Hundredth Queen by Emily R King

genre: young adult fantasy

Kalinda has lived a rather solitary life in a mountain convent, a ward of the Sisterhood.   Beset by childhood fevers, she has never become the kind of warrior she might have been. She knows, however, that the expectation is for her to do her best, especially when it comes to The Claiming.  The Claiming where young women of the convent are taken to live as the servants or wives of whomever can afford it - and Kalinda will have no say in the matter. So when Rajah Tare arrives and instead of choosing someone beautiful and strong, he chooses HER for his hundredth wife, she has no choice to join him in the palace with all his other wives and courtesans.  The more she learns about palace life and, the more it seems as though she has no choice but to fight and play the role that Rajah Tare has chosen for her - unless she can use her own wits to find another way.

It's a fast enough read - the world building isn't awesome but it's different enough to be intriguing.  The setting is definitely a pseudo-India, although I would've liked it to be fleshed out a bit more and sometimes her word choice and dialogue jarred me out of the world she created (like the word "dolt").  The romantic plot was rather insta-love, which isn't my favorite.  The plot moved quickly enough to keep me interested and several plot twists in the latter part of the book are making me, despite the annoying things, care enough to want to read the second book.  I'm hoping to see more girl power and solidarity as opposed to the catty infighting that was there for much of this book.

note: while there isn't any graphic sex, the idea of sex and courtesan life is a big part of the plot - I wouldn't recommend for young teens