The Recovery of Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel
Morning BookWyrms,
With the help of NetGalley and Michael Joseph (an imprint of Penguin Books) I've been on a bit of a fantasy hiatus reading Stephanie Wrobel's debut novel The Recovery of Rose Gold.
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.
Anyway, I digress, here is the blurb:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rose Gold Watts believed she was sick for eighteen years.
She thought she needed the feeding tube, the surgeries, the wheelchair . . .
Turns out her mother is a really good liar.
After five years in prison, Patty Watts is finally free. All she wants is to put old grievances behind her, reconcile with her daughter - and care for her new infant grandson.
When Rose Gold agrees to have Patty move in, it seems their relationship is truly on the mend.
But Rose Gold knows her mother. Patty won't rest until she has her daughter back under her thumb. Which is inconvenient because Rose Gold wants to be free of Patty.
Forever.
Only one Watts woman will get her way.
Will it be Patty or Rose Gold? Mother or daughter?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 'surprise surprise' 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/s?k=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
With the help of NetGalley and Michael Joseph (an imprint of Penguin Books) I've been on a bit of a fantasy hiatus reading Stephanie Wrobel's debut novel The Recovery of Rose Gold.
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.
Anyway, I digress, here is the blurb:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rose Gold Watts believed she was sick for eighteen years.
She thought she needed the feeding tube, the surgeries, the wheelchair . . .
Turns out her mother is a really good liar.
After five years in prison, Patty Watts is finally free. All she wants is to put old grievances behind her, reconcile with her daughter - and care for her new infant grandson.
When Rose Gold agrees to have Patty move in, it seems their relationship is truly on the mend.
But Rose Gold knows her mother. Patty won't rest until she has her daughter back under her thumb. Which is inconvenient because Rose Gold wants to be free of Patty.
Forever.
Only one Watts woman will get her way.
Will it be Patty or Rose Gold? Mother or daughter?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 'surprise surprise' 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/s?k=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
Interesting. Think I will read
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