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. 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. Turns out that one of the flings is grooming/ sleeping with her daughter, so she catches him and calls the cops. But then here’s the contrasting thing…the book highlighted some really difficult subjects including marital abuse, grooming and suicide, to name but a few, and didn’t shy away from them, in fact it is a brutal start to the book….which then made the other parts seem so contrasted This book touched and covered so many tough subjects, that are relevant and happening in today's times!

I certainly found myself questioning my morals with this book because I am very much one who believes in doing the right thing and without giving too much away Eve does something unforgivable that would usually have me turning against a character however because we have seen what poor Eve has had to endure through her life there was a part of me that excused her for her actions. By the next evening, mum and kids are staying in a women's refuge and major plans to ensure a happier future are in motion. Of course, this doesn't sit too well with Don. One night, Eve decides to teach her husband a lesson... And it goes horribly wrong. 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.

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. 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.

Bestselling author Lesley Pearse weaves her writing web of magnetism and lures you in with a tale of hard times, abuse and survival. My one criticism would be the slightly stilted dialogue. The children sometimes used words I would consider too advanced for their ages. Also, the flow of conversation between the characters didn't always seem natural. Setting that aside, the plot was very good and the pacing spot on. I genuinely felt the author used sensitivity and empathy to deal with some very tough topics. 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.

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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. 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. 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 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!

Also the writing style is written in a way my 15 year old self wrote fan fictions. Just so simple and boring. She goes to the police and gets in touch with a social worker who helps her leave London to flee to a refuge in Sidmouth. But after the divorce goes through, she can finally return to her home. Only, Don isn't capable of moving on, instead he harrases her every night until she decides to teach him a lesson - which goes very, very wrong.

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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

Eve decides to permanently move her family to Sidmouth, to finally start over and to work on the interior decorating career she has always wanted. But secrets have a way of following you and Eve soon learns that even in a quaint little fisherman's town like Sidmouth, there are still monsters lurking around every corner. And sometimes those monsters are the people you trust the most.

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This new book from popular author Lesley Pearse has all the right ingredients. Eve’s husband Don drinks, and he's violent to her. She says to herself she never should have married him. But they have a girl Tabitha (Tabby), and a boy called Oliver, the children are a joy. Don says he’ll turn over a new leaf, but he'll never change. At one point things become better…. then go bad again so that she starts to think, could she get away?