Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

25 reviews

chelseamayxxx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This is such a weird book and so much happens in it that you don’t really understand the plot of the story or what’s happening that much as it’s told from 2 people. I figured out that the husband was a narcissist bully who hated against women and children if there were girls. The 1st part of the story she is so obsessed with the family that it gets too much to read and the 2nd part of the story she is too scared to leave her abusive husband so the story did match up towards the end of the last 30 pages I would so. But this story takes so many twists and turns that is hard to enjoy this book. I got half way and wanted to give up reading this book but I was too addictive to finding out what finally happens in the story that I kept reading it sadly. The characters I absolutely  hated them all though the book they were annoying and they kept moaning and winging about stuff that it gets too insufferable. Xxx

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Fatphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

pookiee's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.5

The Wife Between Us is a much better version of the same story; read that instead.

a lot of reviews mention plot twists, but I only read one (

that daphne finally realized what amber was up to and wanted her to ’steal’ her husband

). the rest is just a typical story and filling in of the details of the twist. really, the same events we read in pov1 are gone over in pov2 when we could easily assume 2’s thoughts, having found out the twist.

the writing is very bland; everything is “She did this. Then, she did that.” with no interesting figurative language. the simplicity makes it easy to speed through the book at least.

the characters are supremely boring, too. it’s crystal clear whom readers are supposed to root for/against and these people have no life outside of being virtuous/villainous and rich/poor. 

the pov in part i is exhaustingly bitter and part ii is filled with tactless descriptions of abuse just to have us pity one chara and hate the other even more. this is not a deeply psychological book or character study, it’s emotional manipulation with total caricatures and major, laughable plot conveniences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Chronic illness, Infertility, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Rape, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Body shaming

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Child abuse

Minor: Blood

nicolesbookreviews's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Physical abuse, Confinement, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Chronic illness and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, Alcohol, Death, Cursing, Abortion, and Chronic illness

lynchca's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Rape, Mental illness, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, and Death

dizpig's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Confinement, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Child death, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Stalking, and Violence

crystal83087's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Classism, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Child death, Grief, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexism

elkiebear's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

interesting to see the characters’ traits and tricks

also nice to see the sociopath-on-sociopath interaction

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Eating disorder and Sexual harassment

Minor: Fatphobia, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness

ehnkay's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content warning: sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

kelly_e's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Title: The Last Mrs. Parrish
Author: Liv Constantine
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 3.0
Pub Date: October 17 2017

T H R E E • W O R D S

Fast • Twisted • Unoriginal

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Amber Patterson is sick of being invisible, and wants more for her life, so she concocts a plan to get what she wants.

Daphne and Jackson have a what appears to be the perfect life: a beautiful home, two lovely daughters, and lots of money.

When Amber befriends Daphne, soon becoming her closest confidante, it's all part of her master plan. She wants money, power, and most importantly, Jackson Parrish for herself. But something from her past has the potential to blow her plan to pieces.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I added The Last Mrs. Parrish, the debut novel from sister duo Lynne & Valerie Constantine under pen name Liv Constantine, to my 2022 Summer TBR Bingo board because the cover screamed summer. I decided to tandem read the physical book while listening to the audio. Marketed as a thriller it's definitely lacking the thrill, and is more of a domestic drama with some very unlikeable characters, and in all honestly and I found the narrator's voice lacking.

Told in three parts from Amber and Daphne's perspectives, I was hooked in part I (Amber) as the plot built slowly with Amber's devious and manipulative ways but I figured out where the story was going by the time I got to part II (Daphne), which was less engaging and got a bit repetitive circling back to places I'd already been in part I. By the time I got to Part III by interest had waned and I just wanted to finish. I will say that I was somewhat satisfied by how it wrapped up, but it was definitely nothing special. What really frustrated me was I'd have liked to know more about Jackson and his past.

At the end of the day, the writing was straightforward, the plot was fairly predictable, and the addictive draw of glamour and power is something I don't overly enjoy, With all that said it was just okay, and felt like something I'd read before, and definitely had no reason being 400 pages.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• domestic thriller enthusiasts
• fans of The Silent Patient

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Everything had begun with such promise. And then, like a windshield chipped by a tiny pebble, the chip turned into deep cracks that spread until there was nothing left to repair." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Gaslighting

Minor: Rape, Chronic illness, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, and Pregnancy

abusive language

apiora215's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, and Mental illness