is there romance?

None

Awesome, putting it on my tbr pile.

Bro fibbed to your face. There’s a romance arc when the MC has to go home, but it’s pretty well done. No one loses their sanity and it’s not sappy, the genre just kinda changes to a high stakes political thriller with a romantic sub plot. In the end they decide to part ways and pick their relationship back up when his job on the frontier is over, but they both like each other.

as long as it doesn't take away from the story like it has been in action/fantasy stories lately, I'm okay with it. I'm still going to give this story a chance.