This book was such a disappointment .Was really looking forward to it since there are not alot of fiction books about munchausen by proxy, though maybe there are more and just not heard of them.I signed up for that aspect of it because even though it is something horrible that happens it is still in a strange way interesting to dig deeper into and read about. The first issue is that everyone ,and I mean everyone ,in this book is beyond unlikeable . For the most part I do not have a big issue with that.In fact there are quite a few books that I like or love that have horrible or just characters that are meant to be unlikeable. The difference in those cases is that those characters are written super well, which in this book they are unlikeable and not written well. I am all for making characters flawed but most of the characters here are just super terrible people with little to no redeeming qualities or shades of grey to their personality. I can give the book making her mother an awful person considering what the book is meant to be about but then it is oh no her mom is awful and her dad she has just meant again is secretly awful even though he started off wanting to get to know her and this is before Rose Gold gets all super damn creepy. I can sort of get not being ready to fully bring her into the family or want her on the family trip but just he seems to put up a wall to wanting to get to know her soon after finding her and just in the context of the book it is ummm then what was the damn point in going up to talk to her or seeking her out? Also for good measure her friend(s)are assholes too. Course that is not enough and her boss is awful as well because why the fuck not. Will get back to Rose Gold but yeah for the time being yeah she is awful too.

Second the book take a strange turn some what through where it becomes less focused on the issue of munchausen by proxy, and more a revenge plot. Again , if it was written well could be interesting but just it comes out of no where here and just for the character makes no damn sense in my opinion. This is when I get back to Rose Gold . Again I don't have an issue with the author wanting to make the story into a revenge plot. In many , many respects Rose Gold has a million reasons to want to get back at her mother. The issue is she goes way too far. Mostly for the fact that she stole a freaking baby, passed it on as her own and then framed her mother for doing the same crap again The main thing I feel with revenge plots in books and movies is that you root for the person getting the revenge . Maybe they are not always just . They do not have to be but for the most part feel the plot and character makes you feel they are right in their actions. Here though I can just not explain away or root for her when she stole a freaking child, explained it to be her own . Just it colors how I see her as a character. I don't cheer on her revenge plot no matter what she has been through and no longer feel at sorry for her. That just hate the narrative of those that have dealt with abuse in some way will either do the same as their abusers or worse.

In short, just was overly disappointed in this. The characters were overly poorly written, over unlikeable to the point I stopped enjoying reading about them . They did things that really did not make sense even in the context of the story. Will see if there are others books about similar issues.

Now this is the kind of debut novel I have been wanting to read lately! It seems that a lot of the books I've read have been hit or miss. Either very good or very bad. But this was absolutely wonderful! It made me deeply uncomfortable, which was the point. I compare it to watching a slow motion car crash, you know that only bad things are coming but you can't bear to look away either.

I truly love a book that has a flawed narrator, not being able to fully trust the story they are telling you adds an interesting element to the story. But what happens when you can't trust any of the narrators? That makes for a fascinating story.

Reading Patty's narration was sort of like rolling around in mud. It sticks to you and makes you feel gross. Even though you tried to shower it all away, there's still the odd smudge of grossness here or there that makes you feel disgusting all over again when you discover it. You know that she isn't telling the truth. You know in your heart that she did all the horrible things that Rose Gold says she did. Part of you really wants to see her punished for it. As a mother, I was thoroughly rooting for her demise.

Then we have Rose Gold. Her anger and need for revenge is entirely justified. She found out that her mother permanently ruined her life. Her teeth are rotting out of her head, everyone knows too many details about her childhood, and she will forever be the girl that her mother created. I really rooted for her, but as the book went on I found it harder and harder to do that. More and more she was reminding me of her mother instead of her mother's victim.

I did not see the ending coming. Parts of it yes, but the thorough depravity of it surprised me. And it was wonderful to see how all the pieces played out. But this is also where the book lost a star for her. I found it hard to believe that the police would buy that Patty had forced Rose Gold to take a specific action a full month before she got released from prison. Surely they would have been ever slightly suspicious of the timing on that right? But apart from that, it was a wonderful book. I will be keeping an eye out for this author in the future.

Stephanie Wrobel introduces a fresh perspective into an exhausted topic with her novel Darling Rose Gold. The past few years has seen the market glutted with depictions of the fascinating and disturbing psychological disorder Munchausen By Proxy.  In actuality an extremely rare disorder, it involves a primary caregiver who intentionally harms a child in order to gain attention and sympathy (a grossly oversimplified definition).  Most of the popular stories are sensationalized accounts with a clear female perpetrator and a victimized child, low on nuance and high in shock value.  Darling Rose Gold is both more original and interesting than the typical offerings and is well worth exploring as a result.  Providing an interior view of both the mother and the child as a grown adult, Wrobel shows how the pathology emerges and the resulting long-term damage it inflicts on both characters.  The novel begins as Patty, the mother, is being released from prison five years after her daughter Rose Gold has provided testimony against her.  Surprisingly, Rose Gold has seemingly not only forgiven her, but is also accepting her back into her home despite the abuse she suffered.  The emotional stakes are increased further by the presence of Rose Gold’s newborn-who the reader fears will fall prey to the unrepentant Patty.  The author alternates between narration from both women’s points-of-view, using flashbacks to develop some background and provide insight about the intervening years.  Wrobel thereby shows the genesis and extent of Patty’s unhinged thoughts in the context of her own childhood abuse and demonstrates Rose Gold’s stumbling entry into independent adulthood.  The novel’s best chapters are those in which Rose Gold struggles to compensate for the external and internal scars she still carries while dealing with a lingering rage that she has no idea how to healthily express.  Both women are treated cruelly by a community that cannot comprehend the monstrosity produced by this disorder and are confused by Rose Gold’s seeming naivete.  Patty defiantly tries to insert herself back into her old environment without admitting guilt, and Rose Gold desperately attempts to be accepted but is challenged by others’ alternating pity and judgement.  There are occasions in the book when the shifting perspectives and timeline jumps can be a bit confusing to the reader, but the resulting disorientation is satisfyingly resolved and helps to maintain a heightened sense of tension and suspense. Excellently plotted and climactic with some truly surprising elements, Darling Rose Gold is perceptive and empathetic in dealing with a topic that has suffered from too much attention with insufficient depth.

Thanks to the author, Berkley (Penguin) and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.