In this book, we see just how strong and resilient women can be even when things literally "beat" us down! We see that sometimes the people closest to us can hurt us the most and how total strangers can become the best of friends! This is a book that reels you in from the first chapter, throwing the reader straight into the heart of the abuse and the sense of danger and urgency flowing through those first few chapters. The book does slow its pace in the middle part of this book as Eve and her children try to live a new normal life but once again the book takes a dramatic turn of events towards the latter part of the book and we are thrown into despair and the adrenalin flows as everything comes to a head. Despite the drifting plotline and a crammed conclusion of events, this is classic Lesley Pearse through and through. Betrayal is a great read, if a tough one. Lesley has a reputation for writing gritty, confronting stories that don’t shy away from distressing issues. Betrayal is the new release from Lesley Pearse where she introduces us to Eve who has been the victim of domestic abuse and it doesn’t stop at her because Don has raised his hand to their son now too. When one particularly scary beating left Eve in a bad way she had to put not just her safety but that of her children first and set the wheels in motion to leave her husband.

Yet although it took me a few days ( that’s a lot for me ) I wanted to finish the book and see the final outcome Eve Hathaway has no option but to leave her violent husband but as with all bullies Don Hathaway refuses to admit that he has a problem and can't let Eve and his children have the peaceful life they crave. Setting up a new life for herself and her children isn't easy for Eve but with sheer grit and determination she takes them out of poverty and into a more settled existence except that Eve is burdened by a dreadful secret which overshadows her future happiness. Eve loves her children but now she carries a terrible burden that she dares not share. Has she betrayed her and her children's futures?Turns out that one of the flings is grooming/ sleeping with her daughter, so she catches him and calls the cops. Despite some flaws, I found Eve to be a strong and brave protagonist in many ways. All she wants is the best for her children, even if she's weighed down with such a burden that she can't share. This also means that's she has surpressed trust issues and can't fully commit to another romance in the future. I've loved Lesley Pearse's books from the beginning. It's hard to believe Betrayal is book 31! It's just as good a read as all of the others.

Opening with a brutal act of violence upon his wife, Donny Hathaway establishes himself as a brute of the worst sort. This is clearly not the first time he has bestowed this casually bloody act on Eve, but the effect it has on her is to determine that it will be his last. Her children and the thought of being labelled a subpar wife have kept her in marital chains for years, her wedding was a drunken event not worth recalling, Don's behaviour towards her family marking as a day to forget and not remember. It shows how insidiously the coercive control has co-opted Eve's sense of self and her world view, she would stay for the sake of shame and social propriety than leave. When Tabby says "mummy" in the rape scene, it is great foreshadowing for her helplessness later on.But, after one drunken rage too many, she has the courage to leave him. Eve is warned that it's a difficult path, yet she needs to give her children hope for the future.

Eve should never have married Don Hathaway. Yes, he gave her two beautiful children - Olly and Tabitha - but he is a bully. I really liked this. I liked it much better than ‘Suspects’, and ‘Deception’, the last 2 books from Lesley Pearse. This is more like her earlier novels e.g. ‘Rosie’, and ‘Father Unknown’, which I loved. I really enjoyed it, and was eager to read on to find out what would happen. Marianne goes on to be a role model/mother figure for Eve always offering good advice and being there for her when she needs it. Spending weeks in the refuge means Eve starts to change and for the better. Gone is the scared women who was afraid of change, meeting new people or even trying to do things for herself as in indulging her passion of curtain making and interior design. When they divorce comes through Eve feels confident enough that she can return to the family home and start afresh but the threat of Don still lingers on. This book didn’t disappoint me either, I do love how how this author has brought her stories and plots upto modern age. What I mean by that is, some suspense and grit into them. Got to say I don’t think I am the target audience for this book, generally I read a lot of what is classed ‘women’s fiction’ and love it but this for me actually did feel it was correctly labelled, a bit Mills and Boon ish in large swathes of it

Betrayal looks at the worst kind of domestic violence and does so with a sharp eye for detail and a sympathetic way of recounting a story which is all too familiar namely that of women who are scared of the consequences of leaving a violent partner. In Eve Hathaway the author has created a feisty and determined woman, who once away from her violent husband, has the ability to make a new life for herself and her children and yet with the shadow of uncertainty hanging above her the author shows just how fragile this new life can be and learning to trust isn't easy as Eve discovers to her cost and that of her family's safety. I felt so sorry for Eve and her children but I loved how her character evolved as the story progressed and she started to get more confident in building a new life for herself. She found some really good friends and began to hope that she might even find love again. I really enjoyed the fact that she went from downtrodden to ambitious and I admired her for what she achieved.