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Title: The Jewel (you can Buy on Amazon here)
Author: Amy Ewing
Published: 21st August 2014
Publisher: Walker
Genre: Romance, Drama
Pages: 373
Format: E-Book
Rating: **** (4/5 Stars)
About: Violet Lasting is no longer a human being. Tomorrow she becomes Lot 197, auctioned to the highest royal bidder in the Jewel of the Lone City. Tomorrow she becomes the Surrogate of the House of the Lake, her sole purpose to produce a healthy heir for the Duchess. Imprisoned in the opulent cage of the palace, Violet learns the brutal ways of the Jewel, where the royal women compete to secure their bloodline and the surrogates are treated as disposable commodities. Destined to carry the child of a woman she despises, Violet enters a living death of captivity – until she sets eyes on Ash Lockwood, the royal Companion. Compelled towards each other by a reckless, clandestine passion, Violet and Ash dance like puppets in a deadly game of court politics, until they become each other’s jeopardy – and salvation.
Review: I actually really did like this book, but I did have a bit of a problem getting in to it at the start.
It took me a while to kind of understand what was actually going on, because the author doesn’t really explain it very well, you basically just get dropped right in the middle of it. I mean from the blurb on the back you know what is kind of going on, but I felt it needed a bit more explaining.
I think on some level, I might have disliked this book, but for whatever reason I couldn’t put it down.
It’s quite gripping really, in a way in which it was like that I had no idea how it was going to end. But at the same time this book is very predictable, you known that Violet is going to escape. However, as to the means of her escape that part doesn’t become clear until about a chaper before the actual event.
Like I said, this book gets obvious – I feel like the author was trying to surprise the reader by writing about ‘unexpected’ events to foil their plan, but really you just knew that something was going to happen.
Don’t get me wrong though, I enjoyed this book – why else would I have given it 4 stars? It just wasn’t that original for me which is why it didn’t get the 5 star rating.
This book is perfect for those who want a dystopian setting – in a world that is completely different to their own. I mean that’s the reason why I picked it, because I love that sort of genre.
I will definitely be reading the next book in this series – very worthwhile.
CastlesandTurrets 