The Lies We Fear: Book 1
Publication Date: October 7, 2025
Poised with regal grace and pristine wealth, Angelette Arabella is the dutiful daughter of Valerius Arabella, a dictator who rules with an iron fist.
When she stumbles upon a series of long-buried secrets that threaten to dismantle their carefully crafted lives, she faces a harrowing choice: expose the truth and risk everything or remain silent and let the lies continue. As tensions rise and loyalties shift, she must decide who to trust in a game where betrayal lurks around every corner.
Will Angelette have the courage to face the darkness, or will her fear silence her forever?
A young girl gets caught up in danger stemming from her father’s decisions as the leader of Libertis.
In the first installment of The Lies We Fear series, author Heather Ogden delivers a fantasy story geared toward teenage readers. The Betrayal focuses on 10-year-old Angelette Arabella, whose brothers and mother have seemingly disappeared.
While Angelette adores her father, Valerius, she’s pretty much oblivious to what is happening around her. It’s not until a tragic event occurs that she fully grasps the truth about her rigidly constructed life.
At just under 200 pages, there’s a lot that happens within the story. An inexperienced (younger) reader might not be as aware of the lack of depth, but it is essential to fully explore the distance between A and Z, for example. Valerius, having red eyes, is mentioned multiple times throughout the story without an explanation of the significance.
The fantasy element involving magic offers an opportunity ripe for additional development. The author has set the stage for the next installment with a cliffhanger, teasing a new angle.
The Betrayal highlights a family caught in a web of secrets.
Heather Ogden is a novelist with a passion for fantasy and magical realism. Her debut novel, The Betrayal, part of The Lies We Fear series, combines her fascination with mysterious magic and her love of storytelling. A lifelong reader and storyteller, Heather spent years crafting this book to take readers on a journey through twists, secrets, and the resilience of the human spirit. Heather resides in Tennessee, where she can often be found exploring local bookstores, gathering inspiration for her next story.
