Book Review: The Last Mrs. Parrish

Author: Liv Constantine

Publication Date: October 17, 2017

Publisher: Harper

The mesmerizing debut about a coolly manipulative woman and a wealthy "golden couple," from a stunning new voice in psychological suspense.

Some women get everything. Some women get everything they deserve.

Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.

To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn't have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.

With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.

And she hoped that tomorrow night, there would be more fireworks than the ones in the sky.

That was the first time I saw it – that little smile that played at his lips, and the look in his eyes that read Victory.

She wanted to be very much out in the open, to be Mrs. Jackson Parrish.

Amber was already unzipping her skirt as she heard the lock click.

Lately I have been all about the thriller novels! Not only is it perfect for Halloween, but I would be completely and utterly shocked if Hollywood does not pick up this story for the big screen. Y’all, I am sitting here gushing out loud about what I just finished reading. I am so in love with this story and how it kept my attention the entire time. The characters were unreliable yet believable and enchanting yet repulsive. Amber is our leading lady and the character that causes all the drama. She comes to this quaint town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut and decides she has had enough of her ordinary, mundane life. She sets her sights on the elusive Daphne Parrish and soon wants everything that Daphne has, including her husband Jackson. There are subtle hints from the very beginning that Daphne is running from something and could have mental health issues or a dangerous past.

I love books like this one that feel like you are sitting and having a good ole’ gossip sesh with your best friend. It is a quick read and will be perfect for a chilly autumn day or a day laying in the sun on the beach. Small secrets are revealed as the plot unravels; some I expected, but some I never saw coming. Amber is understandably very distasteful; I mean she is trying to steal someone’s husband, but she also has a quality about her that makes you want to trust her or pity her. It’s like as the reader you know and can sense that she is crazy and a psychopath, but you still want to be her friend. This book was a perfect little segue into a week of Halloween/thrillerish reads for me!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Harper in exchange for my honest review***