Title: The White Rose
Author: Amy Ewing
Series: The Lone City #2
Publication: October 6th 2015 by HarperTeen
Genre: Young Adult ~ Dystopia
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kobo
Rating: 2/5
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.
It wasn’t like I totally hated The White Rose but I thought it was just an okay book and I definitely liked it less than the first one.
The story pretty much picked up where it left off. After catching Violet and Ash together, the Duchess throws Ash in the dungeon to be executed and locks Violet up, while murdering a dear friend of Violet’s. So, yeah, you can say the book started out with a bang, I’ll give it that.
What I didn’t like about it was the lack of serious world and character building. There just wasn’t any depth to the characters and the story.
I also didn’t care for the romance between Violet and Ash. It seriously was my least favorite thing in this book. Especially because I dislike Ash so much. He’s just ugh!
Violet isn’t my favorite character ever but I still do like her spirit and will to find herself and fight the royals.
The side characters are actually more interesting. I especially like Garnet. He’s pretty awesome and I totally ship him and Raven, whose another favorite character of mine.
The story was too predictable. I literally guessed the ending, which really annoyed me because it was so damn obvious. It’s never fun to predict an ending. And hello to yet another cliffhanger. You have been warned!
Amy Ewing is the young adult author of THE JEWEL, the first in a trilogy from HarperTeen, coming out September 2014.
She grew up in a small town outside Boston, where her librarian mother instilled a deep love of reading at a young age. Amy moved to New York City in 2000 to study theater at New York University. Unfortunately, her acting career didn’t quite pan out. She worked in restaurants, as an administrative assistant, a nanny, and a sales representative for a wine distributor before the lack of creativity in her life drove her to begin writing.Amy received her MFA in Creative Writing for Children from The New School, where she was lucky enough to meet a fabulous community of YA writers who keep her sane on a daily basis. She lives in Harlem, where she spends her days writing, eating cheese, and occasionally binge watching The Vampire Diaries.
After reading The Jewel I was keen for more world-building so it's a bit disappointing to hear there isn't that much :/ I like that the sequel starts right were the last one stopped but I can imagine a completely predictable plot wouldn't be very interesting. I'm sorry you didn't like Ash so much. I liked him and Violet in book 1 but they definitely weren't an OTP. It will be interesting to see what I think. Great review, Stephanie!
Zareena @ The Slanted Bookshelf
the lack of world building and weak main characters killed this story for me, i just couldn't get into it because of this, it's a shame because i did enjoy the first part far better than this one.
Ah I have this book but I don't have the first one yet so it will be a while before I get to reading this. I don't like the sound of it being so predictable and the story in general kind of falling flat. Such a shame :/