Rose was likable during the initial Lily/Rose storyline when she was a refreshing reminder of all the ridiculous thing Lily had been doing the past 15 years without ever getting called out on -- for example, "Your mother got me a beautiful necklace and she kept apologizing, 'I know you don't like presents.' Ya don't like presents? What's the matter with you?" And it was fun to see Martha Byrne get to play a role completely different from Lily.
After the initial Lily/Rose storyline, however, Rose got increasingly obnoxious and I disliked how she became the main Martha Byrne character at the exclusion of Lily, and Lily was only ever allowed to appear wearing brown (truly the 21st century's version of the "Marley wig.") When Rose was killed I was thrilled, and I found it to be two years overdue.