Tag: contemporary fiction

#BookReview The Recovery of Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel @MichaelJBooks

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The Recovery of Rose GoldAbout the 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 mum, Patty, 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 a smidge inconvenient because Rose Gold wants to be free of Patty. Forever.

Only one Watts will get what she wants. Will it be Patty or Rose Gold. Mother, or daughter?

Format: Hardcover (352 pages)       Publisher: Michael Joseph
Publication date: 5th March 2020  Genre: Contemporary fiction, thriller

Purchase links*
Amazon.co.uk | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Recovery of Rose Gold on Goodreads

My Review

I first became aware of this book whilst browsing the programme for last year’s Henley Literary Festival. The Recovery of Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel (along with the yet to be published Conviction by Hope Adams) was one of the 2020 debuts featured at the Michael Joseph Proof Party held aboard the river cruiser, Hibernia. You can read my review of the event here. Hearing Stephanie talk about her book made me keen to read it. I’m only sorry it’s taken me so long to do so.

Told from the alternating points of view of Patty Watts and her daughter, Rose Gold, the reader is witness to a chilling, sometimes unnerving, but always enthralling battle of wills. Both women have plans to which they allude in ominous fashion. Lines such as, “A rookie doesn’t challenge a master” or “Wattses are nothing if not meticulous”. It’s difficult to warm to either character but, as more and more information is revealed, it’s also difficult to forget they are both damaged and vulnerable individuals.

There’s a saying there are two sides to every story but are either of the stories the reader is hearing the truth? I suspect that, like me, readers may find their sympathies shifting back and forth between Patty and Rose Gold at different points in the book. I particularly liked the voice the author creates for Patty with her caustic asides about her neighbours and the neighbourhood (the perhaps appropriately named Deadwick). I chuckled at her observations on the town’s ‘Christmaspalooza’. “Two little boys hop off Santa’s lap after their parents take four million pictures. What happened to one and done? They’re not going in National Geographic, for Pete’s sake.”

From time to time, the author plays with readers’ expectations of the genre. For example, commenting about a particular character that in any other story they would turn out to be a serial killer.

20200306_121947At one point Rose Gold reflects, “People didn’t get excited by stories of forgiveness. They wanted bridges to burn. They wanted dramas that made their own lives seem normal.” If you want drama, a chilling insight into obsessive behaviour and a story with plenty of twists and turns, then The Recovery of Rose Gold is the book for you.

I received an uncorrected (signed) proof copy courtesy of Michael Joseph.

In three words: Dark, twisty, compelling

Try something similar: Real Life by Adeline Dieudonne

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bio-grid-2_FINAL_kindlephoto-496953907About the Author

Stephanie Wrobel grew up in Chicago but has lived in the UK for three years with her husband and dog, Moose Barkwinkle. She has an MFA from Emerson College and has had short fiction published in Bellevue Literary Review. Before turning to fiction, she worked as a creative copywriter at various advertising agencies. (Bio/photo credit: author website)

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#BlogTour #BookReview Distorted Days by Louise Worthington

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Distorted DaysWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Distorted Days by Louise Worthington. Do check out the posts of my tour buddies, Julie at A Little Book Problem and Gina at Insatiable Readers. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to participate in the tour and to the author for my review copy.

51l8f8qK2tLAbout the Book

“If she could speak to them, she would say they have exploded her heart, released firecrackers through her senses. She wishes she could call the police, the ambulance, the fire brigade, to arrest and anaesthetise and waterboard the bastards.”

So what happens when your husband runs off with your best friend? When you discover the dead body of an old man halfway through your delivery round? When your house is burgled and you get beaten up? Doris, Andy and Colleen are about to find out. They’re also about to discover that you can find friendship and support in the oddest of places…

Heart-rending, humorous and above all authentic, Distorted Days is an exquisitely written account of the ways in which life can knock you off our feet – and how you can pick yourself up again. If you’ve experienced the fickleness of fortune, this is a book that you’ll never forget.

Format: ebook (164 pages)                        Publisher: PublishNation
Publication date: 28th November 2019 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Find Distorted Days on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

My Review

In Distorted Days the reader follows the fortunes (or misfortunes) of a series of characters connected in one way or another: working in the same place, shopping in the same supermarket, living in the same street.
Given some of the subject matter, I can’t say Distorted Days is laugh out loud funny – with the notable exception of Doris’s rude nicknames for her husband, John, and (former) best friend, Lisa! However, there are certainly moments of – at times, black – humour and some acute observations about how people interact in real life, such as Doris’s preparations for her telephone calls with her mother.

The writing has some quirky touches such as the repetition several times of certain paragraphs in those chapters written from the point of view of Doris. At least, I’m assuming that was deliberate on the author’s part and not just an error with my copy!

As the characters encounter unexpected challenges in their lives – infidelity, bereavement, unemployment, depression, addiction – the interest comes from seeing how they face up to them and how the social connections they’ve made grow from passing contacts to something deeper and more valuable.

In three words: Poignant, insightful, quirky

Try something similar: The Widow’s Mite by Allie Cresswell

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Distorted Days Author PhotoAbout the Author

Louise is the author of Distorted Days and Rachel’s Garden of Rooms. The Entrepreneur will be available later in 2020. ‘The Thief’, a short story published by Park Publications, is available to download from her website.
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Before writing full time, Louise worked mainly as an English teacher after getting a degree in Literature and later, studying business and psychology at Masters level. Louise grew up in Cheshire and now resides in Shropshire.

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