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Title: The Last Mrs. Parrish
Author: Liv Constantine
Narrators: Meghan Wolfe and Suzanne Elise Freeman
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Thriller
Audience: Adult
Format: Audiobook
Content Warning: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Abortion, and much more
My Review:
So, I have a problem with these “Girl” or “Woman” books that have been everywhere the past several years. Do we have a genre name for them yet? You know the ones. Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and on and on and on. I just can’t get into them. I loathe the characters. That’s exactly the point, but when I don’t like toxic people in my real life, why would I invite them into my reading life? That space is sacred. Anyway, I tried both Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train and gave up quickly.
I stuck this one out. Since I didn’t finish the other two, I don’t know how similar they really are and whether my comparison is fair, so don’t take my word for any of that. I don’t know why this one worked. Maybe the third time was the charm? Or maybe this book gave me just enough hope that all was not as it seemed that I actually wanted to know how it ended? Who knows.
I still loathed the characters in this book. There are essentially three parts and the first two dragged on too long but I could have used a little more time with the resolution in the third part. I suspected the general ending very early on but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it.
To say more would give plot points away, but this is a decent beach read. The narrators of the audio book did a great job as well.
Synopsis from GoodReads:
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.
Similar Books:
If you liked The Last Mrs. Parrish, you might also like my reviews of
- Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy
- Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Purchase:
Buy The Last Mrs. Parrish from Malaprop’s Bookstore in beautiful Asheville, NC or
I’ve tried various contemporary thrillers, and they just don’t seem to be my thing, either. (Though I haven’t tried either of the “girl” books you mentioned yet. Maybe someday… I am curious to know what all the hype is around them. I just don’t know if I’m curious *enough*.)