The annoying thing about one book having two different titles is that you’ll end up misunderstanding how many library copies there are. I searched for this book under “Darling Rose Gold” and thought that there weren’t many copies available, but then I searched by author name and found it in the library I was visiting!

Anyway, I don’t know why I did that because this is one of those books that are uncomfortable to read and I basically sped through the book because 1) I wanted it to be over quickly 2) I really wanted to know what happened.

Rose Gold Watts is a victim of munchausen by proxy. For the first eighteen years of her life, she thought she was a very sick girl, only to realise that her mum was the one making her sick. Now, she’s twenty-three and her mum is coming out of prison. Surprisingly, even though Rose Gold testified against her at the trial, she’s welcoming back her mother into her and her son’s lives. And Patty Watts, Rose Gold’s mum, is ready to take back control of her family.

First things first: this is a book filled with deeply unpleasant people. I didn’t like most of the characters in this book – Patty is an abuser and Rose Gold is so damaged she doesn’t know how to deal with people (not her fault, but she is not a character that you want to spend time with). This extended to the side characters; Alex, Rose Gold’s only ‘friend’ doesn’t actually like her, and Rose Gold’s biological father and his family are pretty shallow people who only want to reach out as far as they feel comfortable instead of actually supporting Rose Gold through her trauma. (Note: I may be misreading the side characters because the book is told through Rose Gold and Patty’s eyes, but that’s how they came off to me)

As someone who normally needs to like or sympathise with at least one character to finish a book, why did I continue to read this? Because I wanted to know what happens. Why would Rose Gold take her mum back in? Is Patty going to be able to control Rose Gold again? It’s a power struggle between the two and even though all of Rose Gold’s flashback chapters were painful to read (she really did not have a good time after her mother went to jail), I was still hooked.

Overall, this was a pretty heavy book. It deals with how mother-daughter ties can be destructive and pushes the tension all the way to the limit – You shouldn’t be reading this if you want to be uplifted, but if you want to know how bad it can get, you may be interested in this book.

Featured Image: Photo from Canva