The White Rose By Amy Ewing

I received this galley in consideration for an honest review.

The White Rose By Amy EwingThe White Rose by Amy Ewing
Series: The Lone City #2
Published by Harper Collins on October 6, 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopian
Goodreads
three-half-stars

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 Jewel ended with a very good (painful) cliffhanger so I was eager to start The White Rose and to pick up Violet’s quest, once again.  After the debacle with Ash, they were in terrible danger, but with the help of two very unlikely allies, they barely escape. That is when the story really starts going.  The refuge is called The White Rose and, as in every dystopian, there is a network of people waiting for their chance to fight for justice and dismantle the surrogate system.  Just as The Jewel was about Violet getting to know the horrible world she was sold into, The White Rose is about Violet and Ash getting know another new world, but it is not without its dangers and flaws.

The world building continues with a lot more information regarding the powers that surrogates have.  There were some interesting back stories revealed for many of the characters and the families of Ash ad Violet played an important role, which was a good thing.  I felt, especially in Ash’s case, that we got to know them better by knowing more about their families. In many ways, this was a very typical middle book.  It moved the story along, it gave a little more insight into what was happening, and it dragged a bit here ant there.  But, I did enjoy it.  The end is another cruel cliffie, but it sets up their next, and final, challenge very well.  The White Rose was a decent follow-up to The Jewel and while it suffered from second book syndrome a bit, it was enjoyable and I will be reading the last in the series.

three-half-stars

About Amy Ewing

Amy Ewing 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.

Kate


6 responses to “The White Rose By Amy Ewing

  1. I read the first book and was really conflicted. I thought the whole surrogate thing was really cool, but the cliche YA elements made my eyes roll. I was hoping that your review would help me make up my mind, but you seem kind of in the middle on this. So maybe I’ll wait for the third book and decide then??
    Thanks so much for stopping by! Jen @ YA Romantics

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