What I absolutely love about Under the Oak Tree is that its marketed as a romantasy, which it is, but there are long lengths of the story where Riftan is gone and Maxi is just on her own.
So the story feels less about the romance and more about her as a person, coming into her own and finding her voice and self-worth. I love that she's also frail and delicate and that it takes forever for her abilities to grow and even that her abilities are so limited. She's learning to work within her limitations and that her limitations are not a negative thing; they just are what they are and she'll have to find a different way to overcome an obstacle.
Yeah, it starts because she wants to be better for Riftan, but the journey to self-actualization doesn't often start with one's self. There's usually a goal outside of themselves that gives a person to shoot for. If at the end of this, she didn't stay with Riftan, it wouldn't ruin the story, because she's a thousand miles ahead of where she started as a person.
That's good writing.
