If you haven’t noticed yet, I have a (rather large) soft spot for YA romances. Good — by that I mean satisfying, swooning, take-you-away — ones anyway. And this one is a good, thoroughly satisfying, definitely swooning, often amusing book. I loved it. (That’s an understatement: it’s one of those books where I put the rest of my life on hold and let the kids watch more TV than is good for them and stayed up late so I could finish it. That’s how much I loved it.)

It picks up where Crown Duel left off… I had to buy a copy of the two of them together (which is the only way you can get it these days) because my library only has the first half of the story. While the first have was great, I needed to know what happens to Melaria and Vidanric, mostly because the seeds of romance were planted in the first half, and I wanted to know how (or if) they end up together.

Melaria, who is slowly educating herself banishing the ignorance that haunted her in Crown Duel, is avoiding going to Remalna city and to Court, even though she should (she’s a countess after all). It’s only when her brother, Branaric, shows back up in Tlanth with his fiance (and Vidanric) that Mel finally consents to go see what Court is about. There, she learns to navigate the intricacies of flirting and courtship, of politics, and eventually learns not only about a plot to undo all that she’s worked for, but also her own heart.

(And that doesn’t nearly do the book justice.)

I liked this book immediately because I recognized that it’s a similar story to Pride and Prejudice. Mel and Danric spent much of their time arguing, and it’s he who first realizes what their relationship could be. She, of course, throws it back in his face (though it’s not as bad as what Lizzy did to Darcy), and so he resorts to, um, other methods (mostly leaving her alone). The whole middle section of the book, where Mel’s trying to figure things out, and she takes up writing letters with an “unknown” (at least to her) suitor, I found to be wonderful reading. And it all builds to one of the most perfect first-kiss scenes that I’ve read. (I could go on about how it’s much more satisfying to me to read a romance where the characters are at odds with each other than ones who have True Love from first sight, but I’ll spare you.) I could go on with my gushing, too, but I’ll spare you that, too. It’s still a fantasy book, still light on the magic, and yeah, I suppose if I were nit-picking, there are one-dimensional characters, and the bad guy really does come out of nowhere and the climax of the book really wasn’t all that climatic, but hey: it’s a great romance.

And I didn’t really care about the rest.