Den of Liars by Jessica S. Olson is an amazing YA fantasy romance with a fascinating magic system, vivid world-building, and a slow-burn forbidden romance.
The characters are complex and feel real.
Baxendell is a master at meticulously crafting her story’s world building and bringing her captivating cast to life.

What a fabulous start to a new series! I loooved this unique magic system that was vague enough to present a lot of twists, but also clear enough that it was easy to follow. The characters are fabulous and I love how you couldn't trust anyone. I am a sucker for heists so this grabbed my attention immediately and I was completely captivated by the tournament filled with trickery and lies. This book flew by because there were so many different things at stake. And the tension! Perfection. The right amount of surprising longing and tension and need for each other; despite them basically being enemies. The descriptions were beautiful and I loved the multifaceted use of coins and dice.

After that ending I CANNOT WAIT for the next one!

13yo me would have ate this book up. YA fantasy with a heist, tournament, and steamy romance with the "villain"?! Sold. Romance was my fav part although it did have many cliche tropes (i.e. dagger to throat, ballroom dance sequence, etc.). I also found the magic system to be fairly unique and the FMC's experience with emotionally abusive relationships to be well done. Writing could have been better. Lots of info dumps that made the internal monologue of the MCs feel awkward and if you think too much about the world/premise you'll find it doesn't make much sense. Like how is everyone cool with going to a casino built and run by a 21yo boy (and I think 18 when he first opened it)?

Thanks NetGalley for the arc!

This is a dazzling story! Full of unique magic, lies, secrets, betrayal and heartbreak. Saved by the Thief Enzo, her best friend and the Liars brother. Lola owes Enzo everything for all he has done for her. Since they met she has trained, stole and plotted to find the one thing that could end the curse to save them. She hates the Liar since he is the one who curse Enzo after all & revealed her fathers secret which got her where she was to begin with. Lola enters the Liars casino with the intent to steal his secrets and set them both free. Obviously this isn’t the case, where would the fun be in that?

Lola soon realizes her life has never been what it seems, as every perfect lie whispered her way and secret kept hidden from her begin to unravel. Shes left questioning everything she once thought she knew including how awful and villainous the Liar is. Realizing maybe his powers were just as much of a curse.

Nic is this Liar who can tell something is different about Lola but isn’t quite sure what. He captures secrets and can smell lies, tricking him did not seem possible, until her.

Their story is captivating starting as a game both of them trying to get something from the other. As the truth unravels they see pieces of themselves reflected back to them and slowly both of their walls come down.

This story was a thrill to read while also absolutely heartbreaking I’m gonna need more asap cause that ending had me doing a double take. I can not wait to see where the rest of this story goes!!😩🥰

I had an absolutely amazing time reading this very gripping, very intricately written book, the magic system is brilliant, and the banter is just ✨ perfection✨

Devastating cliffhanger, I need the next book like RIGHT NOW 😭

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

The premise of this book immediately grabbed my attention—the magic, the siblings, and the high-stakes games. (Big Inheritance Games fan) I didn't have high expectations for it as I am not 100% into fantasy, but I love a good mystery. I’m happy to say it truly delivered. The writing is immersive and engaging, making it easy to lose yourself in the world the author has built.

3.5 rounded up
ARC review
Release: July 1, 2025

“Claiming you haven’t hurt anyone just because you haven’t allowed yourself to see that hurt is mankind’s greatest deception.“

If Caraval and Six of Crows had a baby, this would be it.

- Overview -
The whole idea of this book was intriguing, the magic, the brothers, even the games. I went into this book with super high expectations, and honestly? It delivered. Because this book is written well, it’s easy to get lost in the story along the way. I even ended up rereading it before the book was even released, it was that good. It did, however, have its issues, which I’ll elaborate on later. Overall, though, this book was magical.

- The Characters -
The main character, Lola, is super easy to relate to. Unlike a lot of fantasy FMCs, she doesn’t have these unreachable standards, and reminds me more of an ordinary, everyday person. She is very cocky, though, which I absolutely loved, but she still has her times where she makes mistakes, and is able to learn from them. However, sometimes I found it a bit frustrating to be in her head. She’s a bit of a drama queen, which, don’t get me wrong, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but too much is too much. It feels a bit overboard at times.

The Liar… This man is fine. He’s got the whole broody exterior and soft lovable interior, which I am 100% here for. His relationship with Lola is also super sweet, plus he’s also a good dancer! Where can I get a man like him?? Nic honestly reminds be of Legend from Caraval, because he has the same untouchable vibe around him. His whole scheme confused me a bit though, because I felt like I could never tell which version of him was real, appearance wise. This may not be a big thing for some people, but he’s described several different ways throughout the book because of his magic, and I’m more of a visual person, which bugged me a bit. Overall, he’s definitely a top their fictional man, though.

- Plot & World Building -
This is hands down one of my favorite plots ever. And let me explain, because this is actually what surprised me the most about this book. I was expecting a classic YA romantasy, maybe some cute romance too, and I got this masterpiece of a plot instead. I can’t say I’m mad. I know that there are a lot of books about thieves that end up in a grand game out there, but this one feels more unique because she actively choses to join a competition that could quite literally ruin her life. Plus, the point of the competition is to lie, which is also a bonus. The world building was also exceptional, of course, and it was honestly very immersive. There are parts with the magic a bit open to interpretation that really just made the book feel like mine, in a way.

Features -
- YA
- Fantasy
- Dual POV
- First Person
- Unique Magic
- Casinos
- Thieves
- Brotherly Rivalry
- Enemies to Lovers

>> Huge thanks to Feiwel for a finished physical copy as well as an eARC from Netgalley

Short and Sweet Review

When Lola’s father lost the Liar’s Dice Tournament he also lost Lola. Lola was rescued that night by The Thief but in exchange for her new life she had to share her heart with him. Lola has since been going by Astra and she wants to become a member of the Tentacles, the group The Thief is the leader of but first she has to prove herself and to do that is to complete a heist. The heist should have been easy but goes sideways and the only way to make things balance out is for Lola to enter the Liar’s Dice Tournament. The Liar is actually The Thief’s brother and Lola quickly learns she’s in for more than she bargained for.

Den of Liars is the first book of a new exciting series. This book spent a lot of time unraveling the characters past and explaining the magic that we see during the tournament. Lola is our main character and she’s really out to prove herself worthy to become a member of the Tentacles. Lola has been with the Thief or Enzo since the night he rescued her, they share a heart so their connection to each other is strong. Lola goes into the tournament to prove that she’s capable and she ends up meeting the Liar or Nic who is Enzo’s brother and they have a strained relationship. Lola knows she shouldn’t be but she’s drawn to him, it was interesting to see the tension between the two especially because she’s kind of on a short leash with Enzo being able to feel everything she does. The tournament and the rules to it were interesting, to enter you had to give away one of your secrets and if you get eliminated that secret is shared to the whole world. The book had an Ocean’s Eleven vibe going on and I loved getting immersed in this world. There’s a lot of twists and revelations that’ll change allegiances and make characters make rash decisions. The ending is a cliff hanger and it’ll leave readers wanting the sequel immediately.

Overall, this was a good book and held my attention from beginning to end. I’m excited to see what’ll happen in the next installment and see what other magical elements are incorporated and how our characters deal with the secrets they learned in this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good heist but with some elements of magic involved.

4 stars!

A big thank you to Netgalley and Feiwel & Friends for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Expected Publication Date: July 1st, 2025

THIS is how a romantasy should be made. An interesting plot that stands on its own without relying on romance and a forbidden, slow burn romance that made me squeal. The plot is *chef's kiss*, I'm always down to read a fantasy involving some sort of competition but this one, unlike most, involves heists and casinos. One downside I noticed was the pacing. It feels very awkwardly put together yet rushed? For such an entertaining plot, the pacing is not working in its favor. Character-wise, the writing is ok. The characters are pretty standard for a romantasy, nothing new. Even the Liar isn't a character I'm obsessing over, which is CRAZY because we know how much I love my romantasy men.

Overall, I WILL be reading book 2 because I'm now invested!

I really had so much fun with this book! I initially thought it was going to be like oceans 11 type heists which it started out as, but I ended up loving the overall game. I am curious about how the magic system/curse works in the world especially with the dice, but I feel like next book will start having answers for me! Even though the ending was still expected, I felt the heartbreak for Lola and Nic. I can't wait for the second book!

Brimming with tension, romance, and action packed fun! Every character had me questioning whether or not I should I trust them. An incredibly unique magic system that pulled me into the characters world! (Currently craving a YesterFizz and a Brier Rose thank you very much!) Jessica Olson did a fantastic job bringing traits to characters that will absolutely allow readers to feel seen. Something I myself appreciate very much.

If you love magic, heists, and romance, this book will be up your alley!

Thank you so much NetGalley for the early copy!

Den of Liars is a combination of a YA romantasy along with a heist book. The book uses its atmosphere well, beginning the book with Thief Enzo making a deal with heiress Lola – if she will share her heart with him, he will save her from her kidnappers.

The rest of the book unfolds in the casino lair of The Liar, the Thief’s brother. Olson does a great job building on a atmosphere which feels like it has been pulled out of a Vegas casino at the height of the Rat Pack’s fame. I am not sure I really understood the magic system, but ultimately it didn’t particularly matter if you understood why the Thief and the Liar are chasing soullight – the dynamics between the brothers and Lola is written well.

Olsen has spoken about wanting to write a love triangle which takes platonic love seriously, and she does a good job in making Lola’s connection to Enzo almost brotherly. I do wish, however, that we had spent a bit more time building the relationship between Enzo and Lola before she enters the casino, so we had a better sense of who these two were as friends before their bond was tested by The Liar. Overall, this is a thoughtful book for Olson and I’d recommend it to fans of Alwyn Hamilton and Sasha Peyton Smith. Thanks to MacMillan’s Children’s Publishing for the early copy..

This was just okay. We have Lola the FMC who is the hidden daughter of a powerful of crime boss, who has been kept secret from the world. At 15 she becomes involved with the Thief. They strike a deal and they become very interwoven.

The characters lacked depth in my opinion and the author struggled with telling instead of showing. I was not super drawn to any of the characters and did not feel the chemistry between Lola and one of the mmc's.

I felt like Lola needed to be built up more as a character but overall it was an interesting YA book. It does have a pretty decent cliffhanger though so be prepared.

Ummm... I really struggled to connect with this book until around the 70% mark. I just didn't care about what was going on, or I felt that it didn't really capture my attention. I felt that some parts were unnecessarily dragged out, seemingly just to make it a series. The ending was hooking, and it bumped this up to a three-star read for me. We are left with many more questions than answers, which is somewhat frustrating. I feel that the book doesn’t reveal anything impactful until the last 30% and that this book exists solely to set up the rest of the series. Also, I felt there was no connection or chemistry between Lola and the Liar, which makes it hard to root for them. I think this is due to both parties keeping so many secrets and the game being to deceive each other, as they follow different missions. I’m excited to see how it evolves, though, and how the author may redeem it. Lola has a lazy eye, and I love how it’s treated with so much care. I personally struggle with depth perception and a blurriness if I’m too near to something. I’m farsighted, so seeing the representation for it was really cool.

Lola is best friends with The Thief who everyone thinks is dead. Her real identity is someone everyone thinks is dead too. The way to help both of them is to steal from The Liar….who happens to be The Thief’s brother. Lola is trying to earn the full trust of both brothers to get different types of freedom but ends up falling for one of them. But it’s hard to know what the truth is when she’s playing a game designed by The Liar. The only reason I couldn’t give this five stars is because Lola going back-and-forth between her loyalty to the guys was getting borderline wishy-washy for me. I completely understand how it made sense for the context of the story, but it was almost too much and too often for me personally. The concept and tangled nature of everything is actually very entertaining, engaging, and intriguing. There are twists all along the way. I can’t wait for the sequel!

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

This book put me through it in the best way. It made me absolutely feral. The chemistry between Lola and Nic was off the charts. And the way they danced around each other was incredible. The tug of war between Lola, the Liar and the Thief was immaculately done. The magic was fascinating and its use in the casino and the tournament were dazzling. And the ending?!?!?!?! I was screaming for the last 20 percent.

I will say I had some issues with the worldbuilding feeling a bit bare outside of the casino and there were times that felt tell-ing not show-ing - which is the only reason this isn’t a million star book. And the longer I think about the book, the less I care about those issues, although they did nag at me while reading.

If you like a heist, delicious tension, betrayal, glitz and glamor, questionable found family, cave scenes, an undeniable bond between two people that are so mistrustful that they just can’t stop looking for each other and finding them in every room they're in - please pick this up.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel and see what happens.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing / Feiwel & Friends for this e-arc!

Five years ago, Thief and his brother Liar stole a moonshard, a large hunk of voratium, however, Thief’s brother turned on him and cursed him to never be able to feel again.

Four years ago, Lola met Thief and she offered her soullight of her heart to him, so that he could feel and in return rescue her from her kidnappers. They’ve shared a heart and worked together ever since.

Now, Lola and Thief have a lead to where his brother is to break his curse finally. However, when Lola enters, she gets caught by no other than Liar who tells her she should enter the Liar’s Dice Tournament. Which Lola decides to do knowing this is the best way to find the shard.

This was a unique and entertaining read. It’s like a mix of underbelly dealings, like lies and cheats, but also mixed with glamour.

Lola just wants to help the one person who saved her, and yet, even she gets disrupted by the glamour that Liar creates with his illusions and is wondering what’s actually true or not, or who to trust.

It made for a twisty mind game. Keeps you on your toes. Even though for me it was pretty obvious what the “truth” was, Lola had a hard time after being told one thing for so long. She seemed to be a rather angry person. I appreciated her tenacity, but sometimes I wish she would kind of just chill out 😅 and maybe think about it, or think about her whole situation, but you know, we need the flair and the dramatics since the entire book is filled with them.

I loved the world. Very unique and the magic system is unique, although it seems like only certain people have magic, and the boys do only because they touched the shard, at least that’s what I understood. For me, the magic system that the boys had was unique, but I couldn’t tell you about the rest of the world. So, this part of the world we are relegated to was unique and interesting.

I never really connected with any of the characters. I mainly felt sad for them. All three had rather terrible situations and all three had major faults. There’s some romance, but I wasn’t a huge fan of it, mainly because it was revolving around a lot of lies and deceit and I just didn’t think it was fair to the other person. I will say Liar was the most interesting with his illusions and flair for the dramatics. His banter was top notch and I enjoyed his story, even though I felt sad for him too, but he seemed to be the bigger person despite the terrible situation.

For me the world, the story and the bit of mystery sprinkled throughout was fun and wonderful to experience. And just based on that I would say it’s worth it to read. 3.5-4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely LOVED the plot of this book. Having a casino setting with action packed heists and challenges with the players was thrilling and connected the reader to the main characters instantly. Lola was at a low point in her life only relying on her friendship with Enzo and trying to seek revenge for her father. I only wished throughout the games we got to know more backstory with the side characters instead of focusing on the FMC/MMCS. It's their story but with such a vibrant and entertaining setting some more information on why other people decided to join the game would have been appreciated.

The driving force of this book was the romance. There was yearning without any explicit actions which is perfect for a YA book. If you like the relationship dynamics of "The Inheritance games" then this is the book for you. Nic and Lola had such a good dynamic throughout the story that were so swoon-worthy. The moment that everything happened toward the end you felt for the characters because you knew them so well. I'm definitely excited for the next book and how Jessica Olsen will continue the relationships of the character.

Overall, I can say solid 3.5. I really enjoy this book and recommend it to someone who enjoys an twisty, action packed, YA story. Although some parts of the book were a bit repetitive and slowed the story down, it still felt like a complete story that was fun to follow.

Thank you Jessica S. Olsen, Netgalley, and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Den of Liars by Jessica S Olson is a YA slow burn fantasy taking place in a magical casino during a unique tournament.

Our FMC Magnolia AKA Lola is connected to a Thief and a Liar throughout this fast paced novel - Lola has been cursed to be connected to Enzo the Thief. However, we get a sort of LOVE TRIANGLE with his brother Nic who is "The Liar."

This story has a unique magic system and does a great job setting us up for the next book in the series - I look forward to continuing this series!

Thanks so much to MacMillan Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Such a fun fantasy/dystopian type novel. I don't usually read this genre but I truly enjoyed visiting this world and connecting with the characters. Can't wait to see where this author goes with this world.