Honestly this book kind of just felt mid, it wasn't actively bad but the characters were not well developed and the plot didn't make a ton of sense. At a lot of points it felt like it was writing itself in circles. I nearly DNFed and finishing it was not particularly satisfying. 

Overall I enjoyed it more or less but it really suffered from characters making stupid choices they should know better on and also miscommunication which I personally really hate.  

It felt like nothing happened between the two main characters and I have no idea why they are in love. the MMC was absent for like half of the book and also was an ass. The FMC both seemed to have nothing to do and forgave the MMC for a pretty nasty attitude. She had more on page time with her friend than the MMC and honestly if he had been the MMC it would have made more sense. It really suffered from telling not showing, the FMC kept going on about how she would use all the political wiles and lessons from her mother but then really never did and was sort of handed allies without working for them. Overall it really did not have the payoff I wanted it to. 

Honestly if the book hadn't been as short as it was I would not have finished it. Not one character made a choice which made sense and it felt like the author kept writing herself in circles. 

This very much felt like it was written by Grace McGinty having read a number of her books. The parts which I enjoy of her books (the imaginative storytelling and interesting world building for instance) were all there but I also felt like it fell into some of the same things I felt didn't work with some of her other books (too many love interests to keep track of and to really have meaningful development with and a pretty loose interpretation of mythologies which I personally find irritating). 

I generally enjoyed this novella, I thought the plot was fun and the development appropriately paced for a novella. I thought the dialogue was slightly insufferable and if it had been any longer it probably would have made me DNF it but because it was such a quick read I pushed through.