This is somewhere between 4.5 & 5 stars. I adore alternate universe stories, and this one is well-crafted in its world-building. The characters were easy to like, and the situations believable. Not too much is written about what led to the war between the Red and Blue states, but it wasn't necessary to go that in-depth. There is more to be revealed, I hope. 
 I don't mentally give it a full 5 because of one of the worst-placed sex scenes I've ever read. Scene was okay, but I got neither the point nor the timing of it. (view spoiler)[You're barely away from enemy line of sight, which means they can still hear you, and you're stopping to give each other a handjob/blowjob? WTF!? They should have been caught for being that stupid. (hide spoiler)] And there was an earlier sex scene that made me think, "Geez, we just read sex. Did we need to read more, right now?" 
 So, I did take issue with that, but the story and the world are great, and I will definitely read more in this universe.