So am I to understand this entire series is going to be her and her brother trying to act like reasonable and responsible people (actually quite competently), petty villains making that unpleasant, and her impressive panoply of would-be lovers coming in to deliver the satisfying beat-downs to such shrill villains as our protagonists are being still a little too responsible to simply rend asunder?
...I wouldn't have thought that would make for a good story but it seems to be working here.
@Petnavis:
Honestly my take on it was quite different: That everyone involved (by which I mean our protagonist, her brother, the and the bookstore-keeper) are responsible, self-aware, highly communicative adults: Self-reflective enough to know what really matters to them, successfully communicating this with each other, wise enough to know that they can let
some of these things go and be none the worse for it, while also knowing which other things they simply will not stand for because it's not worth it to endure.
Which isn't to say they've got it all down perfectly, but, honestly, everyone seemed to be doing pretty well, as human beings go, to me. Even if we, the readers, might prefer to just sic the full wrath of hell on all the big meanies around them.