This book has been on my TBR for a few years. It was gifted to me by a friend so it honestly should have been read a long time ago. The synopsis of this book used one of my favorite key words “cult” so I was really excited to be reading this as my first spooky book of the season.
“The problem with having a fairy-tale relationship story was how much other people were invested in keeping the fairy tale alive. It wasn’t just our story—it was everyone’s.”
“It’s just the small-town mentality of people not liking change and being resistant to anything that doesn’t fall within their traditional ideologies.”
Kate Bennett vanished from a parking lot eleven years ago, leaving behind her husband and young daughter. When she shows up at a Montana gas station, clutching an infant and screaming for help, investigators believe she may have been abducted by a cult.
Kate’s return flips her family’s world upside down—her husband is remarried, and her daughter barely remembers her. Kate herself doesn’t look or act like she did before.
While the family tries to help Kate reintegrate into society, they discover truths they’ve been hiding from each other about their own relationships. But they aren’t the only ones with secrets. As the family unravels what happened to Kate, a series of shocking revelations shows that Kate’s return is more sinister than any of them could have imagined.
I have read one other book from this author “The Perfect Child” and that book was a 5 star read so I was really hopeful this one would be ranked high. But sadly I was actually wrong.
While I did enjoy the fact that this book was centered around a cult, I did find the plot very predictable.
I was struggling to find enough interest to keep me turning the page. I found my phone more interesting which really sucked! When I sit down with a thriller I am looking for a page turner, a book that I just can’t put down!
We had four main characters whom I liked enough at the beginning and understood the motivations behind them but towards the middle of the book I was finding the characters to be a bit annoying. I felt like we kept having the same conversations over and over again with nothing too exciting to add each time.
The best parts of this book were the “Then” flashbacks we got. I truly didn’t care for the “Now” Sections. Maybe I just want a full on cult book haha. But honestly I haven’t really liked dual timeline books in the past so I guess I am not that surprised.
Ultimately I probably will pick up another book by this author as I hope this was just an outlier in their writing or maybe my busy schedule just got in the way.
“One of the worst things you could do to someone in the midst of tragedy was to give them a cliche because the intensity of the loss was too big.”
This idea came accidentally. I personally never wanted to read “The Housemaid” due to alleged Plagiarism allegations that I have heard from Booktok and Booktube, I had no clue what the original book was when I first picked these up, it was just happenstance that I read “The Housemaid” and then Immediately picked up “The Last Mrs. Parish”. Only a few chapters into “The Last Mrs. Parish” I realized I was basically reading the same book as the one I had just finished. I went to my favorite Booktuber @HaileyHughes and watched her Freida McFadden Taste test Video and she mentions the comparison. Let me just tell you that the comparison is a bit uncanny and I am here to tell you all my thoughts and opinions.
This blog post may be one of a kind here but if I find other similar books I may do this again. Send any recommendations that you have!
Spoilers Ahead
About The Books
Publisher: Harper
Published Date: October 17th, 2017
Page Count: 400 Pages (Kindle)
Genre: Thriller
Format Read: E-Book
GoodReads Rating: 3.97
Publisher: Bookouture
Published Date: April 26th, 2022
Page Count: 338 Pages (Kindle)
Genre: Thriller
Format Read: E-Book
GoodReads Rating: 4.33
“The Last Mrs. Parish” Synopsis
Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.
To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.
Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn’t have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.
“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…
Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.
I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.
I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.
But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.
I want to start my review of these two books by saying once again, These are my opinions and any talk about similarities/plagiarism is all alleged. I ask that you take what I say with a grain of salt and make your own opinions through your own research and reading.
Thank you
When reading the synopsis of both books I don’t feel like you see too many similarities. The biggest similarity is that a seemingly down on her luck girl makes acquaintances with a rich family and ultimately intertwines her life with theirs. At that point it sounds more like a similar trope. You may pick up “The Housemaid” because you really enjoyed “The Last Mrs. Parish” or vice versa hoping to read a book that has a similar vibe only to get 15% into the book and realize that something feels oddly familiar. By the time you make it 50% of the way through and you hit part two in both books you will realize they both flip to the wife’s perspective and she lays out her whole plot line that reveals the big twist!
The character motivations are almost Identical for each character. Why don’t we break them down one by one.
Amber (Main Character in “The Last Mrs. Parish”) is an ex convict who finds a new rich best friend and convinces her to get her a job within the husbands company so she can work with him directly and make him fall in love with her. Millie (Main Character in “The Housemaid”) is an ex convict who needs a job to stay afloat in her life, she ends up working for a rich family and just so happens to fall in love with the rich husband.
These characters are probably the most different out of the ones I will be discussing.
They both end up as the victims in these books but the big difference is how they ultimately found their way into this trap. Amber knew she wanted Jackson, she studied him and his family and basically targeted them all so she could be the wife of the rich CEO and live a lavish life that she felt she deserved. Whereas, Millie was just looking for a good job so she could afford to live somewhere that wasn’t her car and ended up being handpicked by her employer knowing that Millie would end up falling in love with her psychopathic husband and ultimately take her place as his victim.
I never felt bad for Amber but Millie on the other hand really deserved better! Amber is immediately coming off as the villain while Millie is just down on her luck and finds herself in a sticky situation.
Daphne (Wife in “The Last Mrs. Parish”) is A nice woman who marries the wrong guy and has to find a way out of her marriage to protect her and her children. She comes off as a really great friend who has a hidden agenda. Nina (wife in “The Housemaid”) is A seemingly horrible woman who in the end is actually a very nice lady who had to act horrible to save her and her child from her horrible husband.
The difference with these characters is the way they initially present themselves. Nina comes off crazy but really it is all an act to get Millie to take her place as Andrews Wife/victim. Whereas, Daphne is a sweet woman who realizes she’s being used by Amber so why not get something out of it and help Amber and Jackson get together so she can finally be rid of her abusive husband. Ultimately these woman had the same motive just different ways to accomplish their plans.
Jackson (Husband in “The Last Mrs. Parish”) is A Seemingly perfect husband and father who owns his own company and turns out to be a psychopath. Andrew (Husband in “The Housemaid”) is A Seemingly perfect husband and father who owns his own company and turns out to be a psychopath.
These are the most identical characters between the two books.
The biggest difference in these characters is that Andrew literally locks his wife, and later on Millie, in the attic and forces them to do punishments in order to be let out. Whereas, Jackson mostly just emotionally abuses the women and occasionally will hold a gun to their head. So yes, there is a slight difference in the escalation these men take throughout the book but the root of the problem is having a perfect wife/life and if the women don’t live up to these expectations then they will be punished. Both men in these books had their wives committed to a mental health institution for supposedly causing harm to their children when truthfully they are both good mothers.
I ended up rating both of these books exactly the same, 2.5 Stars, because they both fell short in my opinion. I do think “The Housemaid” had a better plot twist but in my opinion the writing felt very repetitive and I was quite bored with the book till the 50% mark came along and the plot twist was revealed. With “The Last Mrs. Parish” I thought the writing was great and I was interested in the first 50% of the book but the plot twist didn’t quite live up to “The Housemaid” which ultimately dropped my rating significantly. This leads me to believe that if I had read “The Last Mrs. Parish” before I had read “The Housemaid” I probably would have rated it higher which is unfortunate because it was written first and was ripped off by “The Housemaid” in my honest opinion.
I advise you to read these and make your own opinions as you may not agree with me and that is ok. Everything mentioned here in my article is based on my own opinion and all plagiarism suspicions are alleged but I will not be swayed from this and will not be reading any more Frieda McFadden books no matter how great people tell me they are.
Over the last month I have been reading books that my Friend @syds.bookshelves has been recommending to me for ages and this is probably the one she has told me to read the most. I think it is so much fun to read the books your friends love, as it is a great opportunity to actively chat to them as you read so they can see your reactions.
“You go around asking dangerous questions, girl, you’re going to find some dangerous answers.”
The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.
But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?
I have not been a big Young Adult reader lately. Part of me likes how easy they are to read but then theres another part of me that struggles with that. I feel like I am left wanting more out of Young Adult books and that was the exact case with this one.
This book honestly started off super slow for me and did read really young at the beginning. However, it quickly picked up the pace at about half way which is when I sat down and devoured the rest in one sitting, staying up till 1 am to finish on a work night!
One thing that I really loved about this book was our characters.
Pip was a really great main character, I loved her determination to this case even though it could have gotten her into some really sticky situations, I mean good thing this book is a work of fiction! The love she had for her friends and family really showed in this book and I think this is one of the biggest reasons I liked her. One thing that did bug me about Pip though was the million of nicknames she had in this book, some of them were quite cringy honestly.
Ravi was honestly my favorite character by far. He was so misunderstood throughout this book! I couldn’t imagine having to go through the things he did after his brothers death but as the story unfolded we got to see him really shine and come out of his shell. He for sure had the most beautiful story arc of any of the characters.
My biggest Gripe with this book, and it really isn’t even that horrible of one, is the fact that we had so many suspects! It was hard to keep everyone straight in my mind and they truly all felt guilty to me. This in turn also made the story really interesting as we got to explore everyone in this town and find out all of their deep dark secrets.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I do think I will continue on with this series. As always check your trigger warnings before picking this one up as their is a few big ones to be aware of. For me it was animal death, luckily there wasn’t too many details so it was brief but still emotional.
“But sometimes remembering isn’t for yourself, sometimes you do it just to make someone else smile. Those lies were allowed.”
At this point in time I am quite behind on my book reviews! I actually finished this book probably 3 weeks ago? However, I did start it back in July so it did take me quite some time to finish, will that effect my rating? I guess we shall see!
About The Book
Author: Jennifer Hillier
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published Date: July 5th, 2011
Page Count: 436 Pages
Main Genres: Thriller, Mystery
GoodReads Rating: 3.88
Format: E-Book
Synopsis
If he can’t have her . . .
Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology. An expert in human behavior. And when she began an affair with sexy, charming graduate student Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, riddled with guilt when they weren’t, she knows the three-month fling with her teaching assistant has to end. After all, she’s finally engaged to a kind and loving investment banker who adores her, and she’s taking control of her life. But when she attempts to end the affair, Ethan Wolfe won’t let her walk away.
. . . no one else can.
Ethan has plans for Sheila, plans that involve posting a sex video that would surely get her fired and destroy her prestigious career. Plans to make her pay for rejecting him. And as she attempts to counter his every threatening move without her colleagues or her fiancé discovering her most intimate secrets, a shattering crime rocks Puget Sound State University: a female student, a star athlete, is found stabbed to death. Someone is raising the stakes of violence, sex, and blackmail . . . and before she knows it, Sheila is caught in a terrifying cat-and-mouse game with the lover she couldn’t resist—who is now the monster who won’t let her go.
When I first started this book I was waiting in an airport for 6 hours waiting on my plane to Vegas. I was honestly hooked from the first chapter! I would say I read the first 200 pages during this time.
However, The halfway point hit and I quickly realized this book was headed in a direction I wasn’t expecting nor did I think I would like it nearly as much.
Sure enough, I was correct. The last 200 pages were beyond slow.. The twist at the end I would say I didn’t see coming but It was the final nail in the coffin. I just didn’t care for the ending at all and I think the book could have done a few more things to make this book a solid five star read. So because I liked the first half so much I decided 3 stars is the best rating I could give it.
As for the characters, I really loved the main character Sheila and Our Kidnapper Ethan. I feel like their storyline was quite interesting. However, I honestly didn’t like Morris and didn’t care for their relationship all that much so it was hard to really care if he found her or not other than of course I wanted Sheila to live.
Overall I am not too eager to pick up the rest of this series based on the twist at the end. I just don’t care to learn how the rest of it goes. We shall see though.
QOTD: What Thriller books are you loving right now?
This is the first and really only book I read in July. I read this as a buddy read with one of my bookstagram friends and surprisingly I really enjoyed it! I listened to this via audio book and I am happy I did as it sparked my interest in audio books again.
“In reality, we all stick together because we know no one else would ever understand what we did in the past. And the trouble is, we’ve all become so convinced that what we did was alright that we’ve accepted an invitation from the very woman we did it to.”
Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe are best friends—or were, as children. Despite drifting apart in adulthood, shared secrets have kept them bonded for better or worse, even as their childhood dreams haven’t quite turned out as they’d hoped. Then one day they receive a wholly unexpected—but not entirely unwelcome—invitation from another old friend. Poppy Greer has invited them all to her extravagant bachelorette party: a first-class plane ticket to three days of white sand, cocktails, and relaxation on a luxe private island in the Bahamas.
None of them has spoken to Poppy in years. But Poppy’s Instagram pics shows that the girl they used to consider the weakest link in their group has definitely made good—and made money. Curiosity gets the better of them. Besides, who can turn down a posh all-expenses-paid vacation on a Caribbean island?
The first-class flight and the island’s accommodations are just as opulent as expected…even if the scenic island proves more remote than they’d anticipated. Quite remote, in fact, with no cell service, and no other guests. The women quickly discover they’ve underestimated Poppy, and each other. As their darkest secrets are revealed, the tropical adventure morphs into a terrifying nightmare.
This audio book started off pretty slow which honestly made me super nervous! This Audio had, I believe, Two separate narrators. One Narrator sounded like Alexa was telling me a story which I truly struggled with, while the other narrator really kept my interest. Because of this I pushed through and I am so glad that I did because I loved this book in the end!
Part of me believes the reason I liked this book so much is because I was in a really horrible reading slump for all of July so really any book I picked up would have probably been a 5 star read at this time. I say this because my Friend I buddy Read this with actually rated this book pretty low and we tend to have the same thoughts on most books.
This was a book filled with a lot of drama and a lot of miscommunications which kept the book moving quick with many twists and turns. I feel like most people probably could have expected the twist at the end but if I am completely honest with you it came to me as a shock which I loved!
I Would for sure recommend this book to anyone looking for a fast paced Thriller to get yourself out of a reading slump!
“Those bitches might have started it, but I sure as hell finished it.”
Look at me, giving Riley Sager a second chance after DNF’ing Final Girls. I only made it about 100 pages into Final Girls before I decided it wasn’t for me, the writing was just so boring! So giving him a second chance wasn’t really on my radar, but Lock Every Door was a book that everyone was saying to give a try so here I am.
“Never take anything you haven’t earned, my father used to say. You always end up paying for it one way or another.”
No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.
As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story—until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.
Searching for the truth about Ingrid’s disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew’s dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.
“One time is an anomaly. Two times is a coincidence. Three times is proof.”
I went into this book with basically no expectations which was probably for the best with this one. The only expectation I had was that this could possibly be a paranormal read and spoiler alert, I was wrong.
This book started off really strong. in fact, I flew through the first 100 pages! But after that we hit a slow part in the book that felt like it would last forever, and it did. In fact it lasted for practically 200 pages, almost till the very end of the book where it finally decided to get good again and man oh man did it get good!
Honestly, this book had a really interesting conclusion that saved this book from being a 2 star read. If you don’t want any kind of spoilers I would stop reading right now, don’t even skim the rest of this paragraph. Ok so the ending of this book reminded me a lot of the movie “The Menu” It talks about how the rich take advantage of the poor and man oh man did they take advantage of these apartment sitters!
Now the big question remains, after DNF’ing one of Riley Sagers books and giving this one a 3.5 star rating, will I be interested in picking up any of the other books from this author? Ummmm, I do have two of his books currently on my shelves, they are House Across The Lake and Home Before Dark. I think I want to try Home Before Dark as I have heard some good things about this and possibly even that it has paranormal aspects which I am here for. SO yes, I will probably try one more book from this author.
“Because here’s the thing about being poor—most people don’t understand it unless they’ve been there themselves. They don’t know what a fragile balancing act it is to stay afloat and that if, God forbid, you momentarily slip underwater, how hard it is to resurface.”
World of Bai 