Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver meets V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic (but short)
Sworn off love, Marguerite Baccata was set to be Calya's first female business leader - until her father decides to marry her off to a provincial Floral Realms royal instead. The worst part is he's right; the trade partnerships such a marriage will provide are worth much more than fighting her way up the corporate ladder alone. Reluctantly, Marguerite agrees.
But instead of courting a handful of eligible royals, she meets the scarred and exiled Jules. Ousted from his war-torn land, Jules can't offer Marguerite anything except a sharp education in what her business - weapons and gunpowder - will do to the Floral Realms if her marriage goes ahead.
Then there's the enigmatic Lord Lucien Sigaro, who traded his naval career for piracy when he was betrayed by his commander. Marguerite should follow her father's wishes and do what's best for the company, but the more she learns about these two wounded men, the more she realises she can't just walk away from her father's warmongering ways. Someone has to fight back.
But family loyalty runs deep, and old ambitions are hard to let go of. If Marguerite truly wants to change the world, she has to first trust her heart to lead her in the right direction - even if that means following an exile and a pirate.
As I Command is a polyamorous MMF romantic fantasy full of feminine rage. It is the second book in the Cursed Princes, a series of short yet thoughtful reads with fractured fairy tales, subverted gender roles and angsty happy endings. Each title is a standalone romance but the books are best read in order to understand the series arc.
