The Recovery of Rose Gold is a very strong psychological thriller. In fact, it is very shocking that this is only Wrobel's debut. Rose Gold is a victim of Munchausen by Proxy. Her mother led Rose to believe she was very sick leading to a life of wheelchairs, feeding tubes, surgeries - all unnecessary. Patty Watts, Rose's mother, goes to prison for five years and hopes to reconcile with her daughter. Will Rose get free of her mother or will she get pulled back into Patty's control? If you know the Gypsy/Dee Dee story, just know that this story will still shock you. Filled with plenty of twists and an unpredictable ending, readers will be hooked. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy psychological thrillers.

Wow what a rollercoaster. I really enjoyed the dark menace of the characters in this very well written psychological thriller. Who is the baddie? Who is the one you should believe? Great suspense and a very satisfying read.

There's a saying that goes something like 'a love between a daughter and her mother is like no other.' Well, that certainly is the case for Rose Gold Watts and her mother, Patty, only in the most twisted sense ever! These two certainly take mother and daughter relationships to a whole new level, and it is disturbing, dark and downright nasty. More or less since the day she was born, Rose Gold has been abused by her mother, who deliberately poisons her, makes her sick, confines her to a wheelchair and even convinces doctors to insert a feeding tube. After serving time in prison for her crime, Patty is reunited with Rose Gold and their story continues. I loved this book, and would highly recommend it.

A page turner of a book. A fascinating tale about how you recover from being a victim of Munchausen by Proxy. I was gripped by the story and the two main characters, the mother and daughter involved in the case. Each of them had their own agendas but I couldn't wait to find out who would come out on top. Brilliant..

I really enjoyed this very cleverly written book. It certainly gave me pause for thought and I thought the ending was very apt.

I think this is one of the freshest takes on the psychological thriller genre I've read in a long time.

The Recovery of Rose Gold is a story of revenge being a dish best served cold.

The UK cover and title differ from the US/Canada copies, here is the link to Wrobel's website where you can see both side by side:

https://www.stephaniewrobel.com/

I'm not sure why this has been done, as I'm in the UK and I prefer the US edition. But both are lovely to look at which is just such a perfect juxtaposition to the contents of the story and the ugliness that is told between the pages.

Quick list of trigger warnings - abuse, mental health, eating disorders, family abuse, suicide.

I don’t know about you but I find that thrillers, psychological thrillers and modern day mystery stories can be a bit hit and miss. Either I find the plot lines to be too 'far fetched' and end up eye rolling my way through the main characters trials and tribulations or they are ' too predictable' and I end up losing interest when <i>'surprise surprise'</i> it turns out that the villain of the piece was the husband/boyfriend/crazy ex girlfriend all along.

This means that every time I pick up a thriller I go in almost with narrowed eyes and bags of skepticism.

Well, let me tell you that The Recovery of Rose Gold is different. It is a page turner. It is blindingly, uncomfortably, brilliantly complex and fascinating.

I sped through all 352 pages in one day! I could not put it down.

I don't want to give anything away but if you liked Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn then this is right up your alley.

The Recovery of Rose Gold is not a nice story. It is the kind of story where you don't really end up liking any of the characters. It's the kind of story that makes your skin crawl and makes you shout at characters that can't hear you and wouldn't listen even if they could.

I didn't connect with any of them, as I said I didn't even like them, but that didn’t stop me rooting for one of them to come out on top.

I devoured this book chapter after chapter almost desperately trying to figure out what Patty's plan was, or what Rose Gold would do next, or even what the hell was wrong with Rose Gold's father. If anyone reads this book and wants to discuss this part, I would be happy to, because I have opinions on that man!

The writing is excellent and having both Rose and Patty's chapters helps to keep the story fresh and flowing. It also helps to build the tension and intrigue.

I don’t want to say too much and give anything away but I wasn't disappointed by this read and that surprised me, in all the best kind of ways. I am looking forward to seeing what Wrobel does next because she has come out swinging with this debut.

Here is the link to pre-order as the book publishes on the 5th March 2020 (UK):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/sk=the+recovery+of+rose+gold&crid=8YJQFAHJYWXT&sprefix=the+recover%2Caps%2C155&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_11

Thanks again to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for letting me read and review this book.

As always, keep on reading,

Lottie

Thank you to Penguin UK and the author for an advanced readers copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Description 🔖

Rose Gold (yes that is her name) has had a very difficult childhood filled with illness and confinement from her peers and the world. Her mother Patty was her care giver, guardian and unfortunately, her poisoner. Patty had been poisoning her daughter from a young age in order to keep control. Patty is subsequently imprisoned for her heinous crimes but when she is released five years later, it is Rose Gold who is there to collect her at the prison gates. Can mother and daughter rebuild their relationship?

General Thoughts 🤔

Wow. That's all I have to say to start off with. 

As soon as I read the blurb for this book I knew it was going to be right up my street and I was 100% right. I could not put this book down. As soon as I had started I was in, hook, line and sinker. It's sick and twisted and cray cray and bizarre and everything that I love to read about. Just when you think it can't get any more psychotic, it does and you turn those pages and quicker and quicker and quicker.

Characters 👫👭👬

The story is all about Rose Gold and Patty. There are characters on the periphery but they are for sure there just to support the story. In all honesty, neither Rose Gold or Patty are likeable character but my word are they fantastic characters to read.

Patty is one sick lady. Not only has she committed crimes that would turn the stomach of most people and against her own daughter, she is in complete denial about it. 

Rose Gold is a product of her upbringing. How anyone could go through what she did as a child and turn out a model citizen, I'm not quite sure. However this girl is one on her own and she takes scorned to a whole other level. That said, out of the two, Rose Gold was the only one I had sympathy for.

Writing Style ✍🏽

The book is written from the perspective of both mother and daughter in alternating chapters. The chapters also jump around in timeline between Patty's time in prison and post-release. Hats off to Stephanie Wrobel because managing two characters perspectives and a jumbled timeline can't be easy to write but it came off perfectly. 

I loved the voices of both characters. Both Patty and Rose Gold seemed flat and cold to me with very little emotion within either character. Ordinarily I think that would make for uninteresting reading, but with this book, it just works. 

Stephanie Wrobel; I don't know where you came up with this story, your mind must hold some crazy crazy stuff. Thank you for sharing with the world!! Us crazies love it. 

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

If you've gotten this far in reading this review you won't be surprised by my scoring. I adored this book and I haven't read anything quite like it in a long time. The sicker the better for me and this book is sick. I'm expecting to see this book do exceptionally well in 2020 and I'll be recommending it to anyone that will listen to me.

Interesting premise, and a few twists in the tale - but all the characters were unlikeable, and while there was some time spend on people’s history, for me so many questions and reasons for actions went unanswered; the detail was in the wrong places.

OMG this was one complex, twisted and completely compulsive read with a jaw dropping finish that gripped me from the first few pages and then I just flew through the book.
It’s an almost impossible read to describe as not only is very very clever it’s also dark, full of suspense with one of the most wicked plot lines I have ever read.
Revenge is sweet they say well your going to have to read this book to see if you agree and my god you are in for one hell of a ride so buckle up your seat belt and have some fun with this one because it’s disturbing yes but it’s also so much more than that and I loved every damn page.
So a massive 5 star read and many many thanks to Stephanie Wrobel who has excelled herself with what is sure to be a enormous hit and well deserving of it.
My thanks also to NetGalley and Penguin UK, Michael Joseph for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow, what a page turner. The darkest of family relationships I’ve read for quite some time! This will do for mother / daughter relationships what Gone Girl did for husbands and wives!!
Great characters, a gripping plot, and a rip roaring read.

There is a lot of hype surrounding this book, so my expectations were high. I was promised a dark and psychologically disturbing story of an abusive mother, Munchausen's by proxy, the revenge and subsequent redemption and recovery of Rose Gold and settled down to devour the dark tale.
Rose Gold has had the misfortune to be born into a truly dysfunctional family, but I found this was described in a very superficial way. Rose Gold's parents could have been presented in a more nuanced way that acknowledged the cycle of abuse and its repercussions, providing a potential conflict in my responses towards these characters, but they were pretty one dimensional. Even Rose Gold herself, who I should have felt pity or sympathy or empathy towards was actually just really unlikeable.
I didn't enjoy the book at all and felt that it's hasty plot and one-dimensional characters were a missed opportunity to bring something new to the table.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

This book had me gripped. The Recovery of Rose Gold is a creepy story of a twisted toxic mother and daughter relationship. The author has done a great job of building up the tension throughout the story, a brilliantly disturbing psychological thriller.

A book with a very strange twist. I felt real empathy for Rose Gold at the start of the book but as it progressed her real character started to emerge and the saying like mother, like daughter came to mind. I really didn't anticipate some of the events or the revenge that motivated Rose Gold to behave like she did. If you like a thriller which isn't predictable then this is the book for you.

What an amazing read. After a long time I read a book that kept me engaged for the whole time. The story revolves around Rose Gold and her mother Patty. It’s a complicated relationship and how the story unfolds. A fantastic read. Highly recommended!

Love, love, loved this book. Absolutely brilliant, so dark n creepy yet fast paced, I devoured it in one sitting, a big twisted tale. Fabulous! I will be shouting recommendations for this.

This is so creepy and you know it right from start... mother imprisoned for abusing her child is unaccountably picked up by her daughter on release. All smiley, with grandson in back .. all unaccountable despite the set up ... berry persuasive dialogue and situation .. and creepy like mad .. two damaged women circling reach other with baby in between. Draws you in despite yourself ...

I received and ARC copy of this and really enjoyed it.

We first meet Rose Gold as she prepares for the release of her mother, Patty, from 5 years in prison. But why would Rose Gold be welcoming her mother home when she had spent the last 18 years making her believe she was ill?

Rose Gold spent her childhood wheelchair bound, being fed through a tube and having her head shaved. If her mother was so bad why would she forgive her? Or has she?

Told from the perspective of each Watts woman, past to present, we find out what is really going on. Who is lying? Who can be trusted? What other secrets lie unknown?

Sometimes an uncomfortable read due to the subject matter this was still an enjoyable book. Each Watts woman wasn't exactly likeable but due to the great writing I still felt myself going through lots of different emotions towards them. The twists, turns and secrets had me hooked till the end.

Highly recommended read.

A chilling and creepy read, dismal but gripping. Definitely one you will either love or hate, but I found it deliciously fascinating. Will be reading a second time.

This was a chilling and creepy read! What happens to a child raised by a mother with munchausens by proxy? I’ve never thought about the psychological effects for the victim, only the physical ones. This was a fascinating book.

“Rose Gold Watts believed she was sick for eighteen years. She thought she needed the feeding tube, the surgeries, the wheelchair. Turns out her mom, Patty, is a really good liar.”

First and foremost, thank you to Jen Porter and the rest of the team at Michael Joseph for giving me an early proof of this book - I have no doubt it will go far with its publication in 2020.

In a market saturated by thrillers, I had some reservation whether Wrobel’s debut would hit the mark, but it exceeded every expectation and more. This will be *the* thriller of 2020.

Rose Gold spent the first two decades of her life believing she was incurably ill with a chromosomal abnormality, entirely dependent upon her mother, Patty. This dedicated mother never missed a hospital appointment and could recite Rose Gold’s list of ailments as easily as the alphabet, but when Rose Gold digs deeper, she discovers that her mother orchestrated each and every illness.

Poisonous Patty, who has Munchausen by Proxy, is convicted with aggressive child abuse and is imprisoned for five years. With her release date looming, both women want to reconcile. However, is true reconciliation possible when both characters are mentally deranged and driven by a sick desire for revenge?

Split between the alternating POVs of Patty and Rose Gold the plot unfolds at an incredible pace, making this book engrossing and impossible to put down. The characters and narrative twists gave insane an entirely new definition. A purely gluttonous thriller about vengeance and obsession that lingers long after the covers are closed.

“The bond between a mother and daughter is sacred. You know better than anyone that no matter how awful they are, we still find it in our hearts to love them.”