I'm a huge Sherwood Smith fan and Crown Duel is one of my all-time favorites.

I love them as well, though I think I liked Court Duel a tad bit more than Crown Duel :)

Court Duel is the second part of the book, right? I have the Firebirds paperback edition which combines both books in one copy.

Oh.. yeup. The second part is after the war when she's at court :)

Yeah, I liked that better too! I like the court intrigue more than the war. Oh Vidanric with his unreadable mask.

oooo...Chachic what's the book about?

Bluemoon, it's about young countess Meliara, who has to fight a war with an evil king during the first half of the book. After the war is finished, she goes off to live with courtiers in the palace and she's totally out of her element. Here's the Goodreads summary:

Young Countess Meliara swears to her dying father that she and her brother will defend their people from the growing greed of the king. That promise leads them into a war for which they are ill-prepared, which threatens the very people they are trying to protect. But war is simple compared to what follows, in peacetime. Meliara is summoned to live at the royal palace, where friends and enemies look alike, and intrigue fills the dance halls and the drawing rooms. If she is to survive, Meliara must learn a whole new way of fighting-with wits and words and secret alliances.

In war, at least, she knew in whom she could trust. Now she can trust no one.

that sounds good. I'll check that out. Thanks ^_^