Reading is one of my favorite pastimes. I mean, my college degree is in English so I literally spent 4 years reading and studying the best literature of all time. So you can imagine how difficult it is for me to find a well-written book that actually keeps my interest throughout the entirety of the novel.
Well, The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine is not only well-written and interest-peaking, but it has also made its way into my “top 5 favorite novels” section on my bookshelf at home. This gripping thriller immediately peaked my interest by the amazing look into the designer highlife of the 1%. Imagine the designer brand name-dropping of Gossip Girl combined with the current lux of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Liv Constantine painted such an amazing picture of the designer clothes, multimillion dollar mansions, and the general I-want-to-be-rich-someday fantasy that a lot of women in 2018 possess.
Let’s put my inner Blair Waldorf back in her walk-in closet for a minute and discuss the thriller aspect of the novel. Please note that I had to pause here to try to summon where to begin. I mean, it was amazing. For the first half of the novel I had a pretty good idea of where this storyline was going: lower-middle class woman, Amber Patterson, desperately wants to live like a one-percenter and is brilliantly scamming her way into this role by stealing a husband. Which is exactly true of the storyline. However, when the novel switches to Daphne Parrish’s narration and story about halfway through, the novel takes a very dark and horrific turn.
I don’t want to give too much away, but holy hell! I was already having a hard time putting the book down reading about Amber’s jaw-dropping, devilishly ingenious ways of stealing Daphne’s husband for the first half, but with a twist like that… I almost had to call in sick to work to finish reading. In fact, I did actually bring this book to work and would hide in my car during my lunch break so I could read.
I cannot emphasize enough how great this book was. First reading about the lengths that Amber will go to to make her dream of being a trophy wife was in itself a great, captive read. But then the twist completely changed everything and was impossible to put down. Plus it teaches a few very valuable lessons, especially to young, unmarried women like myself.
This was one of those novels that once you finish, you have to take a break from reading for a while because most other novels will feel inadequate in comparison, and that’s not fair to the other books. Or at least that’s how I felt! I would try to pick up another book to read but I was just having too much “postpartum depression” from The Last Mrs. Parrish that other novels were just disappointing.
I highly recommend reading this book, if you have not already done so. And if you need further evidence as to why you should read this book, The Last Mrs. Parrish has over 1,000 reviews and a 4.5 star rating on Amazon. You can also use this link to order the novel off of Amazon – and receive it in two days with free shipping if you have Prime! Paperback is $12.50 currently.
So read this book and then tell me what you think!! Maybe you didn’t love it as much as I did? Either way, let’s chat about it!
