Review + Giveaway: The Jewel by Amy Ewing

The Jewel (The Lone City #1)
by Amy Ewing
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: September 2nd 2014
Rate: 3 "I-need-to-have-the-2nd-book" quils

Blurb:

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 Duchess 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 a 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.

The Jewel was actually an okay book.

I fell in love the first time I saw its book cover and the summary on GR looks interesting so it’s not very hard for me to decide that I really need to read this book ASAP. I was fascinated with how Amy Ewing created the world in Jewel. If any of you have watched Attack on Titans the setting that I envisioned in Jewel is like this where there is a division of city in a circle. I love how it was thoroughly explained in the whole book that you’ll feel like you’re in there.

Violet, born and raised in Marsh has been trained to be a surrogate for the royalty. As she was purchased in a surrogacy auction with the other girls, all of which were ranked in numbers and their abilities and Violet as #197 was chosen by Duchess of the Lake. Violet relationship with the Duchess was something that would be like an animal in a leash. She needs to do this and that, but what I love about her is despite of this she’ll try to contradict the Duchess in some way. Other characters that I liked in this book is also Raven, she was such a strong girl that drives Violet to not give up and Lucien who helps Violet in his best way.

The other thing that made me want to read this book was the forbidden romance said in the summary and I was waiting for it and waiting and waiting until it was already 60% of the book that I want to give up. Then Ash came (finally)! And..and..and I don’t know what happened but it went all downhill from there. A few meetings there and Violet was already in love and then she did what she shouldn't be doing especially that she knows the consequences but because Violet loved Ash she did it! Grrr -_- girl(I know I’m talking cryptic here because I don’t want to spill anything but ugh).  

I liked this book although I had a few issues with some things like I said before the underdeveloped chemistry between Ash and Violet. The second one would be the ending. Yes it was really a cliffhanger which after reading I stopped for a few seconds because I didn't expect it.  But I think it was also rushed and raised more questions than it did answers. I understand that it’s the first book in the series, but I felt like there should have been more. 

To sum it up, I enjoyed reading Jewel and would wait for the second book.

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Amy Ewing is the young adult author of THE JEWEL, the first in a trilogy from HarperTeen, coming out September 2014.

She grew up in a small town outside Boston, where her librarian mother instilled a deep love of reading at a young age. Amy moved to New York City in 2000 to study theater at New York University. Unfortunately, her acting career didn’t quite pan out. She worked in restaurants, as an administrative assistant, a nanny, and a sales representative for a wine distributor before the lack of creativity in her life drove her to begin writing.

Amy received her MFA in Creative Writing for Children from The New School, where she was lucky enough to meet a fabulous community of YA writers who keep her sane on a daily basis. She lives in Harlem, where she spends her days writing, eating cheese, and occasionally binge watching The Vampire Diaries.

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