REVIEW || ‘Darling Rose Gold’ by Stephanie Wrobel
I'm so torn on how I feel about this book right now. Did parts of it make me want to sink down in my shirt, hide away in cringeworthy horror and shower after I finished it? Yes, yes they did. But did I also obsess over it every second until I finished? 1000x yes.
★★★[3.5] Stars
“That’s what separates the sane from the not: knowing madness is an option but declining to choose it.”
—Stephanie Wrobel
★★★.5
3.5/5 Stars
Holy dysfunctional and damaged and broken and conniving and twisted, Batman. I'm so torn on how I feel about this book right now. Did parts of it make me want to sink down in my shirt, hide away in cringeworthy horror and shower after I finished it? Yes, yes they did. But did I also obsess over it every second until I finished? 1000x yes.
It's one of those reads where you almost feel guilty for loving it and enjoying it so much because the subject matter is dark, every character is super flawed and hard to root for, and it highlights retribution and revenge for a cathartic cleanse. But that being said, I did love it. I loved the writing. I loved the imagery. I loved the insight into the psychological breakdown of both minds. You're not just seeing the story from one side or another - you're given a front-row seat into the minds of both the abuser and the victim, and the character representing each of those tropes shifts throughout the book. You don't know who to root for, and once it's over, you'll have trouble figuring out which way is 'up.'
PLOT SPOT
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 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 begs her daughter to take her in. The entire community is shocked when Rose Gold says yes. And Rose Gold is no longer her weak little darling...
And she's waited such a long time for her mother to come home.
WINS
-alternating viewpoints between mother/daughter; great insight into both sides and phenomenal job at crafting the language for each character [inner dialogue was completely different for mother/daughter in terms of vocabulary, sentence structure, confidence, optimism/pessimism, etc.]
-it makes you think about how you'd react in this situation; I questioned so many things I thought I knew about myself and my personality. I honestly don't know what I would've done in Rose Gold's shoes.
-Rose Gold [finding inner confidence in her appearance and wearing/carrying her scars proudly (hide spoiler)]
-hella beautiful cover; might be my favorite on my bookshelf
LOSSES
-lots of heavy, heavy content [[abuse, trauma, poisoning, unhealthy family dynamics, suicide] (hide spoiler)]; key to the story, but the reader never gets a break from it
-a few details left unexplained [[eyes in the window specifically] (hide spoiler)]
-ending felt super rushed where other chapters provided extensive detail
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, I loved it. I'm telling my sisters about it and passing it on to them. If you can get past the triggering aspects of the book, it's a very enjoyable read that'll leave you thinking for days to come.
FOR FANS OF
REVIEW || 'The Girl Before' by Rena Olsen
“So how can my normal not be normal? If it is what has always been, isn’t that normal? And how can that be wrong?”
★★★★★ [5] Stars
“So how can my normal not be normal? If it is what has always been, isn’t that normal? And how can that be wrong?”
★★★★★
5/5 Stars
Holy dark&twisted, Batman! I consider myself a psychological thriller aficionado (because really, in this day and age, who isn’t?!), but “The Girl Before” took that genre to an entirely different level — and in the best way.
Without giving too much away, I can tell you the story revolves around Clara Lawson, a 23 year-old girl who finds herself taken from her home and led to a room for questioning. As she’s dragged from her home, she hears her husband urge her to stay quiet and say nothing…The chapters alternate between “now” and “then” to paint a perfect picture of Clara’s dark, disturbing reality.
Olsen does a brilliant job bringing Clara’s emotions and inner turmoil to life. Often times, I find myself wanting more in psychological thriller protagonists — more development, more raw emotions, more believable scenarios. “The Girl Before” left me with NONE of those feelings. Clara’s development through the novel progressed (and regressed) appropriately, and to me, it was exactly as it should be for a protagonist in her shoes. I don’t know that I would have changed a thing about the novel, and that’s a rare statement coming from me.
I hate that I read this so soon after it was published…now I’ll have to wait a hot minute for her next book. Good thing every author is on the dark & twisty bandwagon and there are (quite literally) thousands of options to keep me occupied through at least 2025.
**Sidebar: while this novel is amazing in every way, it does touch on some serious themes including rape, murder, kidnapping, human trafficking, prostitution and abuse. If any of these are triggers for you, I’d recommend skipping this read.
REVIEW || 'Pretty Baby' by Mary Kubica
“How much maltreatment and exploitation could someone handle before losing self-control?”
★★★ [3] Stars
“How much maltreatment and exploitation could someone handle before losing self-control?”
★★★
3/5 Stars
That quote perfectly encapsulates the heart and soul of Pretty Baby. After reading her debut novel, The Good Girl, I fell in love with Kubica’s style of writing. Finally I’d found a dark & twisted novel that didn’t feel like a stepchild to Gone Girl. (Speaking of…I really did enjoy Gone Girl, but I am so tired of seeing “Fans of Gone Girl, you’ll LOVE this one!” everywhere on the shelves of Barnes & Noble. Let. It. Go.) Anyways, when I realized Kubica published a second novel last summer, I nominated it as a “to-read” for my monthly book club. (“Book club” is a loose term – it’s more of a wine/dine club where three longtime friends casually discuss a book and how it compares to their lives, etc. Sometimes we even take prom pics on each other’s staircases…it sounded like a good idea at the time.)
We chose Pretty Baby as our December read, so I spent most of my holiday travel time reading it. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement; I had high hopes for Kubica after a strong first novel, but I’m sad to say she let me down. The story centers around Heidi Wood, a depressed woman with a severe savior complex, and Willow, a homeless teenage runaway with a dark and disturbing past. On the way to work every morning, Heidi watches Willow (and her 4-month-old baby) from her seat on the train, slowly working up the nerve to talk to the girl and offer help. Heidi’s innate need to save the world takes over as she invites Willow and the baby in to her home.
Tensions rise between Heidi and her family as Willow becomes a permanent fixture in their pricey, Chicago condo. After clues about Willow’s past begin to surface, Heidi ignores them and decides to live in ignorance of the truth. But which truth – Willow’s or her own?
That question makes the book sound more like an “edge-of-your-seat” gripper than it really was…everything from Heidi’s past was given to the reader early on (and then repeated MULTIPLE times), so I never felt the intended anxiety around her character. While I don’t pretend to understand what Heidi was feeling in terms of grief or depression, I can say that I found her coping mechanisms to be childish and selfish. Her neglect of her child and husband in favor of fulfilling her deepest desire really irked me. What happened to her at the end was neither surprising nor upsetting – it was fitting.
Willow’s story was tragic, and my heart hurt for her as I read each flashback of her childhood. I feel Kubica could have done so much more with this character – Willow was set-up to be a complex, multi-faceted character, and I feel she fell flat in the end. Really the novel’s ending fell flat in all accounts. Everything was predictable; I never really had that jaw-dropping, stomach-flipping moment I was anticipating throughout. Had Kubica tied together the loose ends (with Heidi’s best friend of her daughter, for example), I believe she could’ve crafted the perfect denouement to her sophomore work.
All in all, I give the book 2.5 of 5 stars. Fingers crossed that her next book (publishing this May) doesn’t leave as much to be desired…..regardless, I know I’ll be one of the first to devour it.
REVIEW || 'Inferno' by Dan Brown
“Dante's poem, Langdon was now reminded, was not so much about the misery of hell as it was about the power of the human spirit to endure any challenge, no matter how daunting.”
★★★★ [4] Stars
“Dante’s poem, Langdon was now reminded, was not so much about the misery of hell as it was about the power of the human spirit to endure any challenge, no matter how daunting.”
Let's just cut to the chase - I'm a Dante Alighieri fanatic. I have read The Divine Comedy in its entirety several times as well as Vita Nuova. Inferno is one of my favorite literary works of all time. My high school literature teacher is to thank for my continued obsession with Dante and his classic works. My obsession carried through to my college studies - I went as far as adding a much needed cultural break to my strict, rigid journalism courses by enrolling in a course entitled "The World of Dante." Needless to say, when my mother received the "pre-sale" email from Barnes and Noble regarding Dan Brown's newest work, she forwarded the purchasing information to me immediately!
As a true book nerd and lover of the written word, I'm ashamed to admit that until I read Dan Brown's Inferno, I had only watched the movies based on his controversial, critically-acclaimed novels. The arguments and debates surrounding his earlier works inspired me to dive in to Inferno head first.
My initial thought upon closing the book - I feel as if I have just visited Italy. Having never actually been to Europe, it was hard for me to picture all the different locations. Sometimes Brown's descriptions were a bit too lengthy. At times, it appeared he only added details to extend the length of the novel. I know he intended to paint a perfect picture for the audience, but it was a bit too tedious for me.
The premise of the book was absolutely fascinating and timely. I thoroughly enjoy books that I cannot predict, and Brown's Inferno perfectly satisfied that love. I actually really enjoyed Sienna Brooks as a character. Her frailty as a young, misunderstood woman really appealed to me. Though she developed very little, I feel she grew more than any other character in the novel. Brown exposing her motives and the desires that drove them was a refreshing relief. My loathing of her deceptive character greatly diminished, and I actually began to understand her actions (not saying I agree with them, just saying she made me think).
Overall, this book has convinced me to read his other novels. Not my favorite read of all time, but it was definitely intriguing. It gave me an opportunity to live through Dante yet again. Any book that gives me that chance has a permanent place on my bookshelves.