Court Duel -- Sherwood Smith

Six months have passed since the events of Crown Duel.  Meliara has spent the time making improvements to the family castle, to the local village, and to herself.  She's been reading and reading and reading in an effort to educate herself -- she never wants to feel ignorant again.  And maybe even more so, she never wants anyone else to think that she is ignorant again.

But the country is trying to choose a new king, and Meliara realizes that she needs to be there.  So she goes to the royal palace, and she is introduced to a kind of warfare she is almost completely unprepared for.  With the help of her brother's fiance, a new maid, an old spy and a mysterious letter-writing Romeo, Meliara sets aside swords and tree-climbing for the language of fans, the significance of flowers, the intricacies of verbal sparring and, most importantly, an education in figuring out who to trust.

Yet again, I found Meliara likable, but maddening.  HOW COULD SHE NOT FIGURE IT OUT??  My frustration aside, I (oddly) really enjoyed the courtship.  I'd have loved to see what was going through her poor suitor's mind during the whole thing.  He must have wanted to smooch her, strangle her and tear his hair out, all at the same time. 

I thought her changing feelings towards him were well-done, and not super over-the-top.  It happened slowly and subtly, so that she was almost unaware of the change -- as a reader who'd already figured it out, though, I watched her like a hawk.  Which I think actually added to the enjoyment.  Because if she hadn't been in love with him by the time he revealed his identity, she'd have been angry and embarrassed about the whole situation.  So I did a bit of worrying, too.

Anyway, I'm just babbling.  Even though I complain about Meliara's idiocy, I appreciated her as a character nonetheless -- it's uncommon for a fantasy heroine to be so insecure (they seem, quite often, to fall into the Marches-To-The-Beat-of-Her-Own-Drummer-and-Doesn't-Care-Who-Knows-It category).  It's always nice to read about someone DIFFERENT.  I enjoyed both books very, very much, and this one even more than the first -- but I've always liked the court intrigue more than the out-and-out warfare.

Recommendations for more books in the Court Intrigue genre, please.