Romantic...but I don't HATE it!

I think something is wrong with me. I swear, I am enjoying a few books lately that have a bit of romance in them. This book has A LOT of romance...just like Graceling...but still...it has the evil villain and that action...so I guess it is okay. Fire is a prequel of sorts to Graceling. It gives the back story to the evil villain from Graceling. I thought maybe it would give insight as to how Lech became the unapologetic dirt bag, creeper he is in Graceling. I thought it might be a little like Rob Zombie's Halloween and actually make me feel a bit sorry for him. Yes, I felt sorry for Michael Myers and you will too, if you watch the movie and see how he grew up. Well it is hard to feel sorry for Lech once you learn about Little Lech. It seems like this guy was just born bad.
The main character, Fire, isn't as likable as Katsa from Graceling. But I think I might feel that way because of the way Fire treats the guy who loves her, Archer. I don't watch to say too much more about that.
Fire lives in a world where monsters terrorize a lot of people, but the thing is, she too is a half-monster, so she kind of knows the ins and outs of the whole monster thing.
She has the job of helping out the king and his brother as they try to resist the rebellion by some very bad people. Fire, because she is half monster, can control people's minds if she wants to. She's basically a pretty nice person, so she doesn't like to do that. The king and his brother really need to try hard to convince her to help them out with her magic monster power.
Again the book has big long names and weird fantasy-stuff going on and there is love. But still, this book is one that I couldn't put down.