Wrede, Stevermer, and Rayner are a magnificent combination.

Lucy Rayner does an exquisite job as a narrator. The voices are distinct and fit my notion of these characters exactly. Ms. Rayner gives each character distinct intonation, pitch, and pace of speech. It was plain who was speaking and which character was telling their part of the story. Stupendous work. The authors discussed how much fun they had developing these characters and the world in the first book of the series. Their enjoyment of writing this story is evident. I enjoyed the first book more, partly because there were 2 stories happening in parallel. Each author linking the plot to their own characters in different locations allowed more conversations about sharing gossip and developing secondary characters. This story focuses more on the interaction of the main characters only. The shared events limited any side story arcs and characters. More development of the leading ladies and their approach to the same events worked well. I liked the relationship building, but I miss the snarkiness of the female-male fencing of the first book. Very fun, enjoyable listen.