Scavenging Book Stores and Libraries

A friend of mine posted that her mother needed a few more reviews of this book on amazon to get more "media attention" so I figured, why now?  I downloaded it to my Kindle and read it right away.  I had read her first book and enjoyed it well enough and meant to read the next.  This particular book is either a stand-alone or (more likely) the beginning of a new series.

This was a really nice, quick read.  I think of it as a standard fantasy with a bit of an Eastern European feel because of the place names and the prevalence of gypsy rumors.    The politics seem more well developed than the magical system, but that reflects the knowledge of the characters very well.  There's a strong mystery element as well as hints to future romance.  

However, despite the light read feel, the book also has some depth with the issues that it explores.  The setting is very much a medieval kingdom with all the class and gender issues that entails -- and neither of the sisters, who are the main protagonists, are happy to let that be.  They go about it in different ways because this is a sisters as opposites kind of story.  The book additionally explores different kinds of relationships in a very real way -- from family to friend to patron to confused, it's all covered.  The author similarly delves into her characters in a more real and deep way than many fantasy novels do so that while some of the characters fall into familiar tropes, this does not mean that they are uninteresting or undeveloped.

I also quite liked the treatment of the "seer" powers and the effects they had on the characters.

My only real quibbles with the book are a short, unnecessary chapter and, perhaps, too small a cast of suspects.  I also really want to know what became of a side character who was insignificant to the main plot...  Hopefully she shows up in the next book!

I think you all should read this and not just because I know the author's daughter. ;)