Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
Six people (so far) have reviewed this one on amazon and each gave it all 5 stars and I agree. This is a romance with great depth of character and an interesting planetary political scene.
Aerin is from outside the Alliance of planets and has faked her identity to test into the elite school Academy 7. Dane is the son of the Alliance’s leading general. He attends Academy 7 to displease his father who holds a grudge against his alma mater. Aerin comes from a life of brutal slavery on an outer world and Dane from a life of great privilege. They are soon Academy 7’s two top students, but each has secrets.
What made this story great was the way these two guarded characters learned about each other. Both Dane and Aerin made assumptions about the other and this book showed them learning that though they had the superior intelligence required to attend Academy 7 neither knew as much as he/she thought.
I am really hoping Osterlund is writing a sequel because I loved this book and will be recommending it widely. 258p., 2009.