'The Betrayals' is a gripping and engaging exploration of a family torn apart by infidelity, mental illness, secrets and guilt.

When Rosie's husband leaves her for her best friend, Rosie and her two children (Daisy and Max) are shattered in myriad ways. The consequences continue for years in unexpected ways, and 'The Betrayals' explores the impact on all the characters involved.

The novel explores memory and its fallibility, coincidence, guilt and secrets in a way that means you just can't put the book down until you've untangled the web.

I was given an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and independent review.
This story is related by different characters in each chapter and is based around a dysfunctional modern day family. It is cleverly written with excellent characters and a lot of the people involved interweave in their connection to each other, by degrees of separation.
The insight into OCD was particularly interesting and upsetting and is a large feature of the book.
A good read.
3.5 stars

I would like to thank Michael Joseph and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Betrayals’ by Fiona Neill in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Rosie, her husband Nick, and children Daisy and Max describe in their own words how their lives become entangled when Nick has an affair with Rosie’s best friend Lisa, and how it affects not only Daisy and Max but also Lisa’s husband Barney and their children Rex and Ava.
After Nick and Lisa move in together, Rosie and Max struggle with Daisy’s obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) which Daisy believes has been caused by seeing her father and Lisa’s intimacy on the beach near where they live in Norfolk. The descriptions gave me an insight into how sufferers and their loved ones cope with the problems a mental health condition can cause. It also touched on how alcoholism can affect a family.
I thought ‘The Betrayals’ was beautifully written with great sensitivity, Fiona Neill describing the main characters with empathy. The further I got into the story the more I was drawn in. I couldn’t put the book down as I needed to know how the family were going to resolve their problems.

This is a great read and is cleverly written by taking the four different viewpoints on the plot. There is the daughter who is clearly suffering from OCD which is very well portrayed, as well as the other members of the family who look backwards into the events that led them to this point.
It deals with some difficult subjects but with an intelligent and informed basis. Sometimes it becomes awkward to read due to the subject matter but that only adds to the authors skills in my opinion.
Well constructed and engaging, I would recommend this book and will look out for future work by the author.

This book was great! Once I picked it up I didn't put it down. The author explores and handles tricky themes with expertise, particularly with regard to Daisy's condition and Lisa's health, and I enjoyed hearing each characters oerspectivs

I think I might put this book on my list of favourites for this year. It wasn’t at all what I expected, and yet at the same time it was.

I don’t even think the betrayals are the driving force in this story. The deterioration of Daisy, the codependency of her brother Max, and of course the triggers, they are what propel the story forward with quite a lot of force.

First of all kudos to the author for the in depth research and description of the obsessive compulsive disorder. It controls and rules Daisy, her life and to a certain extent the lives of those around her. Like many other disorders, it has become somewhat of a blasé throwaway phrase that people mention in a jokey kind of way. The truth is it can control and take over your entire life, and indeed people who suffer from severe OCD are often unable to cope with the demands of everyday life, due to their condition.

I enjoyed the perfect imperfections of the characters and the story. In general life isn’t an ice cream sundae with a cherry on top. It tends to be more like a melted mess that drips faster than you can eat it.

The lives of two families are changed forever when Nick and Lisa decide that lust is stronger than loyalty. Their spouses and children are less than thrilled. In fact Daisy believes their betrayal is the trigger for her OCD and every other problem in her life. To be more specific she believes Lisa is the root cause of her problems, and what Daisy thinks Max thinks too.

It’s interesting how Daisy suffers from selective memory and fixates on her father and his mistress. Memory and in particular false memories and the way our brain works in relation to memories is Nick’s speciality, which makes some aspects of the plot all the more ironic.

It really is an engrossing read, perhaps more so because the complete disintegration of families and relationships is so commonplace, and it leaves many victims in its wake. Neill writes a compelling plot with relatable characters.

The Betrayals by Fiona Neill a four-sided four-star read. This is the first book by this author, and I am sure it won’t be the last, she has written a compelling and thrilling read. Each of the four main characters in this story have their own story to tell and this author has done a great story at making each voice heard. This story has it all love, betrayal intrigue, and wonder. There is so much going on that you could get lost and get a little overwhelmed as there is so much drama but the author does a great job at keeping it together and making sure we can keep up. What I enjoyed most about this read was the fact that even the children got to be heard, sometimes they are just small secondary characters but in this we get to see how they were affected and how that affects everyone. It highlighted matters that are important to many and dealt with them in a somehow darkly funny and honest manner. Betrayal is a part of the story, but it’s not the main thing you will take away after reading this story. Well done Fiona Neill on a very well planned and written read.

The betrayals tells us the story around how two families lives are changed due to one wife going off with the others husband! It looks at where they are now and.everyones different experiences of it, this is an excellent emotive read and characters you are rooting for! Gripping and well worth a read!

Despite lots of people raving about this book, I just didn't really enjoy it. When Rosie's best friend Lisa has an affair with her husband Nick, lives change. Rosie's children and Lisa's children were childhood friends but the teenage years and marriage separation sees them drift apart. Rosie's daughter Daisy suffered badly with the breakup. We see the book flit from character to character as we learn about them, but I didn't find there to be a lot of substance to the writing, and the ending was a little let down for me.

Thanks to Net Galley and Penguin UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Rosie,s husband Nick has an affair with her best friend Lisa & the consequences effect all members of the 2 families who had previously always been close and even holidayed together each year,
Rosie and Nicks children Daisy and Max have struggled for the past 8 years with the events that took place and both of them have different recollections and memories. Daisy has suffered with chronic OCD since her father left them & Max has been keeping his own secrets whilst trying to help Daisy.
Lisa & Nick announce their plans to marry and as all 4 of their children gather for the wedding the true events from the past are revealed.
This book is aptly named as there are many Betrayals throughout the story and these continue until the very end.
A thourghly enjoyable read - well deserving of 4 stars.

The Betrayals is a strange one for me to review as at the the beginning the story flowed, I enjoyed getting to know the characters but about halfway it seemed to slow down and the "big reveal" wasn't really a big deal at all.
The book is about a lot of things including, betrayal, trust, guilt, blame and how your memory can deceive you.
Rosie and Lisa are best friends and have been for years. Their first born children are born within months of each other and they holiday together every year at Rosie's childhood home on the beach in Norfolk. Lisa's husband Barney drinks too much this last holiday together and ruins the holiday. Rosie and Nick try to keep the kids happy and carry on as normal until a few months later when Nick declares he's leaving Rosie for Lisa. This action causes Rosies daughter Daisy to develop a severe case of OCD which she gets her brother Max to help her with her checks she has to do to make sure her mum will be ok.
Years later Daisy opens a letter intended for her mum and finds its from Lisa and this starts up her OCD again. This book covers some serious issues surrounding health. The book is split into different chapters from different members point of view which I liked as it shows how one person can think one thing and another family member sees it totally different.
Just a shame the ending was a bit of a let down, I was expecting something to really make me go what??? how???? but that unfortunately never happened.
I would like to thank net galley and Penguin UK, Michael Joseph for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

The Betrayals is a book about family dynamics and what might happen to the dynamic when parents get divorced.

I was really enjoying this book. Fiona Neill's writing was good and kept me reading on wanting more.
The book felt as though it was building up to a massive betrayal reveal at the end but I found it just to be a little anticlimatic. The big reveal was just... blah. Which is such a shame because this book would've demanded more stars if the last couple chapters didn't let me down so much.

The Betrayals by Fiona Neill. This a story told by four different people, Daisy, Max, Nick and Rosie, all members of a family that is torn apart by a betrayal that's effects all four on many layers. The different characters all remember the story in slightly different ways, which in a way reminded me of The Affair which was shown on Sky, a big favourite of mine. Daisy is a sufferer of OCD, Max is filled with guilt from his childhood, Nick instigates a great deal of the betrayal and Rosie was the initial victim of the betrayal but actually probably comes out the best of all of them. A steady dark sad story of what could be an everyday life. I enjoyed this story even through its darkness as it felt real.

Loved this book! The characters are so well written, developed and complex. I felt that it got off to a slow start but once I was hooked I found the way that the story unfolded was moreish. I really enjoyed reading about the same events from a variety of perspectives.

At first I was disappointed by the final chapter expecting something bigger and perhaps more resolved, however on reflection I think it was just right and suited the tone of the book.

One more note, the front cover really threw me as I would have picked it up thinking that it was a thriller but I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered it was not.

Really keen to read more by Neill.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Michael Joseph and Fiona Neill for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Struggled a little with this one, took me a while to read it, but a good story with strong characters, interesting story told well

I really enjoyed reading this novel told by four different members of a family. It covered a lot of complex problems like cancer, OCD, alcoholism. It is a story that is about betrayal in many ways and the effect it can have on one family for years to come. I think it portrayed OCD very well and you could feel for Daisy who suffered from it. For me the ending was very abrupt and could have been tied up better. All the way through it anticipated a big revealing ending which just didn't happen.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. This book was so great! I thoroughly enjoyed it very much!

Thoroughly enjoyed this - gripping read, which leaves you guessing until the end.. Well drawn out and likeable characters. One slightly odd thread thrown in late on in the book but a great read.

Long drawn out story that took me quite a while to read.A good idea having the story of an affair in a family told by 4 separate members.of that family,with the ins and outs of on going other problems.
I could not relate to the characters and did not particularly like them.
I would not recommend this book but it appears to have many other positive reviews anyway!

Really enjoying this book.....well written . Each chapter focuses on a character and it flows really well. Can't put it down!