Book Review: The Jewel by Amy Ewing

Title: The Jewel
Author: Amy Ewing
Series/Stand Alone: The Lone City (Book #1)
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia, Fantasy
Publisher: HarperTeen
Year Published: 2014
Format: Audiobook 

"The Jewel means wealth. The Jewel means beauty. The Jewel means royalty. But for girls like Violet, the Jewel means servitude. Not just any kind of servitude. Violet, Born and raised in the Marsh, has been trained as a surrogate for the royalty- because in the Jewel the only thing more important than opulence is offspring.

Purchased at the surrogacy auction by the Dutchess of the Lake and greeted with a slap to the face, Violet (now known only as #197) quickly learns of the brutal truths that lie beneath the Jewel's glittering facade; the cruelty, backstabbing, and hidden violence that have become the royal way of life.

Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence... and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess's petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for."


My Rating: 4/5

So this is another audiobook that I started a few days ago and flew through. I found that I really wanted to finish this before getting in to deep with King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard because they both have the dystopian vibe and I didn't want to confuse myself about which was which or what happened in each. I really enjoyed this first book and I've been warned that many people did but didn't like the rest of them which is fine. I'll wait and see. The audiobooks are all available through my library so I'm not really losing anything by listening to them in my spare time. I've also heard that the other two are even shorter than this one. I"m interested to see how this all plays out. I thought that this was a really good first instalment the characters were interesting and just the right amount of frustrating. I will admit that I stuck around at first more for the world as I was interested in the idea of surrogacy and why this was the case for the royals. I was also interested in how the main character reacted to the challenges around her after such a shift in her life. I will note that the reason this book didn't get a full 5/5 stars from me is because of the instalove that takes place in this book. I wasn't against it 100% I just didn't think it was necessary. I understand why the author did it but I'm just not a fan of it in this kind of book. But that ending bumped this books overall rating up for me. Damn! Damn!

Thanks for reading,
Sidny