To the friend of mine who suggested that I read this book even though I was ambivalent about the first (I really liked it and was really annoyed by it at the same time) - thank you!
There are a number of reasons that this book worked better for me than the first one - I think I like Lady Trent a bit better this time around and, as silly as it sounds, the plot was just more fun. I'm glad I went back to this series.