Betrayal by Robin Lee Hatcher is the second in her Where the Heart Lives series about three orphans who were separated and try to find each other as adults. Each book focuses on one of the siblings: the first book in the series, Belonging, reviewed here, featured older sister Felicia.
In Betrayal older brother Hugh Brennan has just been released from prison where he had served as a result of his father’s betrayal. He has heard that Felicia is in Idaho and sets out to find her, but then his horse is injured and he has to stop for a while. He comes across the ranch of Julia Grace who, though wary, offers him food, a place to stay, and a few days work while his horse heals. Hugh, of course keeps his background as private as possible.
Julia has secrets of her own. She was plunged into a marriage of convenience to escape a lifetime of shame, but her husband abused and belittled her. He has passed away, and her one security is the ranch he left her, which she steadfastly refuses to sell to her husband’s brother.
Can these two wounded souls ever come to trust each other with their futures as well as the secrets of their pasts?
I enjoyed the story and the journey Robin led Hugh and Julia through and the things they learned along the way about trust and true security.
(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)
Stray Thoughts 
I remember enjoying this book, too, and though I hadn’t read the first one I didn’t feel one bit lost.
Pingback: What’s On Your Nightstand: May 2013 | Stray Thoughts
Pingback: Saturday Review of Books: May 11, 2013 | Semicolon
Pingback: Books Read in 2013 | Stray Thoughts