Waiting On A Wednesday: The Jewel by Amy Ewing

If you follow my Instagram, you'll know that recently I just ordered a whole crap-load of books from Book Depository as a little 'Yay you survived one more year of school!' treat for myself, and they just arrived yesterday. I've just finished the Jewel and I kind of have a love-hate relationship with this book.

The Jewel by Amy Ewing

Book 1 of the Lone City series 

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.
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I won't bore with a long lengthy paragraph about my thoughts on this book (My review is soon to come!) but in short I quite enjoyed this book, even though I had a major problem with the romance. It romance happened so fast, like insta-love. There was no build up to it, it was just like "Ooh lookie hot guy!" to "Let's get together and make out even though it's forbidden" *Shudder* Definitely not a fan of insta-love. I feel like the 'insta-love' part of the romance is what brought down the book, and if not for that it would have been a lot better! On the plus side, I loved what happened after Violet and Ash (the main male character) fell in love and what happens after that. 

“It would be easier to forget you," he says to me, "and these past few weeks we've had together. It would be easier if I could hate you. But the sad truth is, I will more than likely love you for the rest of my life.”