A Dance of Lies cover art

A Dance of Lies

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

A Dance of Lies

By: Brittney Arena
Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £17.56

Buy Now for £17.56

About this listen

Bloomsbury presents A Dance of Lies by Brittney Arena, read by Lauren Fortgang.

This is wrong. It's reckless, dangerous, but-
I can't get you out of my head. I can't wash you from my skin.

Vasalie Moran was once a dancer in King Illian’s court – until he framed her for murder. Barely surviving her two years in the dungeons, she’s suddenly called to face her King. He offers her a deal: become his spy at the month-long royal Gathering and he’ll grant her freedom.

As Illian’s orders grow bloody and dangerous, forcing her to harm and betray those around her, Vasalie discovers the monster she serves may be aligned with a bigger monster – one far closer to home. With her world threatened, Vasalie enlists the help of Illian’s brother and greatest adversary, the King of the East.

As the rivalry between brothers escalates with Vasalie caught in the middle, the truth of her past comes to light. If she wants to survive, she must decide who to trust, who to fight for, and how much of her soul she’s willing to damn in the process.

©2025 Brittney Arena (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Epic Fantasy Historical Royalty Survival Heartfelt

Critic reviews

'Arena's A Dance of Lies is a mesmerizing debut of intricate plotlines, sizzling romance, and treacherous alliances, deftly choreographed with rich, evocative language into a tale as hauntingly exquisite as one of Vasalie's dances. A breathtaking new favorite!' (Lyra Selene, #1 Sunday Times Bestselling author of A Feather So Black)

'As beautiful and sharp as the edge of shattered glass, this twisting tale of intrigue, romance, and resilience grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go' (K. M. Enright, Sunday Times bestselling author of Mistress of Lies)
All stars
Most relevant

First 8 chapters are quite slow , did just persist and last 10 chapters are great.

The complexity hooks you into the Romance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great story and good characters. narration was great and very enjoyable. can't wait for book 2

very enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Who to trust? Who to love? What to do? This book has you questioning all of it multiple times a minute! (Or there abouts, slight exaggeration perhaps). I love the amount of influence I saw within the story without it feeling done or copied, it felt fresh and exciting and I adored the way dancing was described. As a person who cannot dance, but loves to watch it, I really appreciated the detail and the way it was spoken about, especially in context of this story! The love story felt fresh and believable, as much as anything can feel believable in a fantasy world obviously, and the twists and turns had me guessing until the devastating end. Another story that’s going to be playing on repeat in my brain until the next book comes out!

Lovely, just lovely

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book starts really slow and I almost DNF’d. I’m glad I stuck with it as I ended up hooked. I really started to care for the characters and hoped it would all work out for Vasalie.

The books follows a dancer forced to become a spy by the king who had imprisoned her.

Tasked firstly to gain friendships the orders get harder and harder to carry out. Vasalie is just trying to survive and escape her past. She doesn’t know who she can trust and yet sparks simmer.

If you go into this hoping for a fantasy you’ll be disappointed, there is a fantasy element but it’s mainly myth until the ending of the book. The setting up for the next book seems to be much more focused on the fantasy element.

Slow to start

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
For a story that wants to showcase disabilities, the FMC’s disabilities seemed to come and go as per the plot’s demands.

The plot was weak. The characterisation was weaker. Every man and his dog seemed to queue up to tell the main character all their secrets for unknown reasons. The villain was evil for the sake of being evil and remained entirely two dimensional. No plot twist was particularly twisty.

The narration style didn’t work very well for me.

Just average

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.