Winter of Ice and Iron

I was moderately concerned when I saw that Neumeier was primarily a Romance novelist, but for a first fantasy, this was just fine. She may have overcomplicated her worldbuilding a bit, but I liked the characters, both main and supporting. There was a sort of wounded bad-boy thing going on (and an undercurrent of s/m, not the slightest bit explicit, but definitely there, be forewarned.) I think folks who liked the Kushiel books might like this too.