3.5/5 stars 
 The Jewel is both unique but also a cliche in the dystopian genre. Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of this book, and the ending! that was very shocking, however there seems to always be an underlying plot mold that dystopian authors always follow nowadays and The Jewel wasn't fortunate enough to escape that. Our main protagonist, Violet is a surrogate, this took a while to explain and I liked that there wasn't info dumping from the beginning. Violet can manipulate things, such as color, shape, and also growth. At a young age everyone is tested for these skills and if you do possess them then you become the properly of the government, grow up in facilities until your auction day where you are sold to the highest bidder, think sex trafficking but instead of that, it is surrogacy. I liked Violet, she was logical, wasn't impulsive but still had a little rebellious side to her. 
 I was warned that there will be insta-love in this book and while I didn't feel it was 100% insta-love, I really disliked the romance and how it changed Violet. To be totally honest I wanted Violet to fall for someone else in the palace and was secretly begging the author to take this non cliche route as opposed to the one she ended up taking. However like I have been doing lately, I completely ignored the romance and focused on the plot. The characters in this book are definitely complex, the main one being the duchess, the woman who bought Violet. She is initially made out to be evil but then I glimpse something heartbreaking or vulnerable from her and I started rethinking my initial judgment. I also didn't know who to trust, I even thought some people who were helping Violet escape were actually going to betray her so kudos to the author for keeping me on my toes and surprising me there. 
 The writing flowed easily and, as I mentioned, there wasn't any info dumping. There was enough information withholding to keep you guessing but not frustrated. Finding this balance for dystopian and mystery novels is very important. There was also a balance between dialogues, monologues, and descriptive paragraphs. Honestly I don't require a book to be completely filled with dialogues but I do require its monologues and descriptive paragraphs to be interesting. As for the ending, I honestly wasn't expecting it and again, I'm happy the author was able to surprise me. That ending alone is going to make me want to pick up the sequel and continue on reading about this world and Violet. Another book similar to this plot is Reckoning by Kerry Wilkinson, with the whole being locked up in a palace and wanting a way out. It's interesting to see dystopian books now are leaning towards this sort of plot line.