Betray Her by Caroline England

Betray Her by Caroline England
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 368

Publisher - Piatkus

Source - Netgalley

Blurb from Goodreads

Best friends forever.

That's the pact you made.

You'd do anything for her.

(And you have)

She has it all.

If you could take it for yourself . . . would you?



My Review


Jo and Kate met at boarding school when they were little girls, Kate coming from a more upper class and money type family, Jo a bit scruffy and feeling out of place. A friendship cemented and now we are decades later, the ladies are in their thirties and living very different lives. Kate seems to have it all, Jo struggling personally and her icy exterior and chip on her shoulder still impacting on here life choices/happiness. As Jo spends more time with Kate she realises her friends perfect life may not be so perfect and just how well do they know each other?

A psychological thriller that focuses heavily on friendship and family. We go between present and past getting more of a feel for the girls and how their friendship cemented and endured their hard times at school. There are a lot of twists along the way and lets the reader see sides of the ladies that helped shape who they are now.

In the present day, even though the ladies are close, some of their interactions, how they spoke to each other, for me there seemed an undercurrent. Supportive words but just a hint of something being a bit off but I couldn't put my finger on what it was exactly. For me I really didn't like Jo, she seemed to look down on people and have a massive attitude because of her experiences as a kid which you can understand to a degree but still. Kate I flipped a wee bit about as she seems like the sweet one, caring, housewife, family orientated but was it because I disliked Jo so much. I flipped back and forth on both the characters as England gave a bit more on one, then the other, then flung a curve ball every now and again. A book that keeps you on your toes, the timeline jumps are done well and flow so as not to distract from the flow of the story and gives you more insight into why they are as they. 4/5 for me this time, I have another of this authors on my tbrm, I need to bump it up, a story that will keep you guessing to what is coming next.

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Beneath The Skin by Caroline England - Blog Tour

Please check out the other stops on the tour.



Today is my stop on the blog tour for debut novel "Beneath The Skin" by Caroline England. The PR post from Avon books was bloody fabulous. They sent rose petals, a wee compact mirror with a smudge of lipstick and a birth certificate extract.











As you can see Princess Trixie loved having a nosey and pose.






Here is my review for Beneath The Skin!


Beneath the Skin by Caroline England
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 362

Publisher - Avon

Blurb from Goodreads

No-one remembers your past. But you do.
‘Antonia, Antonia. My name is Antonia.’

It’s been her name for many years. But sometimes, like tonight, she forgets.

Antonia has a secret. A secret so dark and so deep that she can barely admit it to herself. Instead, she treats herself to Friday night sessions of self-harm while her husband David is at the pub, and her best friend Sophie is drinking too much wine a few doors down.

Nobody close to her knows the truth about what the teenage Antonia saw all those years ago. No-one, that is, except her mother. But Candy is in a care home now, her mind too addled to remember the truth. Antonia is safe. Isn’t she?

The lies start small. They always do. But when the tightly woven story you’ve told yourself begins to unravel, the truth threatens to come to the surface. And then what’s going to happen?



My Review

This was a very different read from what I was expecting, especially with the blurb and PR material I was expecting a psychological thriller type read. In fact it is about secrets, mental health, friendships, lies, family and the facade we put on compared to the reality of our (the individuals in the story) lives.

The book centers around the lives of our main characters, mostly split into four couples who are "friends" of different degrees. Dysfunctional relationships, friendships, work colleagues and acquaintances. Family life is a huge center of the story, especially with the hinting of Antonia and her past, she self harms and doesn't like to think about the past. She worries about her mother, who is in a care home, letting something slip. The book centers around Antonia's relationships, her coping mechanisms and her bizarre friendship with Sophie not to mention morals and how we can never truly outrun our past.

It peels the societal scab and exposes some of the most selfish and nasty side of people, how we interact with people in our inner circles, keeping secrets that bind friendship whilst never exposing some of their own personal demons. This is Antonia's story, with her husband David, her oldest friend Sophie and their inner social circle. A dark tale with raw humanity, it is a slow burner to start with as we get introduced to all the characters, building up in tension and at the last quarter pulling the rug from under your feet. I genuinely get put off books that give a different blurb to the actual story and as a slow burner it took me a bit to settle into. However by half way through I was invested in the characters and really wanted to see where it was going. The latter chapters really brought it together and shocked me as I hadn't anticipated where it was going. I went back and forth on my rating for this one, 3.5 changed to 4 stars as I thought it dealt with so many issues and themes and overall really liked it. I will keep an eye out for this authors future offerings and as always my thanks to the publisher for introducing me to a new author!

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