Since the early 1940s, THE GOLD ROSE, a secret rescue agency with Asian origins, has used unique systems to ferret out and save victims in every corner of the world. Charlotte Hunt-Basse faces dangerous and often deadly challenges in her decade as an agent with the agency, not the least of which was the rescue of two of her assignments, Pinkie and Babe.    Two-year-old Pinkie is discovered abandoned on a dirt road during a violent storm. She is whisked off to Mexico by oil heir Clint Sutton and his girlfriend, Angelina, as they attempt to escape the lies of Clint's father's second wife. Three years later, Pinkie is stolen away to Argentina by an aging Romani. Pinkie suffers from the malice of her captor but wins the fatherly love of a Buenos Aires circus owner and his fiance. Shortly after landing in the crosshairs of THE GOLD ROSE, Pinkie's life takes two more shocking twists. When the agency locates Pinkie again, Agent Charlotte must throw all caution to the wind to rescue her.    Babe, the child of Texas-based missionaries, is hidden by two Chinese families during the Japanese invasion and ensuing Communist takeover of China. She is forced by the second family to live incognito as a "boy" for several years to save her from soldiers invading China from the North. Martial arts are banned, but the grandfather of the family teaches Babe Yǒng Chūn in deepest secrecy. The civil war escalates, and Babe finds herself on a dangerous quest for survival as she journeys alone through enemy territory toward the faintest hope of rescue.    SECRETS, SURVIVAL, AND TRAGEDY! Award-winning Author Jodi Lea Stewart delivers another thrilling must-read novel. Stewart's writing in this book is fantastic. We have multiple POVs and multiple timelines all interwoven to take us through the experience of each character. Chapters are clearly marked with a date and POV so there is no confusion when the story shifts. The timeline constantly moves between the years 1937 to 1959. We get glimpses of what life would have been like during the Communist takeover in China. People were brutalized and stolen and brainwashed to think that what was happening was right. Being wealthy was a crime, and everything you had worked for was seized by the party and redistributed. It really re-awakens a realization of how horrible communism is and how many people died during the Great Leap Forward, a man-made Communist famine. Babe and Pinkie's stories evoked strong emotions with me as a mother. I just kept imagining what I would do if my daughter was taken from me and I had no idea where to look for her. Both Babe and Pinkie are immensely strong girls. They live through many atrocities and yet they come out so much stronger in the end. Their stories are extremely sad and I wish that no one would ever have to live such a life. This book ended on a high note with an amazing revelation, and all the questions we had from the start were answered. My only complaint is I wanted more of The Gold Rose Agency, I wanted to see their inner workings in action during the novel. We get snippets, but in the end, I felt that we were told and not shown much about the organization. ‼️Please check trigger warnings‼️ ~ Twanette Bester, Book Reviews of Instagram The Gold Rose is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble online and on the authors website- jodileastewart.com The Gold Rose by Jodi Lea Stewart is a gripping tale chockful of intrigue and a story with strong, mature themes. Charlotte Hunt-Basse works for ROSE International, a secret rescue agency veiled as an international horticulture enterprise and funded by some of the wealthiest people in the world. 1958, Agent Charlotte is stuck overnight in dire conditions due to bad weather. The dangerous work she has done for the agency the past decade begins to come to mind. 1941. During a violent storm, two-year-old Pinkie wanders away from a tragic scene into a dirt road. Found by Clint Sutton on his way to Mexico with his girlfriend Angelina, the oil tycoon takes the baby with them. Angelina is supposed to keep the child only temporarily, but Clint doesn't come back for them. The child is stolen by a Croatian Romani and taken to Argentina. ROSE International is out to get the child, but the captor is very slippery, succeeding to move Pinkie to Brazil. Can the child be saved? Against the backdrop of war in 1945, Babe, the child of missionaries based in Texas, is hidden within a Chinese family as the Japanese invade China. The child moves from one foster home to another after a tragedy and is forced to disguise herself as a boy. When Babe's life is threatened by the matriarch of her foster family, now a powerful communist, she must follow a secret code from a rescue agency and navigate treacherous landscapes to reach Hong Kong. Jodi Lea Stewart's The Gold Rose is a riveting story that features relentless conflict at multiple levels. The key characters in the story are at their most vulnerable when readers enco