Harrow Faire (specifically The Contortionist) — What am I missing?

I feel like I keep seeing the Harrow Faire series recommended so I picked up (and finished) book 1 and I'm.... confused?

My main gripes are: 1) the writing was not great (that is as polite as I can be about it) 2) I have never met a dumber FMC 3) there was no romance??

Am I missing something? What do people like about this series? I genuinely would like to know bc it sounded up my alley, but now here we are. Does it get better later or something? Help a girl out please!!