Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel

Until she was eighteen, Rose Gold Watts thought she was extremely sick. She was tiny and weak, needed a wheelchair, couldn't keep food down, and went with her mother from doctor to doctor seeking answers. Then, someone helped her figure out what was going on. Her mother was making her sick. Patty Watts was a good actor. She was persuasive, an inveterate and skilled liar. She preyed on the weaknesses of others, even doctors, slyly suggesting possible ailments and quickly disappearing when a doctor became suspicious.

Patty went to prison for 5 years for abusing her daughter. Now, she's been released. Rose Gold is the only person she can possibly stay with. Their relationship has improved, recently, and Rose Gold now has a baby. She's more mature now and willing to take her mother in, although she has a few strange habits that Patty doesn't understand.

Rose Gold has had a hard time adjusting to adulthood, having missed out on her childhood and interaction with others. In flashbacks, slowly moving forward through time to when Patty is released from prison, the reader finds out what's happened to Rose Gold during the time her mother's been imprisoned. And, in alternating chapters, the tension builds as Patty plots her revenge and observes her daughter's weak points.

Throughout Rose Gold, Patty slowly worms her way back into Rose Gold's affections. But, what is Rose Gold up to? Why does she lock her door, even when she leaves the house? Is Rose Gold what she appears to be?

Highly recommended - The only reason I didn't give Rose Gold 5 stars (I gave it 4) is because there are so many yucky people in the book. Occasionally I found myself wishing someone, somewhere would do something kind and good for Rose Gold and eventually that happens, but even the nicer characters have their bad side. That made it a slightly squirmy, uncomfortable read.  Both characters are unreliable in their own ways, though, and that unreliability really made the pages fly. Rose Gold is an "I just have to know what will happen" kind of book, so very compelling and gripping. Even though it's clear that Patty was making Rose Gold ill and deserved her jail sentence, her internal monologue is confusing enough to cast doubt. Squirmy or not, Rose Gold was wonderfully tense and the ending is incredibly satisfying. Read this one when you're ready for a fast-paced, creepy and suspenseful read.

My thanks to Berkley Books for the review copy!


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Passengers by John Marrs

The Passengers by John Marrs is set in the near future. There are five defined levels of driverless cars, from Level 0, in which the driver performs all tasks, to Level 5. Soon, all cars will be Level 5, totally autonomous with no manual override and no steering wheel. As the day begins, the author introduces readers to 8 characters who are boarding fully-autonomous cars. Some of the characters are uncomfortable with the lack of manual override; some are fine with it or even appreciate the freedom to read or do other tasks instead of paying attention to the road. The setting is England.

In Birmingham, there is a court in which the responsibility for autonomous automobile accidents is decided and Libby Dixon has jury duty. Libby was the witness to a horrific accident and knows how such cases can turn out. Now, Libby will have to share her opinion about similar cases between autonomous cars and pedestrians or other vehicles that are not autonomous. She has her suspicions that not everything is on the up-and-up in this court.

Back to the 8 passengers. After all the passengers have been on the road for a while, a hacker takes over their cars, one by one, and claims that he will crash them into each other in about 2 1/2 hours. Soon, the passengers will all be dead. But, he's taken over the airwaves. Now, the people in the autonomous accident court and viewers across England have no choice but to choose one person to live. The hacker provides proof that there is no way to rescue the occupants of the autonomous vehicles.

What's the hacker's objective? Will anyone survive?

Recommended - I had some minor issues with this book, the main one being that it was just a little too far-fetched for me. Some of the victims were chosen at random, according to the hacker. But, he knew intimate details about the lives of most of them and chose to only release partial information, just enough to make them all look guilty of something. In the end, I understood the point the hacker was trying to make. It's really a book about how a small percentage of people controls the vast majority of what happens to the population, how limiting information available can provide a skewed viewpoint, and how difficult it is to get all that across to the populace. I think that's the theme, anyway. I don't want to give away what's being manipulated and why he's trying to draw attention to it because that would ruin the story, but I will say that I found the book a little awkwardly written yet difficult to put down. And, the one thing I loved best about it was that the author managed to keep surprising me. I have a tendency to guess what's going to happen in a suspense, so I always appreciate an author who can surprise me.

I received a copy of The Passengers from Berkley Books in exchange for an unbiased review. My thanks to Berkley! I've already picked out the person I'm going to pass this book onto and I can't wait to hear his thoughts.

While I was in the midst of reading The Passengers, a friend wrote a comment to me on Goodreads to tell me John Marrs is one of her favorite authors. I love it when that happens!

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

Amy and her best friend Charlotte are preparing for the neighborhood book group when a stranger, the current occupant of the rental home down the street, barges in and takes over, sweeping up the women into a game in which they confess their dirtiest deeds. But, Amy has worked hard to bury her secrets and create a calm, ordinary life with her husband, a stepdaughter, and a baby boy.

Roux is beautiful but sinister. Amy is suspicious of her from the moment she walks in the door. And, she's right to be nervous. When Roux brings up one of Amy's two darkest secrets and tells her what she wants, though, Amy is not going to fold over like Roux's usual targets. Roux has no idea what she's gotten into. Because Amy is willing to play her game. And, she means to win.

I'm going to stop right here and tell you that I'm giving away next to nothing because I think it's best to go into Never Have I Ever knowing as little as possible so that you can enjoy the unfolding plot as much as I did. The only thing you really need to know is that Never Have I Ever is a fantastic read.

Highly recommended - Absolutely captivating! Never Have I Ever is next-level writing for Joshilyn Jackson, in my humble opinion. Not so much cat and mouse as two cats circling each other with their tales fluffed. Which will pounce? Who will flinch You are always aware, as you're reading, that either woman could win. Roux has clearly targeted people before. But, Amy is no ingenue. She has lived through the pain of knowing what she did wrong in the past; and, she's both tough and wily. A new favorite.

I received an ARC of Never Have I Ever from HarperCollins in exchange for an unbiased review (and without anticipation of the sleep it would steal). Many thanks!


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Freefall by Jessica Barry

Freefall by Jessica Barry begins with a bang. After Allison survives a plane crash into a Colorado mountain, she can't sit around waiting for rescue. She must run for her life. She scrambles to gather anything from the wreckage that will help her survive, with the plane beginning to burn and every moment in danger that it will explode, then takes off into the woods, wounded but determined.

Maggie hasn't seen her daughter for 2 years and is shocked to find out that she was engaged and looked totally different from how she looked when Maggie last saw her. She was thinner, blonde, movie-star beautiful. From a phone call she learns the magazine she worked for closed long ago. Ally's former roommate has no idea where she's gone. What happened to Allison between the time she left home, as her father lay dying, and the plane crash?

When a single body is found and it's not Allison's, Maggie refuses to believe her daughter is dead. But, her investigation into what happened to Allison may put her own life in danger. As Allison races to escape from a killer, Maggie slowly discovers the answers. Can Ally survive long enough to protect her mother?

Highly recommended - I couldn't put Freefall down. A very gripping story, nicely plotted, with hints dropped slowly enough to keep the pages flying. I had some minor issues with details but nothing worth mentioning. Good suspense and the basis for Allison's survival and the final scene both have a decent backstory that makes them believable.

My thanks to HarperCollins for the ARC of Freefall. Freefall is a January, 2019 release so it should already be available at your local bookstore or library.



©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.