What to say? It’s a story about 3 women, life long friends, and their partners and the chaos that is caused when 1 of them dies and the other 2 ( plus hubbies ) find out secrets and things that have been ‘going on’ without the others knowing
There is a story here, and parts of it where told well but it was all so, well, long and drawn out and so so many character flushes, dizzy spells, loss of ability to walk’s, feverish sweats and the like in the end it just felt like a lot if it was descriptive padding
The 3 plus husbands are not just unlikeable but repugnant and loathsome, not not likeable in a ‘love to hate you way’ but really unlikeable 100% full stop and brought a new meaning to the words self obsessed
I loved the authors ‘Our Kind Of Cruelty’ and look forward to her next book but this sadly was not for me
And that’s where I will leave it 🤗

4/10 as there is a story there
2 Stars

Nancy, Eleanor and Mary are university friends. They’ve been there for each other over the years. Then one night after a meal with the girls Nancy is murdered. As Eleanor and Mary try to uncover what happened on that evening. We discover Nancy was having an affair. She was going to end it. So who killed her? Her lover? Or did her husband know what was going on and was he responsible.
As we go on the journey of discovery, hidden secrets come out of the woodwork to discover that no one is perfect.
This book held my attention to the end. .
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in return for an honest review

Araminta Hall’s new novel explores the strong bonds between three women who met at university, have remained friends, and now each battling very personal challenges: Mary struggles to bring up three children without any support from her manipulative, emotionally abusive husband; Eleanor has a promising career in the not-for-profit sector but is lonely; and Nancy, financially secure and blessed with a beautiful daughter, admirable human rights lawyer husband and enviable lifestyle, risks everything for a lover described only as ‘David’. When one of the three women is murdered, the narrative gathers pace, switching between the past and the present and between characters, outlining the capacities human beings can have for envy, jealousy, bitterness and betrayal but equally the capacities for compassion, resilience, emotional strength, and motherly love.

The dialogue, in-depth characterisations of the friends and their family members, and the plot twists are all so superior that it was easy to forgive Araminta Hall her tendency for split infinitives and the occasional gratuitous use of swear words in this novel that added nothing to the writing and stood out incongruously in such an accomplished piece of writing. Imperfect Women is a novel that everyone with should read this autumn. I am grateful to the publishers, Orion, and to Netgalley for an advance copy of this novel and warmly recommend it to anyone with an interest in thrillers, domesticity, and intelligent emotional character development.

Imperfect Women follows the story of three friends: Eleanor, Nancy and Mary.
Nancy is viciously killed, and hidden secrets between the friends are revealed. Eleanor and Mary must join forces to uncover her killer.
The story is told in three parts: one for each of the three main characters.
A well written, straightforward story that I am happy to recommend.
I want to thank NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group and Araminta Hall for a pre-publication copy to review.

I really liked Our Kind of Cruelty by the same author and had high hopes for her next book. I must admit that I was disappointed. The premise was promising and the writing wasn’t bad but the story was slow, repetitive and ridden with cliches. To be honest, I was glad when I finished it.

Araminta Hall's latest novel is a dark and intense exploration of women's lives, marriage, love, loss and long term friendships that evolve over the years. Nancy Hennessy, Eleanor Robert, and Mary Smithson first met at university, meeting in fresher's week and instantly forging a friendship and love with each other that, despite their personality differences and different paths in the future, survives. That said, that doesn't mean that that their friendship is straightforward or that they are perfect, they are flawed and imperfect women, there is resentment, jealousies, rivalries, and betrayal. They lose their way, their ambitions and their identities, hampered by poor self esteem issues, and struggle with bringing up children, they love their children, no question, but being a mother and parent is not always what its cracked up to be.

There is debilitating post-natal depression, along with the tedium and stress of being a full time housewife and mother, exacerbated by men who leave a lot to be desired when it comes to being fathers and husbands. Narrated by each of the women, Eleanor is a single woman whose career in the charity sector has flourished, she has had a particularly close and involving relationship with the beautiful Nancy and her human rights lawyer husband, Robert. After meeting Nancy the night before, Eleanor rushes to Robert in the early hours of the morning, Nancy has not returned home and he is worried. Eleanor tells him Nancy had left her to meet David, her lover, someone she had been having an affair with for more than a year. Events take a darker turn when DS Daniel arrives to inform them that Nancy is dead, discovered murdered by a path next to the river in Hammersmith. The narrative shifts from the past and present, following the fallout of Nancy's death on all of them, revealing their interior lives, their thoughts, decisions and secrets as Eleanor and Mary find solace and support in each other.

Hall looks at marriage and the difficulties it can have evolving through time and the humdrum nature of everyday life where you can so easily stop seeing each other, sometimes never seeing each other until it is too late. Robert is devoted to and loves Nancy, but she struggles to live his version of their lives together, with him playing an insignificant role at home and in childcare. Howard, an academic, is married when he gets involved with Mary, and continues to have affairs throughout their marriage, contemptuous, controlling and disdainful of Mary as she brings up their 3 children without any help from him whatsoever. In a twisted story, we observe the evolution of friendship and love between the 3 women, recalibrated as they come to understand and accommodate their imperfections, particularly as it finally becomes clear what happened to Nancy. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

Mary, Eleanor and Nancy are friends and have been since meeting at University which is going on for thirty years.
One night over a dinner table Nancy confesses to Eleanor that she's has had an affair. What follows next is she is murdered.
Then this sets of a chain reaction and everything makes them all look at their lives and decide whats important.
We then hear the story from the three characters based around lies, deception, and secrets.
The friends had all envied each others lives and when they actually get to the bottom of things they realise that actually they don't want that life after all.
I absolutely loved 'Our kind of cruelty' and gushed when I received this one.. But although I enjoyed it somehow it had something missing for me.
I couldn't warm to the characters and the husbands, well thank god they weren't mine is all I can say.
I enjoyed the pace of the story but for me the ending was a little predictable.
I love Araminta's writing style and will definitely pick her work again. This had lots of great writing and with friends like this who needs enemies?

Thanks for the advance copy Netgalley.

Mary, Eleanor and Nancy have been friends since university days nearly thirty years ago. Nancy appears to be happily married to Robert and Mary is unhappily married to Howard. One night at dinner, Nancy confesses to Eleanor that she has had an affair, later that night she is murdered. This terrible incident sets off a chain reaction of events which causes these ‘imperfect women’ to reflect on themselves, on relationships and what is actually important. This story is told from the point of view of the three friends.

This is a well written story of grief and guilt of those left behind, of secrets and lies and illusion and delusion. Most of it is enjoyable but I think that Eleanor’s and Mary’s perspectives are the most interesting. Eleanor’s shock and grief come across really well and it’s interesting to see how she gets drawn into Roberts life after Nancy’s death. The way all characters reflect on the impact of Nancy in their lives in varying ways is also good. Mary’s belief that they are all participants in a Greek tragedy is illuminating and it’s partly true but as the story unfolds you see that it’s a fantastical mythology. In my opinion Mary is the most interesting character and how she puts up with the insufferable Howard all those years is beyond me. The male characters are not likeable but in differing ways. Nancy’s story is the least appealing because she is made to feel like a goddess in her life story and she patently isn’t. Nothing seems enough for her, she’s constantly seeking more so she comes across as self absorbed and not very interesting. The pace picks up with Mary’s story and that contains some intriguing surprises. I like the end and it fits well with their examination of themselves and acceptance they are imperfect.

Overall, it’s a bit of an uneven read but there is more that I enjoy than dislike.

3.5 rounded up.

With thanks to NetGalley and Orion for the ARC.

The story follows the lives of three university friends Nancy, Eleanor and Mary. When Nancy is found dead and all police leads crumble due to lack of evidence, will anyone ever find out what really happened to Nancy on the night she died?

I really liked the sound of imperfect Women and I wanted to love it, however the book fell a little flat for me.

The title of the book is perfect, all three are, imperfect, written from the perspective of the three women you get to know all about their infidelity, grief and secrets, helping to build a picture before and after the death of Nancy.
Unfortunately I was unable to connect with the characters finding their attitudes very unlikeable. The only character I really warmed to in the book was Irena and her significance to the story wasn't great.

Overall this book just wasn't really for me. I didn't connect well to the story and waited for a twist to come and make me think ' I didn't see that coming' However the twist it does have is exactly what I thought I was going to get. I felt the main plot of the story was overshadowed by individual storylines and parts of the story I wanted to know more about were just left, in my opinion, unfinished.

I've never read a book by Araminta Hall before but I'd happily pick one up again, on this occasion the story just wasn't what I hoped it would be.

Thank you NetGalley and Orion publishing for this arc for honest review.

Firstly a big thank you to the publishers for my copy to review on netgalley. This is new author to me but one ive heard a lot of praise over.This kicks off with a murder and suspicions running wild as to who killed her.This analyses what on paper appears perfect lives,perfect relationships and friendship. But cracks are there if you look hard enough.Fast paced and excellently written to keep you hooked.Things are not all that they seem and even the closest of friends have secrets from each other.Scandalous and real .This is a great book and highly recommend. Published 4th August

I originally had this book at a audiobook. I loved the audio book so wanted to read the actual book. The writing flowed beautifully, catching the lives of three women, their friendships and relationships. Each given a voice on their very imperfect worlds. The book starts with the murder of Nancy and progresses with Ellie and Mary not only dealing with their own lives but working their way through the reason why their friend was murdered. I would recommend this as a easy read to emerge yourself in.

This book tells the story of three university friends – Eleanor, Nancy and Mary – and their different lives. The narrative weaves in strands both before and after Nancy's death to gradually reveal what led to it.

The book appears to be intended on two levels: as a mystery, and as a more profound feminist reflection on women and the ways in which they are limited and pressurised by society.

As a mystery, the book holds together pretty well, but I predicted the major twists well in advance, which makes me suspect that really the 'mystery' aspect was secondary in the author's mind to the more 'literary' aspect. Which is fine! It still works as a perfectly good mystery.

As a deeper exploration, I found there were aspects I loved and others I really didn't. I found the characterisation of the three women excellent, with convincing and nuanced character portraits that touched on insecurity, grief and loss, betrayal, guilt, the complexity of relationships, and the strength of female friendships. The writing itself is also very good, though with a bit too much introspection at times. However, the downside of the wonderful complex female characters was that the male characters were uniformly awful people. Add this to the rather sweeping generalisations that the author frequently made about 'the differences between men and women' and it left a rather nasty taste in my mouth – feminism at the expense of dismissing men as selfish, shallow, fundamentally alien creatures.

Don't get me wrong – this was a relatively minor niggle and I would still recommend the book, since it has a lot to say that's worth saying. I just don't believe in its fundamental worldview..

Imperfect Women was a gripping story of three friends, Nancy, Mary and Ellie whose friendship is twisted with lies and betrayal.

Nancy dies and the truth from before and after her death slowly comes to light.

Mary and Ellie are left behind to work out what happened to Nancy and who could have killed her.

Thank you for the ARC.

Imperfect Women follows the journey of three university friends- Eleanor, Mary and Nancy and how the life choices they make impacts on their lives. With a section dedicated to each of them, we get a glimpse into their side of the story. The book opens with the death of Nancy and it's suspected that her lover is responsible

Eleanor is single and has focussed on her career, Nancy is married to Robert and has a daughter, Zara. Mary is a busy mother of three, married to Howard, who doesn't treat her well. I would have liked Irena, to have a larger role in the story, as she really came alive for me.

My thoughts changed as the book progressed. While I was intrigued to follow the story of each woman, I easily predicted the twists. However, there was also some beautiful writing. I particularly enjoyed Mary's thought process, as she contemplates how to deal with Howard's infidelity.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

OMG!!! Beautifully written prose that will curl your toes and smash your mind. This book is all about the writing for me. The author could write about the price of cheese and I'd read it. But back to the story. 3 women. Each as imperfect as the other - when one dies all their secrets become exposed. 10 stars.

Imperfect Women is an excellent study of female friendship and more particularly the type of friendship that endures the inevitable changes from university student to mature adult.

That opening sentence may lull you into a false sense of security, in that this book is a gentle stroll with the heady mix of nostalgia and domestic detail. This book is nothing like that instead uncovering layer by layer the push and pull of friendship put under pressure due to the different lives and priorities of the three women involved.

Nancy, Eleanor and Mary like so many of us embarked upon their life without limits but it isn't long before life, and perhaps men, put a block in the road for at least a proportion of their ambitions. This book captures what is meant by a thought provoking read.

'Imperfect Women' by Araminta Hall tells the story of Eleanor, Mary and Nancy, friends since university, now middle aged women, who have had various experiences of work, romance, motherhood and life. This is a dark tale, centred on betrayal, but also on love. It is split into three parts, focussing on Eleanor, Nancy and then Mary, although their husbands and children also play a central role.

I enjoyed this novel, but it didn't suck me in to the extent other books have. There was something about the tone of it that caused me to picture characters that I found it hard to empathise with. I was drawn into solving the mystery central to the story, but the ending was not a suprise and was signalled quite early. The women's powerlessness was believable, but also saddening. I would recommend this book, but to a select group of people.

This narrative is dominated by thought and reportage, and while there are very few authors who can write well in this style, Hall most certainly can. The beautiful prose is almost hypnotic, so that even though this novel is about an horrific murder - all while exploring the tyranny of domesticity - it was a weirdly pleasant and calming read. Reminiscent of Anna Hope’s Expectation, Imperfect Women is very much a literary, slow-burner which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Absolutely loved this book. I have stayed up far too late to read this one.
I have been completely pulled in to the story and unable to put this one down.

Imperfect Women follows the story of three best friends: Eleanor, Nancy and Mary. When Nancy is killed secrets between the friends are revealed.

The story is told in three parts: one for each of the characters. As the story progresses, the secrets of Nancy's life have many implications for each of the characters and they have to learn how to move on with trying to change their imperfect lives. Each women has had their life controlled by men and it's time for them to break free and make their own decisions.

I felt a connection with the three main characters and this made it an enjoyable read. I found the story unraveled slowly but it kept me gripped. The more I read, the more I began to connect the dots and predict what was going to happen, but it made me want to keep reading to find out if I was right.