Book Reviews: “The Last Mrs. Parrish” and “Emotions Revealed”

Hey guys! It’s been a while since I did a book review because my reading was all over the place in April. 😆 I was reading a non-fiction book as well as a fiction book and kept on switching between books in a series and standalone book. But I’ve finished the Outlands Pentalogy series (review coming next week) and my non-fiction book so hopefully my reading will be less complicated now. Anyway, let’s get into it.

The first book in today’s post is “The Last Mrs. Parrish” by Liv Constantine. My mom’s friend lent this to her and my mom recommended I read it as well. I paused my series to read this book to return it to my mom’s friend promptly. This is an adult thriller that follows Amber who tries to insert herself into the lives of the Parrish’s and break up their marriage.

The writing of this book flows so well. I found myself reading the book so quickly. So I have to give it to the Constantine sisters because this was so easy to read. I will say it dragged a bit in the middle before the twist was revealed and then I was hooked again.

The first half of the novel was narrated by Amber. And while she’s a quite unlikeable character I couldn’t help but root her. I was also swayed by Amber’s opinion and I didn’t like Daphne Parrish all that much at first. But then halfway through it switched to Daphne’s perspective and all my thoughts and feelings changed. I won’t say much else as to not ruin the surprise.

I will say that it’s more of a drama than a thriller. When I read a thriller I expect something like murder or missing person. Neither of those things is present in the novel. There is tension and suspense and some nasty things that happen but I wouldn’t say it’s like a classic thriller.

Overall I enjoyed the book and thought the ending was good. If someone asked me for a thriller recommendation I wouldn’t say this one. But if you like drama or reading about outrageously rich people then I would recommend this book. I gave it 4/5 stars.

The second book is non-fiction, which is a genre I don’t read very often. I was given “Emotions Revealed” by Paul Ekman as a gift a couple of years ago. The subtitle mentioned being able to read emotions to improve communication and emotional lives. As someone who studied communication in school, I am quite interested in non-verbal communication so I thought I would enjoy this book.

Overall I was a little underwhelmed by the novel. This book focuses more on the psychology of emotions which was interesting but just not what I was expecting. There was some explanation of how to improve communication but it was only a small portion of the novel. I guess what I was hoping for and what the actual focus of the book was different.

The writing was quite formulaic in the bulk of the novel. Each chapter would cover a different emotion and would run through the same things for each emotion. I often struggle with non-fiction books but I find the lack that narrative element that drives me to continue reading the book and this book suffered from that. As well the writing was quite academic at times. It hasn’t been that long since I was in university so I’m pretty comfortable with academic writing, but it does make the book less accessible.

Overall the book wasn’t bad, just not my cup of tea. I’m not as into psychology and it didn’t have the prose to be able to keep my attention regardless of the subject. If you’re interested in psychology and emotions then you’ll probably love this book. But if that’s not your cup of tea then I would skip this book. I gave it 3/5 stars.

That’s my book reviews for today! Like I mentioned, I’ll be posting another review next week of the Outlands Pentalogy so stay tuned for that! And like with all my book reviews, let me know in the comments what you’re currently reading and if you have any recommendations for me!

xoxo

Lea