Really enjoyed the politics background in this one.  Strong characters, steamy love scenes, quick, and juicy read.  The side characters were interesting too, just a lot of them.  The emotional damage the main characters have was a bit hard to read, but gave them added depth. I had a hard time remembering who they were at points during the story.  Didn't so much love the Julien bad guy plot, but I get it, it had to be done.