‘Betray Her’ by Caroline England ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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?

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and Caroline England for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

From the moment I began reading I was hooked. Betray Her is a story of friendship, love, secrets, lies and betrayal that exudes nail-biting tension and foreboding throughout.

Jo and Kate have been best friends ever since their first day at St Lukes twenty years ago despite their very different backgrounds. Jo has always felt like the working class girl from a Barnsley Estate who didn’t deserve her place amongst the rich girls at boarding school. Two years ago she lost her husband suddenly leaving her mourning not only him but their dream of having a child. Kate was raised with a silver spoon in her mouth and waited on hand and foot. She has lived a charmed life. She is enjoys a blissful marriage with her rich and successful husband, has a beautiful little girl, and is the epitome of the perfect wife and mother.

Told in the present day with flashbacks to the friends’ time at St Lukes and the years since, we learn that all is not quite as it seems. From the start there are hints that their time at the all-girls boarding school was far from happy and that they never discuss it. Gradually, we learn the truth of those tumultuous years, along with other heart stopping revelations that unveil their closely guarded secrets and change their lives forever.

This was the first book I’d read by Caroline England and she has found herself a new fan. I was on the edge of my seat from the first page right up until the breathtaking finale. The story was fantastically written in such an authentic voice that I vacillated between who I rooted for and who I deemed the villain many times, and was never quite sure what would happen next. The detailed descriptions had me feeling like I was right there alongside the narrator feeling and seeing everything she did. A tantalising book that I would highly recommend.

Out September 24th