Niamb is a divine-blooded (magically talented with a needle and thread) seamstress from a poor nation that's been invited to make the wedding garments for the second son of Avland's wedding to a foreign princess. Prince Kit is absolutely dazzling and a cranky asshole who denigrates Niamb's awesome talents, but she's attracted to him anyway, and the more time she spends with him and his friends and family, the more she finds out he's one of those grumps with a heart of gold, and their sexual chemistry is off the charts.
Niamb pretty much fits in with the royals due to her sweetness and kindness, albeit maybe that's a wee bit too easy? But I really enjoyed it. Other characters are: extremely stressed out and socially obsessed Prince Regent Jack, his nice-but-ignored wife Sofia, haughty but good-hearted Infanta Rosa and her beloved servant Miriam, and Gabriel Sinclair, Jack's bestie who's had his own scandals. These folks befriend Niamb, which she can certainly use and vice versa.
There's also a lot of rebellion going on--the servants are quitting in droves, and an advocate for the poor is being ignored, and there's also a gossip columnist who's happy to hound Jack incessantly to just meet with the people already. Niamb is hit up by this Lovelace person for assistance, which she doesn't do, but she does find herself wondering what the heck Jack's secret is and why he says he can't help. (I'll note it's...not a shocker, more like "yeah, that happens with royals.)
The quibbles I have with this one are frankly, just wanting a bit more. What happened with the king (who's completely unable to rule, much to everyone's relief)? What the heck is Niamb's illness that will supposedly kill her? Seriously, we don't really get much of a sense as to what is going on with that and how concerned we should be. Niamb is driven by taking care of her family, but we don't find out much about them and they're back home. I liked her magic, but it could have been more of a plot point. And as for Jack's dilemma, the book leaves that open-ended and we don't really find out what the heck can be done to improve it. I'm not sure if that's sequel bait or if the author just couldn't figure a practical way out of that one.
But I loved the characters. I felt for Jack and Sofia, liked Rosa and Miriam, and Niamb and Kit are hot, hot, hot. I'm not sure if my book review is even pulling it off, perhaps read this one as well. I think I'm giving it about three and three quarter stars for being a bit underbaked...but otherwise it's very, very good and an enjoyable read.
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