Despite reading more than a few negative reviews of THE JEWEL, I was somehow convinced that I would love it so I had to try it for myself. I probably should have listened because they were obviously on to something. That doesn't mean my feelings about the book were all negative though, as I enjoyed some aspects. 
 If I had to summarize this novel I would say it's an obvious mix of WITHER and THE SELECTION. Although the plot is somewhat unique on its own, it combines elements from the two books that easily reminded me of them, especially WITHER because of the surrogate/reproduction focus. 
 "Hope is a precious thing, isn't it," she says. "And yet, we don't really appreciate it until it's gone." 
 Very similar to how I get hooked on reality TV shows, this book really caught my attention and hooked me in at the beginning. I couldn't help but be swept up in the drama and glitz and glam. Plus the writing flows really well. I also wanted to know more about this world and the surrogacy system that was never fully explained but no resentment or anything *eye twitch*. However, things went quickly downhill towards the middle of the book. 
 As soon as the first hint of romance showed up (not even a hint because it's like BAM! Romance time NOW) I was like: 
 Except it was more like "please noooooo," because the romance really brought the book down for me. If you ever needed a true definition of YA Insta-Love, look no further, this it it. The ANGST, I swear. Not to mention the introduction of a love interest makes the main character's personality totally flip-she begins to make the absolute worst decisions. Aimee's awesome review on The Social Potato goes into detail about this and I definitely recommend her review if you want to know more about the romance. 
 Despite all this, I will be checking out the sequel-partly because of a HUGE cliffhanger again, no resentment or anything *nervous laughter* and partly because I think the plot has potential and room for future development.