Betray Herby Carolone England
I got the chance to read this thanks to Netgalley.
I give this book 3.5 stars
Best friends forever.
That's the pact you made.
You'd do anything for her.
And you have.
She's always had it all.
If you could take it for yourself . . . would you?

A story of friendship, love,jealousy, secrets and betrayal.Not everything is as it seems!
I enjoyed reading this although it took me a while to get into it,about half way through l was hooked and literally didn't put it down until l finished it.Great twist at the end!

It took me a while to get into the book but I found the writing style engaging, if a little repetitive at times, especially the boarding school elements and the repeated mentions of Jo's husband's death. I didn't find it as dark as I expected, until the ending! That was quite unexpected.

Yet again a tale by Caroline England about the less attractive characteristics of the main characters, Jo and Kate. For me this didn't read like a thriller, much more an observation of children who meet at boarding school and although from different backgrounds very different girls they bond and maintain a friendship through the years. How well do they really know each other?
The Prologue presents us with a death by drowning but how relevant is that to the story?
Many thanks to Netgalley/Caroline England/Little, Brown Book Co. for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a first-time author for me and I wasn't disappointed. A story of friendship and jealousy, sadness and joy, life and death set in a weaving tale with wonderfully clever twists and turns. Well-written, great characterisation. Recommended.

This book is a slow burner, and at times it felt like there were too many characters to keep up with. The timeline jumps around too, it comes together by the end of the book with a few twists and turns along the way.

Best friends forever. Right?
Wrong. In Caroline England’s new book, one of these best friends is lying to each other… and those lies look like they’re going to turn deadly.
I don’t usually read a lot of thrillers. Not so much because of the twist at the end, but because I find the dizzying spiral into panic and terror that happens towards the end of the book quite depressing. Call me a party pooper, but it’s not always quite my thing.
However, I really loved this book.
It’s dark, tense, sexy and full of twists and turns that leave you dumbstruck. Every chapter teaches you something new about the characters, or adds an extra level of nuance to their actions in the present day. Plus, there’s a fascinating female dynamic at its centre.
Our two heroes are Jo and Kate: two girls who became fast friends when they were allocated the same room on their first day at boarding school. Now it’s twenty years later, and the cracks are starting to show. Kate is drinking heavily; her husband is acting strangely. And the answers might just lie in the past…
The characters are hugely complex. We are treated to a series of flashbacks- all from Jo’s perspective- taking us from her and Kate’s difficult, traumatising childhood, to the present day. With every chapter we find out something new, and as a result, feel more and more invested in the plot and how it’s going to play out. What starts out as a perfectly innocent friendship in the first chapter becomes something a lot more dark and twisted as the book goes on, and the tension ramps up as a result.
England is a master at slowly turning the screw, and portraying Jo’s increasing distress and dismay as everything she thought was true starts to fall apart around her and her past catches up with her. Jo is most definitely a flawed, damaged heroine, which makes her fascinating, relatable and pitiable- if a little bit scatty and irritatingly self-centred at times. In fact, everybody is very flawed, from Kate’s very angry husband Tom (who Jo has some history with) to Kate, whose fragile exterior we learn more and more about as the book progresses.
While the end of the book isn’t quite as tense as it could be, it does offer up something wholly unexpected: romance and a (kind of) happy ending. While it wraps things up a tad too neatly, reader, I quite enjoyed it! It’s nice to have a smile on the end of your face after reading a book, so I’m a fan.
Betray Her is definitely a slow burner, but one that it’s a pleasure to dive into. Twisted, dark and tense, it dives deep into the friendship between two strong female characters- and makes for quite a page turner. More please!

Caroline England writes a hugely engrossing and entertaining novel that deals with some serious issues in the style of an Alice Feeney book.

Widowed Jo Wragg is in her late thirties and desperately longs for a child. Plagued by jealousy, she dreams of living the life of her childhood friend, Kate Bayden-Jones, who is married to her dashingly handsome husband, Tom and together they have a beautiful daughter, Alice. As Jo becomes increasingly involved in Kate’s life, their friendship begins to deteriorate and both women reflect on the choices they have made for themselves and their families.

Caroline England delivers an unstoppable and exuberant story of women's friendship with a toxic concoction of illicit relationships, secrets, jealousy and lies. It explores the friendship between Kate and Jo; they first met at eight years old when they were both sent to boarding school. The novel’s great strength is in the way Caroline England weaves past and present, returning to their boarding school days to show how both girls were shaped by the hardship they suffered there. The atmosphere of frozen winters at St Luke’s school is vividly portrayed and the final scene from the past delivers a mind-blowing twist that made me question everything that came before.

Betray Her is a cracking story and a book that I revelled in all the way through. It brought no disappointments and everything was beautifully wrapped up in the fabulous finale. An awesome read which I'm very happy to recommend and also award five stars!

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Little, Brown Book Group via NetGalley at my own request. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

I’ve never read a Book by Caroline England and it definately won’t be my last! Brilliant and full of twists,.

Betray Her by Caroline England.........WoW.......I just loved this book.......Its full of twists and turns with lots of secrets and lies, illicit relationships, rivalry & jealousy and so much more which I love in a book and I was hooked after reading the first few pages! Excellent read!

A brilliant gripping psychological thriller I highly recommend

Big Thank You to Netgalley, Caroline England and Little Brown Book Group UK for this opportunity to read Betray Her by Caroline England. Loved it.

Slow burn thriller with a surprising ending.

I was really torn with this book. The synopsis was so intriguing but the book started slowly and didn’t read like a thriller until 3/4 of the way through. For the first half of the book I was a little disappointed with the lack of action but I did enjoy the insight into Jo and Kate’s childhood. Initially I wasn’t sure where it was going and what value it was adding to the story but having read the full book, I do think the history adds depth to the story and explains why the characters do the things they do.

I particularly enjoyed the writing style, the way the author structured the story and the ending which means despite the slow pace and lack of “thriller” elements, I’m rating this one 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher (Little Brown Book Group UK, Piatkus) for providing a copy of the book for review. All opinions are my own and provided willingly.

I seem to have been reading this book for weeks. I had high hopes and got sucked in at the beginning but then it was so slow. Nothing much happened and I was ultimately disappointed. It's not a bad book, but then again it isn't good either!

A fascinating book following the friendship of Kate and Jo from boarding school pals at 8 to adults with husbands. Jo's husband, Richard, died suddenly two years ago. Kate and Tom are known as the Golden Couple but is everything really so shiny in their world? Scratching beneath the surface the reader soon discovers that not everything as it seems. A recommended read which kept me interested and wanting to read until the end.

Betray Her is I thought as good as My Husbands Lies and a book I was immersed in from beginning to end.
Jo and Kate are best friends and have been since they met at a young age at boarding school but are they really. This book goes into the depths of this relationship of this pair and it’s not as good as you’d like to think. Kate comes from a wealthy home and is given everything and jo is from a working class home and has to be grateful for what she’s been given. They’ve always looked out for each other but hidden away is jealousy and envy. Kate married her teenage crush, Tom, and this character is where the basis of these two best friends lives are pulled apart. Kate has to have everything she wants and Jo is happy with what she has but is she really. This is a very dark and intense thriller and I loved it especially as I’m a stones throw from where Kate’s farmhouse is and knew the local area. This is a cleverly written book that had me galloping through at aright pace.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group UK, Piatkus for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really good psychological thriller that is a slow burner, but builds up to some great final few chapters.
I enjoyed the flashbacks to Jo and Kate’s time at boarding school and felt this gave a good background to their friendship.
Jo and Kate remained friends after school but there’s
a bit of history between Jo and Kate’s husband, Tom, that just won’t go away.
I have to say I felt more empathy with Jo through most of the book rather than Kate, but both characters have their faults.
This is a gripping psychological thriller and I’d like to thank Little Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Betray Her is an exciting concept for a thriller but with a literary fiction, (i.e., rather slow), pacing.

Jo and Kate are best friends at boarding school. After they are grown-up, it is harder to continue to be best friends. Kate has the perfect life—handsome husband, beautiful daughter and a rich lifestyle. Jo was not so lucky—deceased husband with no child. Jo becomes increasingly obsessed with Kate’s life. How far will she go to attain it for herself? What other secrets will come to light during the frequent flashbacks to their boarding school days?

Betray Her is a well-written rollercoaster ride through two woman’s lifelong friendship. It includes huge quantities of alcohol so if that is a trigger for you, you should probably skip this book. But for others willing to wait a bit for their thrills, this book is a good choice. 4 stars!

Thanks to Little Brown Group UK and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I have previously read several of Caroline England's novels, but this latest one takes her writing to a higher level entirely. An awesome read!

This is the story of the friendship between Kate and Jo; they first met at eight years old when they were both sent to boarding school. The tale goes from then to the present day and we slowly learn how deep their relationship is, and the history they share together. We make the acquaintance of their family and friends and even find out their innermost secrets - and, boy, are they worth learning!

This is a skilfully created novel, drawing the reader into a very interesting and spellbinding tale from the very beginning - I could barely manage to set it aside when my eyes were drooping in bed! Although the layers are peeled back slowly, there is always something going on to keep focus. With a whopping big surprise at the end of the book, it pays to keep your wits about you - the clues are there and I picked up on one quite late on and was delighted to be proved right! It is a glorious tale from first to last, and definitely propels this author higher in my estimation (and I already admired her previous work immensely). So very cleverly plotted as well as beautifully written, it is a very entertaining and satisfying read with everything tied up nice and neatly by the final words. Just as I like it, and there is no doubt in my mind that this one fully earns five sparkling, dancing stars!

My thanks to publisher Little, Brown Book Group for my copy via NetGalley. As always, all stated opinions are completely my own and entirely honest.

Betray Her - Caroline England

I was a little disappointed in this book if I'm honest. I read the synopsis and as it read as my favourite genre psychological thriller so was looking forward to curling up with it. I found it to be a hard read for me, Although this was my preferred genre it was just a little to slow of a burn for me but I just had to find out what happened at the end (it was a good ending I must admit) which meant I couldn't put it down.

Its told in a few different time frames which I usually enjoy as these sections are where we have the opportunity to learn about the characters but I felt that we could have had a little more from them. I took against one particular character and she just irritated me as I felt she was rather selfish.

I know that other people will enjoy this so I will still recommend it.

Read for an honest review. Thank you Caroline England, Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK

A tale of love, friendship, lies, betrayal and secrets galore.

Kate and Jo have been best friends since they met at boarding school when they were 8 years old. Now in their 30’s they are still the best of friends, or are they ?

The book’s chapters travel from the present day back to their school days. We then start to see how their relationship has developed over the years but also identify the cracks that have appeared in their friendship. As the years go by the cracks widen, will they finally break the two friends apart ?

For me this was a little of a slow burner BUT it soon picks up the pace at around half way through and then the lies start to properly surface. I don’t want to say too much more as don’t want to give too much away, this really is a book you need to read for yourself !!

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

This book is in three parts, Part one:

Sept 1988 St Luke's where the unlikely friendship began.
Joanna Wragg Aka Jo, quiet, nervous, young girl entering boarding school for the first time, who meets Catherine Brayden-Jones, aka Kate - who appears on initial meeting, very confident, posh (spoilt) girl, one of her new dorm mates.

Jo started her new boarding school experience with too much honesty about herself/family background, to her detriment. Sadly leaving her open to taunting, bullying from her class mates, making Jo change her ways, to try and fit in.
Sadly Kate was finding it difficult to fit in also, too used to others at home doing all for her, evident for all to see, on the outset unknowingly used for treats posted in, then mocked and bullied herself.

It goes from where the friendship began to present day, Peak District, Kate's home, thirty years later.
Kate's married to Tom, with daughter Alice. Jo single, after the sudden loss of her husband Richard.

You can sense an underlying tension between Jo and Kate, in the present time. Seems Kate doesn't trust Jo, and Jo walks on eggshells, trying to smooth any fraught atmosphere.

Part Two, focuses mainly around Jo, starting ten years earlier where Jo met Richard, and then moving between previous years then present day, in Manchester, Jo's home town.
Jo's continued strained friendship, with Kate and Tom, with further turmoil for Jo.

Part Three
The final twist to the story!
Personally I wasn't surprised at the twist, but thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was one of those books where you couldn't wait to see how it ended, but disappointed it had.

Betray Her is well written, it's a great read. I've not read any books by Caroline England before, but definitely would look out for books by this author again.

Jo and Kate met at boarding school when they were only 8. Despite their very different backgrounds they became firm friends.
Fast forward 30 years and they're still very different people but still very close. But things aren't always how they appear as peeling back the layers that the two of them had built up during their friendship starts to expose the cracks that have probably been there all along. But these cracks widen and threaten to expose truths that have remained hidden for many years.
It's hard to say much more about the book as the author has chosen to give little away in the blurb for it. I can however say that although it is a bit of a slow burn initially, it does ramp up the pace as more of the truth comes out - mostly told in flashback from Jo's point of view.
It contains all the elements that you would expect from a book of this genre. We have secrets and lies aplenty and more than a smidgen of duplicitous behaviour. The characters are well crafted and develop well as the story progresses. Jo and Kate are chalk and cheese but they form a strong bond. But, like most people, truths are being withheld and masks are worn which means that maybe they aren't so tight as they think they are. This is reflected in the way that the characters progress as the plot unravels. This also made it hard to root for one over the other occasionally along the way as there were times when certain behaviour was explained by incidents in the past so it wasn't always black and white. There are undercurrents of a whole load of emotions throughout - sadly I can't expand on them here as I think it could inject spoilers and I don't do them!
All in all, a very character driven book that intrigued me throughout and left me mostly satisfied at its conclusion. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.