Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse - Guardian Cadet Series, #1

Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse is part one of the Guardian Cadet Series, an exciting fantasy with action adventure, heapings of magic, and a delightful slow burn, heart-warming romance. Merry wants to be a Guardian, there's just a few things standing in her way: her gender, her secret heritage, her penchant for questioning authority. Her repeated petitions turned arguments with the Guardian Commander have got Merry exactly nowhere and, as her second year of study at the Five Towers University nears its end, Merry is starting to worry she won't have a job after Graduation.
Or at least not one beyond her current gig as a bartender. When a Guardian Colonel comes to Merry for help, the logical thing to do is agree, after all Colonel is only one step down from Commander. But when that help includes searching the places that will put Merry's security most at risk she has to turn down the opportunity of a lifetime. Until the Colonel sweetens the deal.