BEYOND BETRAYAL by Bette Lee Crosby

 

My thoughts

I've read every book Bette Lee Crosby has written. This one was another win for me. This author knows how to capture your heart and take it on a journey. One that will teach you something. This one was about a woman who was betrayed in the worse way. Her heart ripped apart and stomped on a bit. 

She's got to learn forgiveness. To forgive Kyle, her deceased husband, and to forgive herself. To move past the heartache she feels this is something she has to do. But it's not easy. She's lost the love of her life and it was after a huge fight. Little does she know the secrets he carried to the grave with him. Can she ever get past the deep betrayal? Can she learn to live again and possibly love? All Susan wants to do is curl up and forget everything and everyone. But her best friend, Blanche and her neighbor Jamie have other plans. 

Susan has a long way to go before she can get over the devastation that hit her full force after Kyle died. She thought everything was so good between them. At least that was the way she remembers it. When she finds out about the other woman and the baby on the way she starts seeing things that could have been way different than what she thought. She feels like she needs closure. Answers. A why. She wants to ask Kyle when and what could she have done differently. Reality is she could not have. It was just the way it was not matter what. 

Susan has so many great friends who help her through this journey and one that I loved was Nina. She is a ninety-one year old four time widow who needs Susan's help. Susan has no idea how much Nina will change her life. How helping Nina helps her too. Nina is wise. She tells Susan about each of her marriages and the loss of her only son when he was just a young child. How this child's father stepped out on her after that terrible loss. How she felt like it was easier to look the other way than live without him. Susan did not understand and felt her life with Kyle was different. Still, Nina helped her in so many ways. 

This book is full of wisdom. Full of love and laughter. Full of heartbreaks too. Learning to move on after losing a spouse or in Nina's case losing four spouses. It's about picking up the pieces and learning to live again. Learning to love yourself. There is a line in a song I heard while reading this that just fit. IF IT WEREN'T FOR SECOND CHANCES WE'D ALL BE ALONE. To me that summed up Susan's life after losing her husband. She has to learn how to forgive. How to forgive no only Kyle but herself too. She had to learn how to love herself. No one can do that for you. She had to learn to be herself again. To be the person she wanted to be. Wanted to love. Without that no one can feel the way you want them too. You have to have these things in order to live a full and healthy life. 

This is a story of loss. But it's also the story of forgiveness. The story of loving yourself. Of finding yourself after years of being who someone else wanted you to be. It's a story of finding love again. 

This is such a heartfelt story that you will feel it. You'll morn along with Susan. You'll get angry at her along with Blanche. You'll feel afraid for her as did her daughter and neighbor. You will love her as did everyone she touched. Everyone she helped. She's a woman we all can relate to in many ways.

Five huge stars and a very high recommendation from me. 

Synopsis

From USA Today Bestselling author Bette Lee Crosby comes a story that is compelling, emotionally taunt, and steeped in family secrets. This heart-wrenching tale of loneliness and danger, explores the bond of friendship that makes a woman believe it’s possible to love again.

When Susan Robertson buried her husband, she thought that would be the worst day of her life. She was wrong. Before there is time to grieve, she starts to discover the secrets he left behind. A hidden key. Another woman. A baby on the way.

Devastated by the truth, Susan sinks into an emotionally charged world of pain, loss and recrimination. With a ready supply of sleeping pills and a well-stocked liquor cabinet, she is on the verge of giving way to her growing despair when friend Blanche steps in with a firm hand and a fistful of tough love.

Trying to instill a renewed sense of purpose in her friend, Blanche suggests a day of sailing. Despite her life-long fear of water, Susan agrees to go. When a sudden storm rolls in, she discovers herself in a dangerous situation and will have to find an inner-strength she thought impossible. If she fails, someone will die.

This is a story of finding the flicker of courage that hides in the darkest corner of your heart.