3.5-4 stars. (My kingdom for the ability to rate with half stars.) 
 I don't know what I was expecting, but it was probably more romance and less politics, TBH. I really liked Mare, thought Thandi was a daft prick and Denna was kind of great. I wished there was a tad more romance, but the slow burn was pretty great. 
 Not a bad read, looking forward to seeing more from this author.