I have such a complicated relationship with this book : I liked it, found it fun, hated it then liked again just to be massively annoyed at the main characters for the rest of the novel. Main characters make or break a book (or series), especially in a romance setting and Lara started out so well (&& stayed complex as well for a while) only to make objectively very dumb choices.

Why didn't she just tell him straight away about the letters ?? Sure it would have been more compromising but if she was so moved be his people and wanted the best for them she surely should have avoided any risks?? I think this will bother me for a long while

. At others times, Aren was interesting, fun even (I like a good banter) and I actually liked the idea behind the novel as a whole (A bridge kingdom, arranged marriage, etc), but sometimes the dialogue was cringy (especially as popular tropes were clearly written into the novel to be used as a selling point later on) and the characters just weren't that compelling? I did really want to love that book, and I don't really think I hated it, but I'm just frustrated at some of the very obnoxious choices the characters made that kind of ruined what could have been a book right up my alley. 
Props for including female warriors / female friendships, and them not being just one-dimensional and actually fleshed out. 
Not convinced I'll read the last book in the series