3.5/5 stars

What I loved:
-The two protagonists have such cool interests/jobs!
-The premise- great use of separated husband/wife trope (very light on the angst even though it was emotional for them both)
-Snappy dialogue
-The scholars!!! Protect them all, sweet summer children.

What didn’t work for me:
-Too much plot shoved in. There were so many intrigues going on that I got confused. I still can’t say if they were connected or all separate because not enough was given to explain them. This may have worked best as a duology to allow for all the background.
-Occasional side character perspectives- This is a toss up for me. On one hand, it was refreshing to get a break from the heroine/hero perspective, but on the other, it was jarring to suddenly be in a conversation with random people (still not quite sure who they are).
-The central conflict keeping the hero/heroine apart was a bit muddled. Was it lies that stopped them? Mistrust? Hard to figure what exactly stopped them and what exactly they overcame.

Mild spoiler: What I also absolutely loved is that even though there are mentions of potentially having kids some day (and it’s very much just potential, no eagerness from either party one way or another), there is no pregnancy in the end!! That’s one common convention that really needs more variety, and I’m so glad to be surprised when there wasn’t one in the epilogue.