The Last Mrs. Parrish

Publisher's Summary

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 toward, 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.

©2017 Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Up in the Air

Part 1 was so hard to get through. Amber is the most unlikeable character- which was the point- but so much so that I almost didn’t want to continue with the book. Part 1 also draggggggs, whereas part 2 is quicker paced and in my opinion a bit better from Daphne’s pov as opposed to Ambers whiny ass. Overall I don’t get the raving reviews. Maybe it is because I listened to this book after the wife between us? Not sure but it was hard to get through, Part 2 & 3 almost made it worth the million hours Part 1 dragged on.

41 of 42 people found this review helpful

The house of lies!

First I loved this story and narration.
We follow Amber, who is tired of her boring life. She wants a glam life, and is far from it.
She befriends the most popular women in Bishops Harbor, Daphne Parrish.
Daphne is everything Amber is not. A mother, rich, sophisticated, wealthy, popular and loved by all.
After these two meet, the naive Daphne becomes close with Amber. Shortly after becoming best pals, Amber is considered a part of the family.
Amber then starts getting close with Daphne's husband, Jackson, and their children.
From the moment the two women meet, their life begins to spiral out of control. Soon the whole Parrish family is twisted in lies, and manipulation.
At first I was beyond annoyed at how naive Daphne was, but she is smarter than what you may think.
I honestly did NOT see the twist coming in this book.
It was a great story, that kept me hooked. I listened in the car, at work, doing house chores etc.
I love when a book grabs me, and this one did. I ended up finishing this book in a day and a half , and was sad when it was over.

202 of 211 people found this review helpful

Not for me.

I forced myself to finish this only because I wanted to be a good book club member. I did not grow to like a single character in the book, not even the children. A story about two narcissistic sociopaths, with the male villain so disgusting I wished I could skip whole chapters. Not until chapter 63 or so did I even have any curiosity about how it would end. When it was finally over I only felt relief to leave behind these sordid characters.

85 of 91 people found this review helpful

Decent story brought down by unsophisticated writing

The story wasn’t too bad, but the writing was. Use of the word “sumptuous” so many times it was clear the author could not think of a better descriptor. Unceremoniously switching between first and third person came across as lack of continuity and editing. Over-explaining the characters’ thought process instead of allowing the narrative to unfold organically. No clear voice to narrative. Very immature writing style.

The story itself could have been interesting, dark, convoluted, Machiavellian almost - if we could have gone deeper into the character’s mind instead of having every sentence read like “she stopped to think about how she felt this way because someone made her feel this way, and then she reminded herself to feel a different way, and then she felt better, and then she smiled to herself because she felt better about the thing.” It just didn’t dig deep enough to be impactful or compelling.

11 of 11 people found this review helpful

So happy to be done with this book.

Ugh...I have no idea why people are recommending this book. I found it predictable, obvious, and written at such a rudimentary level. Characters were one-dimensional and the story felt like a bad soap opera plot.This book is basic at best.

119 of 128 people found this review helpful

I give myself 5 stars for finishing this insipid book.

The narration makes this weak book nearly unbearable. The story is predictable and the writing is cliche.

82 of 88 people found this review helpful

Ugh! Don't Buy This Book!

After reading glowing reviews of this book that included comparisons to "Gone Girl", "Girl on the Train", and even the "Talented Mr. Ripley", I was sold. But after struggling to finish this book, I felt duped. The story is ridiculous, predictable, and unoriginal. The plot and the characters are cliched. There is absolutely nothing positive I can say about this book. If I could give zero stars, I would. Save yourself the credit and 12-hours of your life, and don't buy this book.

45 of 49 people found this review helpful

Holy $h*t... I wish I could UNhear this one!

I almost couldn't get past part one, but I pushed on and made myself finish this very long and almost unbearable story...I wish I hadn't

72 of 79 people found this review helpful

Meh.

It was okay, I guess. I'm not sure why this book got such high ratings when there are better ones of this genre out there. The story dragged on unnecessarily at parts and some of the dialogue fell short of being believable. I didn't like Amber's narrator, but Daphne's wasn't too bad. All in all, this audiobook was merely "okay." I could get through it. Wouldn't recommend but wouldn't warn people away from it.

49 of 55 people found this review helpful

There are better versions of this same book (Spoilers)

I did not absolutely hate this book. In fact, I wanted to know what happened at the end. But the only way I got through it was to listen to the first part of each chapter and then skip ahead. I knew what was coming, so I just wanted to get to that part. I found the characters to be extremely one dimensional. I feel like the “villains” on the Bachelor after one episode have more dimensionality than Amber did even after hours of listening to her insipid voice in this book. I also disliked the storyline. (Spoiler alert) I really cannot get behind a storyline that revels in one abused woman unapologetically foisting her abusive husband on another woman - no matter how awful the other woman is supposed to be.

As far as the narration, I thought the narrator for Daphne’s portion did a good job, and I thought the narrator for Amber’s portion did a fine job for the women’s voices, but I really dislike her male voices.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful