The Reluctant Queen by M.A. Lakewood

Welcome to Selwas, where love and magic reign . . . along with a king just trying to do his job.

King Ehmet is exhausted. One year into his rule, he’s juggling a scheming great-uncle vying for his crown and an overbearing mother pressuring him to marry. With the Symposium of Prodigious Minds approaching, he’s determined to seize this rare opportunity for freedom before duty calls him to find a wife.
Enter Lady Hevva, an uninhibited countess who long since grew tired of nobles and their amoral nonsense. Dragged to the symposium as her brother’s chaperone, she embraces the opportunity to gallivant among the townsfolk where no one knows her name. She’s also not opposed to finding a nice common man to elevate from mediocrity to aristocracy—someone free from the machinations of high society.
When Ehmet’s and Hevva’s paths collide in a series of delightful mishaps, their charged encounters spark a flame of attraction neither can ignore, igniting a passion that sweeps them off their feet. Caught in a slightly silly dance of duty and desire, they find their views on love and partnership challenged amidst a scuffle for the crown, more than one marriage proposal, and shifting aspirations.