Never heard of these authors. None of my trusted GR friends have read this yet. I'm going in to take one for the team.
Maybe it's just me, but this book was not enjoyable.
I found the characterizations to be inconsistent, many of the situations and circumstances were not believable, there were logic jumps I couldn't follow, there was way more telling and not enough showing, I didn't buy the "growth" of Ara and never connected with either character.
As a result I found the smex flat and boring, didn't care if these guys got their happily ever after and spend much of the book exasperated.
This was a strike for me.