How do I keep finding my way into horse-girl fantasy?

Champion of Fate is a fantasy/sorta romance story about an organization of women that basically trains to protect heroes for all of eternity. In hindsight, I'm not sure why I was so drawn to the description because it's not necessarily something I would usually get super excited about, but it was in my TBR jar, so here we are...
As much as I wanted to enjoy the novel, the plot was a little too slow for my liking. Admittedly, I am a person who prefers fast pacing, but when it takes 30% for the plot to be "announced" and 60% for the plot to actually begin...I think most people will agree that it's pretty slow. The story actually begins with a backstory and a ton of exposition, all of which could've been shortened. The main plot twist wasn't super surprising (I didn't predict it, but I wasn't shocked by it). I will say that the few chapters around the 65-80% mark were interesting to me, and I was actually excited, but it quickly faded away.
I also struggled a bit to connect to the characters. Most of the older women who were Aristenes blurred together, and I didn't care much for Aster (the mentor) or Veridian (the other exiled mentor). Gretchen was completely irrelevant unless she returns in book 2 (I was hoping for a villain arc) and I thought Lyonene's personality was fairly bland. The Aristenes as a whole gave the vibes of the Light from Dark Rise but without the fun parts. As far as Reed went, I didn't hate her, but I didn't love her either. I also didn't love Hestion because he didn't get much development...just like the relationship between him and Reed jumped quickly from strangers to making-out buddies.
If you're into legendary female warriors and women protecting the heroes, then Champion of Fates is a book you might want to check out.

Link to Libby Annotations
3.25/5