Check out this review and more at On the Wings of Books 
 What I Thought... 
 * The Jewel was one of the few "must haves" that I had on my list for BEA this year. Gorgeous cover. Cool premise. It sounds like something I would love. 
 * I absolutely LOVED the plot. It was different, creepy and disturbing all rolled up into one! Girls with certain talents are forced to be surrogates to the royal family, and when they are "accepted" they leave their families. Everything about this world completely sucks, but that's what makes it awesome. The concept of the Royal families and the houses was well done and it was fascinating to watch things develop. The Jewel is filled with a lot of political games, some of which are very high stakes. 
 * I liked Violet ok. She was a bit of a brat at times, but some of that was understandable given her situation. At times she showed great moments of character, and at others she had me scratching my head, which I guess is normal teenage behavior, only she is not in a normal teenage situation. 
 * For as much as I loved the plot of The Jewel I disliked the romance. Insta-love doesn't usually bother me, but it seemed extreme in this case. The romance didn't start until 2/3 of the way into The Jewel and it took off like a rocket. I hate to say this, because you know I love my romance, but The Jewel would have been better without it. Or at least turning it into a slow burn instead. 
 * Despite the romance The Jewel is quite a page turner, especially once you get to the last 1/3 of the book. 
 * The ending killed me. Killed. Me. I know it's a trilogy so there is going to be cliffhanger of some sort but this one was brutal! I also feel like The Jewel didn't have it's own story arc. The climax happened right at the end, with no conclusion about anything really. In trilogies/series I prefer for each book to have an arc that fits into the overall arc. 
 Overall I enjoyed the plot way more than the romance, but I have definite plans to read the next book. I have to know what happens next!