I don't often find reading a chore, but reading this certainly made it feel like one. As someone who feels the need to finish a book once I have started it, I felt as though I were punishing myself.

I love a good mystery, however, this was terribly predictable. Filled with dreadful stereotypes and characters that were so unlikable it was hard to believe how any of them were friends. None of the characters felt like they could be real people, or even spoke to each other in a realistic manner.

This book also would have benefitted from the use of chapters, without them, the book feels even longer.

I tried so hard to get into this one but it just wasn't holding my attention. I ended up giving up on it about half way through.

Due to a family passing at the time, I was unable to download this in time before it was archived, and having only returned after several years away due to it severely affecting me, I am now working my way through those reviews I was unable to get to to detail the issue. Thank you for the opportunity, and I look forward to working with you in the future.

Thank you for providing me with an advance review copy of this audiobook. Enjoyed listening, would recommend....

Good story with liable characters. I thought I would like audio books but finding it hard to concentrate on the story..

Psychological thrillers are one of my favourite genres and I have do recommend Perfect Strangers. I enjoyed how the novel is split into the three best friends voices, with first Eleanor, then Nancy and the third friend Mary but this isn’t a thriller and does not have that twisty, gripping, slightly scary feel. Nancy seemed to have it all but was having an affair with “David”. She was not so satisfied with her marriage, or her life, as everyone was led to believe. This was to result in her murder. I disliked the women at first but I think you are supposed to as there is a lot of jealously between supposed friends and they are all a little messed up. The book is less a a thriller and more an interesting read on the friendship between the women and secrets they have.

This is very slow burn mystery, surrounding the lives of 3 women and the tragic death of one of them. It features love, lies and friendship in its quest to entangle the reader into the lives of these three friends and their secrets in order to truly discover how and why Nancy died.
I enjoyed the overall plot to the story and how the reader was given an insight into each womens lives and inner most secrets but I do believe that the story could have been shorter as some parts seemed to be unnecessarily long and didnt progress the story along.
Thank you to Orion books and Netgalley for allowing me to review this book.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Perfect Strangers was an average read for me - I enjoyed reading it, but it wasn't a highly captivating read. I enjoyed the themes of female friendships and feminism, but the plot and the ending was quite predictable and left me disappointed.

Not the best book I've listened to but not the worst

This book is about 3 friends Nancy, Mary and Eleanor who have known each other since university. When one of them is murdered, the 2 remaining friends are left to pick up the pieces. The book is split in to 3 parts for each of the 3 women ana, as we read on, secrets and lies are revealed.

The biggest problem for me was I was expecting a thriller and this isn't
I didn't like any of the characters
There was no build up of suspense, and I guessed who the murderer was pretty early on .

Three friends meet at University.
Eleanor – she’s never been married or had children but has always had a secret crush on her friend Nancy’s husband. When she first met him she believed him to be interested in her, but he contacted her as a route to get to Nancy. She’s never found serious love and concentrated on her career.
Nancy – the beautiful, glamorous one who gave up her career to bring up her family. She has a daughter Zara and a husband who loves her, but she’s bored with her life and looking for excitement.
Mary – mother of three who gave up her career to bring up her family. She met her husband, a married university professor, when she worked for him as his assistant. She was younger than him and fell for his charms. When she got pregnant he left his wife for her. She is treated badly physically and emotionally by him and it is rumoured that he has had many extra-marital affairs.
One night Nancy is found dead. Mary knows that she was having an affair but believed it to be over. Neither of her friends knew who it was with but believed it to be with an author, Davide. There are twists and turns which surprise us all the way through.
After Nancy’s death Eleanor starts a relationship with her husband, who she’s always had feelings for. She has to battle her feelings of love for him with her feelings of guilt over her friend’s death. She is also battling feelings of guilt over the death of an elderly neighbour she felt responsible for.
The book explores friendship, betrayal, breakdowns of relationships and the guilt all women feel every day trying to juggle work and family life and the many roles women are expected to play. All the characters are relatable and you love, dislike and empathise with them all at different points in the book.
This is a brilliant book that I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to all.

I can’t wait to read the next Araminta Hall. I loved this book, it was compelling and rich - a brilliant book if you’re looking for something!

An enjoyable listen which fully explores the relationships between the main characters. Great character development throughout and calming narrator

I’ve found this book to be dark, mournful, and interesting. It studies the complexities of human relationships, the people we become and the secrets we share.

An intense novel about women's lives, and friendships. Three university friends who are diff from one another move through life. They are imperfect women — as the title says — flawed, housing secrets, resentment and betrayal. The book also explores depression and marriage. met at university, It is a thriller with more to think about.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book. I found it slow and I couldn't connect with the characters. They made me loose my nerves a bit. Definitely not my cup of tea

Quite interesting for an audio book! Had to stop and start to get used to it but once I got into the flow it was quite refreshing to listen to the story!

I expected to this one but sadly I'm sorry to say that I did not like this, I found it boring and after getting half way through I ended up not finishing it.

I absolutely adore Araminta Hall's books and this one was no exception. Utterly gripping story of friendship, relationships and the lies we tell ourselves. Highly recommended.

This book surrounds the lives of three women who have been best friends since they first met in college. Nancy, Mary and Eleanor are all very different and they have very different lives. Nancy is the rich, beautiful and perfect one of the group, and when she is murdered it sends shockwaves through the lives and families of the three women, and the remaining friends are intent on discovering who killed her.

The story is tense and mysterious throughout, and you really get a good sense of the kind of turmoil and distrust that sits behind the thoughts and actions of the characters. It was very well written and, although the ending was not completely unexpected, the story does unfold in some surprising ways. It's full of emotion and tension. The characters are vastly different and the way they interact with each other seemed very realistic to me. I thought it was very clever how the author has managed to combine the murder and mystery elements with real life situations and interactions. It's probably one of the most true to life fictions I've ever read, and when you read it you can identify people you know who are like those characters or even relate to them on a personal level.

This is the first full length book I have listened to as an audiobook, and I did enjoy it. The tempo and feel of listening to the book worked perfectly for this title because it was able to reflect the emotions and tense parts of the story very well. The person reading the book did a fantastic job, and I really liked how she was able to give different realistic voices to the characters which matched how I imagined them to be in terms of their personalities.

On the whole I did enjoy listening to this book and I would definitely recommend it as an audiobook for those who enjoy both a mystery thriller and women's contemporary fiction.

This was a nothing special read for me. It just wasn't my cup of tea, and it was quite a heavy book so I didn't feel good after reading it. It wasn't one I was desperate to carry on reading, and it didn't help that I didn't particularly like any of the characters