My review is written with thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book via Netgalley, which I received under the title Imperfect Women.

Blurb:

Everyone wants perfection.
But there is no such thing.

Nancy has the perfect life. She is bright, beautiful and rich with an adoring husband and daughter.

At least that’s what it seems on the outside to her two best friends.

But then Nancy is murdered.

And as the lies start to unravel, they realise they never knew their perfect friend at all.

She clearly had as many secrets as they do…

Review:

I found Perfect Strangers to be quite a character driven novel. It’s split into three sections, each from the perspective of one of the central characters, Eleanor, Nancy and Mary. I enjoyed this technique as it helped me to get to know the women well, giving the reader access to secrets they do not know about each other. However, the sections are not split into smaller chapters and this made the novel feel a little disjointed, especially when the story goes back and forth in time.

Araminta Hall has developed the characters well, and she really understands the nuances of womanhood and the conflicting views in society about a woman’s place in it. I loved the way she explored this through the characters who have different types of relationships and employment circumstances. Despite this, I didn’t find any of the women particularly likeable and this prevented me slightly from emotionally connecting with them.

There is a mystery at the centre of Perfect Strangers, in terms of who is responsible for Nancy’s death, and although I found it quite slow burning, I was intrigued by what had happened and interested by the different revelations that are made as the story develops. I did not expect the novel to end in the way that it did.

Perfect Strangers is available from Amazon.