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The White Rose by Amy Ewing

Hello All My Fellow Readers :)

I hope all my fellow Canadians have been enjoying their long weekend, and that everyone else is having a great start to their week!

I had planned on posting my RT Booklovers Haul today, as I'm so excited to share all the fabulous books I brought back from there, but unfortunately I'm not going to be able to. We've been having some really crazy storms this whole weekend, and I've been having some technological problems with uploading pictures. Aside from that, I managed to cut my scalp at work today, and my head has been pounding ever since, so I know I wouldn't be able to put the time and effort I wanted to into that post. And since I also can't currently get the book haul photos to upload, I've decided to postpone my haul until Friday, and today instead, I will be posting a review that I actually wrote a couple of months ago, but never had a chance to post.


So today's post will be a review of The White Rose by Amy Ewing, and it's honestly a highly recommend read from me. I'm anxiously anticipating fall 2016 for the release of the final book!





To anyone unfamiliar with this book, I will start off by saying it is the second book in The Lone City Series, the first book being The Jewel which was a highly critiqued book, as a lot of people really did not like it, and yet there was such hype for the second book, because of the amazing way that Amy Ewing had you hanging on at the end of the first book. I personally gave The Jewel three out of five stars, I thought it was an interesting read, but there were definitely some parts of it that I didn't like at all. I, however, did enjoy The White Rose more than I enjoyed the previous novel, and I'm gonna go ahead and give a short review of it. I do however not recommend reading this review if you have yet to read The Jewel, because it may contain minor spoilers if you have yet to read the first book. First, here's the synopsis from goodreads:


"Violet is on the run. After the Duchess of the Lake catches Violet with Ash, the hired companion at the Palace of the Lake, Violet has no choice but to escape the Jewel or face certain death. So along with Ash and her best friend, Raven, Violet runs away from her unbearable life of servitude.

But no one said leaving the Jewel would be easy. As they make their way through the circles of the Lone City, Regimentals track their every move, and the trio barely manages to make it out unscathed and into the safe haven they were promised—a mysterious house in the Farm.

But there’s a rebellion brewing, and Violet has found herself in the middle of it. Alongside a new ally, Violet discovers her Auguries are much more powerful than she ever imagined. But is she strong enough to rise up against the Jewel and everything she has ever known?

The White Rose is a raw, captivating sequel to The Jewel that fans won’t be able to put down until the final shocking moments."


I can honestly say that this series probably has one of the most original story lines I've ever seen in a novel before. Amy Ewing originally wrote the idea for The Jewel as her thesis statement, and then decided to go ahead and write it, and thus it became her first novel. It's such an interesting way she's weaved together so many elements of a dystopian, a star crossed love story, and even a bit of a paranormal twist, with an electric cast of characters, and really good storytelling, I thought The White Rose was a much better novel than The Jewel was, and I felt the ideas introduced in this book explained everything so much better.

Violet is on the run from everything. The Duchess of The Lake is on the rampage, her life is meaningless to society aside from the use she is to the royal family, and she really has no clue where she can run to, or who she can truly trust. Alongside her friend and fellow surrogate Raven, her boyfriend for who she sacrificed everything, Ash, and an unlikely ally in the Duchess of the Lake's son Garnet, Violet escapes The Jewel, and the group makes their way towards a safe haven, The White Rose in the "Farm" district, but soon Violet realizes there's a lot more to the story than simply having her and her friends safe, and out of harms way. Surrogates are being used, and dying everyday, companions are being forced through excruciating circumstances, with no thought to the boys themselves, people in the "smoke" are dying from black lung due to the horrible work conditions, and the rich and wealthy don't care about anyone but themselves. A rebellion is brewing, and Violet starts to realize just how important her role is to the cause. There's more to the story however, than any of them could have originally foreseen, and their accomplishments thus far are just the beginning.

I was completely blown away by the ending of this book. Amy Ewing seems to have a huge knack for cliff hangers, and of course now I'm stuck anxiously awaiting the third book which isn't due to make it's appearance until October 2016!! I can't wait to see how she plans to end this trilogy, and I gave this book four out of five stars. I honestly recommend giving this series a try. Even if you were like me and weren't blown away by the first book, I still suggest giving it a try, because honestly the second book, in my opinion, really brought this series up to a different level, and I can't wait to read the third book. :)


My favorite quote: "The royalty take and take and it never seems to be enough for them. They steal girls to make their babies, boys to protect them, or seduce them, or serve them. But we are not objects. We are not the latest fashion or the most expensive prize. We are people. And I'm going to help make them see that."

Thanks for reading everyone :) Have any of you read this series yet? If so, what was your opinion on it, and were you like me and thought the second book was a huge improvement over the first?

I'll see everyone in my next post!

This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. The picture does not belong to me, and all rights go to the respective owner.

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