✨BOOK REVIEW✨

The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

The sequel to the acclaimed “The Last Mrs. Parrish” we get more of Daphne, Amber, and Jackson and all of their awful behavior. Right off the bat, I’ll say THMP did not need a sequel lol. It was perfect on its own.

My really quick thoughts ➡️

PROS:
•characters behaving badly
•multiple POV
•the twist & ending were satisfying

CONS:
•it’s a tough act to follow from the first book
•I was bored for a lot of it and felt like so much was going on, while at the same time nothing was actually happening
•I wasn’t excited to get back to it

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This isn’t one I’d run to pick up but if you loved the characters from the first you learn even more about them in this one! Plenty of backstabbing, greed, cat and mouse, & more!

OUT June 18! Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader 🩷

Synopsis in a sentence (or two):
Jackson is set to be released from jail after his tax evasion scandal, and Daphne has to decide whether to allow him access to her children. Meanwhile, Amber wants to find a way out of her relationship with Jackson without losing her lavish lifestyle.

Overall thoughts:
The Next Mrs. Parrish reads like reality TV. It’s the guilty pleasure you want to talk about with your next-door neighbor. I was so excited to pick up this digital review copy from Random House, but I’m even more excited for this one’s release so that I can actually talk to more friends about it.

The Next Mrs. Parrish is technically the third book in the series (so far). The series began with The Last Mrs. Parrish, which I suggest rereading before starting this one, and then there is the prequel novella The First Shot, which is a speedy read.

Before reading The Next Mrs. Parrish, I couldn’t see how the story should continue or improve. After finishing this one, I loved that the sequel felt so necessary to the entire series. If you didn’t hate the characters after the prequel or first novel, I’d be surprised if you could like them after this one. I wouldn’t say The Next Mrs. Parrish is as twisty as the first, but it’s just as sinister and definitely worth the read.

Recommend this one to readers who love:
📚Sally Hepworth, John Marrs, Lisa Jewell
📚binge worthy & twisty domestic thrillers
📚characters that readers love to hate

Rating: 4.0

Disclosure:
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the Digital Review Copy of The Next Mrs. Parrish. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for the ARC of The Next Mrs. Parish. This is a fun follow-up if you’ve read The Last Mrs. Parish. I recommend reading/re-reading the first in the series before this one, as it picks up two years after the first one ends. It wouldn’t be as impactful if you didn’t get to know the characters in the first book. I loved the introduction of new characters and the way the plot was built out a bit more. The first half was a little slow, but the last 50% took off after setting the stage. I loved the twists and turns and thought it came together beautifully in the end. Pick this one up if you’re looking for a continuation of Amber, Daphne, and Jackson’s stories!

THE NEXT MRS PARRISH is the sequel to the well-loved The Last Mrs Parrish which is a book that pretty much blew my mind with the twist. I loved that one and was really looking forward to this sequel. Unfortunately for me, this is a situation where the sequel felt really unnecessary. It’s full of super unlikeable characters and unbelievable events. It was intriguing at the start but I lost interest as it went on. It was a little all over the place at the end as well. An easy read, but just a fine book overall.

I loved this book so much! I was a huge fan of the first book and had no idea that a sequel was coming. It moves faster than the original book with an additional character thrown into the mix. There are twists and turns and while at the beginning, it's hard to understand how the three stories are going to come together, they seamlessly do in the last third of the book. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for the early access!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I was really excited to read the sequel to The Last Mrs. Parrish, which I loved when I read it in 2018. It did take a little bit for me to actually get into The Next Mrs. Parrish, partly because it had been so long since I had read the first book. However, about 25% into the book, it picked up for me and I quickly read the rest trying to keep up with the twists and turns.

I did take one star off due to Daphne making some really dumb choices in this book. I know certain things must happen to move a plot forward, but in my opinion, a woman that escaped a very abusive relationship would have more of a guard up when dealing with that person again. I expected her to be a little more prepared or have some kind of plan in place before putting herself into a potentially dangerous situation.

Overall, the cat and mouse game between Daphne, Jackson, Amber, and Daisy Ann was exciting and the ending was very satisfying.

I really appreciated the opportunity to read and review this book. I loooooved the first book and really felt it kicked off my thriller phase several years ago. I liked this book, but it wasn’t love for me. I think I am just at a point where I have to identify with or like a character to truly love a book, so this review may not resonate with all readers. I do think the author did a great job of catching readers up — you don’t have to remember every detail to appreciate the sequel, Fun plot, exciting characters, but you have to suspend reality a bit to truly enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Ballantine for this ARC!!!!

I cannot remember if I read the first book or not, but I don’t think you have to in order to read this one! The story was pretty good, but I lost interest at about 60% through the book. All of the characters, even the “good guys” were just so annoying. I know this is super popular, so it just might not be my thing.

Although I didn’t love this as much as the first book, it was still a great read. Hope there is eventually a third book because I love these characters and their machinations.

Thrillers/mysteries are hard to do with sequels. You have to give readers enough in the first book to make them want to come back for more, but you can't give them so much that the story can't continue. You can't tell a "new" story in the second book because then it's less relevant.

Liv Constantine did VERY WELL with The Next Mrs. Parrish. I'm so glad our characters continued, and added characters actually added to the overall story. This is a great summer read, and I'm super impressed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this e-ARC!

I absolutely loved The Last Mrs Parrish when I read it earlier this year. It's a top 10 book of 2024 for sure. As soon as I finished, I found out this arc was available and could have screamed when I was approved for this arc.

This is a dark, tense emotional book. We follow our characters, Daphne and Amber, from book 1 along with a new POV with Daisy Ann. This story weaves some loose strings from book 1 such as Amber's past (okay mainly Amber's past) with what is happening in the aftermath of all the deception of book 1 (you know Amber tricking Jackson into marrying him, but Daphne tricking Amber into seducing Jackson in the first place, and Jackson going to jail for tax evasion). This book doesn't hide as much of the deception as book 1 did. In book 1 you don't know all of the deception until we get a good chunk of the way in. We all know Jackson's MO in this one so it wasn't at all surprising he was being manipulative and deceptive. Amber being the stuck-up b** she is, is not at all surprising.

I was very intrigued by Daisy Ann's introduction and how she was connected to the story. This ran much deeper than I initially anticipated with it being revealed of Daisy Ann's and Amber's past; I fully enjoyed delving deeper into this connection and all the twist is presented until the very last page.

I loved Daphne's courage in doing whatever she had to to keep her and the children safe while also making her plans of escape. Also, can we just appreciate that it acknowledged that little Jax is innocent in all of this and it seems he will have a good relationship with his siblings and not shipped off.

3⭐
Genre ~ psychological fiction
Series ~ Mrs. Parrish #2
Others in the series ~ The Last Mrs. Parrish
Setting ~ Connecticut & Texas
Publication date ~ June 18, 2024
Est Page Count ~ 336 (57 chapters)
Audio length ~ 12 hours
Narrators ~ Raquel Beattie, Scott Brick, Suzanne Elise Freeman, Erin Bennett
POV ~ single 1st & multiple 3rd
Featuring ~ unlikable characters, manipulation

Amber is married to Jackson and their parts are told in the 3rd person. They are truly AWFUL people and probably the most unlikable I have ever read. She's a gold digger that thinks everything should be just given to her. He's a manipulator that thinks he's the cats meow. It was kinda fun watching them try to one up each other and I was rooting for the demise of both of them equally.

Daphne is the former Mrs. Parrish, mother to Jackson's daughters, and her parts are told in 1st, present tense. She doesn't make the best choices. The 13 year old daughter, Tallulah, was pretty unbearable for most of the book.

We hear from Daisy Ann from Texas in the 3rd and her obsession with bringing down the person that killed her father 3 years ago. Even though she was a little much with said obsession I liked her character the most.

These rich people know how to waste the moolah. Even if I was a bazillionaire I would never spend $3k a night on a hotel suite. Don't get me started on all her other dumb purchases.

I was originally going to give this 4 stars, but the more I thought about it the more I really hated just about every character at one point or another. Despite a slow start I still liked it well enough and thought the ending was perfect.

Series notes:
I read the 1st book back in 2021, so obviously I don't recall much. I didn't really feel lost, but I do think it's best to read them in order. Also, I didn't realize there was a prequel The First Shot that gives more background on Amber.

Narration notes:
I did not listen to this one, but am just giving the info above for reference. I am pleased to see there are multiple narrators, though.

The Next Mrs Parrish gives a satisfying conclusion to the stories of Daphne, Amber, and Jackson. The pacing was pretty even and the constant switch between storylines and how they intertwined kept me interested throughout. The introduction of a new character, Daisy Ann, was refreshing and it was interesting to learn how she tied into the story. Definitely recommended for fans of The Last Mrs Parrish.

Note - I would suggest reading The First Shot novella, before picking this one up, as it will help the story make more sense and give the back details for some of this books overall coming together details. However, it is eventually all explained but having known that short story before hand, definitely places you in a better “in the know” of the character and plot development.

Amber Parrish is back with unthinkable plans, which is not a real shocker!

The story picks up right where it left off and comes together in a way none of us would have seen coming. This story brings every character together in some very twisted and thrilling ways. You can truly feel all of their emotions and who they are as people, which I love that the most in a book…excellent character development.

The pace of the book is also great, no plot holes or slow downs. Steady, THRILLING and completely unpredictable. Yes, we all know that these characters deserved whatever karma was coming to them, but the way Constantine made everything come together while making it all still exciting, intriguing and not too far fetched took unique talent.

Constantine does leave the story with a good ending but also an ending where we all may see these characters appear again in the future. To be honest I would have kept reading to know more…

Definitely a great read.
Thank you NETGALLEY, Bantam publishing and Liv Constantine for sending me an ARC of this piece of work in exchange for my honest feedback.

Overall, 4.5 because some twists did have that “ahh maybe this is unrealistic side to them” but people in real life really are THAT crazy, so I guess we shall never know. But other than that, this was written beautifully.

My head is spinning from all the twists and turns this book took! One minute I’m fist pumping and the next I’m audibly gasping in shock. Fans of The Last Mrs. Parrish will not be disappointed by this next chapter for Amber, Jackson, and Daphne. While some parts seemed to drag on and others I was concerned led nowhere, everything came together once and for all. I can’t say too much more without spoilers, but this book will keep you on the edge of your seat!

Thank you to Live Constantine, Ballantine, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book!

A wonderful page-turner! I loved following Daphne and Amber’s stories further and loved the addition of Daisy Ann. Great read for fan of suspense novels!

This was an alright sequel. It didn’t wow me like the first did, but it wasn’t horrid, either. I loved the addition of the new characters/stories, I really liked seeing the girls more, and I like the logistics of it. I didn’t like how monotonous but then suddenly rushed it felt. This didn’t satisfy that thriller twisty craving but it was a satisfying ending all in all to a world I was excited to return to.

This was such a good thriller. I was a little nervous I would have to remember what happened in book one, but that wasn’t the case. This can definitely be read as a standalone. I didn’t realized how much I had missed Daphne, amber and Jackson. Definitely recommend this fast paced thriller.

I have been waiting years for this book! The last Mrs. parrish is one of my most frequently recommended reads. This book did not disappoint and we got both amber and daphne which I wasnt expecting to hear from Daphne again. And we meet a third character, Daisy. This books was twisty and entertaining the whole way through. I loved it almost as much as the first!

The story continues with Daphne making a comeback as the ex-Mrs. Parrish. Along with her daughters and mother, they live in California far away from her ex, Jackson and his new wife Amber in Bishops Harbor. I loved the first book The Next Mrs. Parrish. The conflict between Amber and Daphne climbs to a dangerous high and an additional character, Daisy Ann, tops it off with her own vengeance.
Jackson has spent time in prison with tax-evasion and is about to return home, but Amber has a new plan to take Jackson for everything he has and leave behind their son Jax to start a new life. She is unworthy of motherhood because she has left behind a child behind to build her own lavish lifestyle with a rich husband, who she has been accused of murdering.
Throw in some gaslighting, spousal abuse, stolen jewels worth millions and a lot of background information to end this book with more conniving and despicable actions. Sure to enjoy, as the authors are notorious for their twists and drama. I love it as Amber gets a taste of her own medicine.
Not as big a fan as the first one and all of their other books, but will continue to enjoy them.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bantom Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.