Actual rating: 3.5 
 First line: "The steam rising off the backs of the cantering horses faded into the morning fog." 
 Female gladiators is what drew me to this book because wow, that is so bad ass! The Valiant then goes further by exploring a bunch of other topics like family, honour, freedom, and politics. 
 The beginning was a little slow and I wasn't super invested in the romance, but it was really sweet and I enjoyed that that wasn't the central focus - not when kick ass ladies have asses to kick.