The Last Mrs. Parrish

The Last Mrs. Parrish
Liv Constantine
Harper Collins Publishers
Paperback
ISBN:: 978-0062667588
July 2018
$ 16.99
400 pages

At some time in your past, you probably have looked at a celebrity and imagined yourself as that celebrity.  After awhile, most of us realize that no matter how hard we try, we just cannot become that person. Even with a makeover and dieting, it just will not work. You won’t become that person.

Amber Pattinson obsesses over Daphne Parrish.   She sees Daphne as perfect.  To Amber, Daphne is who she wants to become.    The beautiful, blond socialite and philanthropist exists with designer clothes including jewelry, travels extensively in their private jet and has a nanny For her two supposedly perfect daughters.   She even has a charismatically handsome husband who happens to own his real-estate company.  Of course, the family lives in their elegant homes, complete with servants and everything a woman could buy or desire.
Amber can only find one imperfection in Daphne.  Daphne’s sister passed away twenty-years ago from cystic fibrosis.   In her honor, she created a charity for those suffering from the disease.  However, she still misses her sister.

Amber has dreams.   She is is ambitious but looks plain and dowdy.   She did not come from a background of wealth.  How can she possibly enter the world of Daphne Parrish?   Could Amber ever become like Daphne.

The Last Mrs. Parrish is a novel of envy, jealousy and even revenge.   The characters are expertly developed into authentic people with flaws revealed as the story unfolds.
One of the strengths of The Last Mrs. Parrish is the daughters, Bella and Tallulah.   From afar, the daughters seem perfect, but are revealing each to become an individual with their own challenges and realizations.
As the story progresses, you find yourself categorizing the characters into good vs. bad.   Each character seems to evolve to someone you would not recognize by the end.  This slow unveiling is what makes this book so unique.

This thrilling novel alternates perspectives from Amber in the first half of the book to Daphne in the second half of the book.  The story continues to develop as a page turner with twists up to the last page.    To state that this is a fast-read is an understatement.   You don’t want to put the book down.

The author, Liv Constantine is two sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine who collaborate to become Liv.

The Last Mrs. Parrish is a thrilling, fast-paced page turner.  I look forward to the next book by the duo of Liv Constantine.