Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

Overall Enjoyment: 3 stars ⭐️
Romance: 4 stars⭐️ (no spice)
Plot and worldbuilding: 3 stars⭐️

This book is about pirates, romance, found family, and treachery.
This book is a lot different from the first book, but I feel like you need the worldbuilding of the first one to understand it better. So, in my opinion, reading the first book is recommended even if it is a standalone.

What I loved:
A badass FMC who did question her life and the violence and tried to turn her life around.
A slow-burn romance and found family.
Mental health rep in this book. They go through some bad things and it is talked about. The consequences of those actions are mentioned and dealt with. The effects of those experiences aren't ignored or pushed back, but they share and talk about it. It was refreshing to read this in a fantasy book.

What I didn't love so much:
This book felt too long and not long enough at the same time. Some parts felt overexplained and dragged out and in some parts characters died and I didn't care enough because I barely knew (or remember) who they were and what role they had. There were a lot of characters and different places and reading it on Kindle didn't make it easy to flip back to a map or the character guide. Which made it a confusing read. Also, the pacing felt a bit off at times.

Overall feelings:
I loved the premise of the story and the journey the MC's took in this book. And I still recommend this book, definitely if you like a character-driven story. There is a lot of action, but also a lot of inner thoughts as all the action is happening. But I feel that this book could have been better split up as a duology and fleshed out a bit more in some places. I think this is one of those books I might like better on reread because I have a better understanding of the world, places, and characters.

I didn't hate this book and I consider rereading it. But I would recommend reading this book with full attention and not in between things. I read it over a period of 2 weeks and this might have attributed to the confusing feelings I had.

I hope my review helps you pick up this book and give it the right attention to enjoy it the most. Because it's certainly worth the read.

I tried to read this and realized it was a second. Went to Amazon got the first but it didn't help. I couldn't get I to either of the books and didn't finish them.

I will say this every time I read a pirate or nautical story: I’m a sucker for them. I really enjoyed a view into Lio’s story and background and how the book picks up after the events of her helping Audura escape. I was not expecting her to have the story that she does and I can’t help, but feel for her because she’s being forced to go back to the place she fled from. Then to watch her fall in love with the last person she wanted to is just so beautiful. I like how as we got further into the book we started to see how the story from the previous book is intertwined into this one. I fell in love with so many of these characters that didn’t get happy endings like they were supposed to and it hurt. I absolutely loved this. If I could have devoured this on audio I would have finished it much faster than I did. Absolutely recommend, but be sure to read the first book before reading this one ;)

3.5 stars
While A Tale Told by Traitors started strong with an intriguing premise and a few twists I appreciated, it didn’t quite live up to the first book. The pacing felt slow in many sections, and some characters came across as flat or underdeveloped compared to their earlier portrayals. Although there were moments of excitement and good worldbuilding, overall, it lacked the depth and engagement I expected after the promising beginning. A decent read, but it didn’t quite capture the magic of its predecessor.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book, but it's a good thing... hear me out. I did that thing where I got so excited about the look and sound of a book, I missed the fact it was Book 2 until after I was already accepted to read. I figured it would be fine, I could pick it up and still enjoy it. But, I soon realised how beautifully this was written and what I must have been missing out on in Book 1. I tried, in vain, to get my mits on it, but no dice. So I've put this one down, UNTIL I can read them both. The characters felt so complex and developed, the world so full and intrinsic, that I needed more. I needed to know these people, their world, just as the author intended. I can't wait to come back when I have finally had the chance to devour both.

This book took me on a journey. The first book I have read by Renee Dugan and I am now going to find every other book she has written to date and put her on my permanent watch list. I traveled every step alongside Lionyra, I feared for her and was frustrated with her and joined in her moments of hope and happiness along the way.

This book was cleverly written and paced in a way so few are. I find that often with adventures you are presented with an issue and a hero/ heroine and then almost transported through the stages of grand scheme, obstacle, almost failure and then blinding success which can be fun but you blink and miss key elements. I was engaged the whole way through this tale following every step and somehow even the boring and mundane chores and everyday actions like eating and getting clean clothing served instead to build more detail and understanding of the characters we are following.

I firmly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an adventure that feels earned building and carrying you along and leaving you utterly satisfied with the ending.

I was given the opportunity to read this book through an arc provided by net galley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc of this book. This was a great book with swashbuckling pirates, found families, great characters, and epic adventures! At times, the book lulled some, so it was hard to get through at points, but when it picked up, it really picked up! When the action scenes ocurred, they really made up for the lagging parts. The characters were all very interesting, and you found the main characters to be charming even when there are alternative motives that come to light. The romance was great, and you could see the development of the relationship well throughout the story where it made sense. It is the second book in a series but still considered a standalone. I have not read the first book, but after this, I am definitely interested in reading more by this author!

An intricately woven high fantasy that immerses readers in a world where loyalty and betrayal blur the lines between friend and foe. The story captivates readers with its rich world-building and multi-layered characters, each with their own motivations, desires, and hidden agendas. The author crafts a gripping and emotionally charged narrative that asks difficult questions about trust, loyalty, and the price of power. For readers who love a mix of political intrigue, action, and character-driven stories, this book is a fantastic addition to the fantasy genre.

Initially, I was having trouble with the writing. I couldn't make sense of the sentences; however, after a while, I got used to the language style and can easily read and enjoy the story. I like the storyline and how the plot is laid out. The dynamics between the characters were something that I enjoyed reading. Overall, I feel like I was taken on a long, adventurous journey while reading this story.

Another epic masterpiece I need to see adapted to the screen. Dugan's writing is already so visually enticing and cinematic that it's easy to envision what you're reading in your head. The cast of characters is so fleshed out and I love how real they all are - they all experience ups and downs, growth, and readers will be able to feel all the feels as they go along for the ride with Lio and Bash.
I really enjoyed this one; it was a great sequel, yet new readers can also jump into this book without having read the first and be fine. Once again the world-building is detailed and impressive and the story filled with plot twists that will make readers squeal.
To sum up, I loved it and will be diving into this author's backlist.

I really wanted to love this one because book one ended up being one of my very favorites. But this one I just couldn't get into and stay with. It felt clunky and slow to me, and didn't really feel like it was moving towards any sort of goal.

Dnf at 9%. Too cruel for me. Also couldn't get a hang of fmc. At first she seemed confident and so sure of herself but it seems to be only a font. She is pretty helpless and weak and I'm not a fan of all the beating she's receiving. I get that that's the point but I don't have to like it.

A Tale Told by Traitors is another exciting adventure in the Tales of Wonder and Woe series. Swashbuckling pirates, assassins, Princess Bride vibes, lots of action, found family and strong ties, this book has it all, making for a very entertaining read.

The world building is wonderfully descriptive, the character development of the new characters so aptly done. The book is a little wordy at points, which took me a while to get through, but over all, this book is exciting and the ending was just so good. And seeing how certain characters’ stories tied in with the characters from A Story Spun in Scarlet was fun to read.

Overall, I am really enjoying this fantasy series and the world created, and can’t wait to read more stories from this series!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is amazing.. well written and thoughtful characters. I really enjoyed the way the stories flowed and how well built and fast paced it was.. exceptional

Ahhhhh, this was one of my most anticipated reads since I LOVED Scarlet....and it did not disappoint! Love it!

This is book 2 in a series, but I found I was able to pick it up without having read book one with no problems, though, I'm sure I might have had slightly more context if I had read book one.

Firstly the cover design is top notch. I was immediately sucked in by the cover.

The story itself is full of rich, extremely descriptive writing that is beautiful but does sometimes get in the way of the story moving along. I'm also more of a fan of more sparse prose- so there were several moments when I felt like I was in an adjective farm - each color does not have to have an adjective, and it is possible- to just not name every color of each piece of clothing worn by a character. That said, I know many readers enjoy this- I, do not.

As far as the plot- we have a baker who is secretly an heir, and a pirate who's in trouble. Lio and Ryker have many secrets, including a secret past. Both are set on desperate tasks when their lives once again collide having to face some uncomfortable truths of the past, their own feelings and hopefully to rise above and succeed. Will they come together or remain enemies? You'll need to read to find out!

This book will appeal to those who enjoyed Adrienne Young's Fable series, Rueckert's If the tide Turns, or Davinia Evans Notorious Sorcerer.

Y’all. I knew as soon as I was approved for this book that it was going to take me on such an adventure, that I was going to be a different person at the end of it…and I was right.

Renee has a way with words that is untouched by any (most) in this day and age. Her writing is intricate and purposeful, and her characters are full of depth and life.

I fell hard and fast for Lionyra when I first met her in A Story Spun in Scarlet. An immigrant woman who made a name for herself as a prominent bakery owner, Lio was a kind soul to Addie-Cat (if you haven’t met Addie yet, I beg of you to) when she needed a friend. In A Tale Told by Traitors, we finally learn of the secrets Lio has been keeping, of who she was and is to her core.

This story is for folks who love adventures, titillating quests, pirates and love - both the family and romantic kinds. In A Tale Told by Traitors, we come to learn that there is beauty in our strengths forged by our own stubbornness…as well as strength in being soft.

This is a fantasy book about pirates, romance, and treachery. These are all fantastic elements to a story, in my opinion.
Overall, this book just wasn't paced in a way that engaged me, personally, and felt some elements could have been developed better. Regardless, many parts of this book were enjoyable to read.

I will start with the parts I enjoyed. Even though the female main character was definitely 'badass' during many moments in the book, it was nice to see a female protagonist that embraces a path other than that of the warrior, with her love of baking and denounciation of violence. Additionally, I did not predict the plot twist 20% in, and the other developments at 50% were also well thought out.

However, it gets 3 stars from me for a few reasons. It seems to forget that it is a standalone book at times, assuming other readers have read the previous standalone and must therefore be familiar with Addie, who is aluded to randomly in a way that makes little sense for a first time reader. I also think this is why the magic system was not fleshed out in this book or even explained at all.
The world building isn't my favourite, and I had to rely heavily on the map at times. I think that could have been done better. Also, many moments aren't developed enough to have any impact, mainly the deaths of characters who had little relevance other than to show how much of a bad time the FMC was having. The FMC's alias was also revealed before I really knew her actual name, so I spent a lot of the book confused when they kept calling her different names.

Overall, an enjoyable read that I personally am too cynical for. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this ARC.

If you have read A Story Spun In Scarlet you will be delighted to recognise characters here but boy does this quickly become a true adventure story.
Lio has escaped her previous role only to find herself literally being dragged back but along the way she meets Bash, a pirate with a twinkle in his eye when he looks her way. Yet Lio knows he cannot help her escape from her vicious captor or can he ? Bash has his own secrets and they are ones that will see Lio on yet another pirate ship and this time she's about to turn the tables and take back control one step at a time !
Absolutely fabulous and very surprising as past meets present to give the reader a meandering and very engrossing story. The characters are fun to read about, their antics are truly a hoot and yet there's depth and emotions here that just grab the reader and don't let go. I thoroughly recommend this book and heartily look forward to reading whatever the author comes up with next.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

I devoured Renee Dugan's first book in this series, "A Story Spun in Scarlet", so I really took my time with this one. I savored it. I let it settle into my bones and my soul. Like the way good bread has to be evenly cooked in the oven, I let this story envelop me in it's warmth, its aches, its pain, and its triumphs. And I walked away better for it.

Set in the same world as "A Story Spun in Scarlet", we now follow Lio's story - and it's a rocky one. But my gosh, isn't she beautiful? Her strength, her kindness, her passion -- for life, for her loved ones, for her hobbies. Lio is an inspiration.

I could gush about this story for hours and hours, but I could never full encapsulate the sheer rainbow of emotions one feels reading it for the first time themselves, so what are you waiting for? Grab this now and sink into your coziest armchair with some home cocoa and a strudel - it's going to be a lifechanging voyage.

I really did enjoy this book. There are a few things that kept it from being a 5/5 for me, but honestly, they are nitpicky and don’t change how much I enjoyed the book. I didn’t read the first book, so some of the things that bothered me may have been addressed in the first.

The beginning was a bit slow for me, but once it got going, it didn’t stop from there. Mostly, I think the slowness wasn’t a pacing issue but the beginning being very descriptive and wordy. I don’t think this was necessarily a bad thing, it just took a bit for me to get going with the story.

Lio as a character was very intriguing to me. She sometimes would do things that would make me scratch my head, but as I got to know her better, it made sense as there is a character that serves as a foil to her. She definitely has a large amount of growth in some ways, but honestly, to me she just seems like a good person. The life she ran away from was horrifying in its abuse, and you get to see some of that in the present day. Her foil in the book also experienced this same abuse, and I loved seeing how they reacted differently to essentially what was the same life experience.

I absolutely loved Ryker. I loved the few chapters we got from his point of view. He is doing what he thinks is best for his crew/family and is a pirate with a conscience. His family of pirates were also wonderful, and flawed. They felt like real people, living in a real, broken world. Their found family experience was as wonderful as it was heartbreaking.

The magic in this world isn’t really explained well, but this may be an issue for me since I haven’t had a chance to read book 1 yet. It also plays a very small role in the book as a whole. Since the magic wasn’t a big part of the story, I didn’t mind that it was only briefly mentioned or seen.

There is a lot of abuse seen by a large number of characters. But you get to see how they navigate it, how they use their found family for support and how they get their power back. The romance that is present does not overshadow the story, and IMO, well done.

While I enjoyed the plot, I loved the characters. There were a large number of them, but they felt individual and I cared, and worried, about what was going to happen to them next. Have fun reading!