Author Lily Callina Releases New Book 'The Betrayal'

A gripping contemporary novel of first love, secrets, and resilience—Lily Callina’s The Betrayal is now available on Amazon.

HUMBLE, TX, UNITED STATES, September 10, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Author Lily Callina has released The Betrayal, a contemporary novel that follows Alicia ("Ali") from a high-profile New York childhood to a formative life on her grandparents' Texas ranch. Written in alternating perspectives, the story examines trust, jealousy, and forgiveness within a first love that is tested by a single, consequential mistake.

The Story:
Alicia—who most people call Ali—grows up in a Manhattan mansion shadowed by flashbulbs and fragile perfection. Her mother, a once–in-demand supermodel, drills into her the rituals of beauty and the ruthless logic of tabloids, even as addiction and untreated mental illness erode the glamorous façade. In the opening shock that shapes everything after, ten-year-old Ali discovers her mother unresponsive.

The emergency responders, the hushed apologies of police, and the calm embrace of Mila—the housekeeper who has long been Ali's real day-to-day anchor—mark the end of one life and the beginning of another. Ali's father, devoted and frequently abroad for work and service projects, promises stability and gives her an impossible gift for a child: the freedom to choose where "home" should be.

Ali chooses Texas. On her grandparents' ranch, she trades curated perfection for heat, dust, chores, and the quiet authority of people who love her without cameras. She finds purpose in school and in the cadence of ranch life, and she finds Kyle—the boy next door who becomes her best friend, then the boy everyone assumes is hers, and then, finally, the one who is.
Ali's generosity and confidence draw people in; her long, dark hair and runway poise don't hurt, but it's her easy kindness that makes other girls seek her out for advice on clothes, skin care, and workouts. She begins sewing and designing for classmates, discovering a talent that's half inheritance and half hard-won craft. With Kyle, she sketches a shared future: college, degrees that marry business and agriculture, and service abroad where they can help communities build food security and clean water systems.

Then a new girl, Salsa, arrives in town. She is all edges and allure, the kind of presence that unsettles a hallway without trying. For Ali, Salsa becomes a mirror that reflects back every insecurity: about beauty, about attention, about the tenuousness of happiness when you've learned that good things can vanish overnight.

For Kyle, a single reckless night with Salsa becomes a secret he convinces himself he can keep—a crack that runs under everything he and Ali are building. Prom season crowns Ali socially—her designs fill the gym floor, she and Kyle are voted king and queen, and their future plans are announced to cheers—but the story tightens around what isn't said between them. Silence, it turns out, has a way of speaking.

After graduation, the world widens. New York calls with opportunity, and Ali answers—linking up with Mila and a prodigy friend to launch a small fashion brand that quickly finds its footing. At the same time, service trips abroad pull at the compass Ali and Kyle drew together in high school. Across continents and years, their paths rhyme: agricultural projects, community clinics, makeshift classrooms, near-misses where they almost collide and don't.

Family threads tug just as hard—Texas grandparents who age, a father whose steadiness and guilt shape his advice, and Mila, who remains a steady north star. The novel keeps circling big questions with intimate consequences.

About the Author:
Lily Callina is a daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, aunt, and cousin—as well as a writer and former social worker. Having weathered many heartbreaks, she draws strength from her faith, her love of rock music (especially Nickelback), and a lifelong passion for storytelling. After 34 years in a helping profession, she turned to writing as a new way to connect with others and to explore the resilience of the human spirit.

Availability:
Available on Amazon, 'The Betrayal' addresses themes of grief, parentification, and the pressure of public image, as well as the costs of secrecy inside adolescent relationships.

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Lily Callina
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