If the Handmaid's Tale wasn't already published, I would have happily given this five stars. I did -however- enjoy The Jewel enough to forgive it's lack of originality because it's the writing itself that I enjoyed most here. This is one of those authors who could get away with writing a book about nothing but I wouldn't care. 
 The prose are poetic and simple at the same time. Lines lead into one another, everything shown has relevance. Nicely crafted. Clean. Planned. I never felt the weight of an info dump because of the careful pacing. Curiosity is earned before details are given, and this kept me hooked -- kept me reading. Got me invested. 
 I also liked how the characters were developed and how strong their personalities shined. BUT. I really wasn't a fan of the romance aspects. Didn't like Ash and found it hard to believe she would after he was rude to her for being a surrogate. His "charm" felt fake when we so easily repeated the same lines to another girl, so there wasn't much to redeem his cold attitude. Didn't like the mask or what hid behind it. So the flairs of jealousy she felt when he flirted didn't move me. I was hoping he'd grow on me -since the author is very good at building character- but he just turned boring instead. He didn't bring anything to the plot either. Just a dull love interest. Cut him out and the story would still hold (I'd argue it'd hold stronger, even). 
 A little sad that the story ended just when everything was getting real, but I'm hooked and more then happy to carry onto the next volume. Definitely an author to watch.