I am not sure why I forgot there was a sequel to this book. I really enjoyed the romance. No insta-love, no love triangle. The two characters learn first to know more about each other. That was a really cute romance. 
 I am less a fan of the other characters' story, there were interesting developments but one too easy things solved (view spoiler)[ I don't know the murdered decided to tell he was guilty, he could have pretended he was framed and his people may have believed him. The other romance was annoying. (hide spoiler)] 
 That was a good story overall, clean, with a cute main romance, a female main character with spirit, no awful mistakes. But not really complex, so it can be interesting to a young audience, probably less to the readers more used to YA fantasy or fantasy. Or to the readers that want something more simple.