"But I remind myself that I am not a damsel. I’m no princess bound within a tower."

Thank you DelRey books for my digital advanced copy!

What a fantastic debut! I have been wanting to read it ever since the book was announced and was lucky enough to read an early copy. A Dance Of Lies was immersive, romantic and thrilling at the same time. Vasalie is a favored dancer in king Illian's court until she is wrongfully framed for a murder and locked up in the prison for two years, she loses her carefully built strength as a dancer along with enduring lot of mental trauma. The only way out of her predicament is to accept a precarious bargain where she'd become a spy in the enemy court for Illiyan and in return she'd be pardoned for her supposed crime.

Vasalie is the most resilient FMC I have read in recent times, she doesn't let neither her disability nor the brutal betrayals define her future. She is strong willed, passionate and navigates tough situation with her quite yer determined strength, I really loved how the author took utmost care in representing disability/ chronic pain. I really enjoyed the prose especially the choreography descriptions were mesmerizing and imaginative along with the seaside castles built of glass and the extravagant court settings.

I can't not speak about the MMC Anton and his chef's kiss of a banter, it is a super slow burn romance and I seriously ate it up. Their word volley had me giggling so many times and the lore is equally fascinating as well, the court intrigue was quite entertaining. I enjoyed the book completely and don't have any major qualms or flaws worth mentioning other than the ending that made me clench my jaw even though I saw it coming haha, but that only makes me even more excited for the second book.

I also tried switching to audio at times and I have to say the production was really good and if you find yourself wanting to try the audio, I definitely recommend it too. Overall a great debut!

💫💫💫💫💫
Vasalie Moran, a brilliant dancer, is betrayed by her king. He framed her for murder and, after holding her captive for 2 years, gives her a deal of a lifetime. She must become his spy and win back her freedom.

Really enjoyed the fantasy, its world, the atmosphere, and the mystery behind it. There is a love interest, Anton, and disability representation. Overall, I really enjoyed this read.

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group/Del Rey, for this ARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

Vasalie Moran is taken from the dungeons and brought face to face with the man who put her there- King Illian. Two years into her sentence he offers her a deal: become his spy and he will set her free. Vasalie's work as a spy might be her saving grace, or her doom. A Dance of Lies is a romantasy with a disabled heroine.

I love the fact that more and more fantasy books have main characters with disability. For so long disability has been villainized and written out of stories, but A Dance of Lies has such a charming FMC who lives with chronic pain. It healed a part of me who has never seen me or my peers represented in such a way in a fantasy world.

One of my favorite books of the year. The story follows a dancer who had the King’s favor and adoration, only to lose it and spend two years in prison for a crime she did not commit. One day the King calls for her, and asks her to be his spy at a commonwealth event. If she refuses, she will go back to prison. The political intrigue and world building is engaging. The writing had me interested from the very first page. I appreciated the way the main character acknowledged her limitations with her dancing, and how she learned to accept that her body would never quite be the same after her time in jail. A favorite quote was, “Your pain, invisible or not, is never wasted. Your words matter. Your story matters. You are deserving of a main character slot”
I’d recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a book with a strong lead character who grows in who she is, political intrigue, and who appreciates the magic that can be made with dance.

Thank you Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You deserve to see yourself in the stories you love ✨ 🌺

A captivating and enchanting Romantasy that’s hopeful and heartbreaking. Vasalie, a talented dancer, once held an esteemed position as the King’s Jewel. Her fall from grace was brutal and unforgiving. Framed for a murder she didn’t commit Vasalie is locked away and left to rot by the King she adored. Two years later, King Illian, the man who held her heart, makes her an offer she can’t refuse: use her skills to infiltrate the Royal gathering and do his bidding. Vasalie, determined to regain her freedom, agrees.

The odds are stacked against Vasalie, her body carries the weight of her suffering. She endures the long term affects of her imprisonment. Vasalie is resilient and adaptable, she doesn’t let her limitations define her. She has to earn her place as a dancer, captivate her audience, complete King Illian’s escalating requests, maintain her cover and try not to let her actions stain her soul.

There’s prophecies, political intrigue, deception, corruption and murder. Running from her dark past and caught in a royal web of conspiracy. Vasalie is a puppet who decides to cut her strings - to hell with the fall!

A Dance of Lies asks :
What are you willing to do to stay alive?
Can you live with the cost after?
Who would you sacrifice it all for?

Amidst the chaos Vasalie finds true friends and something worth fighting for. She begins to believe in herself again.
A Dance of Lies is beautifully written, poetic and lyrical, so rich in detail.

A Dance of Lies takes care to represent disability and chronic illness sensitively and it’s amazing to see this representation. It’s so impactful to read a story where the Main Character has a disability and chronic illness. It resonates with me as someone who’s suffered a serious illness and still feels the affects of it. Vasalie moves through the world in a body that isn’t always co-operative. She is strong, brave and worthy. Strength looks differently on everyone, it can be in the way we adapt, endure and keep going despite the pain. You deserve to see yourself in the stories you love and Brittney Arena has done that. A Dance of Lies embodies hope and resistance. I throughly enjoyed this and I am desperate for the next instalment.

I absolutely loved this book and everything about it was perfection, I could not put this book down. The world building and character building was done well. The story was unique and intriguing and kept you in the story. There are so many twists in the plot that I could not guess what would happen. I actually thought this was a standalone but happy that we will get more!

The FMC was taken from years in the dungeon to become a dancer again and the pain she has that limits her dancing doesn't stop her from performing when needed and I've seen some people that did not conect with the story because of that. But I absolutely related! Though I do not have a disability, I was a gymnast for many years, I was constantly injured, I lived with tensor bandages on some part of my body all the time and still had to go to practice and competitions when injured and in pain and you have to do what you have to do to get through it sometimes. I still have old injuries now that I have to deal with. So I can understand the FMC in that way and connected with that.

<a href='https://postimg.cc/94mQSVkr' target='_blank'><img src='https://i.postimg.cc/94mQSVkr/DOL.jpg' border='0' alt='DOL'/></a>

Thank you to NetGalley for an honest review!

<b><i>“A story worth telling warrants a little destruction.”</i></b>
<p></p>
<i><u>A Dance of Lies</u></i><i>, by Brittany Arena</i>

⭐⭐⭐.5 - DNF at 44%

If you want to be swept into scheming, worldbuilding, and a story of a character navigating politics, this is a great book that centers around themes of rising up from the ashes, from the perspective of a dancer. I went into it thinking it was more romance heavy, but this is more of a side plot than a main focus. I did crave this story to have more of that dynamic, but if you don't mind that aspect I highly recommend. I loved the representation of different abled bodies, and working through chronic pain - one of the best I have read!

- 🍷Political Scheming
- 🍷Royals and Courts
- 🍷Forbidden Love

Wow, this one blew me away and I genuinely liked it more than I even expected to! It was exactly what I was in the mood for just what I was in the mood to read.

Oddly enough I’ve followed Brittney for years on Goodreads, so it was so cool to see that she had written her own fantasy novel - and I was lucky enough to get an ARC!

I…couldn’t put this down!! I truly read it in less than one day, including staying up super late to read and it picking it up during work breaks. It fully captured me, and was everything I want in a fantasy. Also, I don’t know if I’d fully categorize this as Romantasy, there’s definitely a romantic subplot but to me it has way more elements or political intrigue that reminds me of Cruel Prince.

Also, there were several points where I full on GASPED when I put the pieces together before it was revealed. Arena did a really good job at dropping Easter eggs for the reader to slowly see the puzzle reveal itself.

I think I was a little thrown at the very beginning because the story starts two years after Vasalie was imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit, but Arena effortlessly explained the backstory and showed us who Vasalie was and how she got to this point.

I liked Vasalie a lot. Obviously she’s incredibly strong, and I did question some of her decisions at times, but it’s clear that she is a character who is also grappling with the impacts of her decisions and evaluating what her options are. She’s trapped in a no-win situation really, and is just doing her best to survive.

By around 85% I genuinely wasn’t sure if there would be a sequel to this, and I’m so excited that it looks like there will be!! And no massive cliffhanger, thank you Brittney because those are the worst! This was a great debut and I can’t wait to read more!

ALSO the King’s name here is Illian and my name is Jillian and I didn’t put the pieces together until like 10% in on why his name sounded weirdly familiar to me 😂

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for this eARC!!

This started out interesting but turned out to be rather disappointing.

Vasalie was imprisoned for something she didn’t do and had to spend two years in the dungeons. Now the king needs her for some spy mission and frees her even though he was the reason she was imprisoned to begin with. He threatens her to either do as he says and gain her freedom or stay in the dungeons. So the stakes were high going in, and I was intrigued.

Unfortunately the story slowed down so much once she got to the island, it kept dragging on from there and was just a really basic romantasy that bored me.

Vasalie was an okay main character at first, but I just didn’t connect with her at all. She got sent to the island to get all this information because she’s a dancer and that’s the perfect disguise for a spy, I guess. Since she had a disability from her time in prison, I was interested to see how that would play into her mission because she was often in pain and hadn’t danced in two years because she was locked up. So dancing all the time and doing random side quests on top of that would probably be a real challenge for anyone if they had been in a tiny cell for two years. Or so I thought. Because Vasalie could do it all. And yeah, she talked about how she’s in pain a lot, but she still never really failed in doing any of the many tasks she was given. Idk that felt so convenient to the plot, like talk about her disability for a bit but never really let it hold her back because she’s so strong and special; it just rubbed me the wrong way.

There was also a lot of repetition. I really didn’t need every dance she performed explained to me in great detail; once would’ve been more than enough. I also understood that what happened to Emilia was traumatising for Vasalie when it was brought up the first time. And sure, she didn’t have an easy life, but she kept going on and on about it and if I have to read about it in every chapter, it just loses all meaning. It turned her into an annoying and whiny character.

The multiple love interests gave me nothing, I didn’t like a single one of them.

So all in all, looks like this wasn’t for me.



Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was good until it wasn't. I think I'm just not really into books where there are gods that grant stuff and are a major part of the story. Plus the romance threw me off completely, I never knew who she was going to end up with because it felt like she was flirting between 3 guys and she tried to end up with the one I didn't like at all so I was really dissapointed.

3.5 stars

To start, THIS COVER IS STUNNING - the biggest reason I requested an ARC for this book!!! Okay now for the review…

The overall gist of the story is not unique, but I thought the focus on dancing for the main character was an interesting aspect that made the book different from other fantasy romance stories I have read. I both loved and disliked the dancing scenes in the book, as I felt like even with the super descriptive writing, sometimes I still found it difficult to really picture in my head and that’s what makes dancing so beautiful - being able to see a story through the dance. Another aspect of the book that I liked and thought made it a little more unique is the continual mention/focus on glass. It both made the visuals on my head more vibrant but I also found it to be interesting. There were a few things in the first half of the book that felt random to me and didn’t make sense but by the end of the book I guess I understood why it maybe was the way it was. Either way I don’t want to spoil anything and by the end I wasn’t too hung up on any of them. This book had a few slightly darker scenes than I was expecting, which was totally fine with me, but maybe read trigger warnings before starting if you’re sensitive to anything! The ending of the book was definitely not something I saw coming and I’m really interested in what happens next in the story! The book really picked up towards the end and was more exciting to me as the reader. While this is a fantasy romance in my opinion, it’s not spicy or overly romance focused.

A Dance of Lies was an excellent debut fantasy romance, and I think it’s going to be the next big series. It had a morally grey heroine who is willing to do whatever it takes to survive (who also has chronic pain and battles through it every day), treacherous courts filled with false friends, shaky alliances, secrets, and betrayals, and a slow-burn, forbidden romance that had me in a chokehold with its flirting and banter.

Two years ago, Vasalie was King Illian’s favorite court dancer, until she was framed for murder and thrown into the dungeons. Weakened and sick from her ordeal, she is brought before Illian and offered a deal: dance at the six-week royal Gathering and act as his spy and earn her freedom afterward, or spend the rest of her life in the dungeons. Left with little choice, Vasalie accepts. But as Illian’s orders become more dangerous and she’s forced to betray the people she’s come to care about, she seeks a way out of the situation she’s trapped in and finds an unexpected ally in Anton, Illian’s brother and rival king for the Miridranian throne.

I absolutely devoured this book. The world is intriguing, and the pacing will keep you on the edge of your seat. Vasalie is so compelling, and I loved watching her transform into a badass woman who will fight for herself. The side characters are amazing, and I loved the friendship and humor that they brought to the story. This book is packed with high-stakes political intrigue, and will emotionally devastate you in the best way possible. I’m a shell of a human and need to next book immediately.

Thank you to Del Rey, Random House, Penguin Random House, Brittney Arena, and NetGalley for the ARC.

📔A Dance of Lies
✏️ Brittney Arena
📆 June 10, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

READ IF YOU LIKE:
💃 fantasy romance
💃 chronic pain rep
💃 court politics
💃 spying, intrigue, & betrayal
💃 prophecy & hidden identities

I enjoyed this read. I really loved the representation of sometimes silent disabilities such as POTS. The world was unique and I found the use of dance a beautiful addition. However, the characters felt a flat for me. I wish there had been more of an exploration of the healing journey Vasalie had to go through after being pulled from her cell. It felt as those the time between that and the Gathering was glazed over a little bit. Overall, an enjoyable read!

DNF @ 26%

I wanted to have a good time with this. I wanted to see a character that thrives where disabilities were found. However, it didn't always fall this way. I know I only made it a quarter of the way through but what reason is there in continuing this book? The author had to have had the thesaurus next to them the entire time they wrote this book because there were way too many fluffy words that I had to look up myself. The author really should have toned down on that. I also struggled hard to find any reason to care for our FMC who fell flatter than a one dimensional character. The woman lacked any emotions or real substance for someone who was falsely accused of a crime and then thrown in to jail for two years. Overall, I just found I couldn't keep reading this book. I wanted more tension and perhaps further details on the dancing since everything else is so overly described. We spend the first quarter of the book just meandering and describing everything with so much detail anyway that it almost feels like she was doing this to make up for something else.

a gorgeously written debut packed with court politics, trauma, and tension you can feel in your bones. Vasalie’s resilience, broken body and all, had me rooting for her through every twist, betrayal, and gasp-worthy reveal. If you love slow-burn intrigue, morally grey royals, and a heroine who refuses to stay down, this one’s for you

4 ⭐️ happy release day!!!

𝘈 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘪𝘦𝘴 follows our main character, Vasalie, a (approximately) 25 year old dancer who has faced some significant trauma in her life, but still perseveres. When we first meet Vasalie, she is at the end of a two year prison sentence for a crime she never committed. She is removed from her cell by the same man who put her there in the first place, Illian, the King of the East Miridran. From here, she is offered another impossible choice- spy for him at the upcoming gathering of Crowns as a dancer once again, and earn her freedom. But is it really a choice at all? When your only options are to comply and push your already broken and malnourished body to its limits and dance, or die in the darkness that has been your only home for two years. Inevitably, Vasalie agrees, and this is where this story really begins to shine.

𝘈 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘪𝘦𝘴 is a book filled with political scheming, court intrigue, self-discovery and healing. I absolutely LOVED Vasalie as our main character, and her resilience was truly inspiring. While I didn't always agree with all of her choices, every decision she makes you have to take into context the trauma she has endured. In the end, I understood exactly why she responds the way that she does in every situation. The writing was well done and easy to follow, and Arena's imagery was so thorough that I had no trouble imagining the intricate dance performances that are essential to this book.

This book has two potential love interests, although it is not a why-choose nor a traditional love triangle. The romance felt organic, and it was executed very well.

Overall, if you are looking for a book with high-stakes, political scheming, healing, love, and rage, then this is the book for you. Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this eArc in exchange for my honest review!

I really wanted to like this. The concept is so intriguing but the prose was painful. Overwritten, over-reliant on figurative language, trying too hard to be vibey.—and at the same time read really juvenile, even though this is an adult fantasy.

I am in the minority here, but this did not work for me at all. From the beginning it was giving Throne of Glass vibes - too many similarities. The beginning was also super rushed, it didn't give me time to actually understand any of the background or care about our MC, Vasalie. And in regards to Vasalie, I found her both boring and self-centeret. Lastly, the writing just tried way too hard.

Dance of Lies by Brittany Arena

Vasalie was a dancer, the jewel in the kings court. Now she is stuck in his dungeons, framed for a murder she didn't commit. Until one day, she is brought out before the king once again. He wants her to enter the royal gathering as a dancer, to spy for him. In exchange he promises her freedom. Vasalies body is broken from her imprisonment, but there is a different strength in her. The gathering turns out to be a maze of politics and intrigue. How will Vasalie navigate through these unexpected turns? Who can she trust? Who will she become?

I was blown away by this! It is a unique story, beautifully written. The world building is elegant, simple and complex, at the same time. We get some glimpses of the history and mythology of the world, but I expect more in coming books.

The characters are layered and interesting. I loved some and hated some, so safe to say they made me feel. Vasalies character arc builds slowly but steady through the book. As does the plot. I love the first POV and that we figure things out at the same pace as the main character. The pace is medium-slow, which I feel suits the story and the theme perfectly.

The dances and performances are beautifully portrayed, creating something poetic. But this book also has a solid, well thought out plot with lots of twists and turns, which you get to follow through Vasalies eyes. I loved her unreliable narration, a lot of clues are dropped through the book and then comes together at the end in several gasp-moments. Not all is as it seems, or as Vasalie sees it…

I was on the edge of my feet for the last 15 percent, and gasped and muttered so much that my kid had a laughing fit on my expanse. Apparently I am an entertaining reader!

So happy I got this ARC! Cant wait to read the sequel!