The Last Mrs. Parrish

The Last Mrs. Parrish
Liv Constantine
Harper Collins Publishers
New York, New York
ISBN: 978-0-06-266757-1
2017
$ 25.99
393 pages

Who doesn’t want to be richer, thinner, blonde with blue-eyes, tanned, better looking and more successful?   This seems to be the American dream for many women.   Most wealthy people appear to have it all.   With money, they can recreate themselves into almost the perfect person.  Think of the numerous women and even many men who spend enormous amounts of money to achieve their vision of perfection.
The problem is often what appears in public is quite different than reality or in the privacy of a home.
Amber Patterson is tired of being normal.  She is thin, but plain.   Mousy brownish hair, dowdy, ambitious but in a career with no future for making real money.   She just makes enough to get by with her paycheck to paycheck existence.
How can she change her life?
Amber finds a new friend, Daphne Parrish, who seems to be everything she could want.  Daphne is beautiful, rich, blond, blue-eyes, married to a gorgeous husband and two young daughters.  Amber wants Daphne life, but slightly changed without the children.  She doesn’t enjoy young ones at all.
Coincidentally, both Daphne and Amber had sisters who dies due to cystic fibrosis.  This is the foundation of their friendship.
Will Amber ever have a life like Daphne’s?
What Amber really wants is Daphne’s husband, Jackson and unfortunately, she seems blind to Amber’s ambitions.  A story of manipulations and lies to achieve your goals keeps you turning each page constantly wondering about each character.
The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fascinating debut novel from the perspectives of Daphne and Amber while peals back the story of their relationship as an onion with multiple layers.   The characters are easily envisioned with what initially appears as shallowness while unveiling the story into the immense depth of each one.
The storyline easily flows in this enthralling page turner.  Each page almost bewitches the reader to read faster and faster.  Unquestionably, this is a page turner.
The author Liv Constantine is really two people.  Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine, who are sisters who wrote this novel by communicating through FaceTime and e-mail.  They were inspired by the long dark tales their Greek grandmother told them as children lasting hours.
The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fascinating, fast-paced read that is an addictive novel that is a psychological thriller with constant intense suspense.   Reading The Last Mrs. Parrish is like being on a roller coaster with constant ups and downs as the story continues with even a final twisted curve at the end.
The story is a memorable fast-read.