I struggled really hard with how to rate this book because the moments I enjoyed I really enjoyed but then I had to stop and ask myself what was the split and it was about 80/20 of didn’t enjoy to did enjoy. I didn’t think the romantic aspects were done well, I found the plot to be overall weak and that it didn’t complement the richness of the would the author built. I think the plot issues were obvious and that she “corrected” them by chalking them up to bad decision making on the character’s part. I don’t understand the reason for having the fmc be ignorant of the real history of her world when she was raised and mentored by a person who was alive during the period of the missing history. I don’t understand. The fmc’s development felt choppy and didn’t seem to be a result of any real growth. And I feel sad by the choice to make the fmc Brown skinned and then surround her with white presenting people and make the only non white person in her life her abuser.