read_game_stitch 's review for:

A Dance of Lies by Brittney Arena

5.0

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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A Dance of Lies grabbed me from the very first page, and I'd already teared up by page 34! Right from the start, I wished that I had a full, free day to just sit and binge this book because I wanted to know who FMC Vasalie should trust, I wanted to see the twists unfold, and I wanted to see where Vasalie's relationships with various characters would go. Unfortunately I had to keep putting this down because of pesky things like sleep and parenting, but the moment that I could pick it up again, I did!

Vasalie has multiple characters that could be her love interests and I was eating up all the crumbs, trying to work out which one would be the main LI. To start with, there's King Illian, who named Vasalie his Jewel, his favourite dancer, but who knew that Vasalie wasn't responsible for the murder of a Lord in his court, and sentenced her for the murder anyway. Vasalie withers away in prison for 2 years before Illian releases her, and offers her freedom in exchange for being his spy. He hints to her that there's reasons behind his actions, but is it all a lie? Then there's King Anton, Illian's brother, who Vasalie is sent to spy on. He has Dorian Havilliard vibes, so I was personally rooting for him. Finally, there's fellow dancer Copelan. He becomes Vasalie's dance partner while she's tasked with infiltrating Anton's court, and you only need to watch Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing With The Stars and see all the celebrity/dancer relationships that come out of it to suspect that there's something more than friendship to be found there. 

So Vasalie had multiple options (not all of them great, admittedly, especially when writing this after seeing how everything goes down!) and I flew through this book to discover how everything unfolded. It was really powerful and I loved this debut novel. It doesn't have spice, so don't go into it expecting that, but it definitely has tension and emotion. I can't wait for the finale to this duology. With how it ended, I am expecting a lot of action, drama and further twists and betrayals to come!