None of this was necessary and when Gypsy discovered that there was nothing wrong with her she and her boyfriend, whom she met online, murdered her mother in 2015.

The story of Gypsy Rose is extremely shocking and one which is very similar to Rose Gold's in the book. There are obviously differences, mainly that Patty is not murdered but goes to prison, and this story actually tells the story of what happens to Rose Gold after Patty is incarcerated. So basically the author takes this story and imagines what would have happened to Gypsy Rose if her mother had gone to prison and she could have been free to live her own life. In reality Gypsy of course went to prison for the murder of her mother. I think is a really interesting thing for the author to have done, although actually there is nothing in the book to say that the story of Gypsy Rose has anything to do with the book, which is entirely fictional. But I think the similarities are too many for this to be a coincidence, and I really like where the author decided to take this influence from a real life story of tragedy.

I demolished this book, and read it as much as possible over a couple of days until it was finished. It really is edge of your seat stuff, full of horrifying moments and gut-churning twists. It's thrilling, saddening and very well written. This is definitely the best book I have read for a while and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good thriller or drama.

This is such a gripping novel that is both a thriller and an exploration about what makes a person the way they are. It follows Rose Gold and her mother Patty in the present day where Patty is released from prison after five years, having served her time for the abuse of Rose Gold throughout her childhood. It seems that Rose Gold wants to forgive her mother for all she did in making her very ill in order to get attention from others but all is not quite as it seems. Rose Gold is a very messed up adult and she seems outwardly to be forgiving of her mother but there is definitely something more under the surface. This is a page-turner and there are shocks in store but most of all it looks at what makes us the way we are – are we a product of our upbringing or are we born the way we are? I found this was a novel that hasn’t left me since I finished reading it, I keep thinking of Patty and Rose Gold. I definitely recommend this book!

Struggling to put into words how I feel about this one. On the one hand it was a powerful and impactive exploration of the effects of Munchausens by Proxy and the psychology of victim and abuser. On the other hand, it was pretty bleak and horrible reading at times. The sort of book you have to read in little chunks in order to make it digestible.

Patty Watts has to be up there with Annie Wilkes on the 'crazy characters' top ten list. She's terrifying. Her utter conviction that she hasn't done anything wrong, that everyone else is against her, is both frightening and utterly believable. We've all met people like that - the people who can't take responsibility for their own actions, who blame everyone else for their problems. Patty Watts just takes that to the furthest extreme. Being inside her head is deeply unpleasant at times.

Overall, it's an interesting book. Uncomfortable and jarring, building to a dramatic twist that I'm still undecided about. Part of me liked the way the little clues threaded throughout the narrative came together for the big reveal. But another part of me thought that the Hollywood drama wasn't necessary in what was already a fascinating study of a rare and horrifying disorder.

3.5 stars

My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my review copy.