General Winston's Daughter, by Sharon Shinn

General Winston's Daughter, by Sharon Shinn
Young Adult, 2009

Averie is visiting Chiarrin, a country her father (General Winston) has helped conquer. At 18, she is young and naive about politics and war, and is more excited about meeting up with her fiance. Wealthy and pampered, she spends her first few weeks enjoying shopping and the 'pet idea' of integrating herself into Chiarrin clothing, food, and society. After an honest Lieutenant shares with her 'new' ideas, she finds herself questioning everything she's been taught and grown up with - even her love for her fiance.
Shinn has created an imaginary world that could easily double for the great countries of the 19th century....England, America, Spain...etc. Instead, however, she's created the new countries with different cultures that are fascinating to learn about and easy to love. What bothered me is how despite how much Averie does end up being involved with Chiarrin's unrest, she doesn't do much other than shop and gossip for most of the book. I expected more, I guess, from the different ideas spouting from her mouth at dinner than talk. The ending is a bit, well, like jumping into a pool, but it does end happy. Other than my beef with the main character, I liked it well enough. Graded a B.