Climbing the Date Palm: A labor rights love story

I love and adore the bi-rep. It is so so wonderful to see that and have it be done so well. (The author is bi, too, so that is even better.) However, Shulamit is kind of starting to grate. I mean, she read young in the first book, sounding more like a thirteen year old than the twenty year old she was supposed to be - but that was explained (and believable) as her being a sheltered princess. This book takes place, apparently, years after the first one and Shulamit doesn't read as though she's grown at all. I mean, she's queen now, been ruling for awhile, and she still seems as young as childish as she did in the first book. (I do still totally recommend the book, though, especially for the aforementioned bi-rep and the totally awesome characters of Rivka and Kaveh - who are my two favorites in this story.)