Transgressive protagonists are a lot of fun to write. And yes, the backstory with her father (which I almost cut, before my wife begged me to keep it in) is important, on balance (my wife’s judgement is second to none when it comes to my drafts, as I’m too close to the story and she can be objective). Really glad you're enjoying this. :)
A tangent: Speaking of deleted scenes, I'm quite ruthless with my work. I think it’s important to be. I lost close to 20,000 words (including entire characters and subplots) with The Irresistible Summons, for instance. And with Ravenseed, I cut two major chapters - one involving a dragon, the other a second major battle scene (in addition to the one at the end of Act One). I had good reasons for removing both.