Review: The Last Mrs. Parrish--by Liv Constantine

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am regretting waiting so long to finally read this book! If you read just one book this year, have it be this one. I started and finished this book while on vacation and it drew me in like not many other books have been able to do. I could NOT put this book down (seriously, ask my child).

***SPOILER BELOW***

Plot--EXCELLENT. The book begins with narration by Amber, who, in few words, is an opportunist who is insanely jealous of a woman (Mrs. Daphne Parrish) and desperately wants to lead another woman's seemingly more privileged life. But appearances can be very very deceiving, as the reader discovers. Jackson and Daphne Parrish live a charmed life, where there is seemingly nothing money can't buy and no experience seems out of reach. Everything is possible. As Amber befriends Daphne and inserts herself into her life, using deception and charm, she plots and schemes to step into Daphne's perfect world. Amber's narration ends when she has begun a relationship with Jackson Parrish, a man who seems like the perfect husband, father and business tycoon.

Enter Daphne. Daphne is portrayed as an almost obsessive perfectionist, extremely anxious and eager to please. Once you learn Daphne's story, you realize that NOTHING is as it seems in this book. Living with a sociopathic monster has made Daphne become completely unraveled, and as Daphne's mother implies, Daphne's marriage to Jackson has made her become practically a shell of herself, completely disinterested in any of the pursuits and hobbies that she enjoyed prior to marriage. All Daphne really has is her 2 daughters with Jackson. Daphne learns of Amber's deception and, in an eager attempt to break free of her monstrous marriage, encourages Amber's relationship with Jackson while plotting her own escape. Once the pieces fall into place and Amber is expecting a son with Jackson, Daphne is granted a quickie divorce and finally can call the shots in her own life as well as the lives of her children.

We don't get to hear the story through the eyes of Jackson Parrish. Perhaps it is because he is such a despicable control freak, but I'm guessing it is because it would be useless to find out why he is the way he is. He is a monster who will stop at nothing to get his own way, no matter who he has to break in the process.

Eventually, Amber realizes that she has unwittingly become woven into a web of her own design, and learns that she may have become the new Mrs. Parrish, but all that glitters is not gold. Daphne helps to orchestrate Jackson's eventual downfall and arrest for tax evasion and other financial crimes. She also secures a future free of pain for her daughters. Daphne and Amber meet once more, at the Parrish mansion, and Amber comes away with the realization that although she may have lost the very things that made Daphne's life so desirable (wealth, expensive clothes, etc), she is left with only Jackson and their son.

Again, a really fantastic book.



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