This book kind of made me mad. Because it had the potential to be SO. GOOD. I think Washington’s writing is superb. All of the characters he crafted were complex and intriguing. I liked how the mystery unraveled itself, and how all the individual stories intersected in interesting ways. And by slowly unveiling what was going on, Washington kept me engaged the whole time.

But it could have strongly benefited from another round of edits. There were a lot of extraneous things happening, like plot lines and side characters that were not needed. I think if this was tightened, I would have enjoyed it more. But it was still a lovely story, and I’m definitely interested in reading more of his work!

(but also - justice for Fernando!)

Thank you to Little A and Netgalley for the ARC. Imperfect Lives is out 9/5

Thank you to the author, Little A and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts slow, and kept me guessing for quite a while - the author introduces many characters and plot threads, which makes things confusing at the start. After the first third of the book, the first connections dawned on me, but for many of threads/characters it took longer. The author did a stellar job of fleshing out the characters, who are very diverse, and making them come alive. Once various threads start coming together you realize how much secrets from the past can impact the present. I look forward to reading the other book this author has written.

Cooper Franklin never imagined he would be a killer for hire. A married father of twins, he fell into the job and the money was too good to turn down. Now that he has terminal cancer, he is confessing to all the murders he committed over the years, upending his own life along with the lives of countless strangers. Told from three points of view, Imperfect Lives follows Cooper’s confessions, along with the lives of two women deeply impacted by Cooper’s actions. As his crimes come to light, so do long-held secrets, buried pasts and complicated histories.

Despite its somewhat preposterous premise, I found myself unable to put this book down. Just when I thought I had a grasp on the characters, their stories went deeper and became more complex. Again, some aspects were a bit far-fetched and therefore unrelateable but it kept me engrossed and eager to see how it would all play out.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little A for the advance copy of this book.

Grade: C

I distinctly remember a scene from an old Superman movie (one with Christopher Reeve) where Superman takes a lump of coal, squeezes it, and when he opens his fist he has a diamond. This book is like that. More specifically, it is like the coal.

There are some great elements of this book. Washington has created three fascinating characters and, for the most part, does an excellent job of fleshing them out. The main idea of this book is creative and interesting and Washington has it paced just right to keep the reader turning the pages.

But, there are issues. As I struggled to figure out how to phrase my concerns I realized the problem. This book is an excellent first or second draft of what could be a great novel. It's just rough with a lot of stuff, for lack of a better word, that doesn't need to be there. For example, Washington spends quite a bit of time outlining an event from recent history in a way that evoked a textbook. Then, that whole event had nothing to do with the central plot! There is also an entire storyline concerning the sibling of one of the main three characters which, again, plays no role in the central plot. There is also just so much "telling" in this book. That, alone, is what made this book feel like a rough draft for me.

Again, the elements of an excellent novel are here and I do think that Washington has it in him to produce a great novel. This one, however, is not it.

What really happened to Tamara's husband? And how is she connected to Cindy? And what about Cooper, a contract killer? These three people tell this perhaps overly ambitious tale of connections and secrets. It starts slowly and then builds up to a crescendo with the last bit of the book featuring shorter chapters and faster switches. Hard to review without spoilers but know that you might not be entirely surprised at the answers. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

It took me a little bit to keep all the characters straight but once it was revealed how they are all connected this story grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go. The plotline is quite dark but in a really good way. We get three points of view, Tamara, Cindy and Cooper. A couple of them have a past and a connection that will surprise you. The further you read the more you understand just how well-connected they are to each other. We also get different timelines of all their stories which leads to how they are all related to one another.

This story was very unique and I loved how the author was able to surprise me that way. I was invested in the lives of these individuals very quickly and I was amazed with how much I liked Cooper. All the characters are well-developed and are fully fleshed out, they are far from perfect but they are most definitely human. The first half of the book is very character driven and the second half is plot-driven. I really liked how the author did this. The ending was pretty amazing and I am hoping for more of Cindy’s story after the fact.

This book was such a surprise! I expected it to focus on Cooper, the contract killer; however, I was so invested in the lives of the other two main characters, Tamara and Cindy. This book had great flow - I read it in two sittings, and it flew by because I was so curious to know more about the characters and the story. I feel like it's not completely right to call it a thriller, but it had the same mystery and suspense in the second half that one would expect from a thriller. The different narratives are a little difficult to follow at first, but once the foundation is laid everything is much clearer. Always love well-developed characters, and this book provided.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little A, and C.J. Washington for the ARC!

We have mental health issues, big family secrets, a cult, a contract killer.... this book tries to do too much and unfortunately fails at most. Too many storylines and I never really connected with of them, nor did I feel that they connected with one another in a satisfying way.

This multiple narrators mystery was entertaining, intricate, and came to a satisfying conclusion. There are 3 narrators: Cooper, an incarcerated hitman; Tamara, a grieving widow; and Cindy, a normal suburban mom with a secret past. The story begins with Tamara finding out that her husband did not commit suicide, as she'd thought, but had been murdered. I really enjoyed going back and forth between Tamara and Cindy's chapters as I inched closer to figuring out their connection. Cooper's chapters were an interesting addition. I found that they didn't add as much to the story. Many of them were retrospectives from Cooper's time before prison. It provided context but didn't really propel the plot forward. The last chunk of the book, when all the pieces fall into place, moved very quickly with a series of short chapters, switching between narrators, and I was really satisfied by the way everything came together and wrapped up. There were some parts of the book that felt unnecessary to me, though. A lot of chunks of text talking about something that wasn't related to the story at all, including one especially painful chapter focused entirely on an economic theory that the characters were discussing. Overall an okay mystery read!

Thank you NetGalley and Little A for the copy of Imperfect Lies by C. J. Washington. I’m not sure why I had so much trouble connecting to the characters and the story. I was confused about how the story was written so I had trouble keeping track of who was who. After a rough beginning I started to get involved, but by then it might have been too late to catch up. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

So that was a big book! A big book which deals with so many things: cults, second chances, even contract killings!

I really thought at first that this book will talk about cars at some point because of all the cats on the cover but that wasn’t really a thing.

I think I quickly got lost because of the various storylines. But if you like complex characters, various storylines and guess the ending and how they’re connected, then I think you’d like this book!

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. The book has many characters with a number of storylines that can be confusing and hard to keep track of. It does get a bit easier as the book goes on. In the beginning there were a bunch of names being thrown out and I was confused on who was who. I prefer books that are more straightforward and I don't have to think much when reading. It does eventually come together and make sense.

Thanks to Netgalley and Little A for a digital ARC.

thank you netgalley for this amazing arc!
the book was confusing at first and turned out to be much darker and thrilling than i was expecting, but a good read nonetheless.
even after reading the synopsis i had no idea what was going on and how the characters were related till around the 40% mark where i finally got the hang of it and it got interesting, the plot with the connections between the characters are thrilling on their own making it an interesting read
the story starts with a serial killer, cooper confessing to his crimes, one of which starts a chain reaction in the lives of two seemingly unrelated women, tamara and cindy.
this book is for you if you like intricate storylines with complex characters with crime thriller vibes
i give this book a 4/5 because the start was too confusing and slow for me

I enjoyed reading this book and getting to know these characters better, especially Cooper who I still am wondering what else there is we don’t know about him!. The author does a wonderful job of taking time to get the reader invested in each of their lives separately but then also bringing them together in ways that make this book very, very entertaining to read! Tamara is married to Cooper and you quickly come to realize that she was getting in way over her head the second she said ‘I do’. The relationship between her and Cindy develops in ways I didn’t coming and loved how it all came together by the end!

Wow, this book packed a lot into 348 pages: mental health, cults, family secrets, contract killing, second chances and redemption. There were a number of storylines and it was a little confusing at times, but everything tied together in the end, I could definitely picture this one as a movie / mini-series. Also, I actually chose this book because of all the cats on the cover, there is a cat, it does play a small role, but this is not a book about cats 😂.
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
3.5 / 5 stars

💕You might like this book if:
🔹 you like books with multiple storylines that have you guessing how they will be connected
🔹 you like complex characters that make you question if a person should be defined by past actions
🔹 you like books that explore the impact of secrets on relationships and self-image

"Imperfect Lives," by CJ Washington was unfortunately a very difficult book to read and follow. It tells the story of two strangers whose lives are dramatically changed by the confessions of a contract killer before he dies.. While I usually enjoy allowing a book to reveal itself, I found this one to be inordinately confusing, to the point that I lost interest.

There were some humorous moments, but overall, I found that the book just dragged on.

Nevertheless, thank you Netgalley and Little A for the ARC.

I'd like to thank Net Galley and Little A for letting me ready this in advance to it's release date.

Publication Date: September 5, 2023

I was confused at the beginning of the book. I was under the impression Tamara was Cindy's mother. I even wrote out a family tree just so I could get all the relations correct. It started to not makes sense as both timelines of theirs lives never matched up. That timeline got scrapped and I made a new one with the three points of view on it; Cindy, Tamara and Cooper.
By page 100 everything started to make a lot more sense.

I felt empathy for Cooper. He started off a new father who was slowly losing the two things he loved: art and his cat, Fernando. He slowly became a person who he no longer recognized anymore after losing these two things. He was desperate to provide a good life for his family, so he slowly fell into a life of crime and murder. The best way to redeem himself and become the man he once was to confess, which is how this story with three point of views starts.

As i said before, i was very confused at first but i loved how everything unfolded. In the past i have been known to try to figure out the twists and turns but now i enjoy the ride and try not to ruin the surprises for myself.
Let me just say, I was not a huge fan of Cindy throughout the whole book. I liked her even less once the mysteries were revealed. She had a tough life for sure. That might be what molded who she is and why she made the choices she has.

I did not get a good grasp on Tamara's personality. It might have been because she was too busy digging into her husband's past. I was confused at first who Malik was. I was under the impression at first it was her brother. At one point she said, "he was one of the loves of her life", so I thought he was a high school boyfriend. Then she recalled a sad story to her younger sister, Melinda. It made it crystal clear after that Malik was her older brother and she is the middle child.

I am hoping this is a series and there will be a second book. The ending opened up the possibility of another book to come but I don't see any indication online that another book is in the works.

Did I mention the cover has cats on it? Because it's so cute.

Oh boy, I love a good deathbed confession! Watching characters try and put their lives back together after they have had them ripped apart is such a great read. This one does the genre justice.

While the cover is stunning and the premise was intriguing, the execution wasn't what I initially expected and I found the storyline simply dragged on at times.

Thank you to the author and the publisher for this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks @netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy. A contract killer dies, and on his deathbed confesses everything. Two women have their lives changed by this confession, and secrets change everything. I liked the characters, fun read. #imperfectlives #cjwashington #contractkiller #bookstagram #booklover #reader #bookblog #lovetoread #fictionreader #bookreview #bookrecommendation #readersofinstagram #bookloversofinstagram #takeapagefrommybook #readallthebooks #booksbooksbooks #netgalley #advancedreaderscopy